I often lament that I don’t have more time in my class to allow students to develop their presentation skills. This basic consolidation activity is just one small way I can get…
- Students to review previous content
- Collaboration and co-operation
- A sample of student understanding from previous lessons
- A chance to hear students speak and verbalize their learning
- Students out of their comfort zones and working on public speaking
- A few minutes to myself to figure out what the hell I’m doing for the rest of the lesson, or even to re-evaluate my life choices.
This activity also requires zero preparation from the teacher!
Here’s how it works…
Students get in groups of three (random group generator) (Thanks Alexey for the tip). Give them a set time to review and summarize the key learning from previous lessons. After the time is up, one group will be randomly selected to present their review to the rest of the class in 5 minutes or less.
Effective group work needs a purpose to engage the students. I also don’t think a bit of external motivation like the threat of a quiz does much harm, either.
During the review, all group members must present equally and the rest of the class are acting as “fact checkers.”
Encourage students to try to address all three levels of learning from the lessons, from basic knowledge to applications and critical reflections.
You can add some more pressure to the situation by telling the students you’re taking a random sample of the whole class’s learning and if the conclusion you draw from the sample is that not enough learning has happened, there’ll be a quiz in the next lesson.
Workshop leaders might recognize this from WSL training. It’s an effective review strategy, but works best in very small doses.
Time is a valuable commodity as teachers. We don’t always have time to write down quiz questions, make a kahoot or create a crossword, so a basic idea like this one can be great to keep in your back pocket for a rainy day.
Travis Dixon is an IB Psychology teacher, author, workshop leader, examiner and IA moderator.