Teaching Tools!

The first day of class at the university, I gave each of the monks, a notebook with butterflies on the cover that I'd bought for them in the Chiang Mai market.

On the back page of each notebook, I had written a number from 1 to 35.  With the concept of student equity in mind, I wanted a way I could randomly call on my students to respond to my questions. What I came up with worked beautifully!




Number 3 boat means the monk with number 3 written on the back page of the blue butterfly notebook gets to answer my question.  The timer helps me pace my lesson and give students equal talking time.

 

What to use, so that I could call on the monks randomly?  This turned into a shopping adventure!

I needed something with numbers 1 through 35.  After finding nothing.... I decided to buy these little plastic boats and tape numbers on the bottom.  The monks loved this system, of my pulling a boat out of a bag and calling on that number!

First I ask the question, so I have everyone's attention.... and only then do I pull out a boat and call on the number!

The timer is invaluable to my lessons!

Since for most activities I have the monks in pairs, taking turns talking to each other, the timer allows each monk equal time to talk.  This is especially true of the Think-Pair-Share activity.  When the timer goes off and I hear a groan from my students, I know I need to give them more time to complete the activity.