Narrative Pantomime
Think back to elementary school....Who doesn't remember role-playing--acting out characters in a predetermined "situation" ? Don't you remember pretending to be a bird, a plane, a dog, or even a cat? Come on, I know you do! Yes, you're all grown up now, but the elementary kids you teach aren't! Role-playing isn't simply fun. It's way more than that; it's a key component of learning. Using role-play in the classroom can help students in these areas: explore imagination, think in the abstract, acquire language skills, build social skills, problem solve, understand someone else's perspective, acquire self-confidence, and so much more.

There are many useful types of role-playing exercises. Narrative Pantomime is the one I'd used from time to time, because it's simple and can be used for stories and other activities where acting out is appropriate. Here is the website where details of narrative pantomime can be found along with other role-playing exercises:  http://www.childdrama.com/picturebook.html

Narrative Pantomime
1) Pick a story or a play
2) Each person finds his own personal space in the room
3) There will be no interaction between the children--each is in his own story
4) As the teacher reads or tells a simple story, each person, on his own, "acts it out."
5) Each student simply goes through the physical movements of protagonist of the story, and concentrates on the five senses--on really "experiencing" the character's adventures.

This is a great activity to do with Elementary kids!!!

Cooperative Learning

Didn’t we all just love lectures, where the teacher goes on and on, and on again! I sure did—especially in high school! Enough with the sarcasm, most kids hate lectures, right? Some fall asleep, daydream, tune-out the teacher, and do other classwork or homework. Let’s get these students engaged! As oppose to lecturing, let’s introduce new material in a more contemporary way by employing the cooperative learning instructional strategy.

Let’s concede: we will probably never rid the educational system of lectures, but we can minimize its usage by complementing it with other proven methods. Cooperative learning gives students an opportunity to take learning into their own hands.  Students work together in small groups to complete a common task. These tasks can be very simple or very complex and with or without specific group member roles.

 According to David Johnson and Roger Johnson (1999), there are five basic elements that allow successful small-group learning:

• Positive interdependence: Students feel responsible for their own and the group's effort.
• Face-to-face interaction: Students encourage and support one another; the environment encourages discussion and eye contact.
• Individual and group accountability: Each student is responsible for doing their part; the group is accountable for meeting its goal.
• Group behaviors: Group members gain direct instruction in the interpersonal, social, and collaborative skills needed to work with others occurs.
• Group processing: Group members analyze their own and the group's ability to work together.

Cooperative learning can be used for all subjects: reading/English, writing, math, social studies, or science. For math, you can use cooperative groups to practice problem-solving strategies. Have student pairs use manipulatives to act out a problem. After solving a math problem, students can explain their thinking to a partner.

This teaching strategy is great at any level!

Read more on TeacherVision:http://www.teachervision.fen.com/pro-dev/cooperative-learning/48531.html#ixzz1ZXtkyr8B

An Alternative Learning Instruction

Are your students bored, unengaged, and are they not learning as effectively as you would wish them too? Well, it might be time for a change, because some of the same old things aren’t rendering the same results in these new times.  It’s time to apply contemporary strategies for contemporary students; the 21^st century student depends on new methodologies in an effort to be engaged about learning. Let’s get away from the ancient style of teacher-centered instruction, and put the focus of learning in the hands of the student—student-centered instruction! After all, Socrates, one of the world’s most popular philosophers, applied this model of instruction with his students.

Let’s wake our students; let’s throw memorization out the window! Let’s ask the right questions! By now you are probably wondering am I ever going to name this great instructional strategy. It’s called problem-based learning (PBL)!  Here are the steps using an organizer process of: 1) identifying the FACTS in the problem/scenario; 2) generating (un-criticized) their IDEAS about the scenario/problem and identifying just "what is the problem?"; 3) finally identifying the things they have to LEARN about - in order to test their hypotheses (ideas).  Give it a shot!

PBL Quick Facts:

• What is PBL? Is it a new methodology? PBL is not a new model of instruction. Plato and Socrates required that their students think, retrieve information for themselves, search for new ideas and debate them in a scholarly environment. However, this process differs from the teacher-dominated approach used in most educational settings.
• Where did PBL come from? PBL was officially adopted as a pedagogical approach in 1968 at McMaster University, a Canadian medical school. (Neufeld & Barrows, 1974), because students were unable to apply their substantial amount of basic scientific knowledge to clinical situations.
• Why is this an effective approach? The use of this three step inquiry-organizer helps students become familiar with a scientist’s reasoning process, to fill the gaps in their own knowledge base, and to use their newly acquired knowledge to refine or discard their ideas thus generating a whole new set of LEARNING NEEDS. This model has been successfully applied to science instruction at all grade levels.

For More Info on Problem-Based Learning check out http://www.usc.edu/hsc/dental/ccmb/usc-csp/Quikfacts.htm