Today I'm going to share a day-in-the-life story of how a maker activity takes place in my class--how I set it up, how I prepared the students, how it went, what we did after.
Last week was Friends Day, a day for students to invite their friends to class as a way of marketing the school to outsiders. Friends Day is usually fun and chaotic, with games, popcorn, and a dance party on Friday. This year's theme was Carnival celebrations around the world, and the school was decorated with photos of Rio, Venice, New Orleans, and other places, as well as with sparkly masks.
My students are a bit older, and not as excited about Friends Day as younger students, and there was some grammar homework that we still needed to correct. But knowing the spirit of Friends Day was fun, I decided to make this class as fun as possible, with the goals of correcting the homework, discussing Carnival, and making something meaningful, using celebrations as a starting point.
I had seen an idea for a STEM challenge from Growing a STEM Classroom, that involved making a balloon tower with balloons and masking tape, and I was curious to try it. Towers are always my favorite go-to challenge. The thing about balloons is they are so wasteful--they get popped and thrown out; when you buy them, you know they are going into the trash. So I avoid buying them unless I have a way to re-use them. But I had some balloons sitting around that were really thin, not great for other maker activities, and I decided to use them up, and also, to use them twice. I copied the homework questions, cut them up into small strips, and put them inside balloons before blowing them up, planning my second activity.
The first activity was, in two teams, to build the highest tower possible using 10 balloons, and a meter of masking tape. I made sure students knew the words balloon, tape, as well as tower. I elicited the word pop by asking, "What happens if I quickly remove a piece of tape that's already on the balloon?" This was not only to elicit language, but to prepare students for a setback they might face during the activity. I also gave them some useful language to use during construction, which I wrote on the board and practiced with them: Let's try this; I think we should put it here; Don't put it there; It will (fall, etc.)
I don't typically do this, especially with an A2 (pre-intermediate) level of English, but I made the rule that if someone starts speaking Portuguese, I would take a balloon from that team and give it to the other. I don't believe negative consequences are the right way to get students to speak English, but, because this had been an ongoing bad habit for particular students in the class, because they were teens and not kids, because it was a fun competition and more of a free-form activity, and because we only had one guest friend show up, I set the rule, and everyone agreed. Making is always about using the limited resources that we have, language and other, and so it made sense in this particular case. I did end up taking one balloon away from one team, giving it to the other, but overall, I was impressed with their problem-solving and teamwork, in English.
The groups started stacking balloons one on top of the other, with a rolled up piece of tape in the middle, but quickly found that they didn't stick well and fell down. They realized that they needed a foundation, and started again. As they did, and had trouble getting balloons to stick, I suggested they try unrolling the tape and using strips to attach the balloons from the sides, rather than rolled up tape between the balloons. They started trying that, and the tower got stronger, but both groups quickly ran out of tape. I should have reminded them at the beginning that they were getting a limited amount of tape, and that they should use it wisely. Instead, in the moment, I simply encouraged them to use what they had, perhaps in different ways.
In the end, both groups built a successful tower, and the group that got the extra balloon had the taller one, although theirs was much weaker in the foundation. I asked the groups what they learned about building towers with balloons, and got them to share some ideas about building a foundation (they called it a base, similar to Portuguese, and I accepted that), and I reminded them about using tape in different ways.
To transition into the next activity, I had teams carefully remove the masking tape from the balloons and ball it up. (I use so much masking tape that I always make little balls out of them, which come in handy for other activities, like catapults!) One balloon popped in the process (it was the team that had the extra balloon), and so I took the rolled up paper that was inside, and gave it to the other team to hang onto.
After the balloons were let loose and mixed up on the floor, I explained the next activity. Teams had to pop as many balloons as possible, but they couldn't use their hands or feet to do so. After popping them, teams had to save the papers inside. The papers would earn them points in the next part. The second part was to take the papers collected from popping the balloons, which were questions from the homework, and to write the answers on the board. Each team had an assigned marker color to use. To finish the game, we added up the number of correct answers for that color/team. We also corrected errors as a class, and students used this activity to correct their own homework.
In general, I shy away from balloon popping, because it's loud, messy, and can be wasteful. Also, kids any older than 13 or 14 are not at all excited about balloons, and kids under 8 or 9 would likely be scared by the popping noise. But since I got two uses out of these balloons--balloons that didn't serve much for anything else, and since it was meant to be a fun class, I went ahead and did it. (I also told neighboring classrooms beforehand that we would be popping balloons so they wouldn't be alarmed by the noise, although, tucked away in my little corner, it wasn't much of a problem.) I would usually have students pick up the balloon pieces, but since mine was the last class of the day, and since I knew someone would be sweeping up the popcorn anyway, I let it go.
