1. Fun and Engaging Activities
Welcome and thank you for coming to the conference and mostly thank you for coming to my session. Let’s get started.
Pat Todd
TN Dept of Ed

2. Fun and Engaging Take a clean sheet of paper
When time is called, start writing on an experience you have that during the Reading Conference
When time is called, stop writing and pass your paper to the person on your right
When time is called, read what the first person wrote
When time is called, start writing to add to the story the first person started

3. Fun and Engaging
When time is called, stop writing and pass your paper to the person on your right
When time is called, read what is written on the paper
When time is called, start writing to add to the story the first and second person started
Return the paper to the first writer

4. Did you learn something?
WR Write – Read
You just completed a WR
It took “0” planning time or prep time
It took approximately 6 minutes
All of you were engaged
Did you learn something?
Was it fun?
Can you see where this activity can be used for review?
Can you see where this activity can be used at the beginning of the class to engage all students immediately?
This is an example of activities I will share with you today, that will allow students to become engaged in learning, have fun in the process, and create no added work for you.

5. Extra Scaffolds Write and Read (WR) 1. Writing
Encourages students to think and write
Allows students to learn from others
Keeps all students engaged
Helps students value teamwork and respect for others opinions

6. Purpose of this Session
Provide you ways that are fun and effective in encouraging students to enjoy learning
Help you teach literacy skills using your content and without taking your time planning
I am an educator. I have classroom experience, private school experience, state department of education experience,
Curriculum development experience, test writing experience, standards raising, child raising, husband raising and have even been involved in a few house and barn raising and some raisings we cannot discuss today.
My goal is to help teachers teach, and help students have the opportunity to be prepared for the global technological informational society that we are now in and for what ever society follows this one.
When I say help teachers teach, I mean to help figure out some things that will help you without putting one more thing on your plate.
Every new idea that comes across my desk has a few questions applied to it before I will even talk about the idea.
Will it add additional work for teachers?
If it adds additional work, what work will it eliminate for them?
Will it help students become functional in a society that no one knows what it will look like in 20 years? or
Will the idea build a foundational structure for our young people?
I began to think about the foundation we give students after Do you remember that when all steel, electrical cabling, glass, all the rubble was cleared away, it was said that a building could be rebuilt on the very foundation that was left.
I determined the day I heard this statement that I wanted to be involved in helping teachers build a foundation in our young people that can withstand the changes of society and increased technology.
What about you?
Most of the activities we will discuss today involve cooperative learning and team work.
This session is provides ways you can keep student engaged, have them develop teamwork skills, communication skills, and oh yes literacy skills.
So let’s get started.

7. Forming Groups Teacher formed – Magical Computer Good reader
Poor reader
Successful student
Struggling student
Analytical mind
Party animal
Get the job done mind
One of the first steps in developing an engaging classroom is to form groups in the classroom. You design the groups. The teach
The manager of the classroom designs the groups.
You can. I have to change because Martha is not in my group. George is in this group and I don’t like George. George and I do not get along.
You simply explain how you will take her complaint up with the computer programmer.
Some good rules to follow when designing teams:
Keep them small - No more than 3 or 5 in number,
Keep friends apart,
Design a team of students with varying abilities.
Teams are to help one another and to allow ideas and thoughts or everyone a means to be expressed.
Main rule is cooperative, team work, or group learning - never begin team work until every students has something in their hand to take to the table.

8. Team Rule
Teamwork begins once every member has something in their hand to bring to the table.
This keeps one or two students from doing all the work and 1 or 2 doing nothing.
Give your teams a name, give the activity of cooperative learning a name. Make it exciting.
Students complete independent work first before they move to the team to share their ideas.
Give some time for students to think and put their thoughts on paper, on a computer screen, or PDA (what ever you use in your classroom for students to store their work)
When students move to teams, each person has ideas about the subject written so they can share and project into the groups thinking.
Discuss controversial subjects, let the student think of themselves as lawyers, Crime Scene Investigators.
Let them argue their point of view and tell why they think the particular way.
Let’s move into an activity that will allow you to have effective group work in the classroom and keep students engaged. Directed Reading What I Know Activity

9. Directed Reading – Thinking What-I-Know Sheets
Allows students to use their curiosity
Helps students learn new information and make connections with prior knowledge
Helps students draw conclusions
Increases higher-order thinking skills
Directed Reading indicates that there must be some reading involved.

