Within our project, we collected a couple of innovative best practices for teaching with a growth mindset we want to share. They are ready-to-use, but can of course be adapted to your specific needs and circumstances.
If you have any questions, please just contact the responsible project partner directly.
Icebreaker
| Partner’s name | Electromures Technological High School |
| Aims of BP | Students learn their peers’ names and/or find out some personal information about them. They will use English. |
| Materials needed | — |
| Justification for choosing this BP | It is an engaging exercise, students have the opportunity to use English in real-life situation. |
| Short description | The teacher asks the students to stand up and then go and shake hands with every person in the room as quickly as they can. When they shake hands they should ask their name and where they come from. When they have finished, they should move quickly on to the next person until each of them have held this short conversation with everyone. For those who already know each other we can change the question so that they ask about something they don’t know the answer to (e.g. What did you do at the weekend? What did you have for dinner last night? How much time did you spend doing Maths yesterday?, etc.) Back at their places students have to recall who they’ve shaken hands with and recall what information they’ve found out. |
| Target group | Middle and high school students |
| Results and impacts | This practice strengthens students’ attitude towards English. |
| Conclusions | Though it is a noisy activity, it is also a useful one. Nevertheless we can ask students to lower their voice. |
| Resources and web references | LEARNING TEACHING, Jim Scrivener, Macmillan Publishers Limited 1998 |
StoryCubes
| Partner’s name | Electromures Technological High School |
| Aims of BP | Students learn their peers’ names and/or find out some personal information about them. They will use English. |
| Materials needed | A set of 9 dice with pictures on each side (The teacher can make the dices if he/she want the students to talk about some specific images) |
| Justification for choosing this BP | It pushes students to talk and think outside their habitual thought patterns. |
| Short description | In groups of three or four, students have to roll all the dice at once and one by one in a specific order, they need to tell a story based on the 5 pictures they can see or roll them one at a time and take turns to add a sentence to the story. They can keep rolling the dice as many times as they choose. |
| Target group | High school students |
| Results and impact | This practice uses the vocabulary and grammar that students need to learn, so they finish memorizing it and practicing their usage. The results give them a sense of accomplishment. |
| Conclusions | Vocabulary and grammar can be learnt in many different ways and to play games that can foster the word learning and the structures of grammar can make the learning of them more natural and less abstract. |
| Resources and web references |
My smart self
| Partner’s name | LICEO STATALE MARIE CURIE | |
| Aims of BP | trying to change the students approach towards a given problem. Specifically, our school needed to to renovate the flower boxes at the entrance (they were full of old, ruined plants) | |
| Materials needed | Sandpaper, colors, brushes, soil, new plants | |
| Justification for choosing this BP | We wanted to give students the chance to improve a highly visible area of their own school | |
| Short description | 1. PROBLEM SOLVING: Students were divided into groups, and each group had to: A) find out the most suitable plants (they had to be exposed to the sun in the summer and to the rain and cold in winter) B) think about how to renovate the flower boxes, choosing the new design C) find put the types of colours/materials necessary to carry out their decoration (water-resistant colors, gardening equipment to remove the old plants). D) decide where to plant the old plants giving them new life. 2. TEACHERS’ SUPPORT: Teachers supported students only by spurring them to find out the best solutions, without furnishing them any help. | |
| Target group | Students from the 3th and 4th year (16/18 years old) | |
| Results and impact | After several meetings where they planned all necessary activities, students were able to: – choose the most suitable plants (they had to be resistant to hot summers and cold winters) – find the most suitable design (they chose a floral pattern typical from our regional folklore, but decided to renovate them in the choice of colors). – work on task: explant the old plants, clean up the concrete boxes, paint them, plant the new plants. | |
| Conclusions | Students learnt how to manage a project from the beginning to the end, starting from the study and choice of the most suitable materials (types of colors, types of plants) to the study and choice of the plants capable of resisting different weather conditions. | |
| Resources and web references | https://www.gardenia.net/plant-combinations/plant-family/festuca_–_fescues (PLANT COMBINATION IDEAS) https://www.gardenia.net/plant/festuca-glauca-blue-fescue-grass (PLANT COMBINATION IDEAS) https://gilmour.com/heat-tolerant-plants (SUN/COLD TOLERANT PLANTS) https://www.provenwinners.com/learn/top-ten-lists/20-durable-plants-hot-weather (SUN/COLD TOLERANT PLANTS) https://www.giardinaggio.net/giardino/piante-da-giardino/le-10-migliori-piante-resistenti-al-freddo-e-alsole.asp (SUN/COLD TOLERANT PLANTS) |
Way to success
| Partner’s name | LICEO STATALE MARIE CURIE |
| Aims of BP | Trying to change the students approach towards a given activity problem. Specifically, our school needed to improve recycling bio waste and pro-duce source of organic matter for flowers and plants in the garden. |
| Materials needed | Books, LIM,computer, Shotcut program or similar for video maker, costumes. |
| Justification for choosing this BP | Practical reason: by involving students, we offer a service to the enCre community |
| Short description | – TEAM WORKING: 4 groups – A TEAM LEADER (a student appointed by his mates) presents the gathered information/ achieved objectives – the meeting is short, usually no more than 30 minutes – people are encouraged to ask questions (PROBLEM SOLVING) – teachers supervise but don’t intervene Students learn how to manage a project from the beginning to the end, so that they: – define outcomes – start from the study and choice biodegradable waste, such as food scraps and garden waste, to the study and choice different conditions for improving the process. – are also given a certain budget, within which to decide which products to buy. Entrecomp competences: – Spotting opportunities – Creativity – Ethical and sustainable thinking – Self-awareness and self-efficacy – Motivation and perseverance – Mobilizing resources – Taking the initiative – Planning and management – Working with others – Learning through experience – Financial and economic literacy |
