Active Learning

By: Olivia Glynn

What do you think would make school fun? One of the workshops I went to deals with just that. The idea is to keep kids active and engaged in the classroom. "Active and engaged" basically means fun games and activities. One of my favorites was 'Problem Scavenger Hunt'. Teachers put up papers around the classroom or even the whole school and students must find them and put them in the correct order to complete the task. For language arts and social studies there is 'Poem Acting', where students act out a poem or piece from a book, it is a good way for students to understand writing literature better. This activity can also be useful for other subjects like math, but instead of writing, students could do a skit about a word problem. For people like me with the memory of a goldfish, 'Reminder Chants' can be helpful in keeping information inside your head. You clap or chant and recite a list of thing to a beat. For example: chanting the multiples of twelve with a beat: 12, 24, 36, and so on. These activities are meant to engage students and get them interested in learning, and with fun stuff like this to do who wouldn't be?