Human Crane - Principled Approach to Warm Up Design - In-Service V, 2018

Human Crane

The unit opener for World English 1 Unit 8 shows a large dock filled with shipping containers and cranes.

1) Before class create a mimio with 4 diagrams showing different patterns with 4 equal sized rectangles (the shape of a Jenga block). They can be in any configuration.

2) Tell students they will work in teams to operate a large construction crane. Create teams of 3 or 4. One student in the team will be the crane. That person should be blindfolded. The other students in the group are the crane operators.

3) The teacher gives each group 4 Jenga blocks and projects the images of the four diagrams. The crane operators have to give instructions to the blindfolded student. This student is only allowed to manipulate the objects with one hand. Operators can only give instructions verbally. They cannot touch the blocks or the blindfolded student.

4) Teams race to complete all four diagrams. When the complete one they have to call over the teacher who will check that they have it accurately done then they can start with the next one. The first group to finish all four will be the winner.

Use your handout as a reference to answer these questions:

-Does this warm up fit into one or more of the five categories? 

-What function(s) does this warm up serve?

-What principles are present/missing?

-How might you adapt, improve, or expand upon this warm up?

Optimistic Meet and Greet - Principled Approach to Warm Up Design - In-Service V, 2018

Optimistic Meet and Greet

1) Students mingle around the room and introduce themselves.
2) They should use a unique greeting and gesture for each person (ex. "Hey, how are you? What's up?", Handshake, Fistbump, Bow, etc)
3) They express a unique and optimistic prediction/hope for that person this term (ex. "I hope you will speak only in English! I think you will learn a lot of vocabulary. I hope you will correct my errors if I make a mistake. etc".)
4) Students make a circle and the teacher throws a ball to one student who says his/her name and the best hope/prediction that they recieved. This student passes the ball to someone else.

Use your handout as a reference to answer these questions:

-Does this warm up fit into one or more of the five categories? 

-What function(s) does this warm up serve?

-What principles are present/missing?

-How might you adapt, improve, or expand upon this warm up?

Pop Quiz Presentations - Principled Approach to Warm Up Design - In-Service V, 2018

Pop Quiz Presentations

1) When students come into the classroom the teacher chooses 3 students at random to stand in front of the class and give an impromptu presentation about a topic from the previous unit or lesson.

2) The teacher gives the prompt and each student has to speak for 2 minutes. While they speak, the teacher takes detailed notes.

3) After each person finishes their presentation, the teacher writes the mistakes he/she heard and elicits the correct forms from the other students.

Use your handout as a reference to answer these questions:

-Does this warm up fit into one or more of the five categories? 

-What function(s) does this warm up serve?

-What principles are present/missing?

-How might you adapt, improve, or expand upon this warm up?

Secret Handshake - Principled Approach to Warm Up Design - In-Service V, 2018

Secret Handshake

1) Put students in pairs or small groups.

2) Students invent a creative secret handshake with multiple steps. Each step should have a symbolic meaning that represents something about each member of the pair or small group.

3) Students mingle and find another pair or group. They demonstrate their secret handshake with eachother and the other group tries to replicate the handshake based on what they saw. Then the group speculates about the symbolic meanings of the different stages of the handshake.

4) The original group members explain the true significance and students mingle to find other groups to demonstrate their handshake to.

Use your handout as a reference to answer these questions:

-Does this warm up fit into one or more of the five categories? 

-What function(s) does this warm up serve?

-What principles are present/missing?

-How might you adapt, improve, or expand upon this warm up?

Jenga - Principled Approach to Warm Up Design - In-Service V, 2018

Jenga

1) Students are put in large groups. In the center of the room the teacher puts a Jenga tower.

2) Students in group 1 take turns pulling blocks from the Jenga tower. The teacher keeps track of how many blocks the students can remove and place before the tower falls.

3) When the tower falls, students in group 2 have their chance to do the same thing. 

