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Interactive Learning Experiences, Grades 6-12

Increasing Student Engagement and Learning

Second Edition
By: David Smokler

Energize adolescents with memorable and engaging learning experiences!

Based on brain-compatible teaching principles, this revised edition of Making Learning Come Alive demonstrates how to use stimulating interactive learning experiences to connect teenagers with course content. Teachers will find activities and ideas for introducing each learning experience and will discover how to design and assess their own. Updated throughout, the new edition offers:

Nine new sample learning experiences, including four in math and science
A revised assessment chapter that covers standards-based education and NCLB
Reflection questions in each chapter

Full description

Product Details

Grade Level: 6-12
ISBN: 9781412963367
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2008
Page Count: 168
Publication date: September 02, 2008

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Description

"This book will excite teachers who want to motivate today's secondary students. Information about the brain, presented along with the author's personal teaching experiences, tips, and creative game ideas, makes for a very worthwhile read!"
—Cindy Bean, Seventh-Grade Math Teacher
Arcola Intermediate Middle School, Schwenksville, PA

Energize adolescents with memorable and engaging learning experiences!

Research shows that the adolescent brain is wired to seek novelty and ignore familiar stimuli. This innovative resource demonstrates how teachers can transform everyday classroom lectures into memorable experiences and reinforce course content by introducing new, different, and surprising elements into daily lessons.

Based on brain-compatible teaching principles, the updated edition of Making Learning Come Alive shows how to use stimulating interactive learning experiences to connect teenagers with content. Teachers will find activities and ideas for introducing each learning experience and will discover how to design and assess their own. Updated throughout, this new edition offers:

Nine new sample learning experiences, including four in math and science
A revised assessment chapter that covers standards-based education and NCLB
Reflection questions in each chapter

The learning activities can be used as is or modified to connect with hundreds of themes and concepts across middle school and high school curricula.

Key features

Current research on brain-compatible learning
Convenient reproducible handouts for many of the interactive experiences
Reflection questions for teachers and students
Suggestions for aligning interactive experiences with national, state, and local standards
Assessment recommendations for each experience
Step-by-step tips for creating the necessary physical environment and social climate for conducting effective interactive learning experiences
Sample student reflections

Author(s)

David Smokler

David Smokler currently teaches English in Needham, Massachusetts. Jobs for English teachers were nonexistent, so unable to get a traditional teaching gig, Smokler accepted a job teaching juvenile offenders on a horse-drawn, cross-country, covered wagon train. He planned lessons and taught literature and writing to more than fifty incarcerated students while traveling twenty to twenty-five miles a day on horse- and mule-drawn wagons from Pennsylvania to southwestern Texas. On the wagon train, Smokler began to develop some of the experiences in this book. After another year of teaching juvenile offenders in prison, Smokler moved to Cape Cod, where he taught for four years while completing his Master of Arts in Teaching English at Bridgewater State College, where he conducted original research on simulation games. Smokler graduated from Connecticut College in 1996 with a degree in English and with teaching credentials

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Author

1. Why Create an Experience?

What Is an Experience?

Brain-Compatible Learning

Seeing Into the Brain

How the Brain Learns

Brain Research and Education: What Teachers Need to Know

Why Is It So Hard to Impress a Teenager?

Emotion: At the Center of the Brain

Complex Learning Activities

The Power of Reflection

Reflection Questions for Teachers

2. How to Create an Experience

Preparing a Classroom Environment Conducive to Experiences

Here's the Problem

Spread the Love: Rapport-Building Exercises

The Physical Environment

Strategies for Creating Experiences

What Does Infinity Smell Like?

Move Your Body

Using Music to Build Anticipation, Excitement, and Readiness

Tying Music to Your Curriculum

Fantasy Contexts

Putting It All Together: Creating Your Own Experiences

Student Involvement

Other Ideas for Experiences

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation

Ideas for English and Social Studies Teachers

Ideas for Math and Science Teachers

Ideas for World Language Teachers

Ideas for Health, Wellness, and Physical Education Teachers

Reflection Questions for Teachers

3. How Do You Assess an Experience?

Traditional vs. Authentic Assessment

Reflection as Formative Assessment

Aligning Your Experiences to Standards

Why Standards-Based?

Reflection as Summative Assessment

Other Considerations

See What They Already Know Before You Begin

Reflection Questions for Teachers

4. Sample Experiences

Guess Who Had This for Dinner

The Eliminator

Morning Move-Around

The Wave

Two Truths and a Lie

The Name Game

Thumper

Old-Fashioned Sing Down

Musical Moment

The Reveal

Debate Shift-Around

Save the Princess

Counter-Terrorism

The Arrest

Shelter

The Scream

The Fire

Power

Island Survival

The Salesman

Witch Hunt

The Farm Game

Crime Scene

Rollercoaster Designer

5. Making Experiences Work for You

Resource A. Reproducible Handouts

Song Reflection Report

Save the Princess

Counter-Terrorism

The Scream

Power

Island Survival

The Salesman

The Farm Game

Crime Scene

Lab Report

Resource B. Additional Resources

Brain-Based Learning Fun Kit

Web Resources About Brain-Compatible Learning

Web Resources About Simulation Games

References

Index

Reviews

"This book will excite teachers who want to help motivate today’s secondary students. Information about the brain, presented along with the author’s personal teaching experiences, tips, and creative game ideas, makes for a very worthwhile read!"

Cindy Bean, Seventh-Grade Math Teacher
Arcola Intermediate Middle School, Schwenksville, PA

"Makes teachers think about the purpose and connection that a game will have to the curriculum as well as to students’ lives. This book helps clarify the purpose of including meaningful experiential games in the classroom."

Joan Baltezore, Biology Teacher
West Fargo High School, ND

"Smokler passionately argues the need for games in the curriculum as a means to create authentic and meaningful learning experiences. Hands down, this is the best book I’ve read about the use of games in the classroom!"

Sherry Annee, Biology Teacher
Brebeuf Jesuit Prep School, Indianapolis, IN

"The book begins with the teenager’s brain. In layman's terms, it lets teachers know why teenagers are difficult to engage and how to create a classroom atmosphere that will hold their attention and allow them to learn."

Melody Aldrich, English Teacher
Florence High School, AZ

"Gives teachers a variety of simulations and creative ideas they can try in their classrooms to help enhance and energize their teaching."

Chris Baker, Eighth-Grade Social Studies Teacher and Department Chair
Salem Middle School, Apex, NC

Other Titles in: Teaching Methods & Learning Styles

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Review Copies

This book is not available as a review copy.