DISCUSSION QUESTION #9: 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 Kinesthetic
Hook
The People
Prop Hook
The Safari
Hook
The Picasso
Hook
The Mozart
Hook
The Dance and
Drama Hook
The Craft
Store Hook
Replay to two others.
I love to use the Kinesthetic Hook, because this involves movement, getting up and moving about. I love it when I can get my reading kiddos up and about to learn their vocabulary. I give out a vocabulary word and definitions on slips of paper, each student receives one of each and they have to read what they have and then they move around the room talking and asking each other what they have so they can find their matches. The kids love this and learn their vocab much better than sitting in their seats reciting or writing them.
ReplyDeleteI love that idea! It's a great twist on what some elementary teachers use to find groups. I've seen where there is sight words cut apart and they have to find the partner that finishes the sight word.
DeleteWhat a great idea! Kids are talking, learning, and engaged all at the same time.
DeleteWhen kids write, speak, engage in conversation they hear, and movement - you are hitting all modalities for learning. What a great idea!
DeleteThis also works well with base words, prefixes, and suffixes to see all the interesting words students can create. I've also used it for making comparisons with -er- and -est; i.e. tall, taller, tallest. All kids love to get up out of their seats and move around during class.
DeleteWe have a new principal that work in intermediate elementary, at staff meetings she asked us to do new things. We have old teachers that are hard to get to do anything. It usually involves moving around.
Deletethanks ladies for the other ideas to expand on mine
DeleteWhat a great idea!
DeleteGreat idea, as a mother of a kinesthetic learner, that would be so appreciated.
DeleteWith my experience in lower elementary, this was not a hard thing to come up with! I think elementary teachers do a lot of these things weekly. For me personally, kinesthetic props are the easiest, probably because that is one of the ways I learn. To help teach numbers to 20 and the concept of more, I had a number line on the floor. I then had my student hop from number to number while signing (ie. saying) the number. He loved it! I then had him hold a number of objects and find the number on the floor. I also held a number and stood on the number, I then talked about how he was more or me if I had more. It was not only visual, but added a kinesthetic aspect also. The concept of more didn't stick very well, but it was a new concept for him. I plan on adding something to the number line to show how the numbers get bigger and then having him act small and grow big with each step to the next 'bigger' number.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about elementary teachers using props in their room. When I taught Kindergarten, we were always moving. Sometimes, just because the kids have so much energy, but they love to move and make the connection to what they're learning!
DeleteJunior high and high school teachers are hard to get to move or do something different
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ReplyDeleteThe Kinesthetic Hook: I have a student that needs to do some movement that involves both sides of their brain. The old exercises are well, OLD. But as a freshman in high school who has peers playing basketball we've been working on dribbling the ball with one hand (both left and right) and I took the student and a classmate to the gym the other day. My student often exhibits learned helplessness and will quit easily, but we had a race with the classmate and my student was hooked and successful.
ReplyDeleteWhen we attend inservices and find out what it's like to sit all day, I always come back ready to get students into more movement during class. Then after a few days, I tend to forget it and don't put the focus on keeping students moving to learn. I have students move to different placements on number lines when discussing negative numbers.
DeleteIt's harder to find some meaningful activities for students that are in the upper grades, especially if the skill(s) they need to learn are below their chronological age. That's great that you not only brought in a peer but connected it with something her peers were doing.
DeleteThat is great story to hear. especially since that student was much older. I have a student that has come along way since comming over to the middle school. I have this student transitioning from class to class with next to no assitance. I can rely on them getting to their next class without going off course or getting distracted with something along the way. It only takes this student a few days at the beginning of the year to practice where they are to go throughout the school day.
DeleteLast year, I worked with a student who was an avid reader. Starting in February/March, I started collecting as many WWII/Holocaust books as I could. Then in April (Holocaust Awareness month), we started reading them. We read some together to discuss, but she read many on her own. One of the books I found was We Remember the Holocaust. It had some great history, but it also had works of art and drawings. We looked at the art and discussed it. If I would do this study again, I think I would find a way to get more in depth and have her create something to share with her class. To focus on the Picasso hook, I would have her find a few poignant pieces that she could show and talk about.
ReplyDeleteMy son was interested in the Hindenburg a few years ago and so he read some books, did some research and created a powerpoint project with information and pictures. This was an enjoyable project for him to do. He hates writing, so doing something more creative that does require writing, such as book reports, is great.
DeleteArt from that time fame is very interesting, a real eye opener for students, what a great idea.
DeleteJessica, I think this hook would be very interesting to pursue....especially if you could find some art done by Holocaust survivors....
