The day before a holiday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Break, Easter
Break, even a pseudo-holiday like Valentine’s Day, is usually just this side of
insane. Students don’t want to work. There’s candy everywhere. Gifts are being
given. Focus is lost. Just keeping the lid on seems overwhelming; unless you
have an educationally sound, kid-approved lesson that keeps them interested,
occupied and engaged. Decades ago I created such a lesson. Kids loved it. I
loved it. It‘s easy, academic and fun! The bonus of this lesson, it helped with
student retention in foreign language classes.
The steps to follow:
1. Completely erase the entire white board. You'll want the space.
2. Number the entire board from 1 to 35. Place holiday appropriate
symbols, like hearts, around each number.
3. Put a large assortment of dry erase pens at the front of the
room. The more color variety the better.
4. After school, the day before a holiday, have each student in
your most advanced class go to the board and draw a culturally appropriate
picture next to a number. If your class is smaller than 35, they'll need to
draw more than one. Be sure to explain to the class the night before they need
to come up with three or four ideas for their drawings. Most students are
eager, although the shy need some encouragement. After this has become a
tradition in your classes, you'll overhear students commenting they
look forward to being in the class that gets to draw the pictures. Never
let an underclassman participate in putting the pictures on the board.
5. Check each picture as they finish drawing. A few may need a
little help so their drawings are clear, and some can be too obscure. You may
need to edit, as students can be a bit gross at time. One Thanksgiving students
drew a very vivid picture of a turkey being beheaded. I erased that one.
Remember, all day students are going to see these pictures. You want to
understand them, so you can give hints if necessary. My favorite was The
Twilight Zone Marathon. It became a tradition in my program which was passed
down each year from class to class.
6. Before the first class arrives the next morning, place a stack
of German (French, Spanish, Chinese)/English dictionaries on the first desk of
each row. I always had enough dictionaries so students could work in groups of
two. Three doesn't work and working alone is tough.
7. Students should look up what they see on the board, and write
the German (French, etc.) on their own papers. Don’t let them put two student
names on one paper. This never works. Trust me on this.
8. They must write the definite article and the noun. If there's
an adjective, like in a drawing of red roses, they must include the adjective
with the correct ending. This allows you to preview grammar not yet taught.
Students are very receptive to this, and ask for help. It’s a contest. They
want to win.
9. Buy a small bag of individually wrapped candy and give a
piece to each member of the first team finished. Be sure to check the work.
Sometimes they make errors, of course. Don’t be too picky. Perfection isn't the
goal.
10. After the first group finishes, and as each group
finishes, they'll help their classmates. You’ll find they don’t give them the
answers, but give them hints instead, especially in grammar.
11. Collect work as finished and the remainder at the end of the
period. Grading is subjective. First year classes typically have a few students
who finish by the end of the class period. Most, however, finish about half of
the pictures. Second year will complete more. The majority complete about
two-thirds of the pictures. Most third year students finish them all, as do
AP/IB/fourth year students.
12. There are several goals in this lesson. Students learn the
correct way to use the dictionary. They learn the symbols and abbreviations. It
removes the mind-numbing boredom of a typical dictionary lesson, and replaces
it with fun. Students learn vocabulary that’s both meaningful, and is usually
more advanced than where they are in the curriculum. This they do without
complaint. You're able to foreshadow grammar, so when it arrives later in the
school year, you’re able to point back to what they discovered at Halloween or
Thanksgiving. Finally, it keeps students focused, doing an academic lesson
without arguing at a time where students are going nuts in other classes. I had
four decades of happy “day before’s” while colleagues were losing their minds.
If you don't teach a foreign language class, adapt this lesson to
your subject matter. Remember to keep it relaxed and fun, but academic.
For more information, you’ll want my new book, Free College, coming soon. How to avoid needing college loans; available soon to families of Pre-K through High School students.
You are reading from the blog: http://www.roadtofreecollege.com
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