After the balloons were all popped and the homework was corrected, I led students into a discussion about Carnival, where they shared what they liked, disliked, and why, in small groups. Then I put some questions up on the board about Carnival around the world, for them to guess the answers to. After some discussion, I informed students that they would find the answers in the video that we were about to watch. After previewing some vocabulary, and reminding students of what they were listening/reading for (I left the subtitles on), we watch a video about the history of Carnival and celebrations of it around the world. I paused it at certain parts to check comprehension and to check the answers to the questions. The students found it interesting, and, although many of them are not too excited about Carnival, we discussed things that we enjoyed, such as parties and music and costumes.
At this point, I was running out of time, and I really should have planned only one maker activity. But, as a follow-up to the video, I invited students to make something that represents a fun celebration of any kind. I had EVA foam, colored paper, puffy paint (colored and sparkly gold), and some LEDs, 3-volt coin batteries, and wires for circuits. I told students they could make a mask or something to wear, and, if desired, light it up with an LED. They could also make a costume for some toys that I brought in, or anything at all that expresses a celebration that they are excited about. Unfortunately, we only ended up with about 20 minutes to do this (I had hoped for 35-45!), and I explained that time was limited. I would normally first demonstrate how to light up an LED and make a simple circuit, but, while the homework answers were being written on the board, students waiting their turn to write saw the materials on my desk, and I let them start tinkering with them, so most of them already knew what to do, and that was great, as time was short. I helped others if they needed it.
Although this making would have been better as the main activity, it gave students the chance to express themselves in a fun way, and it gave me some meaningful moments to connect with each of them. I don't know if Friends Day really gets more people enrolled in classes, but a fun class certainly does allow me to built rapport and get to know my students better, and, if it can fit in the schedule, is definitely something worth doing!
This class was far from perfect; there are a lot of things I will do differently next time. However, some of the highlights were:
Most days, my classes don't look like that, but even so, I try my best to teach English in a hands-on way that empowers students to use what they have and hack it creatively, solving problems and collaborating along the way. This might mean a quick STEM challenge as a warm-up, or spending a little more time to make something that represents a theme in class and using particular sets of target language to talk about it. The possibilities of making and English language learning are endless, and I am excited to explore them and share them. Let's explore them together! Check out my new Facebook page, Creative Classroom Hacks, and follow me on Instagram @danimakerelt (new name!) for some more day-in-the life snapshots and some tips along the way.
Last week was Friends Day, a day for students to invite their friends to class as a way of marketing the school to outsiders. Friends Day is usually fun and chaotic, with games, popcorn, and a dance party on Friday. This year's theme was Carnival celebrations around the world, and the school was decorated with photos of Rio, Venice, New Orleans, and other places, as well as with sparkly masks.
My students are a bit older, and not as excited about Friends Day as younger students, and there was some grammar homework that we still needed to correct. But knowing the spirit of Friends Day was fun, I decided to make this class as fun as possible, with the goals of correcting the homework, discussing Carnival, and making something meaningful, using celebrations as a starting point.
I had seen an idea for a STEM challenge from Growing a STEM Classroom, that involved making a balloon tower with balloons and masking tape, and I was curious to try it. Towers are always my favorite go-to challenge. The thing about balloons is they are so wasteful--they get popped and thrown out; when you buy them, you know they are going into the trash. So I avoid buying them unless I have a way to re-use them. But I had some balloons sitting around that were really thin, not great for other maker activities, and I decided to use them up, and also, to use them twice. I copied the homework questions, cut them up into small strips, and put them inside balloons before blowing them up, planning my second activity.
The first activity was, in two teams, to build the highest tower possible using 10 balloons, and a meter of masking tape. I made sure students knew the words balloon, tape, as well as tower. I elicited the word pop by asking, "What happens if I quickly remove a piece of tape that's already on the balloon?" This was not only to elicit language, but to prepare students for a setback they might face during the activity. I also gave them some useful language to use during construction, which I wrote on the board and practiced with them: Let's try this; I think we should put it here; Don't put it there; It will (fall, etc.)
I don't typically do this, especially with an A2 (pre-intermediate) level of English, but I made the rule that if someone starts speaking Portuguese, I would take a balloon from that team and give it to the other. I don't believe negative consequences are the right way to get students to speak English, but, because this had been an ongoing bad habit for particular students in the class, because they were teens and not kids, because it was a fun competition and more of a free-form activity, and because we only had one guest friend show up, I set the rule, and everyone agreed. Making is always about using the limited resources that we have, language and other, and so it made sense in this particular case. I did end up taking one balloon away from one team, giving it to the other, but overall, I was impressed with their problem-solving and teamwork, in English.
