Numbered Heads Teaching Strategy

Are you looking for a different way to check for understanding from your students? Numbered Heads is a fun and copperative stragegy that makes sure that all students participate. Here are the easy steps:

STEP 1: Have students number off in teams, one through four. If your students are already in teams, assign each student a different number in their team.
STEP 2: Then ask a series of questions, one at a time. It could be review questions, questions to check for prior knowledge, even questions to ask their opinion about something.
STEP 3: Have the students in each group discuss possible answers for about 30 -90 seconds.
STEP 4: Call a number (1-4), and the students with that number either raise their hand or stand up, ready to respond.
STEP 5:  Then randomly call on students with the specified number to answer the on behalf of their group.
STEP 6: Continue to ask questions until the review session is over.

CLICK HERE to see more review strategies.

Happy Teaching!

IDEA WAVE Teaching Strategy

Are you looking for a fun activity to check for understanding? Here is a great teaching strategy the entire class can participate in. Read below for the directions for an IDEA WAVE. 

After students learn about a specific topic each student shares ideas they learned about that topic.

·         A volunteer begins the “idea wave” by sharing one idea.

·         The students to the right of the volunteer shares one idea; the next student to the right shares one idea.

·         The teacher directs the flow of the “idea wave” until several different ideas have been shared. 

At the end of the formal "idea wave, " a few volunteers who were not included can contribute an idea.

To put a twist on the idea wave, ask all students to stand and share information they learned about the topic. Tell the students that they must speak in complete sentences using academic langauge. (I post word walls for every unit for students to refer to). I say to the class, "the person who goes first is the person who is speaking". They cannot repeat information that someone else has already said, so they need to listen carefully. The goal for the students is not to be the last person standing. 

This is a great way to assess your student's knowledge about any topic and then be able to reteach information if necessary. 

To see more teaching strategies click HERE!

Happy Teaching!

Chalk Dust Diva