Use PowerPoint more often!
I’m finding my class really difficult to manage in the afternoons – they have poor listening skills and often don’t co-operate well with each other. But yesterday afternoon I managed to find a lesson that kept them engaged all afternoon.
Earlier in the week, I had asked them to arrange themselves in groups of 3. I then gave each group a different planet to research, using websites that I had identified and a list of prompt questions for them to answer. They all managed to find most of the required information, using at least 3 different websites each.
Yesterday, we used the laptops to create presentations about the planets. To avoid arguments over working on the laptop, they also had to create a large poster on sugar paper and I specified which members of each group would be working on the laptop and the poster (then swapped every 15 minutes). This also meant that they had to work together when they swapped to ensure continuity. Working on the laptops meant that they didn’t have the distraction of looking for pictures on the internet.
The children enjoyed the lesson, co-operated well with each other and all produced a piece of work that they are proud of and keen to share with others.
Definitely an idea to use again with different content!
