Blog Entry #4

Examples of engaging learners:
First example:  Mrs.  Wilcox engages her students through art activities.  For instance, when they were learning about the number 0 she named it zero the hero and had each of them make their own hero based around a 0.  Then she had each student fly their zero and tell about its super powers.  She does similar activities with other letters and numbers by giving the kids creative license to draw around the numbers based on what they think it looks like.  She described how she thought the number 5 looked like a butler with a big belly and drew on it to make it look like that.  Not only did the kids get practice writing the numbers but then by creating their own pictures around it they also created memory devices unique to themselves.
Second example:  Mrs. Wilcox also engages her students through dancing and singing.  She has many choreographed songs for numbers and letters.  This makes it fun for the kids to do actions to a song when they are learning the sounds the letters make.  For example, slithering like a snake and wiggling their bodies while they make the s sound.
Last example:  Mrs. Wilcox engages her students through prompting them to use their 5 senses.  First she did and activity where she gave them many different things to smell, touch, taste, hear, and see.  Next, she read a book to them about many different flowers and how to grow them.  She also let them tell her how we know what flowers are like using our 5 senses.  Then she had them describe a sunflower that she has growing in her windowsill and make it out of random materials on her back table.  Each student's flower was unique and walking around to each student to have them tell you how their flower is like a real sunflower was very fun.

One lesson I thought could have been more engaging was today's lesson about different parts of the world.  She told them about the different places and showed them pictures on the smart board but I noticed many kids becoming disinterested.  One way it could have been more engaging was maybe to have them try simple moves from cultural dances in the areas she was talking about.  Or she could have had them draw themselves but as if they lived in the pictures she was showing.  This would get them moving or demonstrate what they learned about the different places by how they draw their pictures, which engages their creative side.