ELS: Introducing an Assignment or Project

Earlier in the month, I watched a teacher explain an engaging assignment for students to apply their understanding of logos, ethos, and pathos in a commercial to promote their topic/agenda. They had been studying the Presidential campaigns and speeches. The teacher prepared a clear and concise, well-organized description of the requirements as well as a rubric to make sure students understood the criteria for success.

Since this is his first year giving the assignment, we talked about saving the best student example to use as a model for next year. A quick search revealed this AP lang project. And this one that seems more refined. And this one. Could be places to begin until you have something that matches your assignment. Oh..and this one is labeled by logical fallacies and is FUNNY!

Next, we talked about an instructional "gimmick" that would turn the process of understanding the assignment to the students. Traditionally, a teacher would hand out the assignment and the rubric and explain the requirements verbally.  Very to the right on the TTESS rubric: AKA - boring.

Try one of these approaches to move toward a more student centered approach. (And keep them in mind to adapt to other instructional situations.)

1. 20 Questions Have students read the assignment and rubric. Divide the class into two groups and have them face each other across the room. The person first in line asks a question about the assignment that the team member directly across from them must answer. Since the questions are all closed (yes/no), all members of the class can participate without much modification. When you feel the students have asked enough questions to show their understanding of the assignment, review any key points you wish them to consider and let students get started with backtracking their planning from the due date. (You can assign points for competition, but I find that most students just think that playing the game is enough fun.)

2. Stump the Professor  Basically, the kids create questions to ask you salient questions about the assignment. You can set it up like: "What questions should a student be able to answer about this assignment? What questions remain after reading the assignment?" The teacher can't use their notes to answer. (But why would they need to. LOL.) Kids get "points" for asking valid questions that can be answered from the assignment/text. If students ask a question that was not addressed in the assignment description, but helps clarify the assignment or choices students could make, the student gets "double" points.

3. In the Hot Seat  Jeff Wilhelm developed this one. If I were the boss of a classroom, I'd tell students that I was going to call on a random person to sit in the hot seat to answer questions after we read about the assignment. After time to talk with a group about the assignment and possible questions they could be asked about the assignment, I would start the drumroll as I pulled a lucky victim's Popsicle stick out of my can. That person would come to the front of the room to sit in the hot seat and answer the questions posed by the class. If you are brave enough, ask the student to respond with gestures and accents as if they were you.

These strategies take no preparation from the teacher other than creating the assignment. I hope these are simple go-to strategies that you can make endless permutations and combinations to engage your learners.