10. What-I-Know Sheets How it Works
Teacher reviews the text.
Student works individually to complete a What I Know Sheet.
Students move to a group to discuss what each have written on their sheet.
Either the teacher or students read a short portion of text and students combine answers
The teacher leads discussion of answers and questions the groups raise
Teacher reviews the materials. Let me review some text that all of you are most likely familiar – taken from Ten Traits of a Highly Effective Teacher by Elaine K. McEwan.
Review “The Engagement of Students”:
Read story from additional page.
I want each of you to take a clean sheet of paper and divide it into three columns.
In the first column write:
What I know
In the second column write, What I want to learn
In the third column,
What I still have questions about.
This is a “:What I Know Sheet

11. What I Know What I Know What I Want to Learn Questions
Students complete the What I know sheet individually. Then they take the completed sheet to the team. The team reviews all team members
statements in the What I know Sheet.
Students may help each with What I want to Learn and with Questions. Once the information is provided by the group, the group lists the combined information in each column.
The teacher conducts a discussion using the What I Know Sheet. List all the What I know statements, discuss with the class to come to consensus on the list. List What I Want to Learn that has not been answered in the What I know discussion. List Questions students remain to have. Read some additional text to see if some of the answers are located. These steps continue until questions are answered.
Can you see other ways to used this activity? Write them down now so you will not forget before you get back to the classroom.
You might think how does this help the student? It provides extra scaffolds.

12. Extra Scaffolds What I Know Sheets Disadvantaged Readers
Allow books open during the What I Know Sheet activity
Reading aloud to the students
Modeling the thinking required to make inferential answers
Let’s move to another activity that is similar but used differently. The

13. 3-2-1 Reviews subject matter
Keeps students engaged in learning, bell to bell
Provides what students have learned and what they have questions about
Provides for opening class discussion or reviewing what was learned
Works similar to the What I know Sheet.
It is excellent to use just before the bell rings to take up that last 3 or 5 minutes.

14. 3-2-1 How It Works
On a clean sheet of paper, students draw three lines dividing the paper into three equal part.
Write 3, 2, and 1 at the top of the sections
On the first section (#3) write “Three Things I Learned Today”
On the second section (#2) write “Two Things I was Surprised to Learn”
On the third section (#1) write “One thing I Have a Question About”
I call this a “Ticket Out the Door” activity. Teacher may collect the sheet as students exit the room.

15. 3-2-1 How It Works
Teacher collects the sheets and scans them for understanding
Column # 1 should be used for class discussion on what the students have questions about
Great opening for the next class period.

16. Extra Scaffolds 3-2-1 Reading aloud those things students learned
and those things they were surprised to learn
Provides for review and repetitive actions
Keeps students engaged in learning
How does this help students in reading.
When you read student’s remarks aloud, read them as if each had been written in perfect English. I boosts confidence in the student and allows them to hear correctly structured sentences.
Let’s move to another activity. This is the only activity that will require some prep time for the teacher. But very little. The Anticipation Guide.

17. Anticipation Guide Uses prediction for engaging reading
Opens new materials with a class activity
Allows teacher to know how the student thinks on a subject
Teaches students to value their personal opinions on a particular subject
There are directions and an example of an anticipation guide in your hand out.
This activity takes a few minutes by the teacher to develop quality guides.
You may find completed anticipation guides free on the Web at for most subject areas.
You may need to explain that strategic readers used the tool of prediction during reading. A good example of prediction is when watching CIS, predicting who the killer is or how did the person die. Strategic readers do the same thing while reading.
In completing the anticipation guide, students do not need to be correct, because it is the WOW moment at the end when we experience, I would have never thought of that. WOW that surprised me! It is the part of us that keeps us intrigued in watching a movie or reading a book.

18. Anticipation Guide How It Works
Teacher develops a guide of 5 to 10 statements that guide students to the key concepts of new material/text
Students mark the statement they believe to be valid based on their prior knowledge
Encourages students to think and interpret large segments of text
You may want to reference the example anticipation guide in your handout.
It is not important for the student to be correct in their marking of statements at this point. It is important that they commit to a few of the statements.

19. Anticipation Guide How It Works
Students break into groups and discuss their answers first with the books closed
Students begin silently reading or teacher reads aloud keeping the anticipation guide on the desk to verify or change their answers
Students document their answers by placing the page #s, paragraph #s and sentence #s to valid their answers
Student takes their personal anticipation guide where they have committed to some of the statements to be valid to the group.

20. Anticipation Guide How It Works
Consensus is made in each group.
Begin working on consensus with the entire class.
Take the opportunities posed to reference the skill of predicting
Students complete the anticipation guide individually, and then move to the group.
Each class completes the anticipation guide together making consensus of all the discussion.
Once groups have come to consensus, the entire class works of making consensus, statement by statement.
When groups do not agree, allow students time to discuss and to show proof of their decision. Allow them to act as lawyers, or negotiators to prove their point. Some of the statements may not have a correct answer. These are good to allow students to realize everyone does not have to agree on all information. All people have a right to their opinion.

