“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Wrong! You can feed him salt.”
Howard G. Hendricks
These lesson plans were written for individuals, such as teachers and others who work with young people, who might not have a lot of experience in leading an Active Learning lesson. Those who are experienced in this or similar teaching techniques, will find the following explanations very basic. Those who find this teaching technique as a new or unfamiliar challenge will discover more use for these instructions. I would encourage all teachers to use these lesson plans as only a starting point for your own creativity.
Topic Area: A listing of the topics for which discussion questions have been developed. If more than
one topic is listed, there is a comma between the topics. You should rarely try to address more than one topic, unless it is alcohol and other drugs, during a single lesson. Use your own judgment about how many topics your students can handle during one activity and discussion time. There are many more topics that can be addressed for each of these lesson plans than I have indicated. In many cases, topic application is limited only by your own imagination and ingenuity.
Concept: An explanation of why this activity is important and how it can be applied to your students.
This section will give you a basis for information that should be presented before the activity. Remember that activities should not stand alone. Introductory material needs to be given to help in understanding and applying the concept that is experienced during the activity. Without a strong introduction and solid follow-up, an activity becomes just fun rather than a learning opportunity. However, don’t go too far when introducing the activity. You want this to be a discovery process; let the students experience and then discuss the activity. Major concepts will be more significant if they are discovered during and after the activity by the students rather than by having you explain the important concepts or key points to them.
Method: Only two classifications are used. One is Classroom Demonstration. Here the teacher
undertakes an activity in front of the class. One or more students may be involved in the demonstration. The second method is Classroom Activity. Under this format the entire class will be directly involved in the activity. The teacher’s role will be to facilitate the activity and be sure a safe environment, both physically and psychologically, is provided. Consideration should be taken as to how much room will be needed for a particular activity. You may have to rearrange chairs and tables in your room or even move to a larger facility, which could be indoors or outdoors.
Time Frame: This is only an estimate based on the past history of these activities. Your class may
take longer or shorter. Some consideration might need to be given to how quickly your group understands directions and can set-up for the activity. Extra time can be consumed when teams are chosen, room arrangements made or materials distributed. Once your group gets accustomed to the
Active Learning format, they will become more adept at the logistics of getting ready. Remember you need to allow time for introductory material and follow-up discussion time. This time has not been figured into the time frame estimate.
Materials Needed: Each activity has been designed with as few materials needed as possible. If
handouts are called for, they will be found at the end of the activity. You can photocopy as many classroom sets for your own use as you need. Most materials are easily found and cost very little. Extras should be on hand in case they are needed during the activity. I would hate to see an activity fall apart just because a prop is misplaced or broken.
Activity: This is a description of how to conduct the activity. Instructions are given on how to set up
the format of the activity. I decided to use the gender neutral “he” in writing the instructions. Originally I tried to use the he/she sentence construction. However, some activities became very confusing with this format so I went back to the old style of the generic “he”. This may not be as politically correct, but I can guarantee you that it is to the benefit of the reader.
I would suggest that you go through the steps of each activity before you try to conduct it with your group. Sometimes things that sound easy when you read them, suddenly become confusing when you try to put them into practice. If you get in the middle of an activity and find something not working correctly, stop and give further instructions to make changes which will work. Be sure that you can explain the activity clearly and easily. It is best if you can demonstrate movements that might be difficult before you ask your students to try them. If teams are called for, the numbers I have given are flexible. Decide what would work best for your group. If you have an odd number that will not make even teams, you can have one or more people go more than once to even things out. If it is a partners activity then you will have to participate.
Don’t try to do too many activities in one day. For these to be most effective, each one should be given full attention. If you do too many, one right after the other, the students start to look at them as games rather than learning activities. The discussion time is the key. If you take the proper time to discuss each activity, then the opportunity for life changing learning will present itself.
Variations: Not many of these have been included. Your willingness to think and be creative is the
only thing holding you back from making dozens of variations from these listed activities. I encourage you to send any variations or new activity ideas to me to be included in future publications and workshops. Some of the ideas in this book were given to me by innovative teachers. Let me help you share your creativity with others.
Discussion Ideas: Just a few questions to help you get started. These questions will help you follow-
up with the topics listed at the start of the lesson plan. The discussion time is absolutely necessary to complete the activity. Spend some time before you conduct the activity to think about the questions you would like to ask and in what order you would like to ask them. Watch your students during the activity and you will have questions pop into your mind. Try to keep most of your questions open ended with no right or wrong answers. The questions that I have listed are not in any particular order nor are they meant to be used first to last. Use these questions as a jumping off point and then use others to explore important issues that came up during the activity or during the discussion.
Appropriate Age Levels: You will notice that this category has been left off of the lesson plans. The
lesson that could easily be adapted to your grade by simply changing one aspect of the activity. Another reason for not suggesting grade levels is some classes are very advanced and some are not. By not predetermining what grade level each lesson plan fits, you can make your own decision based on what you know about your class rather than what I think about a lesson. So go ahead and read them all. Use what works and change what doesn’t. Have fun!
Chapter Nine