| Target group | Students 16-18 years old |
| Results and impact | After several meetings where they plan all necessary activities, students are able to: – choose the most suitable bio waste – choose the most suitable compost bin – work on task: find organic waste at school, planning the sites in which put organic bins in the school, choose organic waste – share the carried out activity with all school students |
| Conclusions | Each group is guided through a division of tasks based on each member’s personal skills and inclinations. |
| Resources and web references |
Scattegories
| Partner’s name | Salesianos |
| Aims of BP | The goal is to urge students communicate with each other and to review and refresh vocabulary |
| Materials needed | A grid with different columns of vocabulary, such as objects, nationalities, animals… |
| Justification for choosing this BP | It makes revising vocabulary fun and forces the students to think about different words |
| Short description | The teacher calls out a letter – The students need to fill out all the columns and when they achieve so, they have to shout `”stop’, just one word in each column – When that happens, the rest of the student should stop writing – Then, the teacher needs to score the words, if it is repeated the student will get 5 points and if it is not, he/she will get 10 points. Furthermore, if that student is the only one writing a word in an expecific category it gets 15 points. – The winner is the student that gets more points. |
| Target group | High school students |
| Results and impact | This practice uses the vocabulary that students need to learn, so they finish memorizing it and the results give them a sense of accomplishment. |
| Conclusions | Vocabulary can be learnt in many different ways and to play games that can foster the word learning can make everything easier. |
| Resources and web references |
Taboo
| Partner’s name | SALESIANOS | ||
| Aims of BP | The goal is to urge students to communicate with each other and to review and refresh vocabulary. | ||
| Materials needed | Taboo cards which contain words already learned | ||
| Justification for chosing this BP | It makes revising vocabulary fun and forces the students to remember different words. Moreover, they practice speaking and listening. | ||
| Short description | Taboo is a word guessing game. A player choses a card and has to make his partners guess the word on the card without using the “taboo” words on the list. | ||
| Target group | High school students | ||
| Results and impact | This practice uses the vocabulary that students need to learn, so they memorize it and the results give them a sense of accomplishment. | ||
| Conclusions | Vocabulary can be learned in many different ways and to play games can foster the learning process. | ||
| Resources and web references |
Creative writing – Poem
| Partner’s name | ELECTROMURES TECHNOLOGICAL HIGH SCHOOL | ||
| Aims of BP | Students learn to use the English language in a creative way | ||
| Materials needed | Paper or notebook and pen | ||
| Justification for chosing this BP | It is a funny and creative exercise and students usually like it. | ||
| Short description | This is a poem writing activity where the teacher gives the first word and the number of words for each line that follows. For example: 1. Yellow 2. Sun-flower 3. Bends gently in 4. Towards the brown earth 4. Looking for the sun 3. A busy bee 2. Buzzes over 1. Me It can be done either as a group work or individually and the teacher can vary the number of words in a line. | ||
| Target group | High school students | ||
| Results and impact | This activity enhances the student’s workable vocabulary and gives them a sense of accomplishment. | ||
| Conclusions | Creative activities are useful for students because they urge them to start thinking outside the box. | ||
| Resources and web references |
Elicited dialogues
| Partner’s name | ELECTROMURES TECHNOLOGICAL HIGH SCHOOL |
| Aims of BP | The aim of this activity is to urge students to communicate. |
| Materials needed | Before the class the teacher prepares the dialogue. |
| Justification for chosing this BP | Making learning fun. |
| Short description | In class the teacher uses pictures to establish the context and characters very clearly. Using mime, gestures, quetions try to elicit from the Students each line of dialogue you have prepared. The aim is to get them produce as much as possible. When students say sentences in response to eliciting, the teacher selects a suitable one, correcting if necessary. The teacher must establish the dialogue, every student in class should be able to say and remember it (through choral and individual drilling and correction). For each line of the dialogue the teacher should use the same procedure. Follow-on activities: writing it out, acting it out, continuing it. |
| Target group | Middle-school and high-school students |
| Results and impact | This practice uses the students’ existing vocabulary and the results give a sense of accomplishment to students. |
| Conclusions | It is a fun activity. The sentences can be elicited by students, too. |
| Resources and web references |
Learning with Kahoot
| Partner’s name | Werkstatt Berufskolleg Unna |
| Aims of BP | Students learn their peers’ names and/or find out some personal information about them. They will use English. |
| Materials needed | Smartphone |
| Justification for chosing this BP | It is an engaging exercise, students have the opportunity to use English in a competitive atmosphere. |
| Short description | The teacher introduces the grammatical structure ‘simple present’, following the students attempt to do some simple present exercises. As soon as the teacher has the impression that the students have understood the basic concept he/she explains the concept of Kahoot. Either the students download the Kahoot app, or the enter ‘play Kahoot’ into their browsers. For further assistance the teacher should click on the item QR-code to make it easier to open the program. While using Kahoot as a learning tool it proves helpful to explain the individual tasks/exercises, thereby, giving all students the chance to participate while simultaneously allowing the more gifted students to get the best rankings, due to the fact that quicker answers are rewarded with more points. |
| Target group | Vocational or high school students |
| Results and impact | This practice strengthens students’ attitude towards English. |
| Conclusions | There is a risk that students may use their phone for off-topic subjects. Nevertheless, the competition aspect is hard to resist for them. |
| Resources and web references | The effect of using Kahoot! for learning – A literature review Alf Inge Wang ;RabailTahir Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131520300208 |
