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"Engaging Middle Years Students in Learning: Transforming Middle Years Education in Manitoba" is a resource from Manitoba Education for middle years educators. The document identifies 5 Key Actions, all of which are embedded in the CanU Academy Program:
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1. Develop a Deeper Understanding of Young Adolescents
2. Provide More Responsive Teaching and Learning Experiences 3. Nurture Stronger Learning Relationships 4. Increase Student Voice and Choice 5. Strengthen Community Involvement |
CanU offers Bachelor of Education students an opportunity to hone their skills as a teacher candidate within a supportive and fun environment alongside their peers. In creating and facilitating a CanU Academy, you will experience the satisfaction of working with learners in a space beyond your practicum. In order to make the most of this experience, here are some suggestions to keep in mind:
- Experiment! CanU is a space where you can put your pedagogy to practice in a real-world setting, so embrace the freedom you have in creating lessons and activities you’ve wanted to try without the pressure of being evaluated.
- Collaborate! Working with your fellow teacher candidates is an enriching experience. Each of your Academy’s members brings with them their own ideas and approaches, and CanU allows you to draw upon this knowledge as you all work together in developing an Academy.
- Learn! Whether it's from the students, your colleagues, a mentor or an unexpected moment, CanU is rich with opportunities to learn. These moments will allow you to develop both professionally as a teacher and personally in your own explorations of character, so embrace them!
All your Academies will be different based on what interests or subjects you want to explore, but here are some design features of successful Academies in the past:
- Have a clear purpose in mind (What are you hoping students will learn, discover, create, make, or contribute during your time with them?)
- Create an engaging environment that aligns with your purpose (What kind of environment will you and the students need to engage in the practice, craft, or activities you have planned? What models do you have in the "real world" (e.g., studio, lab, makerspace)? What materials will you need? How will you organize space, time, and people?)
- Have set routines (What are the procedures and routines consistent with your Academy or its theme?)
- Engaging Activities (What kinds of activities relate to the theme of your Academy? How can you make these fun, engaging, and authentic?)
- Make and Create (What will students have to show for their time in your Academy? What skills or artifacts can they bring home?)
- Teams, Groups, and Relationships (How will you organize the students and adults in the academy? Will you use stations? Jigsawing? Small groups? How will students interact with one another and with the adults in the academy? What roles and relationships best support the purpose of the academy?)
- Team Teaching (How will you feature the unique skills, creativity and insight of your fellow group members in a team-teaching space?)
- Student-Focused Learning (What opportunities will you give students to take the lead with their learning? How will you create opportunities for whole group, small group and individual participation and feedback? How--and what--do you hope to learn from the students in this process? How will you respond to their learning styles, interests, and goals?)
- Fun First, Learning Follows (CanU is different than school. Students come to have fun, but also to learn, develop their capacities in different areas, and to grow. How will you make your Academy something students look forward to every week? How will you make your activities and lessons educational as well as engaging? Often the learning comes in the process of having fun, so think Fun First!)
Consider what materials you will need to run your academy and where to find these materials at the lowest cost. Budgets are modest, so you might have to get creative.
CanU has also accumulated some commonly used supplies over the years (as well as some Academy specific materials) that you are free to borrow, so be sure to check first before buying. Ask your CanU Coordinator for an inventory list of our supplies. |
In your proposal, you will outline a budget for your Academy. The budget request should be for no more than $350 for materials or equipment you might need. Once your budget is approved, please try your best to keep within this budget.
Most expenses will need to be paid by someone on your team and then the receipt can be submitted for reimbursement. Please ask Dr. Honeyford if you have any questions or special requests. To be reimbursed:
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Co-Creating Expectations |
One of the first things you should do with your group is to establish expectations for your Academy: how do you want people to treat one another? to treat the space and materials? how will the group demonstrate respect and care? how will the group negotiate problems when they arise? Co-creating boundaries with students as well as being collectively committed to them as leaders is essential to preventing misunderstandings and difficulties later on. Communicating these expectations clearly also helps to avoid tensions and promote consistency. You will need to revisit frequently the rules and procedures you negotiate, especially at first. Create a poster for this purpose. Keep the expectations simple—ones you can all agree on, and identify expectations that are specific to the environment you are trying to create with one another. Talk together about what behaviours and practices you want to encourage and help students develop, and what behaviours or practices you will not tolerate. Decide on a shared plan for cultivating the behaviours and practices you wish to see, and for responding to the behaviours and practices that are undesirable. Avoid having one leader always be the 'bad cop' and share the responsibility of promoting your expectations and holding students to your shared standards. Be consistent, specifically with differences or range of teaching experiences, levels and norms. Keep in mind that well-planned activities, well-designed spaces and well-placed people can make a significant difference, but of utmost importance is investing time in getting to know the students and building relationships with them.
