DISCUSSION QUESTION #10: Choose ONE (or more, if you like) of
the HOOKS from below. How have used this HOOK or how do you plan to use a
HOOK in the future to engage your students?
Be specific by giving examples.
(If you haven’t used any of these hooks, try one out and share with us.)
The Student
Hobby Hook
The Real
World Appreciation Hook
The
Life-Changing Lesson Hook
The
Student-Directed Hook
The
Opportunistic Hook
The Student- Directed Hook was recently used in a general education science class that I was in while supporting one of my students. Although I did not use this myself, the teacher did and gave me a great chance to share this with you all. I will use this again in the resource room when I see that it fits in a lesson or activity I do.
ReplyDeleteEach student was typing up a power point on the layers of the Earth and the teacher used this Hook and she said she didn't even realize that is what she was doing, but was excited to know that she could Teach like a Pirate, LOL.
Instead of the teacher repeating or going over with each student how to use the different functions necessary to type their power point, she showed a couple students these functions. The first couple students that got to the point of needing the lesson on the use of specific functions, she taught them what to do.
Then each one taught another student when they got to that point and then that student taught the next one and so on. The kiddos loved being in charge and being able to teach one another. They learned from each other, saved her from repeating herself and they remembered it much better when their peers taught them.
Loved it!
That is a great idea! Kind of like the puzzle activity where each group researches an area and then teaches it to the rest of the class. By the end of the presentations, the students will have everything they need to know and they did it themselves. They get ownership of being able to teach their peers something they didn't know before.
DeleteIt was a fantastic way for students to take ownership in their own learning.
DeleteThis is a powerful lesson. When students do the teaching, they learn and remember! I am guessing the students loved this and felt valued.
DeleteChris-
DeleteYay for that teacher! I think it takes a different type of understanding in order to be able to teach someone else material rather than just picking up on it yourself, and I'm sure it was a nice change of pace for the class to be able to learn from their peers.
This Hook could be titled "Real World" or "Student Directed". I have a young lady who will be having a quinceanera in three years. I am going to have her start planning this event and keep track of the financial cost, food requirements, etc. This student has very little budgeting or financial experience so planning this real life event will be a way to "hook" her in naturally.
ReplyDeletegood way to apply it to real life.
DeleteGreat example of real life application. Plus, the bonus might be that she will see just how much her parents are spending to give her this party...that might help her to have more realistic expectations.
DeleteWhat an eye-opener for her that will be! Sometimes youth have no concept of money and work involved in a project. What a good way to learn it.
DeleteAwesome idea! May also make her realize how expensive things can be and work on money
DeleteThat is a super idea, and yes that would help out the parents a great deal.
DeleteThats a great way to teach her about budgeting! I bet her parents will be very appreciative of you!
DeleteThat is a good way to apply what you are teaching to what is happening in her life. That's great.
DeleteKaren-
DeleteThat's a fantastic idea! I remember when I was in school, we were griping to our math teacher about how whatever we were learning at the time wasn't ever going to benefit us in the future (Shocker, right??? Haha!). I think she got tired of listening to us, because she eventually changed the assignment and said we would be laying out our financial plan for our first 4 years of college instead. It sounds easy, but it actually took a LOT of research, and in all reality, helped me to decide where I really was going to attend college.
Real World Appreciation Hook: In the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to talk to a student about how his choices affect his life. His comment was that it’s only middle school, and it doesn’t matter (when it comes to academics). I’m trying to impress upon him that he is creating habits that will be hard to break when he gets to high school. We’ve talked about academic scholarships and how GPA affects them. This isn’t as much a structured lesson as an ongoing informal discussion, but I'm hoping something clicks for him.
ReplyDeleteThat is very much needed. Maybe you can have him take the behaviors he is showing and then talk to different employers about what would happen if those behaviors are shown in the work world. Maybe that would help change his attitude. Also, finding jobs that use the skills he is needing to learn in those academic areas would help with the motivation on why he needs to learn the stuff being taught.
DeleteExcellent ideas! He is really in to sports, so I wonder if the HS football or basketball coach would talk to him about that as well. Thanks for the ideas!!
DeleteI don't think even gen ed students realize their choices are important even in middle school.
