1. Freewrite In your view, what are your major roles as a teacher? How might knowing something about adolescent development help you fulfill those roles? Write until I ask you to stop, no names please.

2. Getting to know each other Every class session, we will start with a 5-minute warm-up or community-building activity that you could use in your own classroom. We will do the first one today, and you will sign up for one of the remaining periods.

3. “Alike & Different” On an slip of paper, please write: 1. A characteristic of you that several others in the room are likely to share. 2. A characteristic that a few people in the room are likely to share. 3. A characteristic that is unique to you (at least in our class) 4. Your name Fold your paper and put it in one of the containers

4. Directions 1. Everyone stands up 2. Teacher reads of the first characteristic. Everyone who shares that characteristic stays standing, the others sit. 3. Repeat with the second characteristic 4. Repeat with the last characteristic. There should only be one student standing. 5. The group gets to ask that person 3 questions about themselves. This game can be continued across several class periods, as a warm-up or to fill extra time at the end of the period.

5. Cooperative Base Groups Base groups provide a stable, supportive, small-group environment in which to learn over the course of a term or more. Group members look out for each other. This can include sharing notes or collecting handouts for an absent member, peer editing, and encouraging each other to keep learning. Base groups are heterogeneous, providing a range of strengths to bring to academic tasks.

6. Base group discussion: What should we learn in this course? Benefits of this kind of activity Uncovers interests and prior knowledge Helps establish mutual goals for learning Demonstrates respect for students and their ideas that can set the tone for the teachers’ relationship to the students Students can have really interesting ideas

7. Base group discussion: What should we learn in this course? Risks of this kind of activity: Students may question teacher’s preparedness Constraints of curriculum, time pressures can make acting on students’ suggestions difficult Asking for input and then not acting on it risks alienating students, lack of trust Students often don’t know what they don’t know, especially in an unfamiliar subject Solution: Structure the activity and be honest about your intentions.

8. Base group discussion: What should we learn in this course? The handout shows you the topics we have planned to include in the course Orient the group by sharing parts of your freewrites Discuss which of the topics are most interesting to you and important for your teaching of adolescents Identify specific aspects of these topics you would like to know more about. What other topics or issues would you like to cover in this course? Write down the top three or four the group feels are most critical to your work as teachers. Note any questions or concerns. We will use your input to make our final decisions about the reader.

9. Classroom norms In your base groups, generate a list of norms you think we need in order to have a positive classroom learning environment Select the 2 or 3 most important, write these on the poster paper, hang it on the wall. Gallery tour: Walk around, read other groups’ nominations, then vote for the one you think most important (pink sticky) and two others you think are important (yellow stickies) Large group discussion of vote and consequences for norm violation