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Designing a Space |
Remember the physical layout of the room and ask yourself the following:
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Building Relationships |
With only a few weeks of CanU, it is important to think about how you will build positive relationships with students within such a short span of time.
Often, these relationships will come organically as you get to know the students and make personal connections with them, but think actively about how you can promote these relationships with intention. Perhaps you might find you share an interest with a young person or you might seek out a moment where you can help a student one-on-one and they’ll remember your effort. Or it might be something as simple as remembering their name or asking them how their day was. While you may never know how these relationships will be built, you can actively think of how you can create these kinds of moments with students. Perhaps commit to learning one new thing about a few students each week and strike up conversations with them. Or start by seeking out students who you feel you can personally connect with. If you’re shy, perhaps you can help those students who are struggling to contribute their ideas in class, or lend them a kind ear so they feel heard for instance. It is also important to think of how you will get students to build relationships with one another. For example, name games during the first few CanU sessions are a good way for both you and students to learn each other’s names all while having fun and building relationships together! Changing up groups also allows students to make connections with different students each week. |
Attendance |
Attendance is kept by the CanU Mentors. However, you will want to keep an attendance list of your own so that you can remind yourselves who was missing, what materials or extra attention they might need the following week.
(Note: CanU Mentors are undergraduate U of M students who volunteer to be CanU leaders with a group of students for the whole CanU program—beginning in the fall). |
Including CanU Mentors |
Our CanU Mentors are incredible people to have in your academies, and you should think about the roles they can play to help make the students’ experience the best it can be.
Some might already have built relationships with certain students, and they might be an integral asset to manage or promote positive behaviour. Some might have experience in the area of your academy and could help with demonstrations or with supervision. Even if they do not have previous experience, they can actively participate in activities with students and learn alongside them or provide feedback and a friendly face as students discover new things. Mentors have their own jobs, and while they will take attendance, develop relationships and accompany young people in their travels across campus, there is a lot of time where they will be in your academy. So be sure that when they are there, they have something to do with the young people and a role to play! |
Reconnecting Each Week |
Remember, a week is a long time to be away from a group of people, and many of your students (and even yourselves!) will have forgotten each other's names in that time. So make an effort to start each night off with an activity or game that students can play to become reacquainted with one another and with you.
Starting off with a game, challenge, quest, or other activity also sets the tone for the rest of the evening. Kids come in and know that this is a different environment than school; this is an evening where they are going to have fun and learn new things in an area that interests them! So while there is a list of activities included in this handbook, think about what kind of adaptations you can make to make these games suit the specific theme of your academy! |
Cleaning Up |
At the end of your evening, remember to leave time for cleanup. While there are certain things only a leader should attend to for safety reasons (like hot glue guns or chemicals from experiments) students are also developing an identity and membership on the university campus, and should be taught responsibility and respect for their environment by helping to clean up that space.
Plus, you shouldn’t have to do it all alone! Get them involved too! |
In March, after the academies have wrapped up for the year, there is one final night where CanU celebrates all the work and learning students have done within their Academies. In the past, we've had over 700 guests attend the CanU Family Festival Learning Fair, so it is a big event where parents, siblings, teachers and administrators come to see what CanU is all about.
Try to have some sort of activity or interactive display connected to your academy that children (e.g., siblings) and adults can try out. You'll have done great work and experimented with many activities throughout your program, so think of bringing one of those ideas to life at your booth!
There is also usually a a light meal that is served, so be sure to take turns and switch off from your booth so you all get fed!
Here are some examples of displays from previous years:
Try to have some sort of activity or interactive display connected to your academy that children (e.g., siblings) and adults can try out. You'll have done great work and experimented with many activities throughout your program, so think of bringing one of those ideas to life at your booth!
There is also usually a a light meal that is served, so be sure to take turns and switch off from your booth so you all get fed!
Here are some examples of displays from previous years:
Game Ideas
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Game Ideas
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Picnic Game: have the participants sit in a circle. The leader will introduce their name and an item that they will bring on the picnic which starts with the letter of their first name (My name is Jeremy and I am bringing juice). Go around the circle and get the participants to introduce themselves and what they are bringing.
