Skip to main content

Simple but effective ideas: blind drawing

IMG_2761

Year 10 continue their adventures looking at coastal processes at the moment.  The parts I really enjoy involve the interaction between people and the geomorphic processes, but before really unpicking that young people really need to have a thorough grasp of the physical processes.

In an attempt to teach Constructive and Destructive waves in a slightly different way (in other words avoid the copy and complete / maps from memory activities that I have used in previous years) I tried something a little different this week.

  1. Get students in pairs.
  2. Issue each pair with a mini-whiteboard and a pen.
  3. Each pair needs to have one person with their back to the class whiteboard while the other faces it.
  4. Reveal the diagram.
  5. The person with their back to the board must draw the diagram without looking, using the directions, descriptions and ideas from their partner who can see the diagram.
  6. Swap roles and reveal the next type of wave.

This was a last minute thing on my part and worked well.  The class was able to focus on the vital examination skill of accurate description while exploring the diagram.  I found that the classes recall of waves during today’s examination practise was slightly better than last year.

photo (107)photo (108)

Comments

  1. TutorClive27 September 2012 at 20:58

    And it sounds like the students might have had a bit of fun with it.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge.  I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post.  I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff.  If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been 
5 comments
Read more

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey.  As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others.  Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up.  I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions.  From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment.  From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die.  How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach?  Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment is not always conducive to profound
4 comments
Read more

The danger of Teaching and Twitter conversations: poorly formed bipolar arguments.

Sometimes in life, there really are only two options.  Get the wrong one and you can look like a muppet.  Take this useful sign for the toilets in Morocco.  I successfully navigated it, choosing the right option.  The result? No egg on my face.  As a mountain leader, there are many right or wrong decisions that I’ve faced, as there are all over life.  It’s not a good idea to let inexperienced young people walk themselves down Snowdon.  They may die or be seriously injured.  If someone is showing the signs and symptoms of hyperthermia, you need to treat it fast in a specified way.  There is no real arguing with this sign: Other options are less obvious.  Take this sign recently spotted near to where I live: Now, I wouldn’t consider sleeping in a bin.  However, faced with a sub-zero night, I could see the appeal.  The danger? Being tipped into one of those huge lorries with a compactor. (by the way, I only really considered all of this thanks to questions from my four year old boy).
1 comment
Read more