Pique Student Interest With Gallery Walks

Introductory activities allow students to reflect on what they already know about a given topic, theme, event, or idea – before learning new information. Making these connections is essential, as they lay the foundation on which new learning builds. ReLeah Cossett Lent, an international educational consultant responsible for the literacy initiative at the University of Central Florida, puts it this way:  “Background knowledge is an essential component in learning because it helps us make sense of new ideas and experiences (2012).”

Unfortunately, such anticipatory activities are often skipped due to the assumption that students don’t have any or enough prior knowledge to make the experience worthwhile. While I would argue against the validity (and harm) of such suppositions, our time is better spent discussing an effective practice that can both activate and provide prior knowledge.  Let’s talk about Gallery Walks!
 A Gallery Walk is an engagement strategy requiring students to visit several stations, independently analyzing each display and making comments using Post-It Notes, before discussing the display's content with their group. I suggest using quotes, pictures, artifacts, short excerpts from texts, or a combination of these when creating Gallery Walks.  Select material that will evoke some sort of an emotion from your students. Additionally, you may wish to choose 7-8 different pieces to use during the Gallery Walk, as this allows groups to be smaller and more manageable.

 

 

Procedure:

1. Post the displays (ex: quotes/pics/artifacts/excerpts).
2. Divide students into groups (based on # of displays).
3. Allow students time to read and/or analyze the display, write their opinions, thoughts, or connections on a Post-It and leave it near the display.
4. Rotate groups through each display, providing extra time for students to read the comments posted by classmates.
5. Once all displays have been visited, encourage students to discuss them.
6. Wrap-up the activity as a whole class. Discuss which displays were the most powerful and why.

One additional benefit of using Gallery Walks is that even if a student lacks prior knowledge prior to the activity, he will glean information from his peers as he visits each display/station. Thus, when the actual lesson starts – he has something on which to build his new learning, which (of course) was the point all along. Keep in mind activating prior knowledge isn’t just a nice way to start a lesson; it is essential to the learning process.  This makes Gallery Walks an effective opener for any lesson; and that’s another Pint-Sized PD.

Resource:

Lent, ReLeah Cossett. Overcoming Textbook Fatigue: 21st Century Tools to Revitalize Teaching and Learning. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2012.

In The End... Closure Matters

Clearly defined learning targets are becoming the norm in the classrooms I visit. Even more exciting is the fact that the students are able to tell me what learning targets they are trying to master. This represents a huge shift in the way in which our students are being taught.  Robert Marzano’s work showcases the importance of making sure students are aware of what it is that we want them to learn.  When students know what is expected, it becomes much more likely that they will meet those expectations.

Creative teachers find a variety of ways to incorporate this learning target into their lesson's opening activities. Anticipatory Sets, Do-Nows, and Attention-Getters are well thought out and revolve around ensuring students understand what they are supposed to learn.  This is good. This is very, very good. 

The focus of this post, however, is not the beginning of the lesson; rather, I wish to devote my attention to the end. You know, the part of the lesson or class period when students tend to get off task - the part that is often ended abruptly by a bell. Personally, I believe these last few moments in a lesson are even more important than the first few.  

                 

Dr. Madeline Hunter describes lesson closure in the following way:  

                  “Closure is not necessarily an end point, but more of a check for understanding used at the end of a class period.”

In other words, lesson closure must include some type of formative assessment, the results of which should guide future instruction.  The end of the lesson is the perfect time to revisit the learning target and ask students to demonstrate what they’ve learned. A lesson plan is similar to an essay in that if written correctly, the conclusion will revisit the ideas broached within the introduction. By taking the time to assess students’ progress towards the learning target, the teacher can better plan future instruction.  

For ideas regarding specific closure activities, check out Todd Finley’s article, 22 Powerful Closure Activities published by Edutopia.

  

Closure activities should reinforce key information, tie up any loose ends, and provide an opportunity for the teacher to correct any misunderstandings.  By designing closure activities that formatively assess what students know and what they still need to learn,  we increase the likelihood that the learning target will be reached; and that’s another Pint-Sized PD.

Reinventing Exit Tickets with Plickers

“When teachers do formative assessment effectively, 

students learn at roughly double the rate than they do without it.”  

~ Dylan William

Assessments bridge instruction and learning, in that they provide opportunities to see whether or not students learned what was taught. Formative assessments happen during the instructional process and are used to provide each student with specifically what he/she needs to ensure the learning target is reached.

Exit Tickets are one type of formative assessment and serve as a great way to end a class. Exit Tickets should require students to demonstrate their mastery of the lesson’s learning target.  The teacher is then able to use information collected from the Exit Tickets to guide their next lesson and appropriately differentiate his/her instruction based on what students do or do not know.

Knowing that Exit Tickets are a great way to formatively assess my students, let’s use instructional technology to reinvent this process. Let’s talk Plickers!

Sample Plicker

Plickers are simple to use, require very little set up, and allow every student to participate – without the use of individual devices.  Plickers are unique designs (which must be printed) that when turned in a particular direction, represent a specific answer (ex: A-B-C-D, True/False). The students hold their Plickers in front of them while the teacher uses his/her smart phone to capture the results (using the Plickers app).  The app then provides detailed information regarding individual responses and whole group data.  Visit plickers.com for access this amazing, free resource!

The immediate feedback that Plickers provides allows the teacher to make adjustments to his/her instructional plan in order to facilitate increased learning.

Plickers allow us to reinvent the Exit Ticket and provide us with the formative data we need to differentiate our instruction; and that’s another Pint-Sized PD!