Restating or Repeating

Having read my dear friend Courtney's post about the instructional strategy of Repeating it reminded me what a powerful strategy this is (especially this time of year!).  I decided I needed to be more intentional about having my students repeat my directions this week. What a little gem of strategy this is :)

As I'm wrapping up my backwards design unit this week in science I really wanted to be sure my students were grasping the idea of motion and all the important vocab used to describe it. Add in a little "mirror with gestures" to have them repeat and act out this strategy and they were right there with me! 

Before sending them off to discover with their science tools I would introduce or *reintroduce* a vocabulary concept. I'd start by reading the word and acting it out with a simple gesture. Then, we'd get to the fun part. Back in October, when I initially began using repeating and gestures, I modeled how to "turn their mirrors on." I'd put both hands up, palms out, framing my face and say "mirror with gestures." They'd repeat the gesture and say the same thing. This was their indicator that they needed to repeat each move I made and word I said. They would do this until I'd say "mirrors off" (KEY if you don't want your students to continue repeating...because they will!). 

Here's an example of one teacher using this strategy in her classroom: note the high level of engagement and understanding! 

Hopefully this is a strategy you can find yourself using in these last FEW days of school! Hang in there everyone :)