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Active Learning

Active Learning Using Cougar Code

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This week, I created a Padlet about an active learning experience, which in turn, was an active learning experience for me (inception?). The picture of my Padlet is shown above, but it is a bit hard to see. Below I will break it down into chunks to address all the important information. The link to my Padlet is sourced above as well. 

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Active Learning 

According to the Padlet created by Nicole Zumpano, active learning is creating experiences for students to be in charge of their own learning. It is the opposite of standing in front of the class and lecturing, because majority of this information will be lost. With active learning, students engage in solving problems through hands on experiences and the creation of a product. Active learning can also include technology if is it implemented with the purpose of extending and enhancing student learning.

The 3 R's
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Cougar Code is a term introduced on Nicole Zumpano's Blog, after she helped with the creation of an active learning experience for a specific school. Many schools, based on research, are implementing Positive Behavior Intervention Systems (PBIS). This focuses on rewards and positive interactions with students about behaviors seen. However, in order to rewards behaviors, students need to practice and be aware of expectations for them. This is where Cougar Code came in. The school wanted to implement three expectations: be respectful, responsible, and safe. These expectations are a code of conduct for students throughout the building. However, these expectations look very different depending on the setting, so students drew out what it would look like to be respectful, responsible and safe in different areas of the school. Then Nicole used PicCollage to create snapshots of student work. This was a way of presenting and preserving student work. This activity is an example of active learning because students were in charge of coming up with examples and creating drawings of Cougar Code. Then, they had to speak about it as they were filmed. Creating visuals and speaking are two ways of helping student be actively engaged in their work.

Suggestions/Connections

In my Padlet, I came up with a few suggestions of how to enhance, or change the activity. The first is based off of something I have done in my own classroom. The school I teach at, too, uses this code of conduct, but it is called The Marquardt Way. In order to have students think about what these expectations look like, I gave tables time to write down what they feel like in the science classroom, what they sound like, and draw what they look like. Then, as a class, we generated a list based on their ideas to create rules, voted on the rules, created posters to hang, and then signed an agreement to follow them, which is also displayed in the classroom. Another idea would be to have students act these expectations out in different settings, and then take pictures to display throughout the hallway, cafeteria, or other places where these expectations are used. This would create a visual for students anywhere and everywhere they go in the school.

Overall, I believe active learning is critical in student learning. We know that not all students learn the same, so we must help by giving all opportunities for success.

Additional Links: 
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To learn more about what PBIS expectations, click on this link: https://www.pbisworld.com/tier-1/review-pbis-expectations-and-rules/ 


To learn about PicCollage, click on this link: https://pic-collage.com/

To learn about Active Learning, click on this link: https://teaching.cornell.edu/teaching-resources/engaging-students/active-learning

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Comments

  1. CristinaNovember 16, 2019 at 7:02 AM

    Perfect timing for reading your blog!! The school I work at is going to begin implementing PBS (not yet PBIS) in January. Reading your blog was super helpful because now I have some ideas to share with our staff. I love the idea of displaying pictures with school expectations and also creating a PicCollage. I find learning to be effective when the ideas stem from our students. Thank you for sharing!

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  2. NMZumpanoNovember 18, 2019 at 11:55 AM

    I was happy to read that you do something similar with your students at Marquardt. Thanks for adding a varied list of resources for those that want to learn more, too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mr. GNovember 18, 2019 at 5:28 PM

    When you have students that don't follow the Marquardt Way, what do you do the make sure that it is pointed out and the behavior is curtailed. Did your class make the consequences list of what happens if they don't follow the agreed upon actions or do you handle that yourself?

    ReplyDelete

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