Thanks to Irayna Owen for this.
Who is it for?
This is a very quick and easy method of checking group understanding of what you have been discussing or introducing orally – I use it with Key stage 3 low ability groups, but I would imagine anyone could use it.
Outline of idea (What you wanted to do)
Introduce a lesson topic orally – via information giving, discussion, Q&A – whatever.
Once ready to write ask the group or an individual for a title for today’s written work. This really shows if they have grasped exactly what it is you are learning in this lesson.
How it worked out
I used this with a group learning about acids and alkalis – specifically we were doing the differences between them. We introduced the lesson by looking at bottles of the chemicals and everyday examples of acids and alkalis and a PowerPoint with lots of visual input. My first request for a title drew the answer ‘Chemicals’. Another pupil refined this to ‘acids’, another to ‘acids and alkalis’ (which I would have stuck with) before a last one suggested ‘Features of acids and alkalis’. I then let the pupils choose which title to use out of the ‘correct’ ones. They don’t all therefore have the same title in their books. It was a useful exercise in getting pupils picking out the key information in oral and visual work.
Next steps
I rarely give titles now. Most lessons, titles for our written work are self-generated or given to the group by a pupil. It is also a useful diagnostic tool for seeing how clear I have been – if no-one knows what the title should be I haven’t made a very good job of explaining myself!
2 comments
Mike says:
January 13, 2012 at 5:16 pm (UTC 0 )
Tried this with Year 7 this afternoon. Definitely generated more of a sense of shared purpose: thanks!
Katie says:
January 19, 2012 at 3:22 pm (UTC 0 )
I’ve tried this for a week with top set year 8. It’s going well and I can certainly see that in the future it will require very little prompting from me for pupils to discuss their own title.