1. Motivating the Reluctant Learner Through Interactive Activities
Presented by:
Kim Cole
Ruth Kistner
Kristen Swanson
Intro Kim, Ruth, Kristen – each intro ourselves and give brief description of our jobs
Kim- Business bathrooms cell phones breaks lunch 1

2. Today’s Agenda Play. Discuss. Take it back! Kim
purpose- Explain the folder-how things are happening-
Share with your teacher- refer to website page
Take it back!

3. Index Card Activity Number your card 1-4
Write top four ways to engage learners
Work independently
Kristen-
Number your card 1-4
Write top four ways to engage learners
Work independently- no talking to neighbors ( no peeking at their card either)
This is supposed to be boring and difficult!!!! It is poor model! 3

4. Our thinking Hands on/interactive Authentic Personal interest
Relevant/meaningful
Kristen
It wasn’t interactive- you had to work alone
It wasn’t authentic- it wasn’t real or connected
It wasn’t linked to your personal interests
It wasn’t relevant or meaningful because there is was not context, purpose, goal, objective, etc.
SO… Here’s a way to make it better….
Let’s do the same activity in a different way…. 4

5. Four Corners Read the guiding question Read the cards in each corner
Go to the corner you most agree with
Talk amongst your group -Why this is most important?
Pick reporter to share out to large group
After arguments - Would you like to switch?
Kristen
Cards posted and hanging in corners
Move to corner discuss with group , be ready to share out
After people share do you want to move 5

6. Debrief What did you think of our first two activities?
Why was four corners more engaging?
Kristen
Why was this a good activity?
Interactive
Allowed student to think individually, risk of failure removed,
Allows them to be either validated (by their group) or gives them an opportunity to hear from peers (fosters communication)
Everyone is involved
Provides an opportunity for student to change mind
Forces individuals to make a decision
Ask the audience- what did you think?? 6

7. You do List materials needed Develop a guiding question
Create four responses
Explain to your class
Play
Create your instructions
Kristen
As you are doing this you need to have your purpose or goal in mind
Some variations are:
Human scale
Persuasive essay/debates
Bias
Take a few minutes and create one four corner that you can take back to your classroom 7

8. Guiding Principles Connect/build trust
Build confidence non threatening ways
Meaningful/relevant
Challenging/supportive
Make learning concrete/ visual/hands on
Decrease extrinsic rewards
Emphasize intrinsic reward
Find student interest
Ruth
Today – these guiding principles tie into the four corners we just addressed
Top 5 do naturally – right arm hand speech etc. etc. Paycheck…..
Address a little something in each
Success breeds success 8

9. Interactive Activities
Break from routine
Motivating/challenging
Reinforcing
Encourage interaction and communication
Authentic
Ruth
Through our feedback many of the paraprofessionals asked how can we get kids more engaged
Today we are going to share activities/games that we believe can be adapted to any level, disability category, etc.
Natural way of communicating
Authentic practice in communication skills (speaking, writing, listening, reading)
Meaningful context for language use
Built in social skills
Fosters positive feelings
Natural intrinsic motivator 9

10. Trace Your Hand Kim (possibly pull up some internet radio)
Play some music. Make the environment pleasant. Encourage participants to talk to their neighbors, etc.
Trace your hands so you can write down your top 5 activities ;-0

11. Bag Activity Don’t peek in bag Read the clues
Feel inside the bag (without looking)
Guess the item/theme
How can you relate it to your curriculum?
Ruth
Check notes improve- create worksheet of brown paper bag
5 bags – (incorporates senses) -- make 2 bags of each category
2 minutes per bag
Bag feedback paper and create your own bag paper (double sided paper)
Have one person in each group designated as the clue maker. They look in the brown bag and determine the clues and write them on the bag.
Table setting, using the place setting
Money
Using the items in the bag link to curricular area/disability category
Background knowledge for a story or content area subject
Brainstorming prior to writing
How do you see this being used in your population
Have kids create the three clues ( after feeling, reading, writing etc.)
Better mental image, 11

