What is your best lesson? Describe a lesson you’ve used that “you could sell tickets for”. (If one doesn’t come to mind, use the creative process described in this section to design one, then describe it here. ) What makes this lesson so great?
One of my best lessons is my alcohol & drug prevention unit. I have many stories to tell about friends that relate to this topic and they are genuinely interested when it comes to real life stories. I also have a wonderful activity called "roll the dice". The students get into groups of 4-5. Each student rolls a die , which correlates with a "situation that happened to them". For example if a student rolled a five and looked at the worksheet, it might say something like "you drank one too many and drove anyway, you lost control of the car and crashed, your best friend was in the car and died". The group must then collectively decide who had the worst situation. The students LOVE this activity.
What is your best lesson? Describe a lesson you’ve used that “you could sell tickets for”. (If one doesn’t come to mind, use the creative process described in this section to design one, then describe it here. ) What makes this lesson so great?
My favorite time of year is Christmas and I look forward to my unit on the Nutcracker each year. Throughout the week of December, I break down the Nutcracker songs and we listen to them and add an activity for each one. I have gotten very creative and not one activity is a like another. Some of the things we do are move to the form of "The March" with a parachute, cut out snowflakes during "The Waltz of the Snowflakes", and paper plate ice skate during the "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy". We also play instruments, twirl scarves, improvise with rhythm, and so on. It is an absolute blast all month long. The kids come in with big smiles asking what we will do next. It is my most engaging time of the year.
What is your best lesson? Describe a lesson you’ve used that “you could sell tickets for”. (If one doesn’t come to mind, use the creative process described in this section to design one, then describe it here.) What makes this lesson so great?
One of my favorite lessons to teach with preschool is about part and whole. I start by engaging them with a lesson on the board. After we finish the lesson on the board, the next day the students get to make their own pizzas. The students make their pizza and then we bake and put all the toppings on. Once finished, the students and teacher talk about a whole and part again. This time the lesson is completely hands on. The students begin with a whole pizza, then the teacher will ask them to take a piece of the pizza and put it on the other plate. I then ask the students did you take a part of the pizza or the whole pizza. The students will answer, and we continue doing it with each slice. The students enjoy this so much.
My "sell tickets" lesson would be from a 3rd-5th grade STEM lesson. Students have basic equipment (scissors, hole punch, pencils, and tape) at their tables. They also have an elf in their basket. Their job is to create a "vehicle" for their elf to ride in to travel down a zipline. He must stay in the vehicle and he must complete the zipline in 5 seconds or less. They are to brainstorm together and then draw a quick drawing of their design. Then using a multitude of recyclable items and other supplies, they need to construct their zipline vehicle. After I test the first one, they begin to realize that string will not work and there is to much friction. Most of them need to make changes to their vehicle and try to test it again.
Trina Merideth Response: What is your best lesson? Describe a lesson you’ve used that “you could sell tickets for”. (If one doesn’t come to mind, use the creative process described in this section to design one, then describe it here. ) What makes this lesson so great?
My best lesson has been juxtaposing 2 actual painted pictures and then juxtaposing 2 written passages (1 from the Diary of Anne Frank and 1 from Faber in Fahrenheit 451). I begin with 2 painted pictures "Christina's World" and "The Prairie is My Garden" and I ask students to write down what is similar and what is different on a piece of paper that has a line down the middle. Myself and another aide or student walk the classroom letting students look at the 2 pictures. They pair share and then share out with the entire class. I then ask students to read the 2 passages and juxtapose the passages. The next day the stand and read their responses with a partner.
The lesson is great because students are engaged immediately. I walk to the front of the room with the "big" paintings turned away and then ask them to compare and contrast what they see. I bring the paintings close to them and from a distance. They write down the most amazing answers and then when the answers are shared there is always "I saw that," "I noticed that too," "I thought about writing that down." Then as students juxtapose the 2 passages there is real critical thinking and comparing and contrasting.
I no longer teach the subject that I had lessons I “could sell tickets for,” but in my new content area, the lessons I could sell tickets for are not so much entire lessons as much as portions of lessons. I feel like lessons where we are 1) active and 2) are a little silly are the lessons that my students and I enjoy most. For example, when learning a new word or concept that has a name, we say that in a goofy voice or with a specific posture. For whatever reason (in a creative flash!), the other day when teaching Kindergarteners about alphabetical order in the library, we stood like flamingos on one foot, the other leg in a triangle with that foot up on the thigh and said “alphabetical!” in a bird-like screechy voice. The following week when I asked how our Everybody fiction was organized, they said it in the same voice. It was funny (probably annoying to other people), but they remembered that the books were organized in ABC order in that section and were able to tell me that after saying “alphabetical.” This was not a whole lesson, but an important understanding for them to have on how our library is organized. The kids liked that 1)I was silly, 2) they got to be silly, and 3) that they got to repeat the silliness when asked about it in later weeks.
What is your best lesson? Describe a lesson you’ve used that “you could sell tickets for”. What makes this lesson so great?
My best lesson is on the Boston Massacre. I tell the story in a way that is engaging and dramatic. The students know that it ends with death and will help lead to the Revolutionary War but they don't necessarily know how it all unfolds. I use their own experience and a loud thumping of a baseball bat to tell the story. They are hooked. They want to know how it all escalates. They get to feel it build until... BANG. Shots are fired. 5 lie dead. I love that lesson. The drama and the volume make it special. The kids talk about it after high school.
My best lesson would certainly be these Cardboard Cartoon Character Sculptures that we create. Students really like the process, and this is the most taken home project and one students ask if we are going to be creating based on the previous sections. It allows students to plan and problem solve. Definitely a crowd favorite, though there a certainly several projects students enjoy.