DeleteI haven't tried this for myself, but I saw a high school math teacher use studetns and movement in geometry the other day. When talking about angles and triangles, she used students to form triangles and moved them around to show the different angles. I think the students remember and learn more when they are physically engaged.
ReplyDeleteI would love to get more movement in math! This is a great idea! There was a video I showed with my 4th graders when we learned math facts that used music and dance moves. They loved it!
DeleteOur High School Math teacher, has her class get up cross their arms and pinch their opposite ear and does squats in that position
DeleteI have seen math teachers do this by having students create a number line and move on it to show how numbers move on the number line. It was very effective!
DeleteI like to use movement in math a lot. It works especially well during geometry, but I have used it for other areas, too. Music works well, too. Remember the Multiplication rap and Addition rap tapes? I still have them, but don't have a working tape player anymore. The kids really seemed to enjoy those.
DeleteMusic helps my down syndrome young man learn almost everything.
DeleteI think movement in math would have helped me a great deal!!
DeleteI love incorporating the arts into my lessons. One of my favorite lessons involves figurative language and music. When introducing similes, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, etc. I use current songs on the radio as examples. The students enjoy it because they get to sing along. We discuss what the singer is comparing/how they are using the figurative language. Then, they are challenged to find their own example as they listen to music at home.
ReplyDeleteAnother example was creating a fox hole during my WWII History class. Students literally flipped desks over to create a foxhole or barricade and "bombed" the other students with paper balls. The best part was the element of surprise - we could be in the middle of a lesson and if I said "take cover" they knew what they had to do. Whichever team was best protected from the opponents attack received bonus points for the day.
I would love to do the foxhole activity! Wouldn't that be interesting to have something like that to do at inservices? It would definitely keep us engaged!
DeleteOne of our English teachers had her students make a radio ad when she taught figurative language. It was a fun project for the kids!
DeleteThese sound like great ideas. It is great to act out lessons, add music to lessons, and art to lessons. It seems like it helps the students better understand the concepts being taught.
DeleteWhat a great idea!
DeleteI love the "foxhole" idea....I think it would keep students on their toes....to be prepared to "fight" and would make sure they are listening to you.
DeleteYou have some great ideas! I love the Fox Hole idea! Students learn and remember when they get to do meaningful activities!
DeleteWhat a good idea!
DeleteGetting out of the building is always memorable for students. What high school kid doesn't want to go on a field trip whether for one class period, half a day, or all day? For my Horticultural Science class, when we were studying simple and compound flowers, parts of a flower, and pollination, I took my students to the home of a local master gardener. She showed them the difference between types of flowers, let them gather samples, explained the parts of each flower, and we watched insects buzzing around gathering pollen while she explained the purpose. We brought flowers back to class and dissected them and labeled each part. On another occasion when we were studying soil types, I took my class to Servi-tech Labs in Dodge City. We were given a full tour of their facilities and my students were able to see how they analyze a soil sample as well as have the test results explained. After that, I had each student bring a soil sample from home (after learning at Servi-tech how to collect a good soil sample). They put their soil in a quart jar with water, shook it up real well and watched over the next couple days to see how each of their soils compared. They measured each layer and determined if they had clay, loam, sandy, or combination dirt. Early in the year we designed a raised bed garden plan, then we went to the local lumber store, picked out our supplies, had them delivered to school, and my students built the box themselves. They painted it, filled it with carefully selected "soil" ingredients, then planted the garden. We started our garden right before spring break and by the time we came back, we had plants up and growing. My students were thrilled to see their 3'x4' section of veggies growing. We did an online food safety program and got my class certified so we could harvest our garden produce for use in the school's salad bar. My students gave grade school classes tours of our garden and they explained all about food safety and gave each child a taste test of their radishes and different types of lettuce and spinach. There was another time when a student wondered about the thousands of caterpillars that were all over town. I had her bring one in and each student gave it a good look. Then I had them go online to research what it was. I made it into a race so that the first one to find an exact match could airplay it up on the smart board for the whole class. Then everyone voted on whether it was a match or not. It took a few tries to find a match. Then they went on to research the kind of moth the caterpillar turned into...which led to a discussion of the difference between butterflies and moths. I only got to teach that class one year, but kids have begged to have it again ever since.
ReplyDeleteThe little
DeleteKids love leaving the building too! Or even just the classroom! It makes the lesson so much more memorable.
Getting out of the building other than for recess is a treat for the kids.