21. Extra Scaffolds Anticipation Guides Low performing Students
Read aloud the anticipation guide statements to the students
Pause at each one to facilitate a discussion of each of the statements and its relative merit.
Give an example,
# 2 on your Anticipation Guide example – The best jobs that become available are never advertised to the public.
What are the best jobs? Student discuss.
Are there any laws requiring jobs to be posted to the public for a certain number of days?
Could this be a reference to working your way up in a company?
Let the students discuss.

22. Extra Scaffolds Anticipation Guides
2. Teacher reads out loud to the students from the text.
Pause after reading 6 or 7 paragraphs and ask students if they can prove or disprove, at this time, any of the statements on the anticipation guide.
Students explain where they found the information in the text.
Students must read the citation aloud or summarize in their own words in an attempt to convince the others in the class to their way of thinking.
Note: If the read a loud is used, wean the students as
soon as possible to encourage them to read silently and
to construct personal meaning from text.

23. Stump the Teacher Previews subject matter Reviews subject matter
Motivates students
Rewards students
This one is really fun especially for the student. This activity will get some students speaking in class that have not asked one question.

24. Stump the Teacher How it Works
All students read the text silently, (one or two pages) or
Teacher reads the text to the students as they follow along silently, (one or two pages)
Teacher closes his/her book and sets a timer for questioning
Students pose questions that the teacher might not be able to answer correctly
If you notice, I have never said that students read aloud. There are several reasons that this is not an effective practice. We are not about embracing students.
Let me give you a key. When you first start the activity, students will ask you questions trying to trip you up but they will be simple recall questions. They will ask you what color is the ladies dress is the picture on page Is the man in the picture on page 201 married.
Remember the purpose of the activity and allow students to more through this short lived line of questioning. Let the student win!!
It will be a great morale boaster.
Decide on a reward system for students before you begin the activity and explain how the rewards work. Be sure to have a system on how to keep up with the rewards for each student.

25. Stump the Teacher How it Works
When timer goes off, students close their books and the teacher begins to pose questions to them
No penalty for wrong answers: only positive rewards for contributing to a correct answer (usually 1 bonus point to the responding student)
Note: it is easy to contribute some small part of a more complex answer and many students will usually contribute something to the answer
You want the student to feel success, therefore gear your questions to success for the students.
Students are never penalized.
Remind students of the reward system and keeping up with the rewards.
Allow reward for partial answers that led to an answer. Several students may have part of the answer and when they are allowed to give that partial response and not be penalized for not knowing more, they will respond more and become to feel that they are a part of the class with something creditable to give.

26. Stump the Teacher How it Works
QUESTION MARK
BOOKMARK FOR QUALITY
CROSS-EXAMINATION
QUESTIONING
Your goal with Stump the Teacher should be to move the students into higher order thinking questioning. Questions that will really test what they know, what they are able to talk about, and what they are able to do.
In your hand out you will find a Question Mark handout. I suggest you copy this and give each student one to use as a book mark or cheat sheet. They need one in their hand to pose better questions.

27. Question Mark – Cross Examination
Knowledge – Identification and recall of information Who, what, when,
where, how
Describe __________.
Comprehension – Organization and selection of facts and ideas
Retell in your own words.
What is the main idea of __________?
Application – Use of facts, rules, principles, and demonstrates
How is ____ an example of _________?
How is ____ related to _____________?
Why is _____significant?
Explain the _____ process.
Analysis – Separation of a whole into component parts
What are the parts or features of ____?
Classify ____ according to _____.
Outline/diagram/web _______.
How does __ compare/contrast with __?
What evidence can you list for ____?
You will find an example in your hand out.

28. Question Mark-Cross Examination
Synthesis – Combination of ideas to form a new whole
What would you predict or infer from __?
What ideas can you add to ____?
How would you create/design a new __________?
What might happen if you combined _____ with ____________?
What solutions would you suggest for _________?
Troubleshoot ______________.
Evaluation – Development of opinions, judgments, or decisions
Do you agree _________________?
What do you think about ____________________?
What is the most important __________________?
Prioritize ________________________________?
How would you decide about ________________?
What criteria would you use to assess _________?
When students get the hang of questioning the teacher, which level do you think they will move too?
Evaluation, Synthesis, They want to stump you. But remember you went to college to learn this subject.

