My Portfolio of Teaching & Learning Activities & Ideas

The Picnic Game

 

Students go around the classroom, introducing themselves to the class with their preferred name and also adding what they would bring to the picnic. In other words, they are adding a food item to their name that also starts with the first letter of their name. For example, Maddy would bring mangos. We would go around the room and each person has to start with their name and what they are bringing and try to remember everyone else's names before them and what they are bringing. So I am the 4th student to go so I am Maddy and I am bringing mangos, Samantha is bringing salad (1st person), Connor is bringing corn (2nd person), and Nicole is bringing noodles (3rd person) and it continues until everyone shares. 

 

This activity not only introduces everybody but 1. Students have the opportunity to let everyone know how they liked to be referred to 2. You can see how to pronounce everyone's names correctly 3.You can get an idea of what your classmates prefer, usually they mention something they are also fond of and 4. English language learners can get introduced or become more familiar with English vocabulary. This activity allows for repetition so everyone is more likely to remember and get more comfortable with names. 

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Math Autobiography

 

Students will have the chance at the beginning of the year to write an autobiography about their math history and experiences. In this, students can discuss their feelings towards math, where they’ve used math in their daily lives, what they liked/dislike about the subject, what they might specifically struggle with compared to their strengths, and anything else they want to mention about their math past. 

 

This activity is not only super helpful as a teacher to see where your students are coming into your classroom (because everyone could be at different levels) but also it gives all students time to reflect on their feelings associated with math and their past experiences, good or bad. This activity is specifically useful for English language learners because it gives the teacher more of an idea of the different experiences they could have had in math classes from where they are from. After reading their autobiographies, I can better plan my instruction to fit their needs and maximize their learning experience. I also would like to do this at the beginning of each year to show students right off the bat that their opinions and thoughts are important to me and will be taken into account for their future in my classroom. 

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Oral- Based Math Instruction

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Culturally diverse students usually come from a past of strong oral communication. No matter the culture, people use the power of spoken language to communicate knowledge and share ideas. 

 

Channeling math instruction in the classroom into the traditions of oral communication can make it culturally relevant to students from all backgrounds. Using memory strategies such as mnemonics to learn formulas or key concepts, connecting math strategies to rhythm and music, partnering the recitation of math facts to movement/dance, and incorporating games which require active oral processing for participation are all useful ways to use the tradition of oral language as a way to have all students excel in math content.

 

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Number Talks

 

This activity includes the teacher writing a math problem on the board for the

entire class to see. Students are instructed to put a subtle thumbs up after they

have answered the expression using only their heads (no paper, pencil,

manipulatives, etc.). Once the majority of the class has their thumbs up, the teacher

will ask for answers, all answers are welcomed. Then, whoever is willing to share

will talk through their strategy and the teacher will record whatever they say,

asking questions if their work is unclear (never assuming and doing the work for

them). Students are encouraged to share any strategy they use.

 

This activity is extremely helpful for all students. It encourages students to vocalize

their thinking instead of just writing things, which could be a lot simpler. With

that being said, this could be extremely useful for English language learners

because they can practice using math terms and speak their thoughts out in English.

This activity proves to students that there is always more than one way to arrive at

the correct answer. This also is a great activity to help with misconceptions of math.

When students actually talk out their solutions, they usually find their mistakes

themselves, which leads to optimum learning. Sharing different strategies also leads

to more opportunities for students to learn from their peers instead of the teacher. If

ELLs are not comfortable sharing their math, they are still getting great exposure listening

to their peers talk through theirs!

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Get To Know Me Bingo 

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In this activity, the teacher can create their own bingo sheet to optimize

the experience for the class. The bingo card can have culturally relevant

aspects of students that would be important for the class to know. For

example, “find a classmate who speaks 2 languages” or “find a classmate

that was born in a different country.” This activity would most likely be

done at the beginning of the year to break the ice and get to know one

another better. The student would go around the classroom and get different

peers' signatures where they see fit!

 

This activity not only gets everyone moving around but also makes getting to

know each other more fun and creative. I think it's important for students to

learn about culturally diverse students early on so it becomes embraced and

part of the classroom. This activity also gives students who may be culturally

diverse a great opportunity to speak up about where they came from and who

they are. This also helps English learners be better oral communicators. It could

also be helpful to include pictures in each box to help english learners understand

if they cant understand it reading.   

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Word Study

 

Students will be given an organizer at the beginning of a science

unit with different sections including the vocabulary word, a picture,

a sentence, etc. (see picture). Students will use the organizer to better

understand science terms they may not know. This activity can be done

at the beginning of a unit to be used as a reference throughout. 