To begin the game, have all participants lower their heads and shut their eyes. The Narrator will then select three Mafia (three taps on the head), two Inspectors (two taps on the head) and one Doctor (one tap on the head). All other players are civilians. Once the selection is done, have the mafia open their eyes (Mafia, heads up). They will silently choose one person to eliminate. Once they are done, have them shut their eyes, (Mafia, heads down).
Next, have the inspectors open their eyes (inspectors, heads up). They will silently choose one person to receive information on. The narrator will indicate if that person is Mafia (make an M with hands), Civilian (make a C with hands), Inspector (make an I with hands), or Doctor (make a D or a cross with hands). Once they are done, the inspectors close their eyes (inspectors, heads down).
Last, the narrator asks the doctor to open his/her eyes (Doctor, heads up). The Doctor will choose one person to save (i.e., they can’t be eliminated that round, and if they were chosen by the mafia earlier that round, they are saved and stay in the game).
Once all the roles have had a turn, the Narrator asks everyone to open their eyes (Everyone, heads up). At this point, they tell the elimination story:
Example: “(Student's name) was walking to CanU, and stepped on a trap. They fell in whole, and disappeared!” Get creative!
That child would then become a spectator (they are not allowed to share information or participate in group deliberation). If the child had been saved by the doctor, the elimination story might go like, “Luckily for (child’s name), the doctor was there and managed to throw down a rope and save them!”
At this point, the deliberation round begins. Children have to decide who they think might be Mafia, and vote them out of the group (one person per round). Children won’t know who’s who, they will have to strategize to figure it out. These rounds alternate until the mafia outnumber civilians, or the civilians vote out all the mafia. If children are debating between two people, you can make things more fun by asking those students to come up with their ‘defense’ as to why they couldn’t be the mafia. Kids can get really creative and giggly. Then the group decides who has the most convincing story and votes the other person out.
- Touch Blue to Blue, Hand to Hand: The leader will call out various body parts (knee, hand, arm, elbow, etc.). The participants will have to then find a partner and follow the directions that the leader called out (touch knee to knee, elbow to foot, etc.)
- Stand Off: Everyone picks a partner, presses their hands together and sees how far apart they can stand without falling over. With each successful attempt of supporting each other, take one step backwards, and see how far you can go!
- Human Spiral: Get the group into a large circle, holding hands. One participant breaks the circle and has feet planted on the ground. The participant cannot move or turn their body or feet. The other participants begin to walk clockwise around the group, all the while holding hands with the other players. The spiral will fold in towards the middle “planted” participant. Once everyone is crowded into the human spiral, the planted person makes their way out without letting go of hands.
- Tags in 1’s and 2’s: In two’s, designate one participant as the number one and the second as number two. Call out number 1 or 2. If you hear your number called, you must run away from your partner. If tagged by your partner, you stop. The leader calling the numbers will stop the game once everyone has had a chance to tag their partner. Continue the game by calling out another number.
- No Talking Line Games: Get participants to line up, without talking and using motions with hands, in various line forms. Be creative! Examples would be lining up in birthday (January at the beginning of the line and December at the end of the line), height, hand size, etc.
- Honey if You Love Me: Have the participants sit in a circle with one person in the middle. The person in the middle has to go up to a child sitting in the circle and make them laugh by only saying, “Honey if you love me will you please, please smile.” There is no physical contact allowed. If the participant is successful in making that person laugh then the person who was sitting down is now in the middle. If the participant is not successful in making the other participant who is sitting down laugh, then they move on to someone else to make them laugh.
- Two Truths and A Lie: Have all participants in a circle. One participant starts by saying their name and 3 facts about themselves. The other participants in the circle now must guess which one of the three facts is a lie. Once the participants guess correctly, the next person goes.
- The Winds of Change: The participants all sit in a circle. One participant is in the middle and they say “The wind of change is blowing for anyone who....” and the participant will then say either “has a blue shirt” or “is in Grade 5”, etc. Encourage kids to be as creative as possible and make sure that everyone has an opportunity to participate. Everyone who applies to what the child in the middle said (i.e. has a blue shirt, is in Grade 5, etc.) will then stand up and switch spots in the circle with someone else. The last child to find a spot to sit is then in the middle.
- All in the Middle: Everyone participating in this activity will hold hands in a circle. One participant will go in the middle and start calling names of people to join them in the middle. The goal is to see how many people you can fit in without breaking hands.
