I’d have students look around the classroom to list computers in their journals. Have students share their list with an elbow partner. Divide students into groups of 4 and have them come up with a group list of all computers on a post-it poster. They will have to categorize their computers. After completion, students will do a gallery walk.
I plan on having students use their journals to collect their thoughts and write them down. I will have them share their ideas first with someone next to them, After some discussion I will open up discussion to the entire class. This should help them understand what is being said and give them a comfort level that will enable them to share.
I plan to use some online assessment games as a method to begin discussions. I can have students respond to a short survey based on prior knowledge and then present the results. For example, I can ask students a question such as “Is an alarm clock a computer?” After students respond, I will then post the results which show the number of students who answered yes or no. This will help facilitate a discussion.
I think I’ll start with “What is a computer?” and “How many are in this room right now?” as a prompt and have kids share with an elbow partner and then the group. After some light discussion, I’ll ask them to write on a post-it (1)something that is definitely a computer (2) something that might be a computer (3) something that is NOT a computer. Next, they will post those on the board and I’ll use those to facilitate a larger discussion about what a computer is or is not. We may use the video and/or the Cnn article about the female human ‘computers’ from ww2 as support and follow up.
In general, I like the method of journaling and then discussion with another person before sharing with the group.
I like the sliding groups approach to discussions. I like the self reflection followed by pair sharing and then having the group take the ideas of what makes a computer and share their categories and ideas out to the entire group. I am going to mix it up a bit some posters, some online forum sharing, some small white board sharing.
The first question I plan to ask my students is “How many computers are in this room?” This will hopefully spark discussions about some answers which may be controversial. At this point, I will have students work in groups to list on post-its at least two things in each category: Definitely a computer, Maybe a computer, Definitely not a computer. We will come together as a whole class, putting post-its on poster paper, and have a discussion about characteristics of computers. The final question will be “What is a computer?” and we will take student answers to generate our class definition.
I will use strategies that i picked up during phase 1 of the ECS summer institute, I also will use some strategies that i learned through other PD’s, such as Kagan cooperative leaning strategies.
On the first day of class, it will be important to give students time to write in their journals to compose their thoughts before asking them to participate in a discussion with other students they’ve possibly just met!
I like the idea of participation via written response which is then passed out to another student to read. I will use this idea soon!
I plan on using ice breaker activities at the beginning of the class period during the first few days of the new semester to help encourage students to feel safe, confident, and comfortable around their peers.
I try to keep a positive climate in my classroom so students feel at ease, however after reading the article I plan to also give students discussion topics in advance to help alleviate any stress they may have.
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Because I teach all of the students in our building the Language Arts curriculum they are already familiar with how I run my class. We rely heavily on seminar discussions and we have protocols in place that will lend themselves nicely to discussions in this new class, ECS. We will work together to draft some rules for discourse that result in safety and inspire discussion.
I will start by asking students to journal their ideas, then group them into 2-4 student teams and have them share their ideas. Finally we will have each group report out their thoughts.
Along the way I am hoping students will build on topics discussed/introduced.
We will begin by journaling “how many computers are in the room?”
Then, after discussing with an elbow partner, we will compile items and various devices on sticky notes. Students will be asked to place the sticky notes on the board where a continuum has been draw with “not a computer” is on one end, and “computer” is on the other. Then I will facilitate moving around the sticky notes according to class discussion.
1st (10-15min.): Team building activity designed to get to know each other a bit better and familiarize them with the classroom. Students will be sitting in groups of four and I’ll hand out a paper with questions such as listing their group member’s names, another group’s names, pet names, etc. Also there will be questions about information on posters hanging up around the classroom. There will be a blank poster on the wall titled, “Good Discussion”. One of the questions on the question list will be, “What makes a Good Discussion?”. And the final question will be, “How many computers are there in this classroom?”.
2nd (5-10min): Share out in the whole group for answers, including proper name pronunciations, and compile a list of what they came up with for a Good Discussion. Follow with answers for number of computers.
3rd (~10min): Show what is a computer video followed by time for pair and share, group of 4, and possibly whole group for revision/discussion of number of computers.
4th: I definitely want to show the Top Secret Rosies (trailer) video but I could be out of time.
I would like to try and remain as paperless as possible. So I’ll have students create a Google Doc as their computer log and share it with me. Already didn’t succeed on the first day…
I like the idea of working in small groups and then brining those topics to the larger group. I am team teaching this course and we hope to use journaling as an option for sharing our thoughts.
My students sit shoulder to shoulder each day. I have noticed they do a much better job when they make eye contact. We have been back at school for more than a week now, so I plan on having the kids first swivel their chairs to face each other, and then discuss first review type questions and then more challenging questions.
I asked students “What is a computer?” for my B-Day class and student voluntarily wrote their response on the smartboard. We started a discussion and I had students to justify their answers. Most students presented responses that were logical and seemingly valid-which I accepted all answers as being correct. We also watched the short video-clip on Computers and in groups of 4s, we started perusing the suggested articles on various types of computers. As a group, they will present their understanding from one of the four articles assigned. Overall, using the jigsaw strategy we will do this process.
We will into delve into a more meaningful discussion our next class meeting. Each of my classes is approximately 77 minutes long. I will meet with my A-Day class on this coming Monday.
Most humans think of a computer as a desktop or laptop. Computers are an integral part of our everyday lives. Rarely do they realize anything object that can execute a command is some type of computer. Most students think they are computer literate because they are whiz kids on the social media. On the first day of class, I plan to group the students (4) in semi circles. The discussion question – how many computers do you use daily? List them and explain why the object is considered as a computer; in what capacity if any, do you use this object? Students will write responses in their journals and share out with the class.
I think that the socratic method would be good to use in this stage allowing students to participate collaboratively.