Learning Tools: Do! Say! and Show!

Today I would like to offer you a short little introduction to learning tools! Over the next few weeks, I will write a little more about learning tools and suggest some great ones that I have developed and used with my students at the beginning of the school year to help start the year off well.

I have been teaching for close to 25 years now and with every year, it becomes clearer to me that I need to put more and more effective learning tools in the hands of my students.

So what do I mean by "learning tools", you may be asking? Well, a learning tool as I have come to define it is a student-made and therefore personal, hands-on, instrument that helps my students to speak and better understand how the English language works. It is physical, touchable, and showable. This means that I use it to do something, say something, show something or all three: "do, say and show"!

In all my classes and with all my students, I am always looking for activities that give reasons to students to speak and to show me what they know. The learning tool makes this possible!

In my next entry, I'll give you an example of the most important learning tool I use and how I set up my classrooms to use this tool on a regular basis throughout the year so that my students, can Do! Say! and Show!

Hope you have a wonderful summer weekend!

Theresa