The Remembrance of Pedagogies Past

Source: http://www.oprah.com/health/Health-
and-Wellness-Tips-for-Your-40s-Mehmet-Oz

So many great teaching ideas, so little time. Because I don't teach the same courses every semester, I tend to forget strategies I use for particular texts, assignments, and goals. I get a brain fog.

Last week I remembered that after the midterm exam I had meant to hand out a reflection sheet, which I would then return right before the final exam. Its purpose is meta-cognitive, to help students identify studying patterns that do and don't work. But I forgot until far too late.

I know there were other things I forgot, usually in-class activities that I do with a text, or in-class writing to prepare for papers. But I've forgotten those, too. I just have that foggy sense of missed opportunities.

To combat this, I'm going to place a hand-written note on my cubicle wall that lists assignments or activities. So far, here are some that I have collected:

Debates, fishbowl discussion, mind maps, singing (for teaching meter), exit papers with muddiest/clearest points, having students bring questions more often, having students write questions as part of their exam, dioramas, paragraph puzzle, logical fallacies game, Jeopardy, jigsaw, peer teaching, demonstrating in class how to read and take notes, having students volunteer their notes to share, Wiki review, online workshops, the dating game, creative monologues, annotating a scene, drawing a set design, creating hyperlinks for a text, ...

What are some creative activities you like to do? Which of them lead to more sophisticated thinking?