Students who are more comfortable with the content are more likely to engage in the conversation. Students become comfortable with the content when they have
recently thought about and considered the information.
reflected on what they already know about the topic.
made some connections between separate pieces of information to begin to see the big picture
Help Your Students feel confident with new information by providing opportunities to explore, connect to prior knowledge, and make sense of new information by connecting to what they already know.
Introduce New Content Before The Class (Flip the Classroom): Teachers Introduce students to new content through readings, images, and videos outside of class time. Students read, watch, or listen to obtain new information and answer questions or are guided to reflect and make sense of what they learned. In-class time is then re-purposed for further inquiry and application of the newly obtained information.
Introduce New Content With A Mini Lesson: At the beginning of class, the teacher can lead a mini-lesson to provide new content through direct teaching, readings, images, or videos. Students ask questions and are guided to reflect and make sense of what they learned. Students are then provided time for further inquiry and application of the newly obtained information.
Activator: At the begging of class, the teacher provides and activity, reading, image, or video designed to "activate" their students' prior knowledge. The teacher can assess what students already know and uncover misconceptions. The teacher can use this information to guide their teaching to best meet the needs of their class. Students apply their background knowledge and new information during the class.
Get Hands-On: When students experience a phenomenon and make observations before providing new information this hooks them in, builds interest, and gives them a concrete experience to come back to when they learn the information.
Solo Freewriting: Students take five minutes to write down everything they know about a given topic. This writing provides students with an opportunity to access prior knowledge and helps to organize and make sense of that they already know.
Think: What strategy do you use? (You can share your use of one the strategies above, how you adapted one of the strategies above, or share a different strategy that you have used.)
Share: Share your thinking by adding your strategy here.
Watch: See our brainstorm list build in real-time to reflect your thinking and the thinking of your peers.
(Reading) Introduce New Content Before The Class https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/flipping-the-classroom/
(Examples) The Flipped Class: Is Flipping for Everyone? https://youtu.be/FAWidtL7pKE
(Video) 4 Steps to an Effective Mini-Lesson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J1suQoJJIA
(Video) In-Class Flip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhq3Yn_QgIA
(Example) Analyze and Illustrate Symbolism in Night (Steps 1-3) http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/using-technology-analyze-illustrate-903.html?tab=4#session1
(Reading) Activating Strategies http://digitalliteracy.us/activating-strategies/
(Example) Meteors Activator https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScphoTp3Bv-XNDrFiH-bNa34NTcrnhUtTkBmCgeFtxhRfKW-w/viewform
(Reading) Freewriting https://writingprocess.mit.edu/process/step-1-generate-ideas/instructions/freewriting
(Example) Freewriting Example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6WzCaQbD2o