DeleteI agree that it is important to talk to students how learning affects their lives later on. I don't think they get enough of this. Good idea!
DeleteHaving coaches talk to him is a great idea!! I've had experiences in the past, where they were the perfect match to point a student in the right direction and served as a mentor. Don't forget about FFA or other school organizations that can reinforce the idea that choices today affect the future.
DeleteI try to us the student hobby hook in my lessons. I have a student that really likes animals. I brought in books dealing with animals to read and then to work on finding the different categories of the Expanding Expression Tool (EET). The categories are what group is the thing in, what does it do, what does it look like, what is it made out of, what are the parts and where can you find it. He is able to do very simple sentences for each category and I wanted to expand his writing to more complex sentences. I have used National Geographic Kids books to have him work on reading fluency, finding the categories and then take that information to write his own paragraph about the animal. It keeps his interest.
ReplyDeleteI also use superheros and turtles with one of my students to build more interest in lessons I am doing. I just used superheros for the spatial concepts.
This makes me think of the post about rapport. When building a rapport with students, you usually find out likes, interests, and hobbies. Kudos on finding those interests and hobbies to help with learning goals!
DeleteI love the Expanding Expression Tool. It is a great way to help students learn new vocab words!
DeleteI use this hook with our IEP-at-a-glance meetings in August. I tell the teachers what interests my students have so hopefully they can use that information in their classes to "hook" students into their lessons.
DeleteI have tried in the past to look into kid's hobbies but usually they dont have one or they don't even know what that is. One example I heard last year was that their hobby was Facebook. So I asked why they think that is a hobby, and they replied that is the only thing I do outside of school. Truely sad, but im not giving up. I'll pry the answer out of them one of these days. For all I know they may be good at cooking. That could be a hobby and they just don't know it.
DeleteCarol, thanks for sharing.... the IEP-at-a-glance would be a perfect place to include student interests or hobbies to help teachers connect w/ our kiddos.
DeleteI often use the student hobby hook in my lessons. I try to find what the students are interested in and incorporate that in the lesson some way. For example, if they are interested in cats I try to read books about cats with them for comprehension. If they love cats I may create real world story problems in math that involve cats to get them to pay attention more. If you can somehow relate the material to the students interest they seem to enjoy the lesson more and pay attention more.
ReplyDeleteI think student hobby is one of the more readily used hooks. We work so hard to build rapport with our students that it's hard not to incorporate it!
DeleteI agree with you Courtney about how easily we can incorporate student hobby hooks into our lessons. Plus, it is much more meaningful to the student when they can see that what we are teaching actually does apply to their lives.
DeleteI think you are right! Students are more willing to read or stay focused when they can read or learn about something they are interested in. In elementary school the Hobby Hook is used more than the other hooks.
DeleteI try to relate most of my lessons to real lessons. Money, checkbooks, and using things they will encounter in real life. I have students that still struggle to count money. For example: I was asked if 15 dimes equaled $.15. We had to recount and see that 15 dines equals $1.50. measuring things for recipes or length of things for shop etc..
ReplyDeleteReal lessons is key. Students need those essential skills of balancing a checkbook and making a budget. If we can incorporate that as much as possible, we are setting them up for more success as they become independent.
DeleteLessons based on real life tend to relate to students and help them prepare for the real world, good idea!
DeleteI do that alot in math. Relating numbers to money situations is a hook all students are familiar with!
DeleteRelating how students could or will use concepts in real life situations helps them gain an understanding of the importance of the concept. I try to relate to real life as much as possible...but I do admit to have difficulty relating diagramming sentences to real life!
DeleteWhat a great skill to learn. I know even adults who can't balance a checkbook or use
DeleteA checkbook... (My phone is being a PAIN)
DeleteGood idea. Real life will always when the students over. They have to know how it will relate to them once they are out of school.
DeleteI personally LOVE the Student Hobby Hook! One of my students loves basketball, so when we have time, we go down to the gym and practice our vocabulary. For every correct word and definition he gets to shoot a basket. In English, I look for stories that mirror popular movies or things that the students tell me they like. In math, I ask them to connect the concept to something in their life - for example, we are currently working on division. Basketball is starting so the students connected division to fundraising (if they want new jerseys they need to raise x amount of money... how much should each player raise?)