 

This activity would be beneficial to ELLs because they have the opportunity

to better understand science terms they aren't familiar with. Science terms can

be a struggle for all students so this activity is very useful and can be referred

back to as the unit goes on. English Language Learners could feel extra pressure

when they don't fully understand English regardless of the added science

vocabulary so having a resource would alleviate the stress of having to know all

vocabulary and definitions. 

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Exit Slip

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After each class, students will jot down the answer to the same two questions every day, “how are you feeling about what we learned today?” and “is there anything you want to share with me?” These questions help the teacher get a better understanding of where the students are with the content so I can plan the next couple lessons accordingly and it also gives students the opportunity to tell me anything they want. It's so open ended, it could be anything from something they found interesting from class or that they are struggling with family things at home and that is why they seem off. There will be a little box by the door to slip their piece of paper in and if it requires a response from me, I will slip it back into their folder for the next day.

 

This activity is a simple way of showing my students I care. They have the opportunity every single day to let me know what's on their mind. This is beneficial for ELLs because it doesn't put them in the spotlight  of constantly asking how they are doing with content or asking about their home life. It's a subtle way to put students in the driver's seat and let them share what they want to share. 

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Family History Research Project

 

This activity would be a long-term project, specifically during the gene and heredity unit (in my science classroom). I would provide students with ideas for questions to possibly explore but the project would be inquiry-based for student leading, in other words, they can choose the depth of their family history they want to explore and share. 

 

This activity gives all students the opportunity to learn more about themselves and portray it how they want to the class. This is also a fun activity to do during the gene/heredity unit to have students connect their family history to themselves and why they are who they are. This project would show all students that they are unique and embrace everyone's differences. This would be beneficial specifically for culturally and linguistically diverse students because they could choose how exactly they want to share who they are and where they came from with their classmates. Giving students the freedom to share what they want empowers them and would make them feel more comfortable. Many students may not know about the depth of their family culture. Having a long-term project that allows students to explore and research the history of their families will build a personal appreciation and cultural awareness. 

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International Pen Pals

 

To fit this activity into a math classroom, I would contact a class in an international country and arrange my students and their students to write back and forth to each other, learning about one another and discussing what they are learning in their math classes. We would exchange letters throughout the year to build connections and learn about other cultures. 

 

Pen pals have long been connections that unite cultures around the world. Middle school students would be able to experience other cultures through personal stories about life in the school classroom, math specifically, in conjunction with other personal stories, to form connections and build relationships with others different from them. This would show students what they have in common and what they differ from with students their age across the world. For culturally/ linguistically diverse students, this could be an opportunity for them to feel more connected to their culture and stay in touch with students from their home country.

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Jeopardy 

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For this activity, I would create a game board with 5 categories, related to the

current science unit each with 5 questions associated with each topic, ranging

from $100 (easier questions) to $500 questions (more difficult questions). I would

separate the class into 4 teams and whoever has the most “money” at the end is

the winner. The team that starts picks what category and amount they want and

would answer the question that was under it. If their answer is correct they get the

money and pick another card, if not the next team picks and so on. This activity

would be used to review for each assessment. 

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This activity makes reviewing content more engaging and competitive. Not only is

important information all in one place but students are also having fun reviewing.

As the teachers, if there is a concept a lot of students are misunderstanding or don’t

know, you have the opportunity to clear it up before they are tested. This activity gives

culturally and linguistically diverse students the chance to review content in a different

way and also gives them and the teacher an idea of what they might need help on before

the actual test.

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Reflection

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As I have continued on my education journey as a middle level educator, I have constantly thought about different, fun activities I can realistically incorporate into my future classroom. After this project, I now have so many ideas all in one place that I can refer back to in my future math or science classroom. Not only are they fun and engaging for everyone but they are also responsive to English language Learners. I really liked having to think about how each activity could benefit English Language Learners because sometimes I had to modify an activity I originally thought of so it was more responsive, like it should be. I also found it important to use activities that I have enjoyed doing in the past, whether that be when I was in middle school or even things I have been introduced to in college. If I didn't like it, my students definitely won't either! For example, the picnic game is a game I was first introduced to last summer when I went to an orientation to be a camp counselor. That was an ice breaker we did with all the camp counselors and it was a great idea for us to do with our campers!  Each activity I included in my portfolio either helps culturally/linguistically diverse students be more seen and heard or helps them academically understand the English language in terms of math and science better!