Saturday, November 14, 2015
Use of Improvisation in the classroom!
Learning through Failure!

"Success is failure turned inside out" "Why do we fall? So we can get back up!"
In a rapidly changing world where creativity and critical thinking skills are paramount it is important to realise we will not always get things right and the path to success is challenging! We can learn so much from our mistakes and failings. Through educators and students learning about the value of process we can generate greater resilience and composure in our classrooms. Recently Mr. Jim Finnegan presented the TEFCAS model to success which we have talked about in our classrooms.This can help students in their approach to their learning to realise it often is "one step at a time!"
Entrepreneurial Education!
As teachers it is important that we view learning from different lenses. Recently we have been working with Edward de Bono's Six Thinking hats to help us on our voyage of discovery!
Friday, May 15, 2015
Brain Storms - a book of Short Stories by 25 CBC Transition Year Students 14/05/15
The renowned Irish novelist, screenwriter and dramatist Roddy Doyle has been busy fostering the talent of aspiring teenage authors. As part of the “Fighting Words” programme, Roddy and his team have helped 25 Transition Year students from CBC Monkstown Park write, edit, develop and launch a book of their short stories entitled “Brain Storms” that will now be available nationwide! CBC Monkstown was the only school selected in the country to be involved with this project this year!
Founded in 2009, Fighting Words believes that creative writing is an essential part of every child's education. They wanted to provide a free dedicated opportunity to let children explore the vast potential of their imagination and as a result inspire self-expression, literacy and self-confidence in young people.
The Transition Year students of CBC Monkstown Park were the lucky participants of a unique year long programme run by Fighting Words which offered them a weekly space to come and write short stories in the presence of the volunteer writing team. Each week they worked on creating, developing and enhancing their individual short stories with the view to putting them together as a collection.
In his Introduction, IMPAC award winning novelist Kevin Barry says
"This is a fantastic collection and it's one to be savoured – don't gorge on all the stories at once. Spread them out over a long while, like delicacies. I think we'll be hearing from many of these new voices again and again and again."
The official book launch will take place on Monday 18th May 2015 from 7.30 – 8.30pm in CBC Monkstown. We would like to invite you to our event. If you would like any further details please do not hesitate to call CBC Monkstown
CBC STUDENTS HEADING IN TO SEE THEIR BOOK BEING PRINTED! |
FRESH PRINTED PAGES OF BRAIN STORMS! |
JACK, PAUL ,SHANE, BRIAN AND GREGG SEEING THEIR BOOK BEING PRINTED! |
FRESH OFF THE PRESS IT'S BRAIN STORMS! |
CBC STUDENTS AND FIGHTING WORDS VOLUNTEERS |
Saturday, May 9, 2015
"Take a parachute and......"
Debate Games and Exercises
1. "The Parachute Game"
Introduction
This game is inspired by the
Father Ted episode "Flight into Terror" where the priests are trapped
on a plane and they have only two parachutes to get people off the plane. In
order to decide who will get them, Ted asks all the others to write a speech
about why they should the parachute. Essentially, you are getting the students
to recreate this situation.
This debate is primarily about
develop the skill of making arguments in favour of a motion or an idea. It is
particularly useful as grounds them in the real world (by getting them to
advocate for a real person or thing) before they end up debating more abstract
ideas.
Objectives
1. Students
will be able to argue for a particular position
2. Students
will develop their research skills and learn to use evidence to promote an
argument
3. Students
will be able to convince their audience of the correctness of their position
Method
·
This is best used as a prepared exercise. Tell
students a few days in advance that they will be speaking, so they can research
their speech properly. This game works best with four or five students.
·
Explain to the students that they are to imagine
they are on a plane full of famous figures from history. The plane will soon
crash and there is only one parachute available.
·
Students are to imagine that they are any person
from history and they have to write a speech (2 to 3 minutes) explaining why
they should get the parachute.
·
Students then deliver their speeches to the
whole group and the group votes for who they think should the parachute after
they have all spoken.
