Week 4-Hooks Part 2

Hooks Part 2

I hope you've enjoyed reviewing and discussing some of the Hooks from Hooks Part 1.  Now it's time to walk the plank and jump right into some more hooks.

All The World is a Stage

Your classroom is your stage and a stage for your students.  How can you and your students use what's in there to create the ideal learning environment?

The Interior Design Hook

• How can I transform my room to create the ultimate atmosphere for this lesson?
• Can I change the lighting for mood?
• Can I block out all light and just use accent lights to emphasize certain things?
• Can I cover or decorate the walls, the ceiling, or the floor?
• Can I change the entrance?
• How can I rearrange the desks for this lesson to be most effective?
• Can I create more space by removing desks?
• Can I add partitions to break the room into areas or to create maze-like corridors?
• If I were throwing a theme party at my house for this subject, what would I do?
• If a theme park were opening up a new attraction based on my lesson, what would it include?

The Board Message Hook

• What can I write on my board or have projected on my screen that will immediately spark curiosity and interest as the students enter my room?
• What type of message will create a buzz and provoke students to point it out and begin to talk to each other about it before the bell even rings?
• What can I write that will be intriguing and mysterious and compel students to approach me and ask questions before we get started?
• Can I just put a QR code on the board or screen and see what happens?
• Can I have an intriguing image projected that will eventually tie into my content?

The Costume Hook

• What can I wear as an outfit or costume for this lesson?
• Is there an existing character that I can impersonate?
• Can I create a character that is relevant to this lesson
• Can I invent a superhero or super villain for this subject?
• What accessory (something as small as a hat or glasses) can I wear to enhance my presentation?

The Props Hook

• What physical item can I bring in to add to my presentation?
• What image can I show?
• Instead of just talking about a book, can I bring it?
• Instead of just mentioning a person, can I show a picture?
• What can I bring that students could actually hold in their hands and pass up and down the aisles?

The Involved Audience Hook

• How can I consistently keep the audience feeling involved?
• Can I cue them to make certain motions or sounds at key points?
• Can I incorporate call and response into this lesson?
• Can I, unknown to their classmates, cue certain students to play a pre-arranged role?
• Can I bring students to the front of the room as volunteers?

The Mystery Bag Hook

• How can I gain engagement by openly hiding something from the class?
• Can I have a closed box or a package on the front stand?
• How can I build up the suspense of the unveiling?
• Can I cut a hole into a box so that students reach inside and feel the contents but not see?
• Can I give hints and open the floor for guesses?
• What can I put into the mystery box or bag that would tie to my lesson?
• After displaying the item, how can I get students to try to figure out the relationship between it and the lesson?

Stand and Deliver

The Storytelling Hook

• What captivating story can I tell that would draw students into this lesson?
• Can I create a high-interest story to fit the lesson?
• What techniques of the master storytellers, such as dramatic build, can I use to enhance this presentation?
• How would speaking in character, using accents, changing intonations, and varying volume for effect (even whispering) have an impact on the class?
• How can I use facial expressions, dramatic pauses, and gestures to improve the power of my lecture?

The Swimming with the Sharks Hook

• How can I enter the audience and break down the barrier between teacher and class?
• Can I participate in the activity?
• Can I storm up and down the rows and use the whole room as my platform?
• Can I enter the physical space of key areas in the room where attention is waning?
• Is there a different place, or multiple places, that I can present from for the sake of novelty?

The Taboo Hook

You want to be careful in how you use these hooks and use good judgment.

• How can I use the fact that students are fascinated by that which is taboo and forbidden?
• How can I position my topic so that t seems like a little-known script?
• How can I take advantage of the fact that students (and adults!) are intrigued by things they aren't supposed to hear?
• Can I position my topic as if it is illicit, even though it isn't?

The Mime Hook

• How can I use the mesmerizing power of silence to spark interest and engage?
• Can I use nothing but written messages to deliver my lesson or opening hook?
• Can I use mime techniques and gestures to get my point across?
• Can I incorporate charades and/or Pictionary-type activities?
• Can students be asked to get their messages across without words, as well?

The Teaser Hook

• How can I spark interest in this lesson by promoting it ahead of time?
• What can I do to create a positive expectancy in advance?
• What aspect of this lesson can I tease beforehand to provoke curiosity?
• If I were creating a movie trailer or preview for this lesson, what would it include?
• If I were planning a marketing promotion for this lesson what would I do and when would I begin?

The Backwards Hook

• How can I gain an advantage or increase interest by presenting this material out of sequence?
• Can I tell them the end of the story and let them figure out and discover the beginning and the middle?
• Can I show them an end product that will make them want to learn the skills to get there?

Advanced Tactics

The Mission Impossible Hook

• How can I design my lesson so that students are trying to unravel and solve a mystery?
• How can I incorporate clues that can only be decoded by learning or researching the relevant subject? (Think Da Vinci Code or National Treasure)
• Can they be provided a treasure map or sent on a scavenger hunt through your content?
• What type of entertaining plot can I use as an overlay or backdrop for this unit?
• What fictitious character or role can they play?
• What crisis must they prevent?
• Can I change this from a standard assignment to a daring and impossible mission?

The Reality TV Hook

• How can I design my lesson to take advantage of the popularity of reality TV?
• Can I create a Survivor-style challenge and divide the class into tribes?
• Can this be configured as an Amazing Race partner lesson?
• How can I incorporate Fear Factor type of challenge?

The Techno Whiz Hook

• How can I tap into the technological prowess of my students?
• Can I give my students the option to create projects and turn in assignments digitally?
• Can I create a paperless lesson?
• How can technology be used to bridge gaps between school and the real world?
• How can technology help to connect my students to people from all over the world and help them gain a global perspective?

Around the Hedges

The Contest Hook

• How can I include a contest in this lesson to build excitement and motivation?
• What type of review game can I design to ramp up the entertainment level of my class?
• What kind of in-class challenge can I create that would take advantage of their competitive instinct?
• Can I be part of the challenge or contest?

The Magic and the Amazing Hook

• What amazing principle can I demonstrate as part of this lesson?
• Is there a magical effect that could help to deliver this message?
• Can I teach my students an amazing skill that they will go home and show others?

The Chef Hook

• How can I enhance this lesson by adding food or drinks?
• Can I cook something for the class?
• What type of food would be perfect for this lesson?
• How can I use food or drinks to demonstrate a point, serve as an incentive, or just help create a positive atmosphere for a special lesson?

The Mnemonic Hook

• Are there key bits of information I want my students to know cold?
• Is there a pattern to point out?
• Can the point of the lesson be tied to previous knowledge?
• Does a mnemonic exist for the material?
• Can I design my own mnemonic to help them remember this material?
• Can the students create their own mnemonic?
• How can I embed a mnemonic theme throughout my presentation to aid retention?

The Extra-Credit Challenge Hook

• What high-interest and motivating challenges can I create that relate to this unit?
• What intriguing mission can I send students on to allow them to extend their learning in a unique way?
• How can I provide my students the opportunity for an experience that will create life-long memories?

Discussion Questions

• Choose two hooks that you have put in place or have seen put in place.  If you can't identify two, think about two that you would want to put into your lessons.

Don't forget to respond to at least one one other person's comment.