Activities To Do In Flexible Spaces

1. Flexible Learning Spaces
Using your knowledge and expertise in new ways

2. Cells and Bells v Flexible Spaces
Physical space
Flexible approach
The teacher as expert
The teacher as a facilitator

3. Physical space: flexible approach
It’s not what you’ve got, it’s
how you use it
Moving yourself around the
room
Student transition to ‘new’
classrooms will be informed
by primary school
experience

4. The Teacher as Expert?
Wanting to ‘direct’ student
learning is different from...
Wanting to ‘assist’ student
learning
Allowing students time to
think & interact

5. Getting the most out of the space
The importance of learning goals and clear objectives
Individual activities are not as important as achieving learning
goals
Feeling ‘in control’
Allowing for the different pace of learners
Accepting student control of own learning

6. Clear objectives
Setting learning tasks
becomes easier with goals
If you can’t articulate what a
class is for, neither will
students
The specific activity is
secondary to the outcome

7. Controlled vs ‘uncontrolled’ classes
If students don’t know
exactly what they should be
achieving, they won’t be ‘on
task’
Giving smaller, discrete
tasks for students to begin
with will be more effective
Helping students to
organise their time

8. “Engaging” students: the first step
The objective: Establishing what you know, asking you to think
about new ideas.
Knowledge, beliefs and predictions
‘Answer Garden’ or ‘Flisti’
Adjective grouping
Survey of opposites
Visual representations

9. Knowledge, beliefs, predictions
Certain Probable Maybe

10. Answer Garden

11. Flisti

12. Adjective Grouping; Opposite Survey
Adjective Grouping
Opposites Survey

13. Visual Representations
Drawing ideas
means students
process them
conceptually

14. Revisiting our objectives
Remember that our objective was : Establishing what you know,
asking you to think about new ideas.
It does not particularly matter which activity you completed,
what matters was that the objective was achieved.
In class, students will be interested in completing all of the
activities; in different units they will get the opportunity to use
different tools
differentiation of delivery

15. Exploring, elaborating & explaining
The Objective:
To try a range of different activities that will broaden their
understanding of the topic & articulate this understanding

16. Exploring, explaining & elaborating
Concept charting
Popplet
Web jogging
Tactile links
Posters and presentations
Translating to different formats
Vocabulary activities
Graphing knowledge
Blogging

17. Concept Charting
2 3
1 4

18. Popplet

19. Web Jogging

20. Tactile Links

21. Posters & Presentations

22. Translating to different formats
Teacher Explanation Format Student Explanation Format
Read material (textbook, Create Simile
handout, web page) Poster summary
Watch video Flow Chart
Teacher modelling Taboo
Look at Visuals Comic Book

23. Vocabulary Activities
student centred ICT collaborative
democratic flexible spaces team teaching
learning styles individual facilitator

24. Graphing Knowledge

25. Blogging

26. Evaluating
Increased interaction with students
Opportunities for feedback
Meaningful tasks to complete
Student self-evaluation
Reducing your own workload

27. Applying your own experience
Don’t assume that you are doing something entirely new
Activities are ‘the same, but different’
Adapting your knowledge to new space