EDC 665: Success in the Classroom

One of the things I am looking at in my AR is motivating my students to be actively involved in their learning process. The one area that most students dread are tests so I began looking at other ways of assessing their knowledge and stumbled upon one of the most exciting experiences of my teaching career: A classroom with 100% engagment. I decided to let the students choose their own partners for this activity. The students had no idea what the activity would be but they set about selecting their partners. Once the class was settled they were given two options to work on: 1. Create a game or 2. Create a movie/video. We discussed as a whole group what type of games they played and watched a few videos to get ideas rolling. The game or video had to be on the atomic structure. They needed to cover three areas: 1. structure (protons, neutrons, electrons) 2. valance electrons and 3. relationship of atomic structure to the periodic table. We reviewed this information and then the students were set lose. I expected chaos and instead I got a class of discussions and thoughtfulness. The students had five days to complete this assignment. The first day most groups had an idea of where they were headed and what they wanted to do. Every day for the next four days, they came in and got to work. Success was within their grasp and they knew it. Out of 10 groups, only one group elected to do the video the others all created/developed games. The input from me was minimal, I served as a sounding board for their ideas or as someone to come to for clarification. For five days, every student was involved and engaged. On the sixth day, it was time to share what they had created. On that day, each group split up and played another groups game. There was wonderful feedback given to the students and all were successful. The students created games based on standard games they were familiar with like Monoploy, Sorry, Chutes and Ladders, Uno, and Marbles. The creativity expressed was delightful. What a wonderful success this activity was and the knowledge of the atomic structure was cemented in for the long haul.

I truly feel that the success of this activity was brough about by the student buy in. They all had prior knowledge of some form of games and were able to build on that knowledge to create an atomic structure game. The ability to work with each other and build on each others knowledge allowed everyone to offer something to the group and feel successful within their own right. My role was minimal within the classroom on this assignment. I served as a facilitor and an encourager. By being willing to turn the reins of learning over the students, I began to build an open classroom where everyone had an active and important role to play. The success experienced not only encouraged the students to begin to explore on their own, but it also opened my eyes to the importance of letting go and letting them learn in their own way.