Because while I was teaching online for 18 months during the pandemic, we no longer had classroom walls on which to display student work. Previously, I had used display material as a means to showcase their efforts to an authentic audience, and it served as motivation to produce high-quality work. Without this motivation, I could see a drop in the effort they put into written work which impacted their progress.
Is it difficult to set up?
Not at all! I used google sites https://sites.google.com/new – really user-friendly, many different templates to choose from. The students and I chose the title and background photos together, then they sent me photos of their work via Skype and I uploaded the content. Once the work is published, there is a link available to view the work online so their parents and friends can also see it.
Any drawbacks?
Probably the main one is the quality of the photos they sent me! I tried not to involve parents but occasionally I had to ask a parent to intervene and send a decent photo!
Even though we are back in the classroom now, I am still using the galleries. Classroom displays change, but the online gallery is a permanent reminder of their work that they can look back on in future and therefore really see their progress.
She not only has some awesome ideas but also clearly lays out how to use the materials and provides all the links and materials needed. A true collaborator. https://www.cristinacabal.com
I have recently used this material, with resounding success,
Life Begins at 70: a Future Perfect and Future Continuous Lesson
“To me, old age is always ten years older than I am” John Burroughs
In this engaging lesson students will consolidate the use of future perfect and future perfect continuous through some engaging activities.
WARM UP
Show them a picture of how you see yourself when you are 70 and explain why you see yourself like that. (below you’ll see the picture I showed my students). After some laughs and a bit of explaining, ask students:
How do you see yourselves when you are 70? Do you look forward to getting old?
Ask them to talk in pairs for two or three minutes and get feedback.
THE POEM- WARMING by Jenny Joseph
This is a nice opportunity to introduce poetry in class.
Explain that the poem they are about to listen/read, written by Jenny Joseph, goes hand in hand with the picture of yourself shown above. After listening to the poem, ask students whether they think the author is looking forward to getting old and why.
It seems the poetess is rebellious, but she is only comfortable to ‘break the rules’ when she has the excuse of old age and senility. Ask students what they think about her attitude.
On the walls of the class display pictures of elderly people reflecting different attitudes towards life when they are old.
Ask students to stand up, have a look at all of them and decide which one will best represent their attitude to life. They now return to their desks.
Ask them to write two sentences using the future perfect and two sentences using the future continuous, based on the picture they have chosen.
Get students in threes now and ask them to explain their choice to their partners and use the 4 sentences they have written.
For example and based on my picture
I will have tried parachuting when I am 70
I will have probably written a recipe book.
I will probably be living in Bhutan
I will be living life to the fullest
I have used these pictures to display on the walls, and this presentation when giving feedback see here.
SPEAKING
Students now work in small groups and answer the following questions about the future. Remind them that they need to elaborate on their answers giving reasons and using different expressions to give opinion. All the questions contain either a future perfect or a future continous form; encourage students to use these tenses in their answers.
…at least they did in 1999, according to Tim Brighouse, when I heard him talk about them. Do they still make sense, 23 years later? At the time they were incredibly compelling and, evidenced here, highly memorable. Do you do them?
Multiply Their ‘Specialness’
Increase the chances of each child in school coming into contact with people and situations that make them feel special, worthy and valuable. This could be teachers, peers, older students, visitors, TAs, parents – anyone who can bring understanding, love, learning and challenge into a child’s daily experience.
Smile in the corridor; give meaningful responsibilities; listen; ask; get to know; play a game in the playground; give pupils the chance to teach something to a younger child. There are hundreds of ways to make a child feel special and so many adults in school to do it. But do we…
I especially loved the part where, in a science class, using DNA testing, the students tested if the fish in a local sushi restaurant really was the fish it said on the menu. Science, ethics, media studies…all in one class – brilliant!
21stcenturylearning2017.wordpress.com 