- On the first day/week of CanU: Everyone in the group will sit in a circle. Whoever starts states their name and their favorite part of CanU, or perhaps their favorite thing about the subject of your academy (art, movie making, science etc.). Whoever goes next will have to remember what the person before them said, repeat it, and then say what THEIR favorite part of CanU was. This is a good reflection activity.
- Name Tag: First, take a few seconds to allow everyone to introduce themselves. One this is done, everyone gets in a circle with one tagger in the middle. The tagger then calls out their name and then another person’s name, for example, “Peter, Melissa” (Peter is the tagger and Melissa is the student in the circle). Now Melissa has to say her name and then someone else’s name in the group before Peter tags her, for example, “Melissa, Claire”. If she says this before Peter tags her, Claire now has to say her name and then another person’s name before Peter tags her and so on. If Peter tags Melissa before she says Claire, then Melissa becomes the tagger in the middle and Peter goes in the circle.
- Human Machine: Divide into small groups of 4-6 people. Allot about 5 minutes for each group to “create a human machine, using at least two moving parts, and it must make a sound”. All players problem solve to come up with an idea for a machine that moves then practice the machine. Each group presents their machine to the larger group, and the other groups have to guess what machine the group made.
- Atom: Everyone in the group will mingle until the leader calls out a number. Whatever number is called out (e.g. 6) the participants will have to get into groups of that number. If there are participants not in a group or the last group to form a group will be out (play small circle games on the side with these children).
- Statue Game: Have players run, hop, skip, gallop and shuffle around the room. When you yell freeze, they have to pose as the statue position that you say (i.e. hockey player taking a slap shot, a movie star accepting their Oscar, etc.)
- Someone Says: A leader will say their name and an action (John says touch your head). The participants will follow the direction that the leader says. When the leader says an action without their name in front of action (Touch your Head) the participants who do that action will be out (play small circle games on the side).
- Graveyard: Give participants 10 seconds to find a comfortable position on the floor. Pick a few children to be Gravediggers. The gravediggers must walk around the graveyard and try to make the people lying down laugh. There is no touching allowed, and screaming in people’s ears is not permitted. If a person laughs, they must join the grave diggers to make others laugh.
- Spokes on a Wheel: Make an equal number of groups (4-6 participants), standing one behind the other, with the front person facing towards the middle. The configuration should look like “spokes on a wheel”, with each group fanning out. Next, give each person on each team (eg. Red, blue, yellow, green etc.). The leader will call out a colour (or whatever you named the participants), then whoever’s name was called out will turn to the right, run down through the opened legs of their teammates to grab the flag (bean bags, etc.) in the middle of all the spokes. Alternate running around the circle with hopping around the circle or dribbling a ball around the circle etc.
- Count to 30: everyone is sitting in their group with their eyes closed. The students then count to 30 without two or more people yelling out a number at the same time. If a number is yelled out by more than one person, the group has to start back at 1.
- Back Draw: Have the students sit in a straight line, one behind the other. The leader then whispers something to the first student in the line for them to draw, for example “apple”. The first student is then supposed to draw an apple on the back of the student in front of them. That student them tries to draw what they think was just drawn on their back on the back of the student in front of them. This continues until the student at the end of the line, and then the last student is supposed to guess what they think was drawn on their back.
- Follow the Leader: Everyone will line up behind the leader and everything that the leader does the children must follow. Be creative.
- Red Light, Green Light: Players line up alone one end while the leader acts as the “traffic light”; the leader calls out “green light,” children move forward, (tell them to use lunges, hop, jump, skip, etc.), or “red light,” children stop/freeze. If players get caught moving during red light, they’re sent back to the beginning. Game ends when one or more players pass the leader. Let the winner direct traffic for the next game.
- Hand Tapping Game: Everyone lies in a circle (on stomach) with their hands in the middle. Players mix up their hands with the players next to them, so that no one person has their own hands side-by-side. Someone starts the game by tapping their hand once or double tapping. Double tapping switches the direction of the tapping. The game is supposed to move quickly and anyone who taps when it is not their turn or doesn’t tap when it is their turn has to remove a hand from the game. It is a good idea to have two circles going so those who are ‘out’ can just join the other circle.
- Magic Wink: Have the participants sit in a circle. Choose one child and have them leave the area (preferably with a leader) who will be the detective. Choose on participant to be the ‘magician’. Call back the detective who left the room. The magician must wink at other participants in the circle to cast a ‘sleeping spell’ on them. Participants that have a spell cast on them and pretend to sleep. The detective has three chances to guess who the magician is, or until all the children are sleeping.
