Rocket up your Class! E-Book

Dave Keeling

• Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

Are you looking for a creative opening, energising middle or big finish to a lesson? then just pick out a relevant game, exercise or idea from this wonderful book and watch the fireworks go. Failing that, just leave the room as you found it and head for your local hostelry where Dawn will be waiting with a patient ear, a packet of crisps and your usual. All the ideas contained within this book have come together over ten years of experience, working with thousands of students in hundreds of schools. Some are of Dave's own devising, some have been donated and the rest have been simply nicked under the user-friendly title of knowledge sharing, but all have been deployed with one vision in mind which is to shamelessly entertain whilst at the same time engaging young people in the creative arena in order to prove, as Socrates the Greek philosopher once stated, "Life and learning should be a festival of the mind".

Leseprobe

To the five women in my life*who haveall contributed hugely to my ongoingquest for love, laughter and learning.

*So there is no argument, I mean: my wife Kate, my daughters Rosie and Daisy, my mother Anthea and my mother-in-law, Sandy.

Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Introduction

The Rockets

1. Smile and Say Hello

2. Have a Drink

3. Get Naked (I went to a small school in the country)

4. Name Game

5. Anagrammer

6. If That’s the Answer, What’s the Question?

7. What a Difference a Day Makes

8. Lesson Trailer

9. Stop/Go

10. Tom and Jerry (or Cat and Mouse)

11. Thumb Wars

12. Mucking Furds in a Wuddle

13. Magic Tricks

14. Tea and Biscuits

15. Thought Grenades/Thunks®

16. Paper Aeroplanes

17. ‘In the Style of …’ Themed Readings

18. Pass the Exam

19. School Disco

20. Homework Lottery

21. Student Exchange

22. Desk Jockey

23. Teach Us Something We Don’t Know

24. Class Clown

25. Smart Arse

26. The Secret of Success

27. Giants, Wizards and Dwarfs

28. I Love You

29. Twenty Seconds to Comply

30. Pub Quiz

31. A Bit of Bully

32. Massage (Feel a Friend)

33. While We Are On the Subject

34. Should I Stay or Should I Go?

35. Ringing or Minging

36. Sleep (‘The Art of Relaxation’)

37. Twenty Questions

38. History Repeating

39. Poet’s Corner

40. Caption Competition

41. The Gallery

42. Yes/No

43. Ball Game

44. Countdown Conundrum

45. Anyone Who

46. Fruit Bowl

47. Dictionary Corner

48. Future Interview

49. Hot Gossip

50. Supercalifragilisticexpiallygoogle

51. Globetrotter

52. Rock ’n’ Rolla

53. I’m a Celebrity Get Me Teaching Here

54. Story Makers

55. Get Knotted

56. Up ’n’ Under

57. Liar, Liar, Knickers on Fire

58. You’ve Been Framed

59. Food for Thought

60. Child’s Play

61. Quizzical

62. Yes But, No But

63. Muscle Memory

64. Show and Tell, Show but Don’t Tell, Tell but Don’t Show

65. EastEnders Moments

66. Sponge Ball Square Chair

67. 1–10

68. Instant Replay

69. Granny’s Footsteps

70. Strictly Write Quickly

71. Arrested Development

72. Elevator Pitch

73. Total Recall

74. Flippin’ Hell (Coin Tosser)

75. Heads or Tails

76. This Lesson’s Rubbish

77. Ministry of Silly Rules

78. Mastermind

79. Beat the Teacher

80. Trip Down Memory Lane

81. Yes Let’s

82. Change Ends

83. Group Therapy

84. This is Not a Chair

85. Bag Snatcher

86. Order!! Order!!

87. Crafty Kids

88. 1 2 3

89. Ten Chairs

90. Class Act

91. Scrappy Do

92. Diary Room

93. Silly Walk Tag

94. Friend or Foe?

95. Chicken Run

96. I’m a Genius

97. Success Election

98. Postcards from the Edge

99. Key Game

100. Who Wants to Be Out of Here?

101. Pass the Clap

Final word from the author

Bibliography

Index

Copyright

Acknowledgements

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for not having this idea before me.

I’d also like to thank all the friends, students, parents and teachers who have sat in classrooms, school halls or conference centres over the years for constantly fuelling my desire to enlighten, empower and entertain. Without them none of this book would be possible.

I hope that reading this book is perhaps the first risk on a long and exciting road to many more risk-taking adventures.

Foreword

You’re not having fun, you’re using positive emotions to access thelimbic system to optimise dopamine secretion to facilitate autonomic learning.

