COURSE TITLE:
NO. OF CREDITS:
3 QUARTER CREDITS
[semester equivalent = 2.00 credits]
| WA CLOCK HRS: OREGON PDUs: PENNSYLVANIA ACT 48: |
30 30 30 |
INSTRUCTOR:
Mary Ann Johnson
maryajohnson-advisor@comcast.net
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The book provides 99 possible strategies that are going to help engage your students, but you will find they will lessen any boredom you may be feeling, as well. Based on sound teaching strategies, you use the processes to get students involved with material you already planned to cover. No special equipment or preparation is required. The strategies in this book are divided into seven categories, including work for whole class groups, pairs, and individuals, as well as reluctant learners. There is an Appendix with helpful forms that can save you preparation time. There is plenty of variety to try with any class, teaching style and grade level. You will have fun selecting the best fit for your classes, finding out just how to get the student engagement and focus that makes learning indelibe and authentic. Eric Jensen, brain researcher, has endorsed it as "The most practical engagement book on the market."
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon completion of this course, participants will have:
1. Found ways to activate student involvement and thinking.
2. Created activities that will engage students at the critical times at the beginning and end of lessons.
3. Provided students some learning processes that are intrinsically rewarding.
4. Found essential forms to use for implementing lessons.
5. Gained ideas to help students who need focused movement in their learning activities.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Completion of all specified assignments is required for issuance of hours or credit. The Heritage Institute does not award partial credit.
The use of artificial intelligence is not permitted. Assignment responses found to be generated by AI will not be accepted.
HOURS EARNED:
Completing the basic assignments (Section A. Information Acquisition) for this course automatically earns participants their choice of CEUs (Continuing Education Units), Washington State Clock Hours, Oregon PDUs, or Pennsylvania ACT 48 Hours. The Heritage Institute offers CEUs and is an approved provider of Washington State Clock Hours, Oregon PDUs, and Pennsylvania ACT 48 Hours.
UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT INFORMATION
REQUIREMENTS FOR UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT
Continuing Education Quarter credits are awarded by Antioch University Seattle (AUS). AUS requires 75% or better for credit at the 400 level and 85% or better to issue credit at the 500 level. These criteria refer both to the amount and quality of work submitted.
CREDIT/NO CREDIT (No Letter Grades or Numeric Equivalents on Transcripts)
Antioch University Seattle (AUS) Continuing Education Quarter credit is offered on a Credit/No Credit basis; neither letter grades nor numeric equivalents are on a transcript. 400 level credit is equal to a "C" or better, 500 level credit is equal to a "B" or better. This information is on the back of the transcript.
AUS Continuing Education quarter credits may or may not be accepted into degree programs. Prior to registering, determine with your district personnel, department head, or state education office the acceptability of these credits for your purpose.
ADDITIONAL COURSE INFORMATION
REQUIRED TEXT
Battling Boredom, Part 1: 99 Strategies to Spark Student Engagement, pb or Kindle
ISBN# 0367151979
By Bryan Harris
Routledge
Buy from Amazon or another bookseller of your choice. May be available at local or school libraries for free.
None. All reading is online.
MATERIALS FEE
None.
ASSIGNMENTS REQUIRED FOR HOURS OR UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT
A. INFORMATION ACQUISITION
Assignments done in a course forum will show responses from all educators who have or are taking the course independently. Feel free to read and respond to others' comments.
Group participants can only view and respond to their group members in the Forum.
Assignment #1:
In 1-2 pages, please introduce yourself and describe your own experience dealing with the challenge of keeping students engaged. Add anything that you also found, so far, that works.
Assignment #2:
From the course text, read the Introduction. What are 6 important quotes, or ideas, you found in this article. Why were they your choice? (Write 1-2 pages.)
Assignment #3:
Read all the ideas in Part One, "Strategies to Begin a Lesson" and descibe the way you might use any three ideas. Write 1-2 pages.
Assignment #4:
Pead "Part TWo, "Strategies to End a Lesson." Choose the five you'd find most adaptable to your classes. Evaluate how you would use them and the probable value and any tweaking you would need to do of each. Write 2-3 pages.
Assignment #5:
Read "Part Three: Strategies for Solo/Independent Work." Rate the ideas you like on a "Top Ten List," making the first one on the list your favorite, and the last one your least favorite. Briefly explain why you chose the ones you did, and the reason for being the highest or lowest on the list. Write 2-3 pages.
Assignment #6:
Read Part Four,"Strategies for the Whole Group," Select four stratgies and tell how you could use them. Write 1-2 pages.
Assignment #7:
Read Part Five: "Strategies for Partners and Small Groups." Explain how you cold use any two strategies and why you think they would work best in your class. Write 1-2 pages.
Assignment #8:
Read Part Six: "Strategies for Student Movement." Explain how you could use any two strategies. If possible, try one, and write about the results. (Write 1-2 pages.)
ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS REQUIRED FOR UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT
B. LEARNING APPLICATION
In this section, you will apply your learning to your professional situation. This course assumes that most participants are classroom teachers who have access to students. If you do not have a classroom available to you, please contact the instructor for course modifications. Assignments done in a course forum will show responses from all educators who have or are taking the course independently. Feel free to read and respond to others' comments. Group participants can only view and respond to their group members in the Forum.
