If you work in education, you likely know that active learning is the best way to get your students actively involved in their learning. If you don't here is a great explanation for active learning from Teaching and Learning in Higher Education; "Active learning is an approach to instruction that involves actively engaging students with the course material through discussions, problem solving, case studies, role plays and other methods. Active learning approaches place a greater degree of responsibility on the learner than passive approaches such as lectures, but instructor guidance is still crucial in the active learning classroom. Active learning activities may range in length from a couple of minutes to whole class sessions or may take place over multiple class sessions". Active learning is along the same lines as project-based learning but not every school has the ability to jump right into project-based learning. Basically, actively learning means that the more involved your students are in the learning, the more they will retain.
Active Learning Through a Blog?
While looking through so examples of active learning I found this blog, "Greetings from Room 211". This was a private blog that was set up so that a student, Max, was able to update his classmates while he was in Toronto filming a movie! Essentially the blog was utilized as digital letters to create the opportunity for digital pen pals between Max and his classmates. At first, I was skeptical that a blog could be active learning but soon realized that this was a great activity, particularly for Max! (I used Padlet to help organize my thoughts.)
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The blog sometimes has posts from the class with updates about what they were doing while Max was away. However, the bulk of the posts were from Max giving weekly updates about his experience throughout the filming process. Max was very thoughtful while writing his posts. He would give updates of the whole week or something notable that happened. He often wrote what he was thinking about while describing how he was feeling throughout the week and how he felt about it. Due to the nature of this as a reflection, it is active learning.
Active Learning in Classrooms
Active learning should always be used in any classroom whenever possible! As the educator, you know that time is precious. Start basic! While developing lesson plans ask yourself, can you add manipulatives, a demonstration or role playing to really solidify the concept you're teaching? I'm confident you will see a difference in student participation and retention.
The library classroom is not an exception to this! School librarians are often a large part of technology instruction and STEAM on top of library classes. I believe that this provides many opportunities for librarians to integrate active learning. Projects that incorporate choices and technology allow for students to really feel connected to what they're learning and take more responsibility.
There is an activity that I have seen an elementary school librarian do with 5th graders that I cannot wait to use in my own classroom library. The librarian has each 5th grader choose a picture book to do a bookmark review. All the bookmarks are printed and put in the picture books as a reader's advisory type of tool. Each bookmark also includes a QR code of the 5th grade student reading the picture book aloud so the patron can follow along. They love this project!
The beauty of active learning is that the strategies, as you've suggested, apply to so many different learning spaces! Thanks for organizing your thoughts in the Padlet and for recognizing blogging as an active learning strategy :)
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ReplyDeleteI really like the bookmark project you mentioned! I have seen bookmark reviews and recommendations before but the addition of the QR code of the 5th graders reading aloud is such a great idea!! I appreciate the way you brought this weeks concepts into the school library setting.
I really enjoyed your post and especially the example of Max’s blog. It’s a creative way to demonstrate how reflection and digital tools can transform a simple update into active learning. I also loved the 5th-grade bookmark review project—what a meaningful way to give students ownership and an authentic audience. Do you think students respond differently to activities like blogging or QR code bookmark reviews compared to more traditional strategies, such as role-plays or discussions?
ReplyDeleteHi Abi, I really enjoyed your blog! I love that you included the link to Greetings from Room 211 along with the Padlet you created, it made your post both engaging and interactive. I also appreciated your suggestion to use a “think, pair, share” or “respond, react, reply” activity. Peer interaction is such an important part of active learning, and your ideas highlight how students can learn from and with each other. How do you decide which collaborative activity (like think-pair-share vs. respond-react-reply) works best for a particular lesson? Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis was a good post. I like how you explained active learning and used “Greetings from Room 211” as an example. I wouldn’t have thought of blogging as an active learning activity, but you made a good case for it. Max used his posts to share his thoughts about his time abroad while maintaining contact with his schoolmates. I really liked the bookmark review project you mentioned, too. The QR code read-aloud concept represents an excellent method that unites technological tools with student participation and reading recommendation services. The experience demonstrates to me the correct methods libraries need to use interactive elements in their programs to keep students engaged. I agree with you that starting small is the way to go. Teachers can enhance student participation by making minor changes to their lesson plans, which include discussions and hands-on activities, while keeping the full curriculum intact.
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