A lesson I do that I feel people would pay for would probably be my field day for Survival Skills. My field day consists of different stations of survival skills we have learned about throughout the year. For example there will be: water purification, fire building, shelter building, first aid, foraging, navigation, and knots stations. The students are divided in to 7 groups and go from station to station getting hands on experience. Depending on class sizes sometimes I do two of every station and only divide the class into two groups and we do a "Survivor Challenge" and see which group completes each station successfully. I tell the students about the field day at the beginning of the year and it motivates them pay attention and learn all the survival skills so they can have a better chance at winning the survivor challenge at the end of the year.
The lesson plan I think I could sell tickets for would be my cooking lab. I usually plan a cooking lab every month for my students. I will pick a category such as desserts, salads, holiday dish for that month, appetizer, comfort food. I then let the student look thorough a cookbook or on the internet to find a recipe that fits the category in which they would like to make. I then have them make a grocery list of ingredients they will need to prepare their dish. We will then go to the store and have them purchase their items that they will need to prepare the dish. Usually we have the lab on Friday where they will prepare their dish with little or even no help from me. After all the dishes are made we then present them to 10 to 12 other teachers or administrators for them to vote on the best dish. I like this lesson because it really gets the student engaged by letting them choose the dish they want to make and getting them out to the store to purchase their ingredients. They also like the competition between dishes on which one will get voted number one.
My best lesson comes from our argument unit. The lesson I think I could sell tickets to would be the mock debate my students participate in. The first thing my students do is pick their own topic; as long as it is school appropriate, something they are passionate about, and they can find enough research/evidence to support their topic. I encourage them to come up with their own lists, pick their favorite one off their list, then share that one topic with the class. Then, collectively, the class picks which topic they think is the best. After that, I spontaneously decide teams using a random generator. Once teams have been chosen, students get class time to do their research by filling out their planning sheets. Their planning sheets consist of sentence starters for each side of the debate: claim, evidence, counterarguments, and rebuttals. The next day in class, students practice their side of the argument multiple times so that they are ready to "present" during the actual debate. The third and final day, a guest judge (usually one of our history teachers or principal) comes into the room and acts as the judge in a courtroom. He wears a judge costume, wig, and brings a gavel with him. Students then go through their debate and at the end, the judge chooses who wins the debate. From feedback I have received from my students, they love that they are learning about how to argue the right way, while also competing with each other to see who is the best. Having a guest judge come in is their favorite part because they don't know who it's going to be, but also because it gives them the opportunity to a fair argument since I help both sides during the planning process. Year after year, I hear amazing feedback from this lesson.
The lesson that comes to mind is Faces of History from the writing curriculum I use in my upper elementary English class in our homeschool co-op. Each kid picks a character from history from the time period we are studying and researches and writes a 5 paragraph paper about that person. The student dresses up like the character and presents their paper in costume in front of an audience of friends and family. We have some sort of refreshments afterwards and have a backdrop to take individual and group pictures. This lesson is so great because the students have the opportunity to share what they have learned about the person they have researched with an audience of people they have invited to the presentation. The kids are learning history, writing, and communication skills. The lesson also shows that sharing something that you wrote can be fun and can be celebrated with others.
One of my favorite lessons that I could sell tickets to comes from my sequencing unit. Sometimes we think that making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is easy, but when writing out every single step one has to take to complete this task can be tricky. Details matter, especially when a student was doing exactly what was written step by step on a piece of paper and their hand ended up in the jelly jar. This lesson was not only engaging and memorable, but I believe this lesson taught critical thinking, clarity, and sequencing all in one. I was able to do this unit with multiple classes and both years I taught. Students gave immediate feedback that they wished they could do this each week not only because they eventually got a PB&J sandwich, but also because it was a unique lesson that had their minds running and focused.
I think one of my lessons I could sell tickets for is my Action Shots photography unit I developed last year as a 1st time photo teacher. I start the lesson by jumping off a chair, with a challenge: Who thinks they can jump higher than a grandma?!" Oh, do the high school boys especially get charged up with the challenge. The lesson object is shutter speed and getting great "in air" action shots. It is a very dynamic process that involves phycial movement as well as photography knowledge and skills. Movement is always engaging in the classroom, I have found. I also spend time creating 8 themed stations with things to "throw", including Birthday Party (toss ballons and a present), Game Night ( cards and dice) and Snow Day ( throwing cottonw balls). It is a student fave!
One of my best lessons is my “Cold War Spy Thriller Short Stories” lesson. I create short, magazine-style snippets that read like real spy stories from the Cold War era. Students get to read, analyze, and even role-play the spies’ missions, decoding secret messages, evaluating the stakes, and predicting what happens next.
Throughout the lesson, I use Think/Pair/Share so students can first process ideas on their own, then discuss in small groups, and finally share with the whole class. This structure lets students engage individually, collaborate with peers, and participate in class-wide discussions, keeping everyone involved at multiple levels.
What makes this lesson so great is that it feels like entertainment, not schoolwork. Students are hooked by the suspense, the drama, and the “real-life” spy scenarios, but they’re also practicing critical reading, historical analysis, and inference skills. The magazine-style format makes the stories bite-sized and exciting, and the Think/Pair/Share activities keep them thinking and talking throughout. I could literally sell tickets for this lesson because students are genuinely invested—they want to see how the stories end and feel like active participants in the action.
One of my best lessons took place in my self-contained classroom, where many students have motor needs and often struggle with movement. I read the book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, which the children immediately loved.
I turned it into an interactive experience by creating a “bear hunt” throughout the school. At each part of the story—grass, river, forest, mud, etc.—students had to perform different movements that corresponded to the terrain.
