Activity Idea #2: Quizlet

I use Quizlet in my Health classroom to support the acquisition of key vocabulary from the Lifeskills curriculum. If you're a teacher and you haven't discovered Quizlet, read on.

Quizlet is an essential part of the 21st century classroom. One of the best things about Quizlet is that it's FREE, and it can be used in pretty much any subject or discipline. Once you make an account, you simply start creating vocab sets. The image above shows the main page for the list I created using words from the (you guessed it) Drug Abuse & Violence: Causes And Effects lesson. Actually, what I had done with my students was to introduce the unit by doing a shared reading using the student guide. We then had a short discussion, went through a brief activity, and then I asked my students to "be the teacher" and identify words that they felt were important to know from this lesson. "If you were teaching this lesson," I said, "which terms would you want your students to learn?" Students paired up and generated lists of 8-10 terms. We then shared out as a class and decided on the top 12. Those got entered into my Quizlet account, and then the students got studying. Which, on Quizlet, is a lot like playing.

This image depicts the "Gravity" game in which students see, one at a time, vocab terms for which they then have to type in the definition before the asteroid falls to Earth. Students can compete to see who gets the fastest time. Other games include Match, Spell and the more traditional Test. And then, there's LIVE. Which they absolutely LOVE. No exaggeration.

Students open a new tab and enter www.quizlet.live and then I, as the teacher, click LIVE on my Quizlet teacher page (projecting my screen onto my Smartboard for my students to see). I then click "Create Game" and a six digit code appears, which students then enter in order to access the Quizlet Live session. Students then enter their first names (you need at least six students to play Live). Once all students are entered, the teacher hits "Play Game" and the game begins.

This image is a demo version of what the student screen looks like. Students are randomly assigned to groups, and each group is given an animal name and image. For each term posted, the student is given a list of four possible definitions. If the student sees the correct definition, s/he clicks it and earns a team point. The student may not have ANY of the correct definitions, in which case it's up to a teammate to select the correct one. Teamwork and effective communication are a key component here. If a student clicks an incorrect definition, the team loses all points and they start again at zero. The team that gets to the maximum number of points first is the winner.

Have you ever seen students totally engaged and enthusiastic about an activity in your classroom? Quizlet Live produces this effect, almost like magic. It's awesome to see, especially knowing that they are simultaneously learning essential vocabulary.

If you haven't already, give Quizlet a shot. If you have, I'd love to hear what you think!

Yours in prevention,

Kate

Activity Idea #1: Get KAHOOT!!

Hey Western Mass LST Network!

I've reached out to you all recently to get your questions and feedback on using Lifeskills in the classroom, and several of you have asked about ACTIVITIES. "How can I weave activities that get my students up and moving around into the Lifeskills program without losing control of a classroom?"

Today's blog post offers up the first of several ideas in response to this very question! Back at the training in September in Greenfield, MA, the web-based resource Kahoot was mentioned as a great way to review concepts in a unit. Here's a way that I've taken the content in LST lessons and worked it into a really fun and engaging Kahoot activity!

https://getkahoot.com


Once you create your Kahoot and display a "Join Kahoot" code on your Smartboard or projector, students join the class Kahoot session using a laptop, Chromebook, iPad or smartphone. As the teacher, you create the questions and answers. It's easy to take any concept or objective in LST and turn it into a Kahoot question. See my example below:

After they see this question screen, another screen appears with four possible answers (one of which you previously designated as correct)

Clearly, you all know the correct answer...right? Students key in their responses within a 30 - 60 second period of time. Points are awarded for both QUICK responses as well as correct answers.

My students LOVE Kahoot! I use it either to introduce new content, or as a way to review before an assessment. Another great activity comes from having the students WRITE the Kahoot questions themselves, which is a great higher-order thinking activity. As the teacher, you can then collect their questions, edit if necessary, and use these to create your Kahoot. Students feel incorporated into the teaching/learning/assessment process. I've found this to be a great hook.

Have you used Kahoot already? Got questions about using Kahoot? Tell us what you think!

More posts coming up soon about ACTIVITIES in the LST classroom!

Yours in prevention,

Kate

Lifeskills WORKS!

HELLO, Prevention People!

We are so, so, SO excited to launch the Western Massachusetts Lifeskills Training Network site! This blog will serve as a vibrant hub of information and updates on the Botvin Lifeskills Training program implementation in schools in the Franklin/Quabbin Area in Western Massachusetts. The Communities That Care Coalition of Franklin County has underwritten the adoption of the Botvin Lifeskills Training program, which is an evidence-based Blueprints Model Program substance abuse prevention program for middle school aged students. Lifeskills Training (LST) is designed to prevent teenage drug and alcohol abuse, adolescent tobacco use, violence and other risk behaviors. The LST curriculum teaches students self-management skills, social skills, and drug awareness and resistance skills. LST has fantastic outcomes in reducing youth substance abuse when implemented with fidelity--and that's where this WMALifeskills Network comes in! We exist in an effort to promote and ensure the best possible implementation of LST in order to achieve the wonderful, healthy outcomes promised by this award-winning curriculum.

So who should pay attention to this blog? If you're a teacher, administrator, or community builder in the Franklin / Quabbin area, this is for YOU! The schools who are a part of the CTC Coalition and have adopted LST are: Athol/Royalston, Four Rivers Charter School, Frontier Regional School, Gill-Montague, Greenfield, Mohawk, Pioneer Valley, and Mahar. But this blog's audience can and should reach far beyond our local region. Realistically, anyone in the world who cares about positive youth development should bookmark this page. The LST Program has been shown to be instrumental in promoting healthy protective factors, particularly problem solving skills, refusal skills and coping skills,  and minimizing risk factors, especially favorable attitudes toward drug use. 

So, follow us! Here you'll find tips on program implementation as well as a place to pose questions on anything and everything LST. Stay tuned! There will be much, much more to come!

Yours in prevention, 


Kate Blair, M.Ed
Western MA Lifeskills Network Coordinator
Frontier Regional School Health Educator