First I would like to thank you a lot for these stunning ideas.I was really impressed and inspired with those teaching methods which were very useful and affective when I tried them in my classroom. First I would like to introduce my self I'm Sara I'm a grade one English teacher I have been teaching for almost 3 years.
I just wanted to ask about something concerning the (Teach-Ok) method .As you know I'm teaching first grader who are still young and my classroom is about 26 students which is not small.How can I use the ( Teach - Ok ) method with them for example if I'm teaching a vocab. word I used to act the word ( if it could be acted) then write it on the board and ask them to use this new word in sentence ( I know it's sometimes boring but I don't have any other ideas) so how can I use the teach - ok in such a lesson ? and how would groups teach are they going to talk to each other at the same time ( in one voice ) as I have seen in your videos or not? and if yes how they could listen to each other then?

Hi Sara!

I don't know if I can be of any help, but I'll give it a shot. Do the vocab words you teach have a certain skill that goes along with them? For example, you teach grade 1, so if you are teaching the word dog, you could teach nouns. A noun is a person, a place, or a thing. (You can use the PowerPix which are under the free E-books section on the website. They have PowerPix for 1st grade). The gesture for noun is a person (point to yourself), a place (point out), or a thing (tap on a table or desk). This would teach them the skill, and you could introduce several different words that go into the noun category. Then to get them to use the word and understand its meaning, you could have them pop a piece of vocab candy in their mouth, yum. When you say a vocab word and they use vocab candy, they say it and use it in a sentence (at least in my room), so you're accomplishing your goal and getting them to build a foundation for parts of speech with the PowerPix and gestures.

To get them to teach. I introduce the skill (simply tell them what we are learning about today). They repeat this. Then I use mirror words. You will say the skill set and use the gestures, which are printed on the bottom of the PowerPix. They will repeat what you say and do the gestures. After they repeat using gestures. Clap twice and say, "teach." (You can say 1s teach 2s or long hair teach short hair, etc.) I have my students already numbered or you can have them teach their eyeball (person sitting across) or shoulder partner (person sitting next to). When they teach each other, one person is talking and using the gesture and the other one is listening and modeling the gesture. Then say, "Switch." They say, "Uh, oh switch" and they switch roles. Everyone has a chance to talk and use gestures (involving the Whole Brain!!!!) It's really not chaotic at all and my 3rd graders love it. Everyone is involved and learning and they are talking about what you have directed them to talk about. When you want to call them back to you, use "Class/Yes." I hope this is helpful. Keep checking on the forum and you'll find lots of great ideas and watching the videos!

Thanks,
Staci

Thanks a lot

Good evening. SO much great stuff on here, right?! Here is how I would teach a vocabulary word, especially if it relates to a story we're reading. For example, if we did the word "rain" and I had the definition "water that comes from the sky".
Teacher:Class
Kids:Yes
Teacher: Today we will learn about the word rain. What word?
Kids: Rain
Teacher: Rain is water that comes from the sky. Let me say it again. Rain is water that comes from the sky (while saying this I would gesture with my hands from high up in the air down to the ground, wiggling my fingers).
Teacher:Class Class
Kids: Yes, yes
Teacher: What is the word that means water that comes from the sky?
Kids: RAIN!
Teacher: Class class
Kids: Yes Yes
Teacher: When I say teach, teach your partner the definition of rain. Remember to use the gesture. TEACH
Class: OKAY!

Sooooo - they can teach at the same time for this one b/c they all say the same thing. To have them use original sentences then you just tell them. I have my kids w/ predetermined partners by rows on the carpet - so I might just call out 3 rows and tell them they are the speaker first and the other three rows are listeners first. That's when the SWITCH comes in. They don't switch until you say SWITCH. If they don't have assigned partners give them 5 seconds to determine who the 1st speaker is and have the 1st speakers raise their hands. For groups who are arguing about it, you just tell them who will do it. =) It's great!! Hope this helped.