Expansions
After you've done the above
exercise with students, there are a number of ways that you expand it to use it
in the future as students become more confident and skilled.
·
"I deserve it more than them" - after
they've all spoken, get each of the speakers to explain why they should get the
parachute over the other people. They must make reference to what other
speakers have said and explain why their historic figure is more important than
the others. This helps students work on their rebuttal.
·
Narrow the focus. Tell the students they have to
pick someone from a particular category like sports stars or American
presidents or Irish independence leaders etc. This allows for greater
comparative arguments between the speakers.
·
Make it a life raft. Change the imaginary
scenario to one where students have to advocate for the inclusion of something
on to the last life raft which is leaving for humanity's new home. They have to
argue for the importance of things like subjects in school, scientific inventions,
films, sport teams and so on.
·
Use it in the classroom. This game can be used
across the school to get students to engage in various aspects of subjects they
are being taught: students arguing which character is most important is
whatever play they are studying in English, which scientist has had the biggest
impact on life through their work in science, what city students would want to
live in geography and so on.
Written by Mr. Gregg O'Neill
"I couldn't disagree more"
2. "I couldn't disagree more"
Introduction
This is great little activity
to get students into the debating mood at the start of a training session or a
fun way to wrap up a session at the end. It is intended to get them to work on
their rebuttal skills and also gets them up and thinking on their feet, which
is important for them which they are offered points of information during
debates.
Objectives
1. Students
will be able to respond to or rebut arguments given by other speakers
2. Students
will be able to engage with the debate going on around them
3. Students
will work on their listening skills
4. Students
will learn to develop new and different arguments during a debate
Method
·
This is a game for everyone in the group.
·
The students all stand in a circle.
·
The first speaker speaks for one minute in
favour of a particular idea or motion.
·
The next speaker has to immediately respond by
saying "I couldn't disagree more....." and explaining why they
disagree with what the speaker before them has just said and, if necessary,
giving a new argument for their side.
·
Each speakers goes in turn around the circle.
They all must speak for a minute and they cannot repeat an argument that has
been made before them. If they break either of these rules, they have to sit
down.
·
The game continues until there is only one
student left standing.
Expansions
After you've done the above exercise with students, there
are a number of ways that you expand it to use it in the future as students
become more confident and skilled.
·
Rather than going around the circle to each
student in turn, get the students to pass a ball around the circle, which means
that they won't be able to predict when their turn will come so they have
remain engaged throughout the whole exercise.
Written by Gregg O'Neill
Written by Gregg O'Neill
A Student's thoughts on DLR Lexicon Library
Different Learning Spaces!
On Thursday April 30th my class headed to the DLR LexiCon Library for a tour. When we got there we were greeted by Marian Keyes, a librarian, she showed us all around the library, she showed all the different levels in the library and different areas, such as the study areas and meeting rooms. There was also a stage area with seating for 101 people, a cafe and an outdoor area. Marian told us that they are going to be getting a 3D printer in the library along with a number of Apple Mac computers for use in the library. She also showed us how to take books out using a machine that scans a sticker on the inside of the book. You can also drop books back by scanning them and placing them on a converter belt that sorts them into boxes. All in all it was a very interesting and informative tour and I hope we can go back there soon.
Written by Harry Loakman 2nd Yr.
On Thursday April 30th my class headed to the DLR LexiCon Library for a tour. When we got there we were greeted by Marian Keyes, a librarian, she showed us all around the library, she showed all the different levels in the library and different areas, such as the study areas and meeting rooms. There was also a stage area with seating for 101 people, a cafe and an outdoor area. Marian told us that they are going to be getting a 3D printer in the library along with a number of Apple Mac computers for use in the library. She also showed us how to take books out using a machine that scans a sticker on the inside of the book. You can also drop books back by scanning them and placing them on a converter belt that sorts them into boxes. All in all it was a very interesting and informative tour and I hope we can go back there soon.
Written by Harry Loakman 2nd Yr.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Role Reversal!