12. You Do Think of your curricula strand Think of items to put in bag
Create your clues
Is this a before, during or after activity?
Ruth
Pass out bag worksheet- brainstorm ideas there 12

13. Break
Ruth

14. Fly Swatter Products posted in front of room Four volunteers
We will call fact
Student must find fact and swat
Kristen
Create worksheet
General ideas
We have simplified by using multiplication facts – you would do something specific to your population, test content review, vocabulary review, socialization have a gen ed student wheel the wheelchair student
4 questions and 4 swatters (include celebrities for fun) 14

15. You do Create questions Based on content Simple answers
Multi step answer
Kristen
How can you engage everyone –
So we may have one runner, but th4 whole team participates in coming up with the response
This can be played on a table
Can put Velcro piece on the fly swatter and the response
Each person does a part of the problem and then they swat the flies 15

16. $100,000 Pyramid Kim How to setup the game:
To edit the game board, click on the words in the blue boxes. This should put white dots around the word. Click on the word again and it should get grey dots around it. Now double click on the word. You can now edit your words. When you have changed all of the words, highlight all 6 boxes with triangles in the grey work space then drag them over to cover the boxes.
How to play the game:
This should be played with one person looking at the screen and another facing away from the screen. Click on the triangle in the lower left hand corner of the pyramid. It should disappear. Your term should now appear. The student looking at the screen now needs to get the other player to say the word, without saying the word (much like taboo). If they get it, click on the word again and a dollar amount will appear. If they pass, you can click on another triangle to get another word to try. Once they have worked all the way to the top, they can go back and work on what they passed. They can see the ones they passed on on the screen throughout the game.
You could have one person looking away from a projected screen and the rest of the class looking and trying to help. You could also push the ppt out with a program to students in pairs at laptops and have the whole room working in pairs.

17. $100,000 Place Value Equivalent Fractions $50,000 Types of angles
$75,000
Kim
Money
$10,000
$20,000
Types of
Measurement
$35,000
Types of graphs

18. Kim- give them an hour

19. Win, Lose or Draw Divide the class into teams (3-6 members)
Choose an artist
Set timer
Artist draws, team guesses
Get through as many cards as you can within the time limit
Ruth
No words, letters, numbers or symbols can be used
Can decide on rules ahead of time for some students may need to put lines to indicate number of words can check off as they get each word
Try to as sign jobs – clock watcher, recorder of answer, guesser etc.
Variation if whatever they miss the other team can steel. 19

20. You do List materials needed Create 5-10 cards
Create your instructions
Ruth
Cards can be idioms
Categories ( lead to paragraph writing)
Vocabulary ( reading, content area)
Social stories
Flash card template 20

21. Tic Tac Toe Challenge Choose X or O Choose your square Answer question
Correct get symbol
Incorrect other team can steal
Kristen
Click to separate game
For folks that are my age – Hollywood squares but no car at the end
Create questions from past trainings ( Can use old Zonk questions)
Dust up board with finger mark area and sign be played for – if hey win can enter their symbol 21

22. You do Create questions Determine if this is a pre or post activity
Kristen
Also share extreme Tic Tac Toe idea

23. Break

24. ABC Board Provide curriculum topic Board with letters A-Z
Come up with word that starts with each letter
Set timer
Review answers- if any answers duplicated cross out
Earn points if only one with answer
Kim
Body parts, geography, verbs, adjectives, predicate expanders,
Variation –scattegories- one letter- EX. come up with all the nouns for L 24

25. ZONK Kim Play Zonk as closure to today’s workshop
Create a set of Zonk cards
Think of ways to use Zonk- test review- 25

26. Revisit Our Corners Kristen
Reflect back to the top four from the first part of the day

27. Closure Kim Refer back to your hand What were your five favorites?
If you didn’t fill in go back and choose now- If you like all 8 put the others on the back-
Reminder – on paper you can pull this up online- this is might be good to share with your teacher
Always looking for new games, variations of these games – let us know us we love to give you credit for the wonderful things you do!!

28. Being able to help someone learn something is a talent
Ruth
Thank you for being so interactive and for always being there to help our students learn. We hope you have a few things you can take back to your classrooms 28