4) At the end, the teacher announces the group that successfully took to most pieces to be the winner.

Use your handout as a reference to answer these questions:

-Does this warm up fit into one or more of the five categories? 

-What function(s) does this warm up serve?

-What principles are present/missing?

-How might you adapt, improve, or expand upon this warm up?

Back to Back Dictations - Principled Approach to Warm Up Design - In-Service V, 2018

Back to Back Dictations

1) Find or write a short text of 4-5 sentences containing vocab and/or grammar structures students saw in a previous lesson or unit. Have at least 2 different texts. Print the texts out and have one per student.

2) Tape a row of news prints on opposite sides of the classroom. Have students get in pairs and stand back to back. Give each student in the pair a different text and either a black marker or a red marker. The teacher names one wall of the class the red wall and the other the black wall. When the teacher says red, the pairs have to walk to the red wall (standing back to back) and the student with the red marker writes what the other student dictates. Every 30 seconds the teacher says the opposite color and students have to walk back to back to the other side where the other student will dictate.

3) The teacher continues to call out the opposite color at random intervals until students complete the dictations. Then they visit each newsprint and compare it with the original texts.

Use your handout as a reference to answer these questions:

-Does this warm up fit into one or more of the five categories?
-What function(s) does this warm up serve?
-What principles are present/missing?
-How might you adapt, improve, or expand upon this warm up?

Wild Animal Stampede - Principled Approach to Warm Up Design - In-Service V, 2018

Wild Animal Stampede

Before beginning a unit about animals, students will participate in a wild animal safari activity.

1) Write or print a list of animals and cut the list into strips of paper with one animal per strip. Be sure to have one strip per student in the class. Choose a wide range of animals (ex. ant, sloth, kangaroo, shark, eagle, etc).

2) Have all students stand up and give each one a strip of paper with the animal name on it. Tell students that they are going to participate in a wild animal stampede. When you say go, you will turn off the lights and the students will mingle around the room immitating their animal's noises and movements. They are not allowed to speak during the activity. At the same time that they are immitating their animal, they should also try to notice the other animals around them.

3) Let students do the stampede for 30 seconds to a minute. Then turn on the light and have students make pairs. Tell students that they are all biologists who just observed this wild animal stampede. They should tell their partner the animals that they think they can identify and why they think it was a particular animal (ex. What was the animal doing? How was it acting? What noises was it making? etc)

4) After a few minutes have students make a circle and one by one students guess what animal each person was immitating.

Variation: You can play a video of animal sound effects on Youtube during the activity to add to the ambiance.

Use your handout as a reference to answer these questions:

-Does this warm up fit into one or more of the five categories? 

-What function(s) does this warm up serve?

-What principles are present/missing?

-How might you adapt, improve, or expand upon this warm up?

Course Collage - Principled Approach to Warm Up Design - In-Service V, 2018

Course Collage

1) In your Mimio presentation use the screenclipping function to prepare a photomontage of images and words from the previous 4 weeks of classes. Include clippings of images from previous Mimo exercises, any worksheets, diagrams, or handouts you created, and even still images from any videos you projected. Also include memorable words and phrases that came up in the lessons. You can personalize it to include other things that happened in the classroom that were not directly related to the content of the book such as a birthday celebration, a joke someone said, or some other thing that will remind students of a classroom anecdote.

2) Before projecting the photomontage ask students to make pairs or trios and mention several memorable moments from the course so far. Then project photomontage and have students discuss the following questions: What items do you remember? What were we doing when we saw that item? What items look unfamiliar? What do you think they might refer to? What memories do you have of the course that are not represented here?

3) After a few minutes, ask for a few volunteers to share their answers to some of their questions.

Sample Course Collages

Use your handout as a reference to answer these questions:

-Does this warm up fit into one or more of the five categories? 

-What function(s) does this warm up serve?

-What principles are present/missing?

-How might you adapt, improve, or expand upon this warm up?