"Last Friday roles were switched when some of our first year French
students got to see what a lesson is like for a teacher and vice versa.
The first year class were asked to look over phrases that they had
learned over the year with a view to teaching Mr Fitzmaurice the basics
he would need for a trip to France. Prior to the lesson students had a
brainstorming session to decide what expressions would be the most
useful.
On the day, the boys were keen to present different
phrases, and helped each other out when there was confusion. The new
teachers got to show off what they had learned in the course of the year
but also had to react to the needs of their student, focusing on
pronunciation and dealing with questions on unprepared sentences. Mr
Fitzmaurice was an enthusiastic learner and was eager to use and
practise the vocabulary covered by engaging in model conversations with
his teachers. Every student got the chance to contribute and were made
aware of how much they had learned over the year.
This was a focused, positive class experience and gave the students the chance to try out a different role in the classroom while revising key material. Thanks very much to Mr Fitzmaurice for coming in!"
-Written by Ms Kate Lorigan (French and English teacher)
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First Years Busy teaching French! |
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An attentive student "teacher." |
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Learning can be fun! |
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Peer learning in action!
April 2015
Today Dara Keenan
took time out of his busy Leaving cert schedule to come into our class in 5th year English and
provide us with his knowledge of the language of persuasion. Dara is a very
successful debater and has lots of experience with using the language of
persuasion when debating on behalf of the school at a very high level.
Dara was able to
give us some useful tips for our leaving cert on how to write a speech. Some
of these tips included the structure of the speech, using anecdotes and how to
make certain things sound better than they are which my whole class found very
helpful! Dara was able to go through every aspect of the speech making sure we
could pick up the most points possible which I was very thankful for. I learned
a lot from what Dara said, the speech and persuasive language questions seem
that much easier to approach now.
Dara grabbed the
classes’ attention right from the start, everyone felt he was a great speaker
and would love to hear more from him. I think the whole class came out of it
having gained new knowledge on the language of persuasion.
I felt it was a
very good experience learning from other students and learning about their view
and opinions on certain subjects.
-Conor montayne 5th
year student
MR. DARA KEENAN TEACHING THE LANGUAGE OF PERSUASION! |
5TH YEARS BUSY TAKING DOWN KEY POINTS! |
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Design Thinking Workshop!
"It had been a while since we had fully used our brains, such is fourth year. On Friday, half of TY were lucky enough to have a Design Thinking workshop. For 3 hours we were challenged to think outside the box and use depths of our imaginations we didn't think we had. Our challenge was, in groups of 7, to simply design "the perfect water bottle".
However not before a few warm up exercises to get our minds in gear. Challenged to make rain in the classroom, the best we thought of was setting off the sprinklers...but who ever mentioned water? We learned that 50 people clicking their fingers made it seem like monsoon season right there in the room.
Also among the brainteasing questions posed to us, after attempting to make a duck out of 6 Lego pieces, was "why not have the bricks upside down?". It works fine, but wasn't thought of by anyone just because its not the accpepted method. Lesson learned! For the next three hours we wouldn't be allowed to think normally. When we got around to designing the bottles, we all dived into creating 25th century bottles, but were reminded soon after that it had to be practical and solve real consumer problems.
After presenting our prototypes, we then set about picking a winner. Armed with three poker chips, each group invested in another eventually leading to the best water bottle, coincidentally named "The Greatest Water Bottle on Earth", stealing the show! In just 3 hours we had made rain and produced a water bottle prototype, all by thinking outside the box and looking for different approaches to the problem!
Written by Shane O'Hanrahan 4POT2 year student
However not before a few warm up exercises to get our minds in gear. Challenged to make rain in the classroom, the best we thought of was setting off the sprinklers...but who ever mentioned water? We learned that 50 people clicking their fingers made it seem like monsoon season right there in the room.
Also among the brainteasing questions posed to us, after attempting to make a duck out of 6 Lego pieces, was "why not have the bricks upside down?". It