Let's face it... our students know what connectives and linking words are.. the reason? They have them drilled into them at primary school but the moment they walk through those new doors at the start of Year 7 there is clearly an invisible machine the wipes out their prior skills and makes them a blank slate again... just great for us...
How many times have you stood in a room and asked for a student to explain why they have a certain point of view only to get the answer... 'because'. Likewise, most of our students feel that full sentences, using connectives and backed up with evidence... not a neccessity in their books. Uh no... we're not having any of that...by the time students get to KS4 and KS5 they need to be able to explain their points of view and what better way to drill it into them that by rote (yes I went there with that word). Only my rote involves the computer and a nice piece of online Web 2.0 tool called www.amap.org.uk.
Using this website I enter a general statement, i.e. Everton or Liverpool? and then literally form my arguments around it. The students pick up on this really quickly and understand both the software and concept quite easily.
Like most online websites, and similar to Prezi and Zoom.it you can move the presentation around to see the rest of the arguments that you, or the students write, about the argument.
Though I have to say that in a North West school and being a confirmed Evertonian, for my sins, a lot of the first half of this lesson is taken up with cat calling and explanations of how wrong my football choice is... yeah right...
go on the Moyes...
I think this tool looks interesting and will be of help in planning a debate and in the first stages on writing. What would really make it viable is to see the steps of how this fits into a lesson with possible examples of student work.
ReplyDeleteI have just written this activity into my second lesson, based around connectives, for Year 7 in the Autumn term so not long after we get back I should have a viable lesson plan and examples of student work which I will load up onto my school's VLE and I will post up a guest user log in on this blog so people can go on and have a look at it.
ReplyDeleteHope that helps Nick...
That is great and I think it will make your case for using the tools more powerful if you can demonstrate the learning. What might aid you in your unit is using the VCOP method that I saw in a few primary schools with some outstanding pieces of work created using the pyramid. It will build on what the students know and help them formulate the writing part.
ReplyDeleteAs for speaking/arguing, have you seen Jo Philpott's book where she uses 'talking tokens' to foster debate? Might be very helpful...
Have to ask... are talking tokens similar to an idea I already use when I give each student 3 'tokens' when they walk in the classroom? They have to use these tokens in the classroom during the lesson. It limits the more talkative students to just three comments and encourages the shyer students to contribute.
ReplyDeleteExactly the same thing and this is what might be useful when discussing these tools; the teaching and learning context is clear. :)
ReplyDeleteYep... some of these ideas have been tested in the classroom (such as Wallwisher and Zoom.it) but the brief of my HA bursary is to locate new software/online tools and trial them over the next few months and then write them up as lessons. I am wanting to use a format similar to Ian Dawson's lesson layout.
ReplyDeleteStill early days here...