The groups started stacking balloons one on top of the other, with a rolled up piece of tape in the middle, but quickly found that they didn't stick well and fell down. They realized that they needed a foundation, and started again. As they did, and had trouble getting balloons to stick, I suggested they try unrolling the tape and using strips to attach the balloons from the sides, rather than rolled up tape between the balloons. They started trying that, and the tower got stronger, but both groups quickly ran out of tape. I should have reminded them at the beginning that they were getting a limited amount of tape, and that they should use it wisely. Instead, in the moment, I simply encouraged them to use what they had, perhaps in different ways.
In the end, both groups built a successful tower, and the group that got the extra balloon had the taller one, although theirs was much weaker in the foundation. I asked the groups what they learned about building towers with balloons, and got them to share some ideas about building a foundation (they called it a base, similar to Portuguese, and I accepted that), and I reminded them about using tape in different ways.
To transition into the next activity, I had teams carefully remove the masking tape from the balloons and ball it up. (I use so much masking tape that I always make little balls out of them, which come in handy for other activities, like catapults!) One balloon popped in the process (it was the team that had the extra balloon), and so I took the rolled up paper that was inside, and gave it to the other team to hang onto.
After the balloons were let loose and mixed up on the floor, I explained the next activity. Teams had to pop as many balloons as possible, but they couldn't use their hands or feet to do so. After popping them, teams had to save the papers inside. The papers would earn them points in the next part. The second part was to take the papers collected from popping the balloons, which were questions from the homework, and to write the answers on the board. Each team had an assigned marker color to use. To finish the game, we added up the number of correct answers for that color/team. We also corrected errors as a class, and students used this activity to correct their own homework.
In general, I shy away from balloon popping, because it's loud, messy, and can be wasteful. Also, kids any older than 13 or 14 are not at all excited about balloons, and kids under 8 or 9 would likely be scared by the popping noise. But since I got two uses out of these balloons--balloons that didn't serve much for anything else, and since it was meant to be a fun class, I went ahead and did it. (I also told neighboring classrooms beforehand that we would be popping balloons so they wouldn't be alarmed by the noise, although, tucked away in my little corner, it wasn't much of a problem.) I would usually have students pick up the balloon pieces, but since mine was the last class of the day, and since I knew someone would be sweeping up the popcorn anyway, I let it go.
After the balloons were all popped and the homework was corrected, I led students into a discussion about Carnival, where they shared what they liked, disliked, and why, in small groups. Then I put some questions up on the board about Carnival around the world, for them to guess the answers to. After some discussion, I informed students that they would find the answers in the video that we were about to watch. After previewing some vocabulary, and reminding students of what they were listening/reading for (I left the subtitles on), we watch a video about the history of Carnival and celebrations of it around the world. I paused it at certain parts to check comprehension and to check the answers to the questions. The students found it interesting, and, although many of them are not too excited about Carnival, we discussed things that we enjoyed, such as parties and music and costumes.
At this point, I was running out of time, and I really should have planned only one maker activity. But, as a follow-up to the video, I invited students to make something that represents a fun celebration of any kind. I had EVA foam, colored paper, puffy paint (colored and sparkly gold), and some LEDs, 3-volt coin batteries, and wires for circuits. I told students they could make a mask or something to wear, and, if desired, light it up with an LED. They could also make a costume for some toys that I brought in, or anything at all that expresses a celebration that they are excited about. Unfortunately, we only ended up with about 20 minutes to do this (I had hoped for 35-45!), and I explained that time was limited. I would normally first demonstrate how to light up an LED and make a simple circuit, but, while the homework answers were being written on the board, students waiting their turn to write saw the materials on my desk, and I let them start tinkering with them, so most of them already knew what to do, and that was great, as time was short. I helped others if they needed it.
Although this making would have been better as the main activity, it gave students the chance to express themselves in a fun way, and it gave me some meaningful moments to connect with each of them. I don't know if Friends Day really gets more people enrolled in classes, but a fun class certainly does allow me to built rapport and get to know my students better, and, if it can fit in the schedule, is definitely something worth doing!
This class was far from perfect; there are a lot of things I will do differently next time. However, some of the highlights were:
- Teams worked together to solve a problem using English and limited resources.
- Homework correction, though not very communicative, was dynamic and fun.
- Students made something meaningful (or expressed themselves in fun and silly ways) and I got to connect with them individually through what they made.
Most days, my classes don't look like that, but even so, I try my best to teach English in a hands-on way that empowers students to use what they have and hack it creatively, solving problems and collaborating along the way. This might mean a quick STEM challenge as a warm-up, or spending a little more time to make something that represents a theme in class and using particular sets of target language to talk about it. The possibilities of making and English language learning are endless, and I am excited to explore them and share them. Let's explore them together! Check out my new Facebook page, Creative Classroom Hacks, and follow me on Instagram @danimakerelt (new name!) for some more day-in-the life snapshots and some tips along the way.
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