I strive to create lessons that are as engaging and fun as possible. My class of grade 7s were typically uninterested in most things done at school, so I attempted to do as much hands-on experiential learning as I could. I also tried to teach subjects in a way that was relevant to them and used videos and other technology to draw them in.

In a poetry lesson, I played the game “Hiphop or shakespeare” with my students which was inspired from this TED talk. Using hip hop music to teach poetry was a ‘way in’ that proved very successful. I had 100% engagement for this lesson, and students were actually begging me to play the game again later. I also showed the students some slam poetry videos, which they were very keen on.

For this poetry assignment, I had students pick a song that they felt demonstrated poetry in the lyrics. Music is something that all 12 and 13 year-olds can relate to, which showed in the quality of assignments they turned in. Here is the criteria sheet I used: 

In science, I did a number of hands-on lab style activities. One of these was learning about solutions and propertiesof water through a sugar cube lab. Students also learned about the scientific method by actually doing the scientific method themselves.

For a social studies assignment, students became Roman Gladiators for a day, created their own Gladiator names and profile, and then researched what their lives were like and how they became gladiators. For the narrative story the students wrote, it was evident that many students really took this gladiator persona to the next level and engaged with the assignment.