Special Area, Foreign Language & Child Study Workshop Feedback

Foreign Language & Child Study Team

1)  Peer Leaders - role modeling a skit that portrays typical problems younger students might encounter, then asking audience to come up with ideas on how to handle problem

2)  using finger puppets - beginning, middle, end / problem, solution

3)  musical conversation - allow two students who are experiencing conflict to "talk" through drums if they are not able to use words to communicate effectively

4)  in foreign language (FL) - in a written skit, have planned improv sections where actors can take risks with language and change direction of skit - still allows teachers to grade something that has been prepared/written, but allows students opportunity to use language more spontaneously as well

5)  Acting out a fable with different characters - after students are familiar with a fable in a FL, assign characters and allow students to act out the story.  For differentiation, lower-level students could simply re-enact the story, while the higher-level students could be challenged to make a creative twist (change characters, change setting, change outcome, etc.).

Specials

Physical Education (K-2)

·      Use jump ropes to create shapes – have the students completed exercises in the shapes they have created.

·      Have the students pretend they are various animals – such as an egg hatching into a chicken, an elephant walking around the zoo, a lion stuck in a cage.

·      To calm the students down have them become “silent sardines” (hands to the side, quite, straight legs). 

Health (6-8)

·      Play “World’s Worst” for the relationship unit.  For example the prompter will call out World’s Worst Boyfriend/Girlfriend, World’s Worst Husband/Wife, World’s Worst Friend.

·      Play “World’s Worst” to demonstrate incorrect techniques for various sports.  For example, World’s Worst baseball player, World’s Worst Dancer, World’s Worst Jumping Jack.

Art

·      Read a story about a specific artists and have the students paint the story (from their perspective).

·      Act out various artistic styles.

·      Pass ball around and name particular things such as shapes, lines, artists, and art mediums.

·      One person begins a piece of art and passes it along to others to add to it – by the end a final piece will be created.