Assignment #9: 400 and 500 Level Assignment
Complete one of the following:
Option A)
Using one of the lessons you applied based on a strategy from the ook, complete a "Strategy Implementation" using the Self-Reflection Guide on P. 116. If you cannot field test a strategy in the summer, consult a colleague of their (oral) peer review. (The Self Reflection guide asks for how things went, what could be improved, and other helpful suggestions for your assessment.)
Option B)
Write a letter to the author, describing how you adapted strategies selected from this book, or what was the most useful information you have found in the ideas. (Sometimes we have forwarded the letters to Bryan Harris, which we could do, if you wish.)
Assignment #10: 500 Level Assignment ONLY
In addition to the 400 Level Assignmnent, complete the following:
Option A)
Create an annotated bibliography of five resources with strategies for "The Reluctant Learner" from online resources. Rate their value in a short describption of their content, their feasibility, and their appropriateness for your own classroom use.
Option B)
Create a list of probable ways teaching methods of the past (or even the present, using technology) may be hurting student motivation. Consider why these strategies are not likely to inspire student attention or interest. Cite any online sources or interview at least 3 colleagues for their ideas that may support your opinions. Contrast with the suggestions of the book.
(Option C)
Another assignment of your own design, with prior approval of the instructor.
C. INTEGRATION PAPER
Assignment #11: (Required for 400 and 500 level)
SELF REFLECTION & INTEGRATION PAPER
(Please do not write this paper until you've completed all of your other assignments)
Write a 400-500 word Integration Paper answering these 5 questions:
INSTRUCTOR COMMENTS ON YOUR WORK:
Instructors will comment on each assignment. If you do not hear from the instructor within a few days of posting your assignment, please get in touch with them immediately.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR TEACHING THIS COURSE:
Mary Ann Johnson, M.Ed Adm. has worked with students of all levels, from alternative high school to gifted classes. She has also been a junior high vice principal and is now working with teachers for continuing education in classes, distance learning and building leadership groups. She is a teacher emeritus who has led seminars for educators which focus on developing a quality learner environment for students and for teachers. Her courses are research-based and resonate with user-friendly and energizing content.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Battling Boredom
ERWIN, JONATHAN C., The Classroom of Choice, Giving Students What They Need and Getting What You Want, ASCD, 2004. pd. 229 pages, ISBN 0-87120-829-6
This book is based on Glasser's beliefs that people have these 4 motivators: fun, freedom, power and belonging. Give students choices, and they will pick the one that meets an unmet need. It is a rich and wonderful book, full of practical and engaging teaching strategies to help teachers achieve important intellectual goals in the process of helping students meet their developing social and intellectual needs. Erwin believes that while learning is hard work, it doesn't have to be painful. Fun is both a reprequisite for and a byproduct of quality learning.
FERLAZZO, LARRY, Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answer to Classroom Challenges, Eye on Education, 2011 and following reprints, pb. 190 pages, ISBN 978-1-59667-181-2
Find a dozen categories of strategies to engage the thinking and processing of your course information. In this book by award-winning author Larry Ferlazzo, you will see how to: motivate students, help students take personal responsibility, deal with disruptive students and classes, find best ways to maximaize the changes to make a lesson successful, and more. Each section of the book provides stimulating ideas and down-to-earth tools, including lesson plans, and even downloads of the handouts that will save you hours. (This is also a
Heritage course for 6 credits.)
HARRIS, BRYAN and LISA BRADSHAW, Battling Boredom Part 2: Even More Strategies to Spark Student Engagement, Eye on Education, 2017, pb or online, 114 pages, ISBN 978-0-415-40316-0 This book adds more ideas to help you with classroom-ready lesson ideas that include a section on using technology, and ways to get students more adept at discussions, saying their ideas, and speaking up in class. There is also a section of how to use movement strategies that will help clear students' minds for thinking, and a richly useful chapter on "Student Engagment Strategies that Don't Work." (This is also a Heritage online course for 5 credits.)
HIMMELE, PERSIDA & HIMMELE, WILLIAM, Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner, ASCD, 2011,133 pages, ISBN 978-1-4166-1294-0
This book is a highly recommended companion to the text for this course. It begins with a chapter "The High Cost of Disengagement" and makes an enthusiastic case for banishing boring education. The Total Participation Techniques "are teaching techniques that allow for all students to demonstrate, at the same time, active participation and cognitive engagement in the topic being studied." Many strategies are descrfibed with clear directions, and ways to assure higher-order thinking. The strategies have been field-tested in elementary to college classes. A real winner, very readable.
RUSH, MARTHA SEVETSON, Beat Boredom: Engaging Tuned-Out Teenagers, with a foreward by Erik Palmer, Stenhouse, 2018, pb, 204 pages ISBN 978-1-62531-140-8 This book provides information about the most engaging big strategies, as opposed to classroom activities. It includes topics like "Storytelling" to give students something to care about; "Discussion and Debate;" "Problem-Based Learning;" "Simulations;""Competition" and "Authentic Tasks about things that matter outside of school." I thought this book gave deeper insights into why students are more deeply attrracted to strategies that are more than a daily focus.