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea to incorporate movement into a lesson... Especially when the students are interested in it!!
DeleteI also love the Student Hobby Hook! What a great way to REALLY get to know your students and be surprised by them. Have had students who designed NFL uniforms and helmets, massive card collectors, one who built his own computer and did a demonstration at the High School, have the musicians who don't appear the type and sing a solo at the school program, Students continue to amaze me with what the do outside of school!!
ReplyDeleteI like to incorporate the "Life Changing Hook" into my lessons by asking students to reflect on how whatever topic we are working on that day applies to their life. I have them journal about how their thinking has changed based on the new information they have learned. Right now, I am doing a Civil Rights unit with one of my language arts lab classes. There has been loads of thought provoking information that has given my students the opportunity to decide where they stand on racism, discrimination, bullying, etc. I ask them to think about where their current belief system comes from and as high school students what their opinions are about these issues as they continue to evolve.
ReplyDeleteWe do reflections, but the writing aspect of journaling seems to slow down the students. The students I teach do not enjoy writing, it is far easier for them to verbally reflect on life changing topics rather than write about them.
DeleteDebi - I like how you have your students do journaling to reflect on how a topic applies to their life. Jerrie - to speed up the journaling actiivity, have you ever tried Dragon dictation (there is a free app for ipads) or speech to text options on Google? I once had a dyslexic student who had fantastic thoughts and ideas, but it was so hard to get him to write them down. I used the Dragon dictation app on my ipad for him, then had him recopy his sentences (if there was time). A lot of the times, I would just make copies of what he put on the app, and he would turn that in.
DeleteDebi - I like how you have your students do journaling to reflect on how a topic applies to their life. Jerrie - to speed up the journaling actiivity, have you ever tried Dragon dictation (there is a free app for ipads) or speech to text options on Google? I once had a dyslexic student who had fantastic thoughts and ideas, but it was so hard to get him to write them down. I used the Dragon dictation app on my ipad for him, then had him recopy his sentences (if there was time). A lot of the times, I would just make copies of what he put on the app, and he would turn that in.
DeleteIt's great to have the students spend time thinking about how things apply to their lives.
DeleteAfter reading this section I seem to use Opportunistic Hook more than any of the others. My students are very interested in current events. They are listening to the presidental news/debates regarding immigration and have definate opinions about that and the presidental candidates. They are following the news about ISIS and cannot seem to understand why that group is so violent. Today one student did not understand why ISIS kills so many people and another student said it is because they (ISIS) thinks that they will go to heaven by killing Christians. Actually the ISIS situation scares them, they are concerned about them coming to America. My students definitely listen to the news, are concerned, and have an opinion! I am surprised that my students are so into current events. I try to use that hook in my lessons as much as I can to that since that is such an interest!
ReplyDeleteI had a very similar discussion with my students years ago after September 11th. They were very scared and concerned. It's interesting what they understand and don't understand about a situation (I work with younger kids than you do.) It was a great opportunity to discuss the facts and also help alleviate some of their fears. Although I don't always make everything sugar coated. When talking about school shooters one time, I didn't tell the kids that it would never happen here, but we discussed ways we could be safe if it did happen. Good way to incorporate current events into a lesson.
DeleteI didn't think I used the opportunistic hook when I first read about it, but then I started paying attention to discussions with students. Yes, I use this quite a bit. Focusing on life, current events and the impact on students' lives does make a difference.
ReplyDeleteI love this. My kids hardly seemed know what is going on... Since they have been in 5th grade though, Their general ed teachers watch CNN news every morning. They often come in talking about what they watched.. I love this!
DeleteI used the student hobby hook recently working on homophones. I teach language arts to two 5th grade boys who love soccer and football. It really didn't have much to do with the sports, except I found these cool sports themed task cards for homophones on Teachers Pay Teachers. I laminated the cards and the recording sheet and made them into a game (sneaky teacher I am!). They each got to name their sports team, I put the team names on the board, and as they were working on the cards, they earned points for each correct answer and I put the points under their names. Depending on the difficulty, they earned a touchdown (6 pts.), field goal (3 pts.) and extra point (1 pt.). Of course, they had a great time and didn't even realize we were working on the same three sets of homophones that we had been working on the word wall for weeks. The next time we did the word wall, they were like, "Hey, that one was in the game!" and they had much better retention of the homophone meanings and usage than before. We haven't done it yet, but next I will have them create a slide show using the homophones correctly in a sports sentence, and see if they can add a relevant image.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great tie in. Anytime I can incorporate student interests or hobbies they seem to retain the information in a better way.
