Hi Folks! I love this lesson, brought to us a while back by teacher Jennifer Tobin of Whitby, Ontario. I welcome any more tales from teachers or principals who have used Free-Range ideas or Let Grow’s free independence-building materials in the classroom…or outside it. Thanks! – L.
Dear Lenore:
I had wanted to do a Free-Range project with my students for a long time and I was inspired by my 8-year-old son. I am a teacher and I volunteer with Scouts Canada as a Beavers leader. My son recently moved up to Cubs but comes to my Beavers meeting to help out.
We often have him run simple games with the Beavers (aged 5-7 ) as we finish up. He was complaining to me one night that sometimes the Beavers don’t listen, so we talked about some strategies to encourage people to listen and accept that sometimes people still won’t.
The secret to creating a class of listeners
LIGHTBULB MOMENT! Maybe one of the reasons kids aren’t great listeners is because they don’t have the opportunity to be the speaker and see what it is like to be speaking and people aren’t listening.
I then challenged my fourth graders to pick a game that they would each like to teach the class. Every day, one student has the role of “teacher” and teaches the class how to play a game or do an activity. Afterward, they reflect on how it went and how well people listened to them.
It’s amazing to see how some of my usual “clowns” now listen!
They are loving the opportunity to be in charge, but are also seeing the perspective of the teacher and how frustrating it can be when you are trying to teach and people keep interrupting. As an added benefit: The games the kids are teaching are now being played at recess, so there are fewer problems arising since they have a ton of new games to try out!
Lenore here: When I asked Jennifer for the assignment so other teachers could try it, she graciously sent this:
Oral Presentation Assignment: Teach the Class
You are going to teach the class something! It can be a favorite game (a variation of tag, a soccer drill, etc.,), a craft (paper airplane, origami), a song, or anything you can think of that you can get the whole class to do (like how to eat an Oreo cookie)!
You will have 10 minutes to teach and must bring all the supplies needed. You can do this activity inside or outside. Please let the teacher know if there is something that you need to borrow from the classroom. We have 26 students so please keep that in mind.
Success Criteria:
– You must be heard by all of your classmates, speaking clearly with the appropriate volume
– You must include all of the students
– You must lead or teach the class in your activity
– You must be a respectful listener when others are teaching
– You will write a reflection on the experience after your turn.
Have fun being the teacher!
And here’s a rubric you can crib!
Oral Presentation: Teach the Class
| Needs more work | Getting There! | Got It! | WOW! | |
| Speaking Skills: I spoke with a clear voice, at an appropriate volume level. I answered questions that people asked. | ||||
| Communication: My instructions were easy to understand and I had all of my materials ahead of time. Everyone was encouraged to participate. | ||||
| Listening Skills: I was a respectful listener and asked appropriate questions. | ||||
| Written Reflection: I wrote about what I did well and what I would do differently next time. |
Name: ___________________________________________________________________
And if you want a little writing/reflecting exercise …
The teacher provided this too:
“Teach the Class” Reflection
Write two to three paragraphs about teaching the class your activity. Tell what you think you did well, what you could have done better and what you think you should do next time.
________________________________________________________________________________________
How do you think this assignment has helped you to become a better listener?
________________________________________________________________________________________
Lenore here again: I love the idea of kids sharing games, and also the way this assignment helps kids see what it means to be a leader (and a respectful listener/follower). If any teachers start using this, I hope they will drop a line to me — Lenore@LetGrow.org — to tell us how it goes!