Learning in Motion
Linzi Gorzycki and Kristie Donavan
Four corners
Complete this sentence: “Shake it ___”
(a) off
(b) like a salt shaker
(c) like a polaroid picture
(d) up baby now
Four corners
Give students a question with 4 possible answers.
Students choose answer they think is correct and move to corresponding corner.
Talk with like-minded thinkers, justify your response
Extension: have a “representative” from each group rotate to a new group and share their group’s position.
This is also great structure for a jigsaw - send 4 members of a team to different corners, learn/discuss/work on a problem, then take back to the team and share.
Which One Doesn’t Belong?
Which One Doesn’t Belong?
Create a grid of 4 items for students to see and then have 4 places in the classroom where students can go to “vote” for their choice
Give students all a post-it note to write which one they believe does not belong and why.
Students will walk with their post-it note to cast their vote and discuss with other students their reasoning.
One captain will be asked to explain the teams reasoning as a class discussion. Students can change their vote if they are persuaded while discussing.
Stand and Talk
Stand and Talk
I could describe it to you… but Sara VanDerWerf does a much better job in this blog post: https://www.saravanderwerf.com/stand-talks-the-best-thing-i-ever-did-to-get-students-talking-to-one-another/
Huddle
How can you add eight 8's to get the number 1,000?
Huddle
Have one student from each team come to a “meeting” (at the front of the room or just outside the door).
Teacher gives that person a piece of information, check for understanding, directions, etc.
Student returns to the team and share it.
This strategy is a way to communicate with all the teams without having to call the whole class together.
Vote With Your Feet
Vote With Your Feet
Give students a little time to think about a prompt with several different responses (two or three works well).
Stand up and “vote” by facing left or right (or North, South, East, West as a variation on Four Corners).
Find a partner who thinks the same as you. Take turns sharing your reasoning for voting in this way. (This helps you make your argument more convincing!)
Find a partner who thinks differently than you. Take turns sharing your reasoning and see if you can convince the other person of your response.
#VNPS
If these are the first three terms of a pattern, what do the fourth and tenth terms look like?
#VNPS
Vertical Non-Permanent Surface - that’s fancy for white boards on the wall!
Get students standing and working on whiteboards.
Can easily combine with a Gallery Walk since the problem/work is already vertical
Follow #vnps, #thinkingclassroom, and Peter Liljedahl (peterliljedahl.com/) for more research and ideas!
These dry-erase posters are phenomenal, BTW… students can use them in collaborative teams on their desks or taped on the walls, or both!
Also good for Gallery Walks - use these instead of poster paper.
Gallery Walk
Teams create some kind of work product on chart paper and hang on the wall OR Teacher prepares discussion questions on chart paper and hangs them on the wall.
Students rotate around the room reading and reviewing the work done by the other teams OR reading and responding to the discussion questions.
Options: have students leave feedback (positive comments and constructive criticism) or questions on post-its and stick them to the posters; have one “docent” from the team stay with the team’s poster to answer questions
Scavenger Hunt
Need some extra practice and don’t want to do a worksheet? Cut up your worksheet and the answers to make a scavenger hunt!
Print question #2 with the answer to question #1 on the back/top. Print question #3 with the answer to question #2 on the back/top. ETC… Print the last question with the answer to the first question so that students work in a full circle.
Note: make sure all of the answers are unique!
Inside-Outside Lines
Play rock paper scissors (1 time, NOT best of 3!) to decide who goes first!
In 30 seconds, tell your partner about one strategy you’d like to try in your classroom and in what context. After 30 seconds, switch!
Inside-Outside Lines
Have students line up in two lines facing each other so that each student has a partner
Have partners take turns responding to a prompt (it helps to give a set time)
At the end of the time, have one line take a step (or two or three) to their right so that they’re paired up with a new person.
Questions?
Thank you!
Feel free to contact us if you have further questions.
Linzi Gorzycki - linzigorzycki@iusd.org
Kristie Donavan - kristiedonavan@iusd.org