DeleteHere's another source of ideas for your kids with football interests:
Deletehttp://view.exacttarget.com/?j=fe551774736d0c7f7112&m=ff2e16777762&ls=fdc21574736d00797215767664&l=fe5b1578726c007c7214&s=fdf915777566017e71107871&jb=ffcf14&ju=fe1a1075766003747c1d73
I've used the real life hook. I challenge my kiddos to come up with a job that doesn't involve math. They will say things like pro-athlete, singer, actor etc. but I tell them that even they have to pay people and work with money. This shows them that they WILL actually need to know their basic math skills for the rest of their Ives. They will keep trying to come up with some throughout the year but I always seem to find a way math would be used in one for or another.
ReplyDeleteSuch a great idea! So many students don't really know how to relate math to real life.
DeleteI have had many students say to me I wont need to use math later on in life. This is a great way to give time examples of how they I need it later on !
DeleteI personally like the life changing lesson. I feel like if I can find some questions that they can think about to reflect on, it might give them some more meaning to why school could be important for them. The life-changing hook is one I would really like to do as well. I would like my students to really research some of the careers that they are interested in and perhaps present to the class. If there wasn't a budget issue I would like to take it a step further and take field trips to the careers that they're interested in so they can see what it could possibly be like if they chose that career. The older students would get some great insight at job fairs. they could practice some of their basic interviewing skills as well as presenting an application and a resume to the given situations. It would also be great that the people that were presented to could help critique how they could do better after they interviewed because they're the ones that are hiring, and they could down the road be interested in hiring these kids when they are ready.
ReplyDeleteThis is the hook that I want to do more of. The students need to know WHY they are learning what they are learning; that the material is really things that we need to know to be functional persons in society.
DeleteI have used the student directed hook many times. I have done this without even knowing it had a name. Some of the ways I have used it in lessons is having my students to show up to class with a lesson plan that they developed according to what we are discussing. They are then in charge of leading the class with their plan, and they have to pick a sub topic from the main topic and have activities available for the lesson. My students seem to really like this, they feel like they are in charge, and they aren't just being told to do it because it will help you in your future.
ReplyDeleteI have never been brave enough to try this in my own classroom. It sounds like it has worked for you and your students. I would think students would really buy into this type of lesson!
DeleteI have used the student hobby hook many times. The kids seem to be more enthusiastic about learning when it relates to something they love in their own lives. I find that I have to really do my homework and get to know their interests and get to know the students.
ReplyDeleteIntegrating what the students are interested is in important for the classroom. It helps to keep them engaged and interested in what they are doing.
DeleteI agree! When we are able to incorporate their hobbies into the lessons, it really shows that we know our students.
DeleteIt seems like I am always using the student-directed hook. I like to give the students a choice. In doing so, it allows them to think for themselves and also helps them decide what they want to learn. Here recently, a couple of my students have been doing research assignments. They had the choice in picking the animal that they wanted to research.
ReplyDeleteChoices are always good for kids! It allows them to have some sort of control over the assignment that they are completing. :)
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ReplyDeleteWith the younger kids some of these take a little different meaning or a little thinking outside of the box to incorporate them. I would say that one thing we use in Kindergarten is the Real World Hook. When we are doing math lessons we change story problems to involve the kids in the class. If the kids hear their names being used they are more apt to sit up and pay attention to what is being said. We also like to have the students to come up with their own story problems to share with the class when we are teaching simple addition using cube trains.
ReplyDeleteLife is a box of chocolates, you never know what your going to get FOREST. I use the Real World hook alot and talk about how a certain scenario has applied in my life or how it could apply in their life. This is especially important for older children. With high school; in my opinion; the life changing lesson has been my most powerful to inspire and promote change, just talking about life.