DeleteYears ago, when I was supporting a student in Deana Novack's math class, she took us all outside to do the math lesson on the field on the playground. I remember it was December, but the temperature was in the high 70's and it was sunny. She was like, "How often do you get to go outside and teach a lesson in December?" I still remember that all these years later, I'm sure her students do, too!
DeleteGetting outside of the building is great for the mind and soul. I bet students who are able to do that remember the lesson so much more than when they receive the typical lecture format.
DeleteDebi-
DeleteI wish we still had this class!!! You guys always did the coolest things, and with all the hands-on and real world application, I imagine everything you taught them really stuck! :-)
What a great lesson and evolved over a several months. I bet those students could advise others on how to plant and harvest a garden.
ReplyDeleteI use the Picasso Hook in my reading classes. Unfortunately NCLB took most of the creativity out of the curriculum. The focus became on reading and math so much that teachers were teaching to the test and we did not have the time to incorporate anything creative into our lessons. In fact the elementary schools in Ulysses do not have art teachers anymore! What I love about Common Core is the creativity aspect that is involved in the higher levels of Blooms. A few years ago I was at Holcomb for a summer academy reading conference, it was a 2 day conference the ladies in the session I went to were amazing! I took lots of pictures of the projects they did at the end of their units and still use those ideas today! For example when we read Realistic Fiction the students make a book jacket out of paperbags for their book report project. They have also made a cartoon strip summarizing a story. On Scholastic's website I downloaded a biography report. the students choose 1 person and make their poster. I have also had my students make a collage from a specific time period when we read Historical Fiction. There are so many other projects we do and I hang them all in the hallway, they complain about that but really they like their work to be displayed for others to see plus it gives them extra incentive to be neat! Currently my 7th grades are reading Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. There is a movie to it but before they watch it they will make a movie poster choosing who they want to play certain characters and draw the design on the poster. This is a new idea I got from Courtney Flook earlier in this blog- thanks Courtney!
ReplyDeleteI am so with you, Carol! I'm glad you incorporate art into your teaching - we need so much more of this in education today!
DeleteYay! That is such a fun project and the kids love it! I'd love to hear how it goes with your students :)
DeleteIt's nice to be creative and do something that is different. My daughter, she is in 5th grade, came home the other day so excited. She said, "Mom, Mom! Guess what?!? We don't have to do a reading log this month or next month!" I was surprised and asked why, of course. She gave me a paper that explained that the reading class will be doing a book in a box project. They pick a book to read and paint a shoebox, put the title and author on it somewhere. Then they are to gather 8 objects that relate to the book and put them in the box. They are to write on notecards why they choose the item and how it relates to the book. She is super excited about doing these project and is has already started on painting the shoebox. This will be something that she will remember, whereas a reading log she will not.
DeleteI also remember a project that I did in 5th grade that was not just a reading log or book report. It was a creative process of presenting the book.
This just goes to show how important it is to incorporate projects and activities that go beyond paper and pencil.
I love those ideas! When I taught middle school reading, we did similar things when creating book reports. The kids loved creating their reports! I gave them a menu of projects to choose from and/or create and then they had the freedom to choose how they completed their book report. They loved the fact that it wasn't a traditional book report and it allowed them to show their creative side. Even my non-artistic kids enjoyed this type of project.
DeleteI love your creative ideas. I teach yournger students (KP-2nd). I have used Animated Literacy and taught the students to draw their sight words. They remember the sight words better when they have a visual immage connected to the word.
DeleteI love those creative ideas.
DeleteI love art, so I try to use it when I can in my lessons. Since we lost our art program years ago due to budget cuts, I have a noticed that students are really unaware how to create art, which is really sad. I really embraced the Carolyn Coil differentiated learning activities last year as a professional goal. I love to give students several choice activities to go along with a unit, including technology, art, poetry, etc. Next week, we will be doing a Thanksgiving unit where they will be reading an informational text about Thanksgiving and a fictional story about Thanksgiving. They will be comparing and contrasting the texts, along with other activities. As part of the unit, they get to choose two out of four creative activities - drawing three things in the fiction book that could be real and explaining why, making a story cube containing story elements from the fictional story, using the internet to find six facts about Thanksgiving and creating a slide show for them, and/or doing an oral presentation discussing three ways the informational book was different from the fictional book. I did this same unit last year, and I thought I would have to do a lot of work for the students, but they ended up being very engaged and work very hard on their projects (choices). I'm hoping they will do as well this year.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to keep art alive! Giving students the opportunity to express themselves creatively is so powerful and beneficial for them - it seems like many of our students are concrete learners who desire a worksheet with a right or wrong answer. Creativity is a great way to show individuality and that more than one representation of an idea can be "right."
