I'm interested in hearing what people's favorite lesson(s) are to teach each year. I redid a ton of my curriculum this year and that has forced me to reevaluate nearly everything to fit in the new stuff. Some of the cuts I've had to make have been very tough but at least it has made me reflect. For me, my favorites are my History Mysteries and specifically the Caesar one found at http://www.mrroughton.com/history-mystery-labs/cold-case-rome. While the other ones have some better exhibits for students that one being first is always the most enjoyable for me. It is unlike anything they've done before and really sets the tone for the type of inquiry I require in my class. It also helps that I get to kick it off with the lights going out and the opening trailer coming on. They buy in big time. I love hearing them debate the exhibits in a truly academic way. I always go home satisfied on that day. So, what lessons do you love to do?
I love our bridge building activity. The students get about 60 craft sticks, wood glue, and build the strongest bridges they can, while identifying their points of tension and compression. We then attempt to destroy them by having them lift our class textbooks. I've had some bridges lift our entire class set of 34 textbooks! (we had to get creative in testing it) We do similar construction activities with catapults, and solar balloons, but the bridges are my favorite because it is very clear they're learning something and they come up with fantastic designs.
When I taught 12th grade, I was always excited to introduce Canterbury Tales to my students. Most of them thought of "Old English" as Shakespeare. I always gave a quick rundown of the transition from the real Old English to the Middle English in which Chaucer wrote. Then, I would recite the first section of the General Prologue in the original language (online, I would turn on my webcam and cover my eyes with my hands). The kids would go bananas! I miss teaching that course, but I moved to ninth grade this year. Still deciding on a favorite, but Romeo and Juliet was pretty amazing to act out in class.
I love teaching Roman numerals. Most students like this topic and are surprised at some of the rules because they didn't learn them when they were first exposed to Roman numerals in middle school math class. I also look forward to teaching the Latin future tense for the first and second conjugations. It's very easy and students feel very accomplished very quickly. It's a good ego-booster for them, especially the ones who have been struggling so far.
I love my lesson on capitalism vs communism. Each kid starts with 3 hershey kisses (except 3-4 who start with 10) and then they play Rock-Paper-Scissors for a little while with winner getting a kiss. If they ran out, they sat down. Every few min, the market price changed with the victor getting more and more candy. When only a few had all the candy, we sit down and take notes on capitalism. Then, "the state" takes all the "industry" (candy) and redistributes it equally followed by notes on communism. The kids LOVE it and it really prompts a lot of discussion about how people in different situation feel and why some groups would welcome a change to communism, etc. I also enjoy dividing my classes into 3 estates for the French Revolution each year, where I spoil the 1st and 2nd estate one class and then allow the 3rd estate to "execute" them during the next class.
Every year, one lesson we do at the start of the measurement unit it to make a yeti. It combines nonstandard forms of measurement, multiplication, and measuring in the customary system. The kids love it.
Do you have a specific plan or list of materials you can share? I've done bridge-building a couple times with my GATE Club and I've had mixed results (mostly due to glue not drying... ever) so I'd love to find a clear plan on it. I even bought an activity book on Amazon that was supposed to help but it honestly didn't.
Look at pages 5-7 in this PDF...my lesson is similar. The Heinemann Units of Study are great...the poetry unit book is my fave! http://www.nclack.k12.or.us/cms/lib...Domain/100/Poetry_Powerful_Thoughts_(K-2).PDF
I love teaching basic trig functions in geometry. for whatever reason, it looks so different to the kids and after you teach them how to identify opposite, adjacent and hypotenuse sides, and reteach solving proportions, kids seem to enjoy it. it's the one unit where I know even the struggling kids have a chance to be successful. the whole entire year of statistics rocks. That is one math where I can tie it into "real world' applications in almost every single lesson. And the applications are relevant to the students. we do a lot of studies involving sports, probabilities of passing a test by guessing on every answer, etc., etc.
For Middle School math ..... it would be PI Day..... Bring in lots of round objects (cans, reels, etc) and have the kids to measure the circumference and diameter then compute PI (3.1459). The downside is that middle schoolers were not my favorite age group to teach. Anyway it's a fun exercise.......
My all time favorite lesson to teach was in 7th grade math, the Pythagorean Theorem, I get to show a hilarious rap and whenever I reintroduce it to algebra or geometry, I still show the video. For English, I liked 9th grade English when to students had to create a product and act out a commercial. I loved all the creativity in my room at that time.
oooooo, some of these lessons, especially at high school make me want to be a student again in your classrooms!!
I did my own write-up on it. On my write-up it says white glue, but I used wood glue and that stuff hardens like cement! I have them wrap it in scotch tape or masking tape while they let it dry overnight. I also teach them to just use the tiniest dab of glue. If they use too much it will not dry and honestly with wood glue you only need like a single drop. I'll PM you my write-up.
