Chapter 4- Active Learning

I loved the possibilities that this chapter presented for ways to get students active in the classroom. I noticed that this chapter was building off from a PBS clip that a classmate showed us a few weeks ago. I really liked how this chapter began by explaining the advantages of active learning and getting oxygen and movement into the classroom. Yet what I loved most was the many examples that followed, since they helped me begin brainstorming more ideas of ways to get my students moving. I really liked the story of the teacher that brought kids outside to show them how to form ratios. Besides the active, hands-on element, this story was a subtle example of how to include special education students in our lessons, how to address them, and ways that can help them learn while still helping everyone else learn too. I loved how this story showed that, and didn’t just say it.

I also found lots of examples that I was able to circle and see how I could use active learning in my own classroom; like the example of the graphic organizers up on the walls. I feel like that would be a great way to easily incorporate movement in the classroom plan without really changing or creating any special lessons to include the active learning.