Yesterday, I had my second trial run in front of the same group of students. On the first day of school the students had difficulty paying attention because they were given a task that could be answered with discussion. Seeing this, I wanted to plan something that would be hands on and that I could isolate the students to limit the off-topic discussion that took place previously. In order to do this, I had the students blindfolded and describe a sample of Play-Doh using their hands. They were asked to essentially texture the Play-Doh. This was to help them use their senses to identify components within a soil. I wanted to refine this skill and bring it to the attention of the students that you can be more observant with your hands than you think.
Overall, I believe it was perceived well as evidenced by the lack of behavioral issues and the students were not able to see what others were doing thus isolating them to the content at hand and limiting the disciplinary issues. Furthermore, I believe it was a success based on how the students answered questions that I posed with the activity.
One thing that I am not sure if I would change or not is having only a couple students do the exercise. I believe the benefits associated with having only a couple students do the exercise would be less materials but also fellow students could see what is happening. However, the downside of this could be that the fellow students would be more likely to get off topic with each other depending on the class.
I would like to continue to use this as a agriscience teacher. It was a great activity to get the students focused on how to texture soil. The blindfold was key in limiting their senses to only feeling the sample.
I believe that it went much better than the first day of school, however, there is still room for improvement.
Hey Todd,
ReplyDeleteBy the sounds of it you are starting to get the hang of things. I never thought of using play-duh as way to introduce soil texture (I may steel this). As far as you only having a few students do the activity. I think that I would have a few do it and then rotate until they all have a chance to do it. This will give the students a chance to see and do. Otherwise, keep up the good work and remember we are all in this together.
Todd,
ReplyDeleteNice job on your interest approach! I enjoyed watching the video, it was hilarious the way you set the students up! They were all so freaked out, but still engaged. I think it was an excellent way to make them think about what they are feeling and kept them from looking at it. Keep up the good work!
Todd,
ReplyDeleteI really really liked your interest approach and I think it worked really well for all the 'students.' Having 20+ blindfolds could be tricky, plus I'm not sure that it would be as cool if they just closed their eyes. SO the idea of just having a few students do the demonstration would be helpful. By the way, you kept the class awake and focused! (And having fun) Nice job :)