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More Learning "Hooks"


Courtesy of Google Images
Theproblem of engaging students’ attention is not new. In 1886, Charlotte Mason, anoted British educator, wrote about “informing ideas” to gain the learner’sattention and give a purpose for learning. She believed that the purpose of teaching was to prepare a feast ofideas, not the watered-down “twaddle” she found in some textbooks.  Mason saw children as “thinking, feelingbeings, spirits to be kindled, not vessels to be filled,” and she began eachlesson with a motivator. 

Ifyou are inspired, your students will be also. Make a commitment to yourself to begina lesson a day with an “informing idea.” Try these:

A costume - You canprobably find what you need in your closet to dress as a figure from history.  Look up your persona in Wikipedia; there’susually a picture. If not, try the costume shop in your closest city. Introduceyour class to a person you want them to remember, speaking and acting like thatperson in history. Are you shy about donning a costume? Start with a hat.

A question - Bloom, Bloom,Bloom. Use Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives to develop questions thatrequire analysis, evaluation and synthesis of knowledge. 
  • What would be different if . . . the British had won the American Revolution? 
  • What are the decisions Peter Rabbit made after his mother warned him to stay away from Mr. McGregor’s garden? Which decision was the most important?
  • How would you design a logo of yourself?

A visualization - The most dramatic introduction to a book I have everwitnessed was for middle school students preparing to read The Giver by Lois Lowry.  The teacher placed colored construction paperaround the classroom walls.  She directedthe students to write their personal feelings associated with each color on thepapers.  The students discussed theirdifferent impressions with one another, becoming fully aware of thesignificance of color in their lives. Then she explained that they were going to read about a society in whichthere was no color.  The students werestunned.  Thus engaged, some of themfinished the book over the weekend.  Thisfree idea came from www.teachersgazette.net by Nicola Kuhn, of Hagensbor, British Columbia.

Fishing for Learners? Use a Hook: Nine Ways to Catch Learners in Your Net




Courtesy of Google Images
Thefirst 20 seconds. Use them - or lose them. Teachers have one third of a minuteto gain and hold the attention of their students. What will you do with your 20seconds? Will you say, “Turn to page . . .,” or will you offer a lure, atempting morsel for the mind, to stimulate their interest?

AdairHinds, Head of School at Oakbrook Preparatory School in Spartanburg, SouthCarolina, has spent his career working with students across the country. Hestates, “When a teacher begins a class, I believe she has about 20 seconds tocapture the attention of her students. Today’s students are used to texting andupdating their Facebook status whilecarrying on a separate face to face conversation; their attention is dividedamong multiple tasks simultaneously. I believe students make decisions in amatter of seconds about how much attention they will devote to our lesson,which in turn determines their level of engagement.”

Openyour lesson with something memorable. Present ideas to intrigue your students,expand their imaginations, or even shock them. There are many ways to approach this. Here are some connections forvideo hooks:

Studentscan watch movies on their own time, but a short clip makes an energizingintroduction to a lesson.  Teachwithmovies.orgprovides lesson plans and learning guides for all subject areas for$11.95/year.  Are you introducing theorchestra?  Watch a clip from The Bolero.  AnAmerican Tail teaches about immigration and growing in Americanvalues.  Are you Finding Nemo?  Nemo is aclownfish who has a symbiotic relationship with a sea anemone, a perfect fitfor an oceanography unit.

Seethis example from Jenny Luca, a teacher-librarian from Melbourne, Australia.

http://plpnetwork.com/2012/03/16/ted-in-my-classroom/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PowerfulLearningPracticeLLC+%28Powerful+Learning+Practice%29

Thing Ten



Google, Inc. management wrote “10 Things,” orguiding principles, which they revisit every couple of years to see if theystill hold true.

How does this “thing” apply to education?

PrincipleNumber Ten: Greatjust isn’t good enough.

“We see beinggreat at something as a starting point, not an endpoint. We set ourselves goalswe know we can’t reach yet, because we know that by stretching to meet them wecan get further than we expected. Through innovation and iteration, we aim totake things that work well and improve upon them in unexpected ways . . . Evenif you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for; finding an answer on the webis our problem, not yours. We try to anticipate needs not yet articulated byour global audience, and meet them with products and services that set newstandards. . . . Ultimately, our constant dissatisfaction with the way thingsare becomes the driving force behind everything we do.”

This isdefinitely an entrepreneurial focus, and it can be applied to schools.Teachers, overall, are idealists. They dream of inspiring students to greatachievement, but they seem thwarted by demands of the educational system. Ihave observed their innovations for years. They are continually refining theirexpectations and practices to meet the needs of their students.

The guiding thought in the quote aboveis,
 “Our constant dissatisfaction with the waythings are . . .”

Beingdissatisfied is not a bad thing if it leads us to improvement. Whatimprovements are you making?