What made this lesson so great was that it transformed movement from a dreaded activity into something fun and engaging. Students were excited to participate, laughed, and enthusiastically moved their bodies in ways they normally might avoid. Other classes saw us doing this and asked if my class could take their students on a bear hunt! It turned into this fun, building-wide event It was both a joyful and meaningful way to practice motor skills, follow directions, and experience the story in a hands-on way—truly a lesson I could “sell tickets for”!
One of my best lessons is our 'mummification presentation'. We have a mannequin that gets passed to the different middle schools, although I'm not sure that every school does it the same way. We follow the mummification process step by step (pulling out organs, food colored water as blood, salt, etc.) while under a spotlight in the center of the room. This year, we combined all our students into one big room (took out a divider) and it was like presenting for a small audience.
We always try to call volunteers up to help us in the process just to make it more hands on. Students tend to remember it the following year and always ask if we have done it yet.
One of our best themes is our”Build It” unit. In this theme we read different stories about building including even animals building homes. Some are nonfiction and some are fictional/fairy tales. I include many hands-on activities in this theme as well. Within this unit we explore different versions of “The Three Little Pigs.” The students love this story because they get the hang of what the wolf is going to say and what the pigs will say. They love to join in and chant along with the story as I read. As an extension activity, we divide into three groups and build each of the houses, but with more school type materials. Instead of actual straw, we use plastic straws. Instead of sticks we use wooden craft sticks. Instead of bricks we use duplo blocks. The students work together with their group to build a house that will cover their pigs. Then we re-enact the story and they help me tell it. When it comes time for the big bad wolf, I pull out my hair dryer that I’ve decorated to look like a wolf to blow down the house. They think it’s great.
I think that I might be able to "sell tickets" to an inference lesson I am working on for my 4th and 5th grade Title Reading students. I have created a crime scene scenario where our candy treat jar goes missing. I have crime scene tape and am working on creating some crime scene props and clues. Students will be given detective badges and a case file packet in a manilla envelope with a list of possible suspects and copies of evidence collected. In pairs, they will create an evidence board by using the information and photos in their file packet to make inferences and follow the clues to solving the crime. The dad of one of my younger students is a detective with the Aberdeen Police Department. Having him come to speak to my students will help them realize a real-life connection to this important reading strategy.
Reading Teach Like a Pirate has made me aware that I do need to "up my game" in my lesson planning. I have let the constraints of time and limitations of my role as a Title I teacher hinder the level of engagement that Dave talks about. I am passionate and enthusiastic and my lessons are designed to be engaging and encompass more than one modality, but "sell tickets to"? No, I need to strive to more often reach that level. I see now that asking the "right" questions and having a vision of what I want my lessons to look like will be the first steps in moving me forward to that goal.
One lesson that I “could sell tickets for” would be my Second Grade Social Studies lesson on important people that could be viewed as heroes. For this lesson, we looked at many important people from history, and people that the students viewed as important currently. I then brought up the idea that someone being important might mean something different to someone else. I encouraged the students to think of someone in their own lives that they viewed as important or as a hero. As a class, we came up with a list of questions we could ask those people, and then the students had to go and interview them with those questions. Once that was finished, we worked in class to create each of their heroes a special “book” that the students colored and wrote in. The heroes were then invited to class where they got to share a snack and special time with the students.
This was a wonderful lesson for the students because it got them interacting with people in the community that they looked up to. It taught them how to ask questions and interact with someone outside their normal circle, and it taught them how to honor someone they viewed as important.
My best single lessons ever is when I taught U.S. History and we were learning about the 1920’s. The lesson revolved around prohibition and speakeasy’s. The other single best lesson involved comparing and contrasting the music of the Vietnam War era. My best unit ever that I could sell tickets for comes down to either the unit on JFK and his assassination or Vietnam and what would you do. The JFK lesson was so good because students would use a variety or resources to determine who killed JFK. Along with their own resources and defending their stance or belief, we would as a class complete a book study in which we would read aloud in class and take a quiz. The reading and subsequent discussion would lead the class into some great critical thinking skills along with reasoning. At the end of the unit, students would have to present to the class why they believed JFK was killed in the way they thought. The other unit that I believe I could sell money for was: What Would You Do, in which we examine the dilemma of if you were in Vietnam, would you follow orders and burn a local village. Students’ 1st write a response to that question in which they are required to turn in and are given a grade and feedback. We then participate in a book study in which we read the auto biography of the most decorated sniper in the Vietnam War and the experiences he went through. Following the book study (along with some other resources) students need to respond to the same question along with adding more evidence to their reasoning. I know these lessons are great as students who have completed the course still talk about it years later. Students remember different aspects of the lesson and each student has different aspects of the units that they still comment on that impact them years later.
What is your best lesson? One of my best lessons is when I get the opportunity to teach in a biology classroom and the content is cell organelles. Each student is assigned a cell organelle and they are charged with creating a poster of that organelle using an analogy. The students really like this project and are typically highly engaged. I have found that this activity helps them learn the function of the organelles better than just lecturing, reading, or watching a video about the content. On student created a poster that looked like a grass maze with cows in the grass to represent the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The cows represented the ribosomes attached to the ER. She used cows as ribosomes make proteins. I thought that was very creative and helped many student learn the function of the (ER) and ribosomes. Since each student was assigned on organelle, I ended the lesson with a gallery walk. This allowed students to learn about the other organelle from the peers. It also provided students an opportunity to move and communicate with each other. Students were provided an opportunity to be an expert/teacher, ultimately to practice their communication skills too. Overall, the lesson provided students choice, creative outlet, engagement, and movement. I enjoy this lesson and students are highly engaged, which is why it is one of my best lessons.
After reading Teach Like a Pirate and evaluating my best lessons, I am motivated to revisit some of my less-engaging lessons. I want more lessons to feel like my best lessons...lessons that I could sell tickets for...lessons that students want to attend.