Transportation Survey - Quality of STT Workshop - In-Service II, 2018

In the following activity students evaluate and compare different public transportation options in their city.

Read the following customer surveys and comment about them. Does anything surprise you about the ratings or comments? Do you have similar opinions about these kinds of public transportation options in your city?

(Click on the pictures to see the fullscreen version.)

(The last survey is blank because you should have completed it on paper with your partners.)

Final Task

You and your partners are a team of international transportation specialists that were hired by the government to evaluate the country's transportation infrastructure, identify problems, and make specific suggestions about how to improve these areas.

Party Pooperz! - Quality of STT Workshop - In-Service II, 2018

In the following activity students plan a surprise party for a classmate.

You work for a company called Party Pooperz Entertainment Consultants. Your job is to attend parties undercover and evaluate them according to specific criteria. Read the following party invitations and gift lists and evaluate them using the forms in your handout. Make sure to come to a consensus with the members of your group and be prepared to justify your choices.

(Click the images to see fullscreen versions.)

(Group B) - Sports Agents Materials - In-Service I, 2018

Below you will find images and descriptions of the materials that students will use for this problem solving activity. 

1) Students read the instructions card below to understand the context of the activity.

2) Students read the Team Manager cards below to find out what each team is offering. 

3) Students use the  Sports Agent Card below as a graphic organizer to take notes about the most important details of each Team Manager Card. 

4) The team managers sent over a copy of the final contract and the agents discover that there are several important details hidden in the fine print of the contracts. Students read the Contract Fine Print Cards below and reconsider their choice of which contract represents the best option for their client.

5) Students finish the activity by deciding which option is the best and which is the worst for their client and complete the Best and Worst Cards below to justify their choices.

(Group A) - Survival Packing Materials - In-Service I, 2018

Below you will find images and descriptions of the materials that students will use for this problem solving activity. 

1) Students read the instructions card below to understand the context of the activity.

2) On the back side of the Instructions Card students have this image of their backpack (Backpack Inventory Card). Students will need to pack their bag by placing survival items into the squares of the pack. The survival items are rectangular cards of different sizes. Students will not be able to fit all survival items into the backpack so they must choose carefully. All chosen survival items must fit neatly within the backpack grid.

3) These are the survival items students can choose from. In the real class activity the items would be printed on colored paper and cut. Students first take a few minutes to review all of the items they can choose from, organizing them into three categories: very useful, potentially useful, and useless. Note the size and weight of each item. Also, note that some items require other items in order to be useful. For example, the hammock requires rope and the rifle requires bullets.

4) Now students place their selected survival items into the backpack grid. They must find a way to fit the items into the limited space while also keeping track of the total weight of the backpack. The maximum weight they can carry is 20 kilograms.

(Group C) Apartment Hunters Materials - In-Service I, 2018

Below you will find images and descriptions of the materials that students will use for this problem solving activity. 

1) Students read the instructions card below to provide context for the activity.

2) Students review the map printed on the back of the instructions card.

3) Students analyze the Property Cards below that describe several apartment/house rental options in the five districts of the city.

4) Students read the four client Profile Cards below and decide on the two best property options for each one person. Students write pros and cons of each option to help the clients make a decision.

(Group D) - Vacation Planners Materials - In-Service I, 2018

Below you will find images and descriptions of the materials that students will use for this problem solving activity. 

1) Students read the instructions card below to better understand the context of the activity.

2) Students review the map and travel options on the backside of the Instructions Card.

3) Students plan the itinerary of their trip by selecting the order they will travel to each location and the means of public transportation they will use. They must also consider their total transportation budget which is $300 per person.

4) The teacher will post the following Activity Cards on walls in the hall or classroom. Students must decide which activities they would like to do in each location. 

5) Students write the activities they plan to do in each location  on the Activity Planner below keeping in mind their total activity budget ($2,000) per person for the entire trip and their daily time budget (15 hours per day).