70 Activities for Tutor Groups

Peter Davies

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781351962988
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Business General

The pressure on contact time with students and the results required from it are constantly increasing - which means that tutors have to be more and more creative in how they approach their work. This book provides some solutions. 70 Activities for Tutor Groups explores the many and varied ways in which tutors can provoke and encourage meaningful, constructive and focused discussion among their students. It takes the form of a classified and cross-referenced manual of groupwork activities. For ease of use each activity is presented in a common format: ¢ In a nutshell ¢ Aims ¢ What is needed ¢ Time needed ¢ How it works ¢ Good example in action ¢ Diagram ¢ Advantages of this activity ¢ Potential problem(s) ¢ Main learning outcome ¢ Variation. The practical, 'low-tech' approach taken by Peter Davies means that these activities (which have all been trialled and are known to work) can be used easily by all tutors, at any level, and in any subject. If you are committed to improving the effectiveness of your work with groups you need look no further!

Part I
Activities — by genre

In this Part - comprising Chapters 1-5 - a range of groupwork approaches are introduced, explained and analysed. Arranged by generic type, the activities considered have several common characteristics: they are all proven and workable (I have pooled the ideas and experiences from over 60 interviews!); they all stand as quick and easy-to-use discussion-provokers; and they all aim to bring participation, involvement and effective learning to groupwork sessions.

No doubt some of the activities will be more popular than others: some people will like some, some people will like others. Others will undoubtedly be passed over as 'not my cup of tea'. The point is that these activities work - they are imaginative, creative and they are a means to the end of stimulating effective group discussion, so choose the ones which suit your particular situation and which work for you.

1 Display

We live in a very visual age. When students see something it brings the idea alive a bit more. They can't get away from it. They ve got to deal with it and face it.

Janet Conneely, Tutor in History, University of Huddersfield

Introduction

However much visual potential some topics have, classroom sessions continue to remain arenas where linear text and verbalization are dominant. Often, though, students need high levels of confidence, or a helpful 'hand up', before they feel comfortable enough to speak fluently, and it is in this context that non-verbal stimuli can provoke and catalyse excellent discussion and debate.

This chapter outlines a series of teaching methods, all ot which involve an element of display. In most cases, the aim is to inspire students to comment on, and analyse, provocative visual material - posters, slogans or some other kind of visual image - pinned to the classroom wall. It is amazing in fact how the mere action of displaying a poster or a slogan on the wall can stir students into meaningful discussion. As such, this is a simple but effective classroom tactic.

In general, we can note two main types of learning strategy. First, and most obviously, tutors can expose students to powerful visual material. Here the tactic is to either provoke, perplex, involve or even shock! Whatever the response, students will be forced to reflect and think. Discussion can be stimulated by displayed visual material, and barriers to verbalization can be broken down.

A second strategy follows a converse path. Why not ask students to create their own visual images? It is a fact that many people 'think' in pictorial or graphic form. It is also true that diagrams, graphic representations, and even slogans, can simplify and clarify difficult and complex ideas. Good discussion can also take place between students as their creative efforts evolve from embryonic form to full life. In addition, once thoughts and ideas are 'externalized' in this visual way, they can often become more real and more malleable. So, why not use student-produced graphics to promote understanding, facilitate learning and provoke further discussion?

I would like to thank Martin Davies, Janet Conneely, Geoff Cubitt and Rhys Davies for passing on ideas for this chapter.

Related activities

The following activities, outlined and explained in other chapters, also include an important 'display' element:

Activity 11	Geography puzzles	p. 37
Activity 20	The workbook	p. 60
Activity 28	Essay-planning	p. 84
Activity 33	Brainstorming	p. 97
Activity 41	Sculpting	p. 121
Activity 45	Draw an idea!	p. 138
Activity 47	A Post-it wall	p. 144
Activity 48	Theories as diagrams	p. 146
Activity 49	3-D ideas	p. 149
Activity 51	Sub-ideas within a big idea	p. 154
Activity 52	Collage	p. 157
Activity 54	Quotation deconstruction	p. 164
Activity 55	Newspaper headlines	p. 166
Activity 63	Socio-economic predictions	p. 190
Activity 64	Recognition tests	p. 193
Activity 68	Blank-out!	p. 203
Activity 69	Bogus statistics	p. 206

1
Spin doctors

In a nutshell

Improve understanding and stimulate debate on a set organization or movement by asking students, in pairs, to act as advertising executives or marketing advisers (or even spin doctors!) and to present or sell it in graphic form through an image, a symbol, a slogan or even a logo.

Aims

1. To simplify and clarify the key aspects and elements of a significant organization.
2. To stimulate debate and discussion on a set topic or issue.
3. To tap into students' artistic skills and enable them to express their thoughts and feelings non-verbally.
4. To enfranchise those participants who might find whole-group debate difficult.
5. To emphasize the nature and role of marketing.

What is needed

• Felt-tip marker pens.
• Sheets of A4 paper.
• Blu-tack.

Time required

10 minutes (design) plus 10 minutes (discussion).

How it works

The students in the group are paired up and given felt-tip pens, paper and Blu-tack. They are asked to exchange thoughts and ideas, and then to create an image, symbol or logo to represent the organization or movement under consideration. After ten minutes, all the graphic efforts are fixed to the wall, and a short discussion ensues. What is the most dominant idea in the images? What is the overall verdict on the organization as represented in the graphics?

A good example in action: Economics — the World Bank

The World Bank goes on a publicity offensive; it needs to improve its image across the globe. Student sub-groups are set the task of marketing the organization in words and slogans. Ideas include the following:

What issues do these advertising efforts raise? What is the main thread of the marketing ideas? How would the governments of the world and the international economic community respond?

Advantages of this activity

1. It makes students think about image and publicity.
2. It enables students to express themselves creatively.

Potential problem

When asked to produce images or logos, students habitually say they 'can't draw' this barrier must be overcome!

Main learning outcomes

Students are given the opportunity to discuss the nature and charactenstics of the organization both in pairs and in the whole group. They will be able to learn about the key features of the movement under consideration, and they will realize the importance, potency and potential of 'image'.

Variation

I like the idea of students translating one form of source into anotherform. This could mean seeing an image or artefact, and then writing an equivalent source - putting the visual into words. This might mean seeing a Nazi propaganda poster, for example, and then writing a Nazi statement to embody the visual image. This can also obviously be done in reverse - reading a text and producing some kind of visual image to represent it.

At the end of the class the teacher can reveal all! If the students have been writing, he or she can reveal a typical Nazi text; if they've been creating posters, a genuine Nazi poster can be shown. With both strategies, students have to think and empathize - and the teacher can tie it up nicely at the end.

Rhys Davies, History Teacher, Tytherington High School, Macclesfield

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I ACTIVITIES-BY GENRE
• 1 Display
• 2 Games
• 3 Worksheets
• 4 Groupwork
• 5 Role-play
• Part II ACTIVITIES FOR DIFFICULT TERRITORY
• 6 Abstract ideas
• 7 Primary documents
• 8 Numerical data
• References and further reading