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The Best Darned Ideas for using INTERACT in Your Classroom!!
“Win a Free INTERACT Lesson”
In our never ending effort to bring you the best information for implementing active learning strategies into your classroom, we’re creating a new Forum section: (drum roll please!)
ANNOUNCING: “The Best Darned Ideas for using INTERACT in Your Classroom!!”
We want to hear your story and share it with the members of the Teacher’s Center. The most compelling implementation strategies will receive a free INTERACT E-book lesson of their choice.
Tell us your story much like you’d tell fellow teachers in the faculty room or “after hours.” Describe your class and what key experiences made the INTERACT lesson especially memorable to you and your students. How much time did you take to prepare and conduct the lesson? How did you customize it? What will you do different or the same next time?
Posting you story is easy. Just go to the Forum section, click the title “The Best Darned Ideas for using INTERACT in Your Classroom!!” and post your story in the “Reply to This” box below this announcement.
We also encourage members to frequently check out the forum post and make comments, in addition to taking advantage of this great offer to share your success with fellow Teacher’s Center members and possibly win a free INTERACT lesson. Good Luck!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tracy Withrow on -
For the past three years I taught 6th Grade at a Title I Elementary School. Our curriculum in social studies focused on Ancient Civilizations, a topic which I happend to LOVE, but one that students find hard to connect with. After finding the materials for GREEKS, I decided this was just what we needed after having to spend endless hours prepping for state assessments toward the end of the school year. I divided them into four city-states (since I only had 20 students) and explained the process. We included the Hellaspoints and used them as incentive in every part of the school day to focus on positive behavior. It was almost magic how the students responded. They were so motivated to work with their group and receive points that our behavior issues decreased dramatically - at the end of the school year! That never happens! I think the session that students enjoyed the most was Acropolis and building their temples. My most favorite moment of all the years I taught GREEKS was one day when I went to pick students up from PE. They had the chance to stay in PE and have extra time to help out Kindergarteners and we would postpone our next lesson in GREEKS. From the back of the line, one student (who happened to be a student that had been difficult the whole year) yelled, "NO!!! We can't miss social studies!" Possibly one of the proudest teaching moments I have had.
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Permalink Reply by Greg Timmons on -
This sounds like a great example of using the GREEKS unit in the classroom and a testament to the power of the INTERACT method. Really great to hear how well received the activities were by the students. I'm curious to know more about how you've used this unit. How many days do you spend on the unit and how many activities do you typically do? You mentioned the Acropolis activity, which other activities do students enjoy and which do you find help meet your academic objectives? Do you think you will use the unit again and if so, what might you do differently?
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Permalink Reply by Lanore Larson on -
Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience using Interact!
Tracy Withrow said:For the past three years I taught 6th Grade at a Title I Elementary School. Our curriculum in social studies focused on Ancient Civilizations, a topic which I happend to LOVE, but one that students find hard to connect with. After finding the materials for GREEKS, I decided this was just what we needed after having to spend endless hours prepping for state assessments toward the end of the school year. I divided them into four city-states (since I only had 20 students) and explained the process. We included the Hellaspoints and used them as incentive in every part of the school day to focus on positive behavior. It was almost magic how the students responded. They were so motivated to work with their group and receive points that our behavior issues decreased dramatically - at the end of the school year! That never happens! I think the session that students enjoyed the most was Acropolis and building their temples. My most favorite moment of all the years I taught GREEKS was one day when I went to pick students up from PE. They had the chance to stay in PE and have extra time to help out Kindergarteners and we would postpone our next lesson in GREEKS. From the back of the line, one student (who happened to be a student that had been difficult the whole year) yelled, "NO!!! We can't miss social studies!" Possibly one of the proudest teaching moments I have had.
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Permalink Reply by Tracy Withrow on
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We would spend around 5 weeks to complete everything. I had each student bring a sheet and we made them into chitons during the first week. Every day students earned Hellaspoints for having their chiton, answering questions, participating in the group and following directions. As far as activities, we did the Academy section first. I used the interact lessons as the base and then drew from our social studies text and other supplements to enhance the lessons for history, gods, and education. I used Beyond Question (a classroom response system) to quiz the students each day about what we had learned previously. We then moved onto the Acropolis section, studying architecture and the built our own structures. In the Theater phase, I chose to have students write their own version of Greek myths instead of using the included plays in the system. This was mainly due to the age of the students and their limited understanding of the language used (plus many of them were english language learners). Our last phase was Olympics where students competed in standing long-jump, thumb wrestling, straw javelin, and tortilla discus among others. As an addition to the main phases, students were asked to choose one activity off of the Festival phase to complete by the end of the whole simulation. At the end we had the Festival, students brought foods that represented the culture at that time and we would watch Clash of the Titans. There were a few things I skipped due to not only time constraints, but the age of my students and just to simplify the process, Arete points and the Assembly phase were the main items.
Next year I am actually teaching 5th grade and while I am SUPER sad that I will not be able to do GREEKS, I am hoping to do DISCOVERY with my kids!
Greg Timmons said:This sounds like a great example of using the GREEKS unit in the classroom and a testament to the power of the INTERACT method. Really great to hear how well received the activities were by the students. I'm curious to know more about how you've used this unit. How many days do you spend on the unit and how many activities do you typically do? You mentioned the Acropolis activity, which other activities do students enjoy and which do you find help meet your academic objectives? Do you think you will use the unit again and if so, what might you do differently?
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Permalink Reply by Greg Timmons on
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Tracy,
You make some great adaptations of the simulation in a variety of ways and you applied some sound instructional methodology blending textbook and other supplements and frequently quizzing students to monitor their understanding.
I also like how you had your students write their own versions of Greek myths. Though you describe doing this out of a necessity, I think it also gave your students an opportunity to apply what they previously learned into an authentic model using higher level thinking.
Its always hard to leave a grade level you've taught and enjoyed. Let us know how you do with DISCOVERY. Have you ever used it before? I have some experience with it so I'll be eager to hear what you do with your class.
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Permalink Reply by Greg Timmons on
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WE HAVE A WINNER!
We are pleased to announce Tracy Withrow of Overland Park, Kansas is our April winner in the “The Best Darned Ideas for using INTERACT in Your Classroom” contest. In Tracy’s forum entry she told us of how she used the GREEKS unit with her 6th grade students. She divided her class into four city-states and included the Hellaspoints for activities. She used the INTERACT lessons as a base and then drew from the social studies text and other supplements to enhance the lesson. The class participated in several sections over a 5-week period. Tracy reported that “it was almost magic how the students responded. They were so motivated to work with their group and receive points that our behavioral issues decreased dramatically.” Students even gave up extra time to stay in PE to get back to the GREEKS lesson.
Tracy will be teaching 5th grade next year, so for her award, she has chosen INTERACT’s DISCOVERY unit. She is excited to use this unit, because as she noted, “simulations allow students to be active participants in history. They are able to truly learn what life was like, understand decisions that were made, and comprehend ideas that are all too often difficult to glean from a textbook.” She plans to introduce the simulation along with the other 5th grade teachers in each of their classrooms. During the summer, she hopes to find additional ways to integrate the other subject areas so that students can have an array of experiences in reading, math, and science. She plans to culminate the lesson with the school’s traditional Colonial Day Festival.
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