DeleteI agree that students have forgotten how to do art. I have some kindergartners that I am teaching them how to draw during journal time and then we write about what we drew. I have to do step by step process on drawing with them because they don't know where to start. Using art is a great way to spice up teaching.
DeleteStudents like being given a choice and will pick the area they have a talent in! So sad to lose the art program as they is so good for kids. All kids need someplace to shine and art could be one of those, and lead to something in their future.
DeleteI have seen the same thing. So many kids do not know how to create things anymore. I had a students read a book about alligators and then rip paper and glue it to make an alligator and I was so shocked to see that he really didn't know how to rip paper into different shapes. I love the Picasso as well!
DeleteIt is too bad that you lost your art program, I see so many kids in the non art classrooms drawing and some of them are really good at it. I always make it a habit to ask them if thery are taking an art class or if they are going to take one in high school. Most say that they are while others are not sure. So I do try to nudge them in the right direction just to get them thinking. I wish I had half the talent that some of these kids have, I lost touch with my old art skills long ago and it ended up on the backburner.
DeleteKim-
DeleteI agree with your statement about kids needing someplace to shine. It's sad to think that we're taking away the opportunity for those kiddos to find their niche.
I often use the kinesthetic hook when I teach. I often start a lesson with a song and actions to go with it. To teach sight words I have students say the word along with a physical action and a sentence to go with it so that it helps them remember the word. The students love when you give movement to the lesson.
ReplyDeleteI like the kinesthetic hook or the dance and drama hook. A lot of my kids need movement. So while one of my little girls is reading sight words, she'll be doing cartwheels. I'll have my kids hop around as they are counting. I also do some "read and write around the room" activities. Where they are able to walk around the room and not be confined to a chair, desk, table. I also like the dance and drama, because it engages the kids. It is entreating and they are able to see, hear, and move all at the same time. The more senses that are involved, they better the kids are able to retain that information.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of doing cartwheels. I would imagine that this would help in their remembering their sight words. I agree with your last sentence about the senses helping them retain information.
DeleteI like the hook ideas, and having a lot of high school kids i use their interest area as a hook, sports seem to be a good one that they have an interest in. We can do research and read books in that area. I have used the Picasso hook with art kids and toured museums online! which is the best we can do out in southwest Kansas.
ReplyDeleteMy para and I use many of these techniques with our students, I have a rocking chair in my classroom for a student that works better when he is allowed to move and the rocking chair is a way to get him to work.
ReplyDeleteWe also use what I will call the safari hook because one student walks on nice days the grounds of the school.
We also do crafts or art according to the month and he always wants to take them home to show mom.
I also have a rocking chair that allows my student to rock while working. Sometimes all they need is movement. I like the idea of the safari hook. I did this a couple of years ago for an English class. I would have them go searching for sight words or whatever we where learning that week.
DeleteI like to use the Mozart hook often. I love music and I'm always on YouTube looking for fun videos/songs to help my kiddos grasp a new concept such as skip counting. They love our count by 2's song and it also incorporates the kinesthetic hook because we are up moving around and doing actions with the dance. We like to be silly and make up our own sometimes! They seem to catch on a lot faster and enjoy it more when they can sing along.
ReplyDeleteDuring passing period I like to blare Let's Get This Party Started from time to time just to mix things up a little and generate a some excitement about what we'll be doing in class that day.
DeleteI honestly like the safari hook and the Picasso hook. With the kids that I currently have, now that I think about it, these hooks would be very beneficial in my classroom for the simple reason that's my kids could relate to these hooks. Now honestly kinesthetic hook could would work as well but knowing my teenagers in my classroom they would think that I'm weird or doing something really different which I really don't mind them thinking I would use the kinesthetic hook anyways just to get them moving around. The one reason I like the Picasso hook is that I have a student that does not enjoy math very well but they are good at art so if think outside the box and try to incorporate some kinda art into my math lessons they might be more engaged with math while at the same time enjoy it practice their art skills.
ReplyDeleteI love the picasso hook as well. I have a lot of students where it is really hard for them to say what they want correctly in sentences. Drawing pictures for story sequencing has really let some of them shine with their work.
DeleteI have started using the kinesthetic hook. The way I've been doing this is by getting my student out of the chair and marching or clapping as we say the alphabet or counting. It keeps my student from being wiggly in the chair and keeps his mind on what we are trying to accomplish. I have also had my students write sentences and then they have to walk around and look at everyone else's work and see if they can spot the verb or other grammar issues we are discussing that week.
ReplyDeleteI love movement in the classroom many of our students have a hard time sitting still. Teaching at the lower levels this is crucial but is beneficial at all levels too.
DeleteI have used the kinesthetic hook and the kids enjoyed it. For math, I put problems on a beach ball and the kids threw the ball. The student who caught it had to answer the problem near the left thumb (or whatever we would call out). I used this in all grade levels, even Algebra. For reading, I put sight words on the ball and followed the same procedure. It was fun to watch the kids engage and help each other!
ReplyDeleteI like to use the kinesthetic hook. I have the students change position or get up and move around during transition times. When we review for a test we get up and trade places a lot or I have the students stand at the board. I like to have them up and moving as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteI haven't used music in my room all year, and after reading the book and doing this blog I decided I should probably try to put music on once in a while. I typed in "Thanksgiving songs" on Pandora with no idea what I would get and it ended up on an oldie station. When I say oldies, I'm talking Bobby Darin, Louis Armstrong, Glenn Miller, etc. I decided to have it in the background while my boys did their math assignment. It was so funny, because they started bobbing their head to the music, but they kept on working. It was sort of fun for me, too.
ReplyDeleteI use a lot of the Kinesthetic Hook with my students. Some kids needs that movement to keep them focused. Plus movement helps to wake parts of the brain that are not engaged when just sitting and listening. I use a lot of YouTube videos from Have Fun Teaching to teach letters, sounds, and numbers. Heidi’s Song is another set of videos that I use to help engage students in learning. Some of these ideas also incorporate in the Dance/Drama Hook too. I also feel like by using movement we are encouraging students to use body parts to cross midline that is also very important for fine and gross motor development along with tracking for reading.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't happen enough but Safari hook when possible, nothing better than being outside. Thoughts and feelings can always come out through the Picasso hook!
ReplyDeleteI love being able to go outside as well! For earth week we spend a ton of time outside. I need to extend this beyond just earth week. It is so refreshing, the kids love it, we all run around and have a blast. I need to ask myself how I can get outside more.
DeleteI have used the Picasso hook before when having students do a non-traditional book report. I allowed them to pick a scene from the book and create a diaroma based on that scene. They then had to explain the scene they chose while talking about the book. They absolutely loved it because it gave them some creative freedom and allowed them to talk about the book they read without completing a traditional book report. I did that a lot when I had middle school students. I didn't realize that what I was doing was called a hook!
ReplyDeleteI really love that you incorporated art into the reading lesson. Sometimes it is intimidating to get up in front of the class and present I'm sure this made it much more enjoyable.
DeleteI have used the Mozart hook in my classroom. I especially like to use it during my math instruction. I incorporate songs that tie the content of the lesson into lyrics many of these songs incorporate the kinesthetic hook as well with actions. This gets us up and moving and engaged. I really like Jack Hartmann as a resource.
ReplyDeleteI prefer the kinesthetic hook. I like to move. Sitting still is not something I do well at. However, if I can get up and walk around, the fog will lift from my brain allowing me to refocus. I think elementary children need to have movement incorporated into their learning. When you put an action to a letter, letter sound,site word, or a vocabulary word children seem to remember it better.
ReplyDeleteI have used kinesthetic, Mozart, Picasso, and the drama hook. Music just playing in the back grounds helps with calming, but i love to play songs that go along with what we are learning, especially those that help the students remember certain rules.
ReplyDeleteI've used readers theater a number of times, after we practice, the kids love to act out the parts. This is so much fun!
I've used kinesthetic with no real academic connection before as well just to give the kiddos a break. My brain breaks always include moving around- hot potato with a volley ball has been a favorite lately.
I have used the Picasso Hook. I started using art with Animated Literacy. It teaches the students to draw a picture of each sight word that is introduced. I like this approach because most of my students don't know how to draw. So, I teach them to draw. In their general education classroom they are asked to illustrate stories they write. This gives my students some knowledge of how to do that.
ReplyDeleteIn the future I want to try the Mozart Hook. I want to add music to my classroom.
I’ve used the Kinesthetic Hook a few times. Not necessarily to teach a lesson, but more as a brain break to get the students re-engaged and focused on the tasks we’re trying to complete. As an added bonus, the kiddos aren’t filled with dread about coming back to complete more assessments because we get to ‘play games.’
ReplyDeleteI've seen some great examples of the kinesthetic hook, with students lining up in story sequence, or as graphs lines, and of the Mozart hook with teachers playing songs to aid memory of facts. I use brain breaks with movement when I'm testing.
ReplyDelete