Self organisation of learning

Following on from my last post, this is a task that I tried today with a Yr 7 class (11-12 yr olds).

In art lessons we use little sketchbooks to address literacy and record assessment- self, peer, teacher etc- this was supposed to be a 15 minute starter, but ended up taking 45 mins!- bye bye lesson plan.

The title was 'self organisation of learning'; I asked students to draw a picture or series of pictures that would define/ show an example of this term, then write a short description that described their image/s and then share. The responses I got and the discussion that ensued totally blew me away!I know it sounds like such a cliche, but it really was one of the moments when you think to yourself 'yes! That's why I love teaching'.

This was one of my favourites, I couldn't believe it as the normally quiet and sometimes shy student explained their thoughts. In case the text isn't clear-

It is a box and the box represents me/ us and in the box it has pens and pencils, paint and rulers. The lid is a book and the book and the things inside it represent knowledge and the music coming from inside the box represents the voice of me/us

Amazing! :)