I first wrote those lines in The Big Book of Independent Thinking for the introduction to a chapter on neuroscience from our resident paediatric neurobiologist Dr Curran and nowhere are they more relevant than in this book from David Keeling.

We know that the state that the learner is in – their breathing, their emotions, their muscular tension, their entire neurochemistry – will decide how well they will learn. No matter what whistles and bells you add to your repertoire if their state is wrong then the learning won’t stick.

However, get the state right and they can’t do anything but learn.

Rocket Up Your Class (not our preferred title as the more astute amongst you may have worked out but there are laws in this country. Then again if you can have a whole series of books based around the word ‘buggers’…) is a book whose entire purpose is to help you get your learners in the right state for learning. It does so in a number of ways that the simplicity and silliness of the some of the games belies but can be summed up in one word – dopamine.

Dopamine is a key learning chemical that is generated in our heads as a result of a reward or the anticipation of a reward. In other words, doing something we like doing or knowing we are about to do something we enjoy doing. Apart from making us feel more switched on and happier this amazing substance is also a key memory chemical. A release of dopamine helps us remember the events of about ten minutes or so prior to the release. The brain likes doing what it likes doing (it is argued that we are genetically programmed to seek out pleasure as it improves our immune system and the more we laugh the longer we live) so when we encounter something rewarding it is in the brain’s interest to remember clearly what it was that led up to this pleasurable, survival-enhancing state. So that dopamine rush actually improves our memory for the rest of the lesson. In other words, that seemingly silly game in the middle of the lesson actually works to improve our memory of the entire lesson.

What’s more – and this is where the real magic comes in – because dopamine is triggered from the anticipation of a reward, just by coming into your classroom, the place where the good things happen, you start to get their dopamine flowing.

What’s more, it is argued that the adolescent brain needs higher levels of dopamine than adult brains so, in a classroom, those year tens are going to get their dopamine either with your help or behind your back. You choose …

As with all brain-altering substances, dopamine needs to be used in moderation and one long, dopamine-filled lesson will be exhausting to you, them and the senior management team on behaviour duty so you must use these rockets with care and moderation. When you do, you will be amazed at how you will win the trust, goodwill and improve the work ethic in your learners.

So, go on, stick a rocket up your class and see the results in terms of learning.

Ian Gilbert

Santiago de Chile, February 2009

Introduction

Welcome one and all to a Rocket Up Your Class, a book designed purely as the intellectual equivalent of a ‘firework up the arse’ for any lesson.

Whether you’re looking for a creative opening, energising middle or big finish to a lesson, then just pick out a relevant game, exercise or idea from this little book of mini-rockets and watch the sparks fly.

Failing that, just leave the room as you found it and head for your local hostelry where Dawn will be waiting with a patient ear, a packet of crisps and your usual.

All the ideas contained within this book have come together over ten years of experience, working the length and breadth of the country with thousands of students in hundreds of schools.

Some of the rockets are of my own devising, some have been donated and the rest have been simply nicked under the user-friendly title of ‘knowledge sharing’. But all have been deployed with two things in mind, which are to shamelessly entertain whilst at the same time engage young people in the creative arena in order to prove, as the Greek philosopher Socrates once stated, ‘Life and learning should be a festival of the mind’.

Unfortunately, for the majority of people this statement simply isn’t true in relation to their days at school.

Put your hand up now if your school experience was a FESTIVAL OF THE MIND!!!!!?

Perhaps a small garden fete of the mind!!!?

Or maybe a wet camping holiday for two of the mind?

If you did raise your hand to the first question, you were either lucky enough to get into Hogwarts or you don’t get out enough; either way it’s a hugely uncommon response.

I, like the majority of people I meet, did not have a festival of the mind during my school experience. I had fleeting moments but, like many others, I was waiting for someone to create the festival for me.

Every day I would enter the gates waiting for the school to inspire me, for the teachers to entertain me, and when they didn’t, I was very quick to point the finger and say:

• School’s boring!

• Teachers are rubbish!

• Lessons are c**p!

I took no responsibility for my education whatsoever.

So now my role as a Stand Up Educationalist is to empower and enable young people to take action, and therefore take control of their learning, so that they may leave education having already begun to explore and develop the skills required not just to cope with the 21st century but also to be happy and successful within it.

With that in mind, let the festival commence!!

For each activity, game or idea, I will suggest where I think it will best complement a lesson and explain in what way it will advance the students’ experience.

Picture the scene. It’s Monday morning, first lesson. It’s raining outside and you’ve got bottom set maths for an hour and all you have for company and support is a lukewarm Pot Noodle and a lesson plan hastily written on the back of a Post-it.