My best lesson is my Hunger Games Probability Unit. Our probability/statistics unit is at the end of the year where it is a perfect time to be able to take the classroom outdoors if possible. Students will learn the 7th grade probability standards while being involved in a hunger games simulation. We start the unit by watching the trailer to get their attention. During their Lit Circles in reading class, the book is an option for them to read. The reading teacher and I have worked together so that some students who chose the hunger games book, will have completed it before we start the unit. In 7the grade science, the students have also worked on biomes. So naturally, the students come in with a good background even if they have not read the book.
Once the trailer is watched, we watch the reaping scene from the movie and then conduct our own. Students will be divided into districts and then the reaping will decided which students are tributes for their district. Once we have our tributes, each day we focus on a concept with probability and then have an elimination activity at the end of class. I throw in different random rewards so that even students who are not tributes, can get voted in and will still be involved.
This book has given me extra motivation to see how I can change and revamp this lesson. Also, I have to ask myself, why do I not mention every lesson in the way I talk about this one? Could I be changing other lessons and unit to meet the engagement level of what I consider my best lesson? I think so!
Blog Post #3 What is your best lesson? Describe a lesson you’ve used that “you could sell tickets for”. (If one doesn’t come to mind, use the creative process described in this section to design one, then describe it here. ) What makes this lesson so great? A lesson that "I could sell tickets for" is a project the class completes after learning about many landforms and bodies of water. The students are divided into groups of 3 or 4, and they need to brainstorm together to make a diorama of many landforms and bodies of water (mountains, valleys, hills, plateaus, canyons, deserts, plains, lakes, rivers, oceans, islands). Creativity and thinking outside the box are important. Stuffed lunch sacks topped with cotton balls may be mountains, egg cartons may represent hills and valleys. Blue died rice could be the ocean, and crushed graham crackers the beach. Each group brings items to school for their design. They also have access to clay, construction paper, paints, and a box lid. This lesson requires students to think about how to arrange the landforms; they need to cooperate with one another to design the diorama, and they need to think creatively to come up with ideas for each landform or body of water. This is a great lesson because it is hands-on, it allows for much creativity, and it creates a lasting impression on the students.
I haven't taught in a long time, but my introduction to the American Civil War was something I always enjoyed. I asked the students if they had been up before the dawn and we talked about the stillness of the dawn. Listening to the Robins singing. Maybe they hear the crickets chirping. Many days there is no wind at all. On the morning of the start of the bloodiest war in American history there was a tremendous Boom. South Carolina fired their cannons at Fort Sumpter for a solid day. The only casualty at the battle of Ft. Sumpter was a horse. On this lesson I show them many of the battles and casualties for them. I talked to them that some of the casualties represented the numbers of people that live in Huron, Mitchell, Brookings, and Watertown. That puts a perspective for most of the students. My best story telling lessons were during the Civil War lessons.
What is your best lesson? My best lesson is “Different Kinds of Sentences.”
Describe a lesson you’ve used that “you could sell tickets for”. Every year, my students learn the story, The Three Little Pigs and the Fox. I create scripts for my students and we practice frequently so they are very comfortable with the words and sentences in this story. For this lesson, I provide each student with a script and a printout that has a pig nose and a set of fox ears. I play some “walking in the woods” music while students cut out their noses and ears. After about 5 minutes of prep, students will be broken into two teams (the corn dumplings and the rutabagas) and each team will be given a deck of 4 sentence cards (declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory), and depending on what part they play, they will attach the nose or ears to themselves using tape. The music continues, but quieter and it is now background music. I get up in front of my class with a giant scroll and unroll it so I can formally announce the lesson. Trumpets sound and I announce, “Today, we will be learning about different types of sentences. They are all around us and it is up to us to find them.” I will then throw small popcorn bags to each student and say, “Let us enjoy a short film about different types of sentences!” After the video, I’ll say, “To truly become an expert, we shall take turns reading our play and after each character reads a sentence, the teams must discuss what type of sentence they just heard and hold up a card to show me their answer. Are there any questions?” I’ll then say, “Let the games begin!” There will be an exit ticket at the end of the lesson that requires students to create an example for each type of sentence.
What makes this lesson so great? I think this lesson is so great because there’s high energy, music, acting roles, teamwork, and popcorn! Everyone is engaged and having fun while learning a skill they’ll be using as they move forward as writers and readers.
A lesson that I could sell tickets for has to be an integrated lesson with classroom props and the lesson designed around the topic. Decorating the desks like newscaster tables and having all of the lessons designed around a TV station with green screen, cameras, etc. Social Studies: current events and reporting. Science: weather and experiments with tornado bottles, etc. ELA: writing a story and doing interviews to report on. Math: Statistics lesson on weather patterns and other news articles. Jobs include: film crew, reporters, weather persons, and everyone gets to be in the audience at times.
I teach Junior Kindergarten students. I like to teach with different themes to go along with a letter. I have found this to be more engaging and exciting for the students. I talk about some of the themes at the beginning of the year. I love how the students remember and ask when we are learning about pumpkins and the letter “Pp” for example. One of my best and most well-loved lessons, is when we learn about Dinosaurs and the letter “Dd”. This is a week of learning. Here are a few things we do in our dinosaur week: we read dinosaur books, dinosaur poetry, dinosaur math activities, dinosaur dramatic play, learning about different types of dinosaurs, paleontologists, dinosaur games, carnivores and herbivores, types of fossils, we hatch a dinosaur egg, dinosaur art projects, and dinosaur bingo. We also do some dinosaur science activities and end our week by watching the movie “The Land Before Time.” The is a great week of lessons, because the students are always excited for what comes next. At the end of the school year, when we talk about some of our favorite JK memories, dinosaur week usually comes up.
One of my best lessons is my alcohol & drug prevention unit. I have many stories to tell about friends that relate to this topic and they are genuinely interested when it comes to real life stories. I also have a wonderful activity called "roll the dice". The students get into groups of 4-5. Each student rolls a die , which correlates with a "situation that happened to them". For example if a student rolled a five and looked at the worksheet, it might say something like "you drank one too many and drove anyway, you lost control of the car and crashed, your best friend was in the car and died". The group must then collectively decide who had the worst situation. The students LOVE this activity.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your best lesson? Describe a lesson you’ve used that “you could sell tickets for”. (If one doesn’t come to mind, use the creative process described in this section to design one, then describe it here. ) What makes this lesson so great?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite time of year is Christmas and I look forward to my unit on the Nutcracker each year. Throughout the week of December, I break down the Nutcracker songs and we listen to them and add an activity for each one. I have gotten very creative and not one activity is a like another. Some of the things we do are move to the form of "The March" with a parachute, cut out snowflakes during "The Waltz of the Snowflakes", and paper plate ice skate during the "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy". We also play instruments, twirl scarves, improvise with rhythm, and so on. It is an absolute blast all month long. The kids come in with big smiles asking what we will do next. It is my most engaging time of the year.
What is your best lesson? Describe a lesson you’ve used that “you could sell tickets for”. (If one doesn’t come to mind, use the creative process described in this section to design one, then describe it here.) What makes this lesson so great?
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite lessons to teach with preschool is about part and whole. I start by engaging them with a lesson on the board. After we finish the lesson on the board, the next day the students get to make their own pizzas. The students make their pizza and then we bake and put all the toppings on. Once finished, the students and teacher talk about a whole and part again. This time the lesson is completely hands on. The students begin with a whole pizza, then the teacher will ask them to take a piece of the pizza and put it on the other plate. I then ask the students did you take a part of the pizza or the whole pizza. The students will answer, and we continue doing it with each slice. The students enjoy this so much.
My "sell tickets" lesson would be from a 3rd-5th grade STEM lesson. Students have basic equipment (scissors, hole punch, pencils, and tape) at their tables. They also have an elf in their basket. Their job is to create a "vehicle" for their elf to ride in to travel down a zipline. He must stay in the vehicle and he must complete the zipline in 5 seconds or less. They are to brainstorm together and then draw a quick drawing of their design. Then using a multitude of recyclable items and other supplies, they need to construct their zipline vehicle. After I test the first one, they begin to realize that string will not work and there is to much friction. Most of them need to make changes to their vehicle and try to test it again.
ReplyDeleteTrina Merideth Response:
ReplyDeleteWhat is your best lesson? Describe a lesson you’ve used that “you could sell tickets for”. (If one doesn’t come to mind, use the creative process described in this section to design one, then describe it here. ) What makes this lesson so great?
My best lesson has been juxtaposing 2 actual painted pictures and then juxtaposing 2 written passages (1 from the Diary of Anne Frank and 1 from Faber in Fahrenheit 451).
I begin with 2 painted pictures "Christina's World" and "The Prairie is My Garden" and I ask students to write down what is similar and what is different on a piece of paper that has a line down the middle. Myself and another aide or student walk the classroom letting students look at the 2 pictures. They pair share and then share out with the entire class. I then ask students to read the 2 passages and juxtapose the passages. The next day the stand and read their responses with a partner.
The lesson is great because students are engaged immediately. I walk to the front of the room with the "big" paintings turned away and then ask them to compare and contrast what they see. I bring the paintings close to them and from a distance. They write down the most amazing answers and then when the answers are shared there is always "I saw that," "I noticed that too," "I thought about writing that down." Then as students juxtapose the 2 passages there is real critical thinking and comparing and contrasting.
I no longer teach the subject that I had lessons I “could sell tickets for,” but in my new content area, the lessons I could sell tickets for are not so much entire lessons as much as portions of lessons. I feel like lessons where we are 1) active and 2) are a little silly are the lessons that my students and I enjoy most. For example, when learning a new word or concept that has a name, we say that in a goofy voice or with a specific posture. For whatever reason (in a creative flash!), the other day when teaching Kindergarteners about alphabetical order in the library, we stood like flamingos on one foot, the other leg in a triangle with that foot up on the thigh and said “alphabetical!” in a bird-like screechy voice. The following week when I asked how our Everybody fiction was organized, they said it in the same voice. It was funny (probably annoying to other people), but they remembered that the books were organized in ABC order in that section and were able to tell me that after saying “alphabetical.” This was not a whole lesson, but an important understanding for them to have on how our library is organized. The kids liked that 1)I was silly, 2) they got to be silly, and 3) that they got to repeat the silliness when asked about it in later weeks.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your best lesson? Describe a lesson you’ve used that “you could sell tickets for”. What makes this lesson so great?
ReplyDeleteMy best lesson is on the Boston Massacre. I tell the story in a way that is engaging and dramatic. The students know that it ends with death and will help lead to the Revolutionary War but they don't necessarily know how it all unfolds. I use their own experience and a loud thumping of a baseball bat to tell the story. They are hooked. They want to know how it all escalates. They get to feel it build until... BANG. Shots are fired. 5 lie dead. I love that lesson. The drama and the volume make it special. The kids talk about it after high school.
My best lesson would certainly be these Cardboard Cartoon Character Sculptures that we create. Students really like the process, and this is the most taken home project and one students ask if we are going to be creating based on the previous sections. It allows students to plan and problem solve. Definitely a crowd favorite, though there a certainly several projects students enjoy.
ReplyDeleteA lesson I do that I feel people would pay for would probably be my field day for Survival Skills. My field day consists of different stations of survival skills we have learned about throughout the year. For example there will be: water purification, fire building, shelter building, first aid, foraging, navigation, and knots stations. The students are divided in to 7 groups and go from station to station getting hands on experience. Depending on class sizes sometimes I do two of every station and only divide the class into two groups and we do a "Survivor Challenge" and see which group completes each station successfully. I tell the students about the field day at the beginning of the year and it motivates them pay attention and learn all the survival skills so they can have a better chance at winning the survivor challenge at the end of the year.
ReplyDeleteThe lesson plan I think I could sell tickets for would be my cooking lab. I usually plan a cooking lab every month for my students. I will pick a category such as desserts, salads, holiday dish for that month, appetizer, comfort food. I then let the student look thorough a cookbook or on the internet to find a recipe that fits the category in which they would like to make. I then have them make a grocery list of ingredients they will need to prepare their dish. We will then go to the store and have them purchase their items that they will need to prepare the dish. Usually we have the lab on Friday where they will prepare their dish with little or even no help from me. After all the dishes are made we then present them to 10 to 12 other teachers or administrators for them to vote on the best dish. I like this lesson because it really gets the student engaged by letting them choose the dish they want to make and getting them out to the store to purchase their ingredients. They also like the competition between dishes on which one will get voted number one.
ReplyDeleteMy best lesson comes from our argument unit. The lesson I think I could sell tickets to would be the mock debate my students participate in. The first thing my students do is pick their own topic; as long as it is school appropriate, something they are passionate about, and they can find enough research/evidence to support their topic. I encourage them to come up with their own lists, pick their favorite one off their list, then share that one topic with the class. Then, collectively, the class picks which topic they think is the best. After that, I spontaneously decide teams using a random generator. Once teams have been chosen, students get class time to do their research by filling out their planning sheets. Their planning sheets consist of sentence starters for each side of the debate: claim, evidence, counterarguments, and rebuttals. The next day in class, students practice their side of the argument multiple times so that they are ready to "present" during the actual debate. The third and final day, a guest judge (usually one of our history teachers or principal) comes into the room and acts as the judge in a courtroom. He wears a judge costume, wig, and brings a gavel with him. Students then go through their debate and at the end, the judge chooses who wins the debate. From feedback I have received from my students, they love that they are learning about how to argue the right way, while also competing with each other to see who is the best. Having a guest judge come in is their favorite part because they don't know who it's going to be, but also because it gives them the opportunity to a fair argument since I help both sides during the planning process. Year after year, I hear amazing feedback from this lesson.
ReplyDeleteThe lesson that comes to mind is Faces of History from the writing curriculum I use in my upper elementary English class in our homeschool co-op. Each kid picks a character from history from the time period we are studying and researches and writes a 5 paragraph paper about that person. The student dresses up like the character and presents their paper in costume in front of an audience of friends and family. We have some sort of refreshments afterwards and have a backdrop to take individual and group pictures. This lesson is so great because the students have the opportunity to share what they have learned about the person they have researched with an audience of people they have invited to the presentation. The kids are learning history, writing, and communication skills. The lesson also shows that sharing something that you wrote can be fun and can be celebrated with others.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite lessons that I could sell tickets to comes from my sequencing unit. Sometimes we think that making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is easy, but when writing out every single step one has to take to complete this task can be tricky. Details matter, especially when a student was doing exactly what was written step by step on a piece of paper and their hand ended up in the jelly jar. This lesson was not only engaging and memorable, but I believe this lesson taught critical thinking, clarity, and sequencing all in one. I was able to do this unit with multiple classes and both years I taught. Students gave immediate feedback that they wished they could do this each week not only because they eventually got a PB&J sandwich, but also because it was a unique lesson that had their minds running and focused.
ReplyDeleteI think one of my lessons I could sell tickets for is my Action Shots photography unit I developed last year as a 1st time photo teacher. I start the lesson by jumping off a chair, with a challenge: Who thinks they can jump higher than a grandma?!" Oh, do the high school boys especially get charged up with the challenge. The lesson object is shutter speed and getting great "in air" action shots. It is a very dynamic process that involves phycial movement as well as photography knowledge and skills. Movement is always engaging in the classroom, I have found. I also spend time creating 8 themed stations with things to "throw", including Birthday Party (toss ballons and a present), Game Night ( cards and dice) and Snow Day ( throwing cottonw balls). It is a student fave!
ReplyDeleteOne of my best lessons is my “Cold War Spy Thriller Short Stories” lesson. I create short, magazine-style snippets that read like real spy stories from the Cold War era. Students get to read, analyze, and even role-play the spies’ missions, decoding secret messages, evaluating the stakes, and predicting what happens next.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the lesson, I use Think/Pair/Share so students can first process ideas on their own, then discuss in small groups, and finally share with the whole class. This structure lets students engage individually, collaborate with peers, and participate in class-wide discussions, keeping everyone involved at multiple levels.
What makes this lesson so great is that it feels like entertainment, not schoolwork. Students are hooked by the suspense, the drama, and the “real-life” spy scenarios, but they’re also practicing critical reading, historical analysis, and inference skills. The magazine-style format makes the stories bite-sized and exciting, and the Think/Pair/Share activities keep them thinking and talking throughout. I could literally sell tickets for this lesson because students are genuinely invested—they want to see how the stories end and feel like active participants in the action.
One of my best lessons took place in my self-contained classroom, where many students have motor needs and often struggle with movement. I read the book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, which the children immediately loved.
ReplyDeleteI turned it into an interactive experience by creating a “bear hunt” throughout the school. At each part of the story—grass, river, forest, mud, etc.—students had to perform different movements that corresponded to the terrain.
What made this lesson so great was that it transformed movement from a dreaded activity into something fun and engaging. Students were excited to participate, laughed, and enthusiastically moved their bodies in ways they normally might avoid. Other classes saw us doing this and asked if my class could take their students on a bear hunt! It turned into this fun, building-wide event It was both a joyful and meaningful way to practice motor skills, follow directions, and experience the story in a hands-on way—truly a lesson I could “sell tickets for”!
One of my best lessons is our 'mummification presentation'. We have a mannequin that gets passed to the different middle schools, although I'm not sure that every school does it the same way. We follow the mummification process step by step (pulling out organs, food colored water as blood, salt, etc.) while under a spotlight in the center of the room. This year, we combined all our students into one big room (took out a divider) and it was like presenting for a small audience.
ReplyDeleteWe always try to call volunteers up to help us in the process just to make it more hands on. Students tend to remember it the following year and always ask if we have done it yet.
One of our best themes is our”Build It” unit. In this theme we read different stories about building including even animals building homes. Some are nonfiction and some are fictional/fairy tales. I include many hands-on activities in this theme as well. Within this unit we explore different versions of “The Three Little Pigs.” The students love this story because they get the hang of what the wolf is going to say and what the pigs will say. They love to join in and chant along with the story as I read. As an extension activity, we divide into three groups and build each of the houses, but with more school type materials. Instead of actual straw, we use plastic straws. Instead of sticks we use wooden craft sticks. Instead of bricks we use duplo blocks. The students work together with their group to build a house that will cover their pigs. Then we re-enact the story and they help me tell it. When it comes time for the big bad wolf, I pull out my hair dryer that I’ve decorated to look like a wolf to blow down the house. They think it’s great.
ReplyDeleteI think that I might be able to "sell tickets" to an inference lesson I am working on for my 4th and 5th grade Title Reading students. I have created a crime scene scenario where our candy treat jar goes missing. I have crime scene tape and am working on creating some crime scene props and clues. Students will be given detective badges and a case file packet in a manilla envelope with a list of possible suspects and copies of evidence collected. In pairs, they will create an evidence board by using the information and photos in their file packet to make inferences and follow the clues to solving the crime. The dad of one of my younger students is a detective with the Aberdeen Police Department. Having him come to speak to my students will help them realize a real-life connection to this important reading strategy.
ReplyDeleteReading Teach Like a Pirate has made me aware that I do need to "up my game" in my lesson planning. I have let the constraints of time and limitations of my role as a Title I teacher hinder the level of engagement that Dave talks about. I am passionate and enthusiastic and my lessons are designed to be engaging and encompass more than one modality, but "sell tickets to"? No, I need to strive to more often reach that level. I see now that asking the "right" questions and having a vision of what I want my lessons to look like will be the first steps in moving me forward to that goal.
One lesson that I “could sell tickets for” would be my Second Grade Social Studies lesson on important people that could be viewed as heroes. For this lesson, we looked at many important people from history, and people that the students viewed as important currently. I then brought up the idea that someone being important might mean something different to someone else. I encouraged the students to think of someone in their own lives that they viewed as important or as a hero. As a class, we came up with a list of questions we could ask those people, and then the students had to go and interview them with those questions. Once that was finished, we worked in class to create each of their heroes a special “book” that the students colored and wrote in. The heroes were then invited to class where they got to share a snack and special time with the students.
ReplyDeleteThis was a wonderful lesson for the students because it got them interacting with people in the community that they looked up to. It taught them how to ask questions and interact with someone outside their normal circle, and it taught them how to honor someone they viewed as important.
My best single lessons ever is when I taught U.S. History and we were learning about the 1920’s. The lesson revolved around prohibition and speakeasy’s. The other single best lesson involved comparing and contrasting the music of the Vietnam War era. My best unit ever that I could sell tickets for comes down to either the unit on JFK and his assassination or Vietnam and what would you do. The JFK lesson was so good because students would use a variety or resources to determine who killed JFK. Along with their own resources and defending their stance or belief, we would as a class complete a book study in which we would read aloud in class and take a quiz. The reading and subsequent discussion would lead the class into some great critical thinking skills along with reasoning. At the end of the unit, students would have to present to the class why they believed JFK was killed in the way they thought. The other unit that I believe I could sell money for was: What Would You Do, in which we examine the dilemma of if you were in Vietnam, would you follow orders and burn a local village. Students’ 1st write a response to that question in which they are required to turn in and are given a grade and feedback. We then participate in a book study in which we read the auto biography of the most decorated sniper in the Vietnam War and the experiences he went through. Following the book study (along with some other resources) students need to respond to the same question along with adding more evidence to their reasoning. I know these lessons are great as students who have completed the course still talk about it years later. Students remember different aspects of the lesson and each student has different aspects of the units that they still comment on that impact them years later.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your best lesson?
ReplyDeleteOne of my best lessons is when I get the opportunity to teach in a biology classroom and the content is cell organelles. Each student is assigned a cell organelle and they are charged with creating a poster of that organelle using an analogy. The students really like this project and are typically highly engaged. I have found that this activity helps them learn the function of the organelles better than just lecturing, reading, or watching a video about the content. On student created a poster that looked like a grass maze with cows in the grass to represent the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The cows represented the ribosomes attached to the ER. She used cows as ribosomes make proteins. I thought that was very creative and helped many student learn the function of the (ER) and ribosomes. Since each student was assigned on organelle, I ended the lesson with a gallery walk. This allowed students to learn about the other organelle from the peers. It also provided students an opportunity to move and communicate with each other. Students were provided an opportunity to be an expert/teacher, ultimately to practice their communication skills too. Overall, the lesson provided students choice, creative outlet, engagement, and movement. I enjoy this lesson and students are highly engaged, which is why it is one of my best lessons.
After reading Teach Like a Pirate and evaluating my best lessons, I am motivated to revisit some of my less-engaging lessons. I want more lessons to feel like my best lessons...lessons that I could sell tickets for...lessons that students want to attend.
My best lesson is my Hunger Games Probability Unit. Our probability/statistics unit is at the end of the year where it is a perfect time to be able to take the classroom outdoors if possible. Students will learn the 7th grade probability standards while being involved in a hunger games simulation. We start the unit by watching the trailer to get their attention. During their Lit Circles in reading class, the book is an option for them to read. The reading teacher and I have worked together so that some students who chose the hunger games book, will have completed it before we start the unit. In 7the grade science, the students have also worked on biomes. So naturally, the students come in with a good background even if they have not read the book.
ReplyDeleteOnce the trailer is watched, we watch the reaping scene from the movie and then conduct our own. Students will be divided into districts and then the reaping will decided which students are tributes for their district. Once we have our tributes, each day we focus on a concept with probability and then have an elimination activity at the end of class. I throw in different random rewards so that even students who are not tributes, can get voted in and will still be involved.
This book has given me extra motivation to see how I can change and revamp this lesson. Also, I have to ask myself, why do I not mention every lesson in the way I talk about this one? Could I be changing other lessons and unit to meet the engagement level of what I consider my best lesson? I think so!
Blog Post #3
ReplyDeleteWhat is your best lesson? Describe a lesson you’ve used that “you could sell tickets for”. (If one doesn’t come to mind, use the creative process described in this section to design one, then describe it here. ) What makes this lesson so great?
A lesson that "I could sell tickets for" is a project the class completes after learning about many landforms and bodies of water. The students are divided into groups of 3 or 4, and they need to brainstorm together to make a diorama of many landforms and bodies of water (mountains, valleys, hills, plateaus, canyons, deserts, plains, lakes, rivers, oceans, islands). Creativity and thinking outside the box are important. Stuffed lunch sacks topped with cotton balls may be mountains, egg cartons may represent hills and valleys. Blue died rice could be the ocean, and crushed graham crackers the beach. Each group brings items to school for their design. They also have access to clay, construction paper, paints, and a box lid. This lesson requires students to think about how to arrange the landforms; they need to cooperate with one another to design the diorama, and they need to think creatively to come up with ideas for each landform or body of water.
This is a great lesson because it is hands-on, it allows for much creativity, and it creates a lasting impression on the students.
I haven't taught in a long time, but my introduction to the American Civil War was something I always enjoyed. I asked the students if they had been up before the dawn and we talked about the stillness of the dawn. Listening to the Robins singing. Maybe they hear the crickets chirping. Many days there is no wind at all. On the morning of the start of the bloodiest war in American history there was a tremendous Boom. South Carolina fired their cannons at Fort Sumpter for a solid day. The only casualty at the battle of Ft. Sumpter was a horse. On this lesson I show them many of the battles and casualties for them. I talked to them that some of the casualties represented the numbers of people that live in Huron, Mitchell, Brookings, and Watertown. That puts a perspective for most of the students. My best story telling lessons were during the Civil War lessons.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your best lesson? My best lesson is “Different Kinds of Sentences.”
ReplyDeleteDescribe a lesson you’ve used that “you could sell tickets for”.
Every year, my students learn the story, The Three Little Pigs and the Fox. I create scripts for my students and we practice frequently so they are very comfortable with the words and sentences in this story. For this lesson, I provide each student with a script and a printout that has a pig nose and a set of fox ears. I play some “walking in the woods” music while students cut out their noses and ears. After about 5 minutes of prep, students will be broken into two teams (the corn dumplings and the rutabagas) and each team will be given a deck of 4 sentence cards (declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory), and depending on what part they play, they will attach the nose or ears to themselves using tape. The music continues, but quieter and it is now background music. I get up in front of my class with a giant scroll and unroll it so I can formally announce the lesson. Trumpets sound and I announce, “Today, we will be learning about different types of sentences. They are all around us and it is up to us to find them.” I will then throw small popcorn bags to each student and say, “Let us enjoy a short film about different types of sentences!” After the video, I’ll say, “To truly become an expert, we shall take turns reading our play and after each character reads a sentence, the teams must discuss what type of sentence they just heard and hold up a card to show me their answer. Are there any questions?” I’ll then say, “Let the games begin!” There will be an exit ticket at the end of the lesson that requires students to create an example for each type of sentence.
What makes this lesson so great? I think this lesson is so great because there’s high energy, music, acting roles, teamwork, and popcorn! Everyone is engaged and having fun while learning a skill they’ll be using as they move forward as writers and readers.
A lesson that I could sell tickets for has to be an integrated lesson with classroom props and the lesson designed around the topic. Decorating the desks like newscaster tables and having all of the lessons designed around a TV station with green screen, cameras, etc. Social Studies: current events and reporting. Science: weather and experiments with tornado bottles, etc. ELA: writing a story and doing interviews to report on. Math: Statistics lesson on weather patterns and other news articles. Jobs include: film crew, reporters, weather persons, and everyone gets to be in the audience at times.
ReplyDeleteI teach Junior Kindergarten students. I like to teach with different themes to go along with a letter. I have found this to be more engaging and exciting for the students. I talk about some of the themes at the beginning of the year. I love how the students remember and ask when we are learning about pumpkins and the letter “Pp” for example. One of my best and most well-loved lessons, is when we learn about Dinosaurs and the letter “Dd”. This is a week of learning. Here are a few things we do in our dinosaur week: we read dinosaur books, dinosaur poetry, dinosaur math activities, dinosaur dramatic play, learning about different types of dinosaurs, paleontologists, dinosaur games, carnivores and herbivores, types of fossils, we hatch a dinosaur egg, dinosaur art projects, and dinosaur bingo. We also do some dinosaur science activities and end our week by watching the movie “The Land Before Time.” The is a great week of lessons, because the students are always excited for what comes next. At the end of the school year, when we talk about some of our favorite JK memories, dinosaur week usually comes up.
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