Show and Teach

Summary

Students will prepare a "Show and Teach" for their classmates to follow.

Materials

• a shoe with long laces that could be tied
• a toothbrush
• toothpaste and cup for water
• color mixing with colored water
• ink pads
• socks
• stuffing
• rubber bands
• yarn
• pencil
• cardboard
• clay
• magnet
• needle
• cork
• clear glass
• penny
• napkin
• paper squares
• chart paper to record sequenced steps
• paper
• markers
• scissors

Additional Resources

From Pictures to Words: A Book about Making a Book by Janet Stevens (This book walks children through the process of creating storyboards as a graphic organizer for story writing.)
Set up a writing center and art center so students have access to materials they might not have at home to prepare for their show and teach project.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Intended Learning Outcomes
3. Demonstrate responsible emotional and cognitive behaviors.
6. Communicate clearly in oral, artistic, written, and nonverbal form.

Process Skills
Symbolization, observation, prediction, description, problem solving

Instructional Procedures

Invitation to Learn
Song: “Show and Tell” sung by Mary Kate and Ashley (Music by Michael Abbott, Lyrics by Sarah Weeks, CD Title Brother For Sale). This humorous song describes the feelings of a student who simply cannot face the pressure of show and tell.

“It’s Sunday night and tomorrow is the day.
I’ll sit down in the circle and Miss Cunningham will say,
“Who’s got something special? Who would like to share?”
I’d rather eat raw spinach than be there!
Show and tell – I just can’t take it!
Show and tell – I’ll never make it!
Everybody brings, such interesting things,
But not me!
Show and tell - I’m gonna flunk it!
Show and tell – I’ve always stunk at
Finding something cool,
To show the other kids at school. (etc.)”

By shaping “show and tell” into “show and teach,” where a child actually teaches the class something they know how to do, each child has a chance to share their own talents and interests. This provides a foundation for student sharing of their Big 6 Information Literacy investigations later in the year.

Teaching others to do something requires the child to break the task down into steps. To demonstrate this, the teacher will ask the students to tell her how to write the letter “R.” The teacher will do exactly as the students say enabling the students to see first hand the importance of sequenced, detailed instructions.

Instructional Procedures

1. Divide students into small groups of 4-5 students per group. Look at the “How-To” books. Each group will choose a task from one of the “How-To” books and collect from the tub all materials they will need to perform their chosen task (e.g., make a paper airplane, fold an origami dog, do a magic coin trick, etc.). Students will work together in their small group to write each step in a sequence of steps to perform their assigned tasks. They will try to include all necessary steps and write them clearly enough that someone else could follow their instructions and achieve the desired results.
2. After students have written each step, they should try out their task sequence to check for potential problems. When all groups have completed their task analysis, the teacher will give each group one of the activities that has been sequenced by another group to actually follow the sequenced steps. They will discuss the strengths of each other’s sequences.
3. Students will be assigned a day once a month to prepare “Show and Teach.” They will be given a sheet of chart paper, and will write the steps that they will be sharing with the class.

Extensions

Possible Extensions/Adaptations

1. Analyze the instructions given on a math worksheet. Are they clear? Does the sequence make sense? Could it be improved?
2. Oral language samples can be taken by asking a child to tell about a picture. The more a child has been read to, and the more they have read, the more a child’s picture description resembles a story with a character, action, and cause and effect.
   1. Ask students to select a magazine picture, cut it out, and mount it on a sheet of construction paper.
   2. Students will look at the picture and make up a story about the picture. They will tell their story to a partner.
   3. After telling their story and listening to a partner’s story, students will write their story and attach it to the back of the picture.

Family Connections
Send home a “Show and Teach” schedule. Encourage parents to point out their child’s talents and interests. Parents can encourage their child to share these talents with classmates.

Assessment Plan

1. Students prepare and share Show and Teach. The teacher writes brief positive comments about the student's presentational skills. (See chapter 6 in Elementary Core Academy Handbook - criteria can be adapted to Show and Teach model)
2. The student's written task sequence is collected for portfolio as a part of ongoing assessment. If a camera is available it is especially meaningful to children to have their picture taken and posted beside their sequence.