29. Extra Scaffolds Stump the Teacher
Assist low performing readers with the task of constructing meaning from the text
Read aloud to the students while they read along silently.
Allow students to immediately reprocess the text silently while the teacher’s book is closed.

30. Reward Students
Award bonus points (usually 5) on the next test if a student asks a question that you are not able to answer correctly.
Let the student win some!!
It is a great confidence builder!
The reward system for Stump the Teacher can make or break the activity.
Be careful as to how you plan it.
Points on the next test or on a test that they need additional points on work well.
Let the student win some.

31. Focused Free Writes Finds out what the student knows
Reviews subject material
Uses time just before the bell rings
Take out a clean piece of paper.
When I call time begin writing. Do not stop until I tell you to stop. The only rule in this activity is that you cannot stop writing. You must keep your pen on the paper moving. If your mind goes blank, that is ok, just rewrite the statement before as many times as you need to until something new comes into your mind.

32. Focused Free Writes How it Works
Students take out a clean piece of paper
The writing assignment is on the material or project covered during the class period
Teacher sets a timer (starting with 30 seconds and building up to 4 minutes)
Students begin writing and cannot stop until the timer rings
Note: If the student cannot think of anything to write they simply re-write the last statement they wrote until another thought comes to their mind.

33. Focused Free Writes How it Works
Teacher collects all the free writes and scans them for understanding
Focus Free Writes should not be graded
Teacher may use information gathered on the Focused Free Writes to develop the opening for the next class meeting
Did anyone experience a blank moment? I did. Tell OK Story Connection between what is in our brain and getting it on paper or a computer screen. There is a disconnect between our brain and our hands at times and this exercise is to close the gap of time where blanks occur.
Teaches us to focus.
Start with a short time. 30 seconds may be good for some of your classes where as 2 minutes will be good for others. The goal is to have students write for 4 or 5 minutes without stopping. Be patient with them they will get there.
You can use information on the focus free write to determine if re-teaching should take place.

34. List vocabulary terms on board before writing a free write.
Extra Scaffolds
Focused Free Writes
Vocabulary Terms
List vocabulary terms on board before writing a free write.
Instruct the student to use as many of these key terms correctly as they can.
Make adlibbed corrections to those of low-performing students. If they do not write a sentence that makes perfect sense, but you can tell what they meant, add the edits without letting anyone know what you are doing.
Note: This is a confidence booster for very low-performing students who are developing understanding of the content, and cannot at this point articulate what they read. What they heard read aloud is what they meant, but failed to say.
Let’s Review

35. The Purpose of Activities
Involves students in their own learning
Provides engaging activities that are fun
Let the student’s sense of humor arise
Extends learning beyond the text
Reinforces learning
Enhances team building skills
Today we covered 6 activities that you can conduct in your classroom without taking time to develop or grade activities. But you are providing activities where students can learn and the classroom is fun.
Write Read – Directed Reading with a What I Know Sheet, 3-2-1, Anticipation Guide and Stump the Teacher with the Question Mark, and a Focus Free Write.
The purpose of what we do each and every day is to help student learn.

36. Helps Students Learn New Subject Matter Keeping Students Engaged

37. Follow-up Use at least one strategy per week
Add additional strategies to encourage students
Help students feel involved and a part of the class
Keep instruction up-beat and positive
How do you begin.
Don’t overuse the strategies. That will become boring also.
There are many more strategies in MAX Teaching.

38. http://www.maxteaching.com http://www.mavcc.org
If you want to purchase the book, MAX Teaching with Reading and Writing: classroom activities for Helping Students Learn New Subject Matter While Acquiring Literacy Skills. Contact MAVCC and let them know you are from Tennessee and a part of the consortium for a discount.

39. Are You Engaged?
A couple were riding a bicycle for two. They came to a long steep hill. The one in the front said, we will really have to pedal to get to the top of this one. The one on the back said, “Yeah this one looks really steep.”
They finally made it to the top. The one in the front said, “There were a few times I did not know if were were going to make it or not.”
The one in the back said, “Yeah I know what you mean. There was a few time I thought we would have rolled back down the hill, if I had not had the brakes on.”
Do you have the brakes on or are you engaged?

40. Thank You Pat Todd TN Dept of Ed Pat.Todd@state.tn.us
I know you are all racing for all student to be successful in your class. Enjoy life.
The power point will be on the state of Tennessee Web site for Career and Technical Education. Please feel free to go there for a copy of the presentation. If you have questions, feel free to me.
Or I will try to answer them now.
Your Focus Free Write is your Ticket Out the Door. Please hand it to the facilitator at each door as you exit the room.
Go and stomp out ignorance.
Pat Todd
TN Dept of Ed