- Electricity Game: have the participants get into two lines and get them to face back to back. Get the participants to cross their arms over each other and grab the arms of the people beside them. Place any object (bag, shoe, etc.) at the end of the lines. Have the participants close their eyes (except for the first person in each line). The leader must sit at the other end of the lines, opposite the object. The leader then flips a coin. If the coin shows tails, the person at the beginning of the line must squeeze the hand of the person next to them. As soon as that person feels their hand being squeezed, they can squeeze the next person’s hand. When the last person’s hand is squeezed they must reach for the object at the end of the line before the last person from the other line beats them. If heads is shown, the participant should not squeeze the next person’s hand, if they do, the team will lose that round. Play until one team reaches 10 points.
- Telephone: Have everyone sit in a circle and have someone think of something to say. They will then whisper the message to the person on their left. When it gets to the last person then they will say the saying out loud.
- Human Knot: Have everyone get into a circle (standing up). Have the participant put their arms into the circle and grab hands with two different people in the circle. The people cannot be next to you. Have the participants try to untangle themselves without letting go of the people to which they are holding on to.
- Pass the Penny: The group tries to pass an object around the circle (the object should be the size of a penny). A person on the outside of the circle tries to guess where the penny is located. The group must try to fool the guesser by doing fake passes, etc.
- Billy’s World: The leader starts the game by choosing a rule and keeps it secret (example, the people, places and things in Billy’s world have double letters in them) then they give examples, “In Billy’s world, there are feet but no hands. In Billy’s world, there are books but no libraries”. The students must then take turns and try to guess what the rule is.
- Beat Master: A chosen “guesser” goes out of the room. A leader is then picked from the group. Whatever the leader does to create a rhythm the group must copy, and the leader must change what they are doing while trying not to be seen by the guesser (clapping hands, snapping fingers, patting your belly etc). When the guesser enters they must try to see who the leader is by trying to work out who is starting the new beat.
- Heads Up 7-Up: have the group sit in a circle and have a few people be it (use your judgement on how many people will be it depending on the size of the group). Everyone who is not it will close their eyes and the people who are it will tap people on their head lightly. Once all the people who are it have tagged someone, everyone who was tagged will try and guess who tagged them. If they are correct then the person sitting down will switch with the tagger.
- Mafia: Have participants sit in a circle. Explain that this is a strategy game, played Mafia vs. civilians. The mafia wants to eliminate all the civilians, the civilians want to vote out all the mafia before the succeed.
To begin the game, have all participants lower their heads and shut their eyes. The Narrator will then select three Mafia (three taps on the head), two Inspectors (two taps on the head) and one Doctor (one tap on the head). All other players are civilians. Once the selection is done, have the mafia open their eyes (Mafia, heads up). They will silently choose one person to eliminate. Once they are done, have them shut their eyes, (Mafia, heads down).
Next, have the inspectors open their eyes (inspectors, heads up). They will silently choose one person to receive information on. The narrator will indicate if that person is Mafia (make an M with hands), Civilian (make a C with hands), Inspector (make an I with hands), or Doctor (make a D or a cross with hands). Once they are done, the inspectors close their eyes (inspectors, heads down).
Last, the narrator asks the doctor to open his/her eyes (Doctor, heads up). The Doctor will choose one person to save (i.e., they can’t be eliminated that round, and if they were chosen by the mafia earlier that round, they are saved and stay in the game).
Once all the roles have had a turn, the Narrator asks everyone to open their eyes (Everyone, heads up). At this point, they tell the elimination story:
Example: “(Student's name) was walking to CanU, and stepped on a trap. They fell in whole, and disappeared!” Get creative!
That child would then become a spectator (they are not allowed to share information or participate in group deliberation). If the child had been saved by the doctor, the elimination story might go like, “Luckily for (child’s name), the doctor was there and managed to throw down a rope and save them!”
At this point, the deliberation round begins. Children have to decide who they think might be Mafia, and vote them out of the group (one person per round). Children won’t know who’s who, they will have to strategize to figure it out. These rounds alternate until the mafia outnumber civilians, or the civilians vote out all the mafia. If children are debating between two people, you can make things more fun by asking those students to come up with their ‘defense’ as to why they couldn’t be the mafia. Kids can get really creative and giggly. Then the group decides who has the most convincing story and votes the other person out.