ReplyDeleteI think that I use the student hobby hook frequently. I like to try and incorporate the things that the students enjoy into the lessons. I have one student that loves non-fiction...so, he reads a lot of non-fiction books on topics he loves. I have another student that loves video games. We talk about them a lot and try to incorporate them into his lessons. I think that as teachers we probably do this more than we know.
ReplyDeleteI like to do this for reading too. I try and find funny stories for my boys or stories all my students can relate too. My boys love soccer, so I love to bring in soccer stories or videos as much as I can. I use this for brain breaks too.
DeleteMy girls love to dance! So songs with motions that help them remember poems, grammar, etc. are super helpful and fun :)
One example of when I use the Life Changing Hook is when I do a lesson on Martin Luther King Jr. each year. We create a sky full of dream clouds with the dreams that each student has for the future. They are inspired by reading and learning about the life and mission of Martin Luther King Jr. Many students know who he is about about his famous speech but we really delve deeper into to purpose behind the work that he did for civil rights.
ReplyDeleteI think I utilize the life changing lesson hook when I am counseling students. I have a few junior high students who I counsel. One of the students is always focused on the negative in his life. To say he is a bit dramatic is an understatement. This kid can turn a sunny day into the sun is burning and blinding me and it is miserable. We have been working on doing reframes to make his statements positive. We have also been reframing situations so he can actually see the good in the situation. This kid also has an excuse for everything. We have been working on how his behavior now will impact his life as an adult. I honestly think he was very annoyed during the session where I introduced the idea of reframing. To be completely honest with you all, when I was in grad school and doing counseling with a bug in my ear. I would get very annoyed at the Professor who was constantly telling me to reframe that statement to make it positive. Much to my dismay, that lady knew what she was talking about (although I will never admit that to her. She doesn't need any help with her ego)! Anyways, after a few sessions of reframing the student actually started to reframe his statements without being prompted. I am hoping that he will continue to practice reframing and that it will impact his thinking.
ReplyDeleteI try to do all of these as much as possible. Last year during Earth week showing the students pictures of pollution around the world was so shocking to them. We went around and picked up trash every day that week. The lesson extended beyond that week because a big point was that it doesn't just have to be earth week to keep it clean!
ReplyDeleteThen, I added in student hobby hook for a couple of the tough students... I turned it into a race a couple days, who every collected the most pieces of trash won a prize (I don't even remember what it was now). We then graphed our data with the amount of trash each group collected. Each graph had to represent the name of the team. For example two students grouped together both had names that start with M, so their group was the M&Ms.. their graph on everyones data looked like M&Ms.
This was fun all around.
After reading this section, I got more inspired to incorporate more of these as much as possible, and ask myself his questions to even get myself more engaged in the lesson plans.
I have used the Hobby Hook with my students. At their ages (KP-2nd) they like to create things out of paper. I help them create things with a phonics rule. An example is the silelnt T. They made a castle out of construction paper with a draw bridge that has a pull down tab. When they pull the tab down, they have a list of silent T words.
ReplyDeleteIn the future I would like to use the Student Directed Hook. I would like to try having them teach a lesson.
I would like to use the student hobby hook. I've spent most of the year just figuring out what I've been doing, but this is something that I think would be great to implement. I would use it as a motivation for my students. It would be an easy hook to incorporate into writing or even math word problems. I feel like this would be the best hook to build rapport with the students.
ReplyDeleteI’ve incorporated the Real World Appreciation Hook in several instances throughout assessing students or just talking with them about school; especially with my older kiddos. And particularly this year when a lot of my HS students are telling me they think math is stupid and doesn’t serve any purpose, but want to pursue a career in video game design. It COMPLETELY changes their outlook when they find out they’re not going to be paid big bucks to just sit in a room all day playing Call of Duty (Oh gosh… Wouldn’t it be nice??? Haha!).
ReplyDeleteI use the Student Hobby hook when I'm talking with young students to build rapport and to help connect what they are learning to their interests. Like Brittany, I use the Real World Appreciation Hook when talking with high school students about their goals for after high school.
ReplyDeleteI use the Student Hobby hook when I'm talking with young students to build rapport and to help connect what they are learning to their interests. Like Brittany, I use the Real World Appreciation Hook when talking with high school students about their goals for after high school.
ReplyDelete