You have three choices:

1 Run

2 Eat the Pot Noodle and run

3 Plough on regardless

Or you could dip into your copy of this book and start your lesson with a quick game of Thumb Wars, Anagrammer or chuck in a Thought Grenade.

You may wish to break it up with an all-out round of Bagsnatcher or make it unforgettable with Quizzical and Passthe Exam.

Or end it with School Disco, HomeworkLottery or StrictlyWriteQuickly.

Whatever the session, whatever the mood, there’s a mini-rocket to suit any lesson, anytime, anywhere, that will get the creative juices flowing and engage even the most reluctant pupil/teacher.

So here we go with 101 ways to start, end or break up a lesson, and where best to begin but at the beginning.

The Rockets

1

Smile and Say Hello

When– Every day, every lesson.

Why– You’d be surprised how many teachers don’t employ this simplest of tools.

Students will only engage in an environment where they feel understood and then, in turn, more confident (for more info see Dr Andrew Curran’s TheLittle Book of Big Stuff About theBrain). This is the starting point for the foundation of a respectful working relationship.

How– Practice in the mirror. Think of someone you dislike being arrested or watch Shrek 3. Just don’t be miserable because, like gravy and ice cream, miserable and teaching don’t mix well.

2

Have a Drink

When– When no one’s looking.

Where– Stationery cupboard, back of sports hall or in your car at lunchtime.

Why– Why not?

3

Get Naked (I went to a small school in the country)

Only joking. I just thought I’d get the three most popular exercises out of the way first.

You have to admit it though, with these three options you’ve got yourself one hell of a lesson right there.

4

Name Game

When– Beginning of term or whenever you may encounter a new class.

Why– It’s a quick and entertaining way for you and the students to get to know names and interesting titbits about one another. It breaks the ice and helps to promote a team feel early on, as well as being a superb stand-alone memory technique.

How– The group stands in a circle. The leader (in most cases you) starts off by saying their first name and something they really love.

For instance, ‘My name is Dave and I love towear women’s clothing’ (I don’t; it is simply an example).

The next person to my left must then say my name and what I love followed by their own name and something they love.

There’s a lovely moment in this exercise when it suddenly dawns on everyone that the last person in the circle will not only have to remember everyone’s names but also what they love.

You’d be surprised how many people panic at this notion yet haven’t realised that by the time it gets round to them it will have been repeated many times over and wired itself deep into their synaptic connections, making their recall magnificent.

You can split them into two smaller groups if you feel the group is too large.

It doesn’t just have to be about names. You may wish to focus this memory activity around facts, dates or moments in history.

The key is in the repetition and so for that reason you may wish to read this passage again.

5

Anagrammer

When– Beginning.

Why– In my experience, I’ve found many times over that if you don’t give students something to do as soon as they enter the space, they will almost certainly find something to do, like chatting, fighting, groping and not necessarily in that order.

If an Anagrammer is up on the board as soon as they enter, it can quickly become a competition with a prize for the longest or most creative or most surreal sentence that can be conjured up in the time given.

This exercise helps the students get into an open and focused state, enabling them to engage more quickly and more effectively within the learning environment.

How– Place a long, scrambled list of letters on the board. The challenge is to find as many words within the list and then create a strange, surreal, cheeky or really long sentence. Letters can only be used once unless they appear more than once.

Below is an example of some letters I randomly scribbled down:

I M O S R A P L D E C T I E D B S

Here is what I came up with:

I PEEL ODD SCABS

I’m sure you’ll agree that my first attempt is bordering on genius and that very soon a gold star or Jelly Baby will be winging its way to my door, post-haste.

A lot of joy can be had from this game and you’ll be constantly surprised, nay, shocked by the sentences that will spill forth from the mouths of babes.

6

If That’s the Answer, What’s the Question?

When– Usually at the beginning but is just as effective when utilised to break up a session.

Why– I was first introduced to this idea by my friend and colleague Ian Gilbert, celebrated educationalist, lanky sailor and long-time employer (but maybe not for that long). I have also witnessed this exercise being deployed to superb comic effect on the BBC show Mock the Week. It is simply a brilliant way to switch students’ minds into the possibilities of creative thinking, especially as there is no right or wrong. What a perfect way to draw students to a point of focus, especially if they’ve just arrived from break where they narrowly avoided a mugging or a deadleg.

How– The answer should already be on the board, patiently waiting to be unleashed at any given moment.

Answers like … Only once but it hurt!

So if that’s the answer maybe the question was: