Sunday, April 18, 2010

Imagination Has no Boundaries

Imagination Has no Boundaries

Imaginative teachers find ways to make their classrooms, their lessons and their teaching more exciting for everybody.

Digital Art by Marguerite
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Imaginative Ways

  • Work at a level the students understand, and develop by linking steps. Scaffolding.
  • Use illustrations and 3D whenever possible so the students who need to refer to practical issues to learn can have a focus. The touch/Learn method.
  • Research leads the more skilled or more motivated students into following their own leads and interests at their own levels of understanding. Internet and Online Learning.
  • Self Paced individual tasks allow the faster student to progress at their own rate.
  • Link cartoons and sketches and visuals into teaching as much as possible. If you can't draw, photocopy examples. Lighten the learning to break tension.
  • Incentives and mini goals give students solid reinforcement that they are on the right track or completing tasks. Individual or Public Charts highlight achievers in a positive way.
  • Use excursions, outings, visitors, and outside contacts as much as possible to widen student horizons in multiple directions and create a different viewpoint.
  • Student centred learning with student led talks, discussions and summaries to reinforce learning outcomes and also extend students.
  • Debates and discussions with change of viewpoint to give students flexible thinking hats.
  • Wear a different hat...Look at a situation from a different viewpoint. Six hats in different colors. Hats can be also stylized to different thinkers as well as specific people and group thinking.
  • Film, camera, video, chatlines, web cam...all can be used successfully by the teacher to create own TV shows, Power Point with voice, and moving pictures.
  • Study from a different viewpoint. eg. History from reading Novels, cartoons or ballads.
  • Set topic and Outcome and have students work out the path to reach outcome.

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