There are a number of ways to get students up and active, sharing notetaking and working together.

A3 paper:

This can be a wonderful tool for getting information out of their minds and into shared space. Some examples, which may be hard to read, but which give you an idea of how it works are below. They come from a VCE History revision lesson in 2015. Preparation involved picking up on the skills that were lacking – in this case the provision of evidence to support contentions that had been made – and writing a target in the middle. Each student then had a time frame of 2 minutes per page, before they had to move on to the next page.

Collaborative cube:

This was a recommissioned TV trolley which a colleague and I decided to use as a frame for four sheets of whiteboard  material. We kept the wheels so that it could be moved as required. Students of all ages and genders really enjoy using the markers to complete tasks.

This was an activity with mixed age groups from Years 5 – 8 and from a range of schools, where they had the opportunity to draw pirates!

A4 paper:

Getting students in pairs to list ideas relating to a topic within a really tight timeframe can provide an active change of pace, stimulates competition and often draws out concepts that I have not connected to each other in quite the same way enhancing multiple interpretations of the same content.

Plastic Blocks:

This activity has been blogged about here

In a time when some people are recommending standing desks, it provides a real alternative if you can get them up and moving!