Active Learning

What is Active Learning?

Active learning can be described as when students take responsibility for their learning through engagement with the material by reading, writing, talking, listening, reflecting, and application. The emphasis with active learning is on student voice and student autonomy. This will increase their independence and motivation to learn. If students are exploring topics they care about, in a way they care about, performance and success rates will increase. Instilling a growth mindset in our students is crucial to creating life-long learners.

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How can this look in the classroom?

Active learning can appear in a variety of ways. This can first begin in a classroom through ice breakers, jigsaw teamwork, and think/pair/share activities. As the classroom culture and trust strengthens, teachers can introduce more intensive active learning strategies like peer surveys, case study scenarios, problem-based learning, and genius hour. Prodigy, a game based learning application, explored eight active learning strategies for classroom teachers to explore.

An Example of an Active Learning Lesson

An example of how active learning can be used in the classroom is described in this blog post. My Padlet describes a summary of this lesson.

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This activity used current classroom technology to learn about a topic in a new and different way. This lesson was a great example of how active learning can change the way students engage with the material. In a traditional lesson, students could have listened to a lecture about influential African American figures in history. Through this interactive lesson, students were able to move around with a partner to search for the missing words from the quotes. They engaged in problem solving skills with another student, which encourages teamwork skills. As a teacher of English Language Learners, I thought this lesson was a great way for students to practice academic and social language with peers. Finally, students were able to apply the technology skill they explored by creating their own QR codes. This gave students ownership over their own learning.

My Reflections

I think teachers should keep active learning in mind when planning lessons. As teachers in the 21st century, we are competing for our students attention with technology. We should be using the technology tools we have, to engage our students with the material in ways they are familiar with and interested in. I am early in my teaching career and I am exploring ways to engage my students in active learning. Last year, I used Seesaw to have my students record their own "Book Talks." This platform allowed my students to watch and engage with other posts by their peers. Although this was an active learning unit of lessons, I think I could use Seesaw more consistently in my classroom in order to build a healthy, online classroom presence. Our classrooms can serve as a model of what a healthy internet community can look like. Our students are undoubtedly on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Starting conversations about participating in safe online communities is something that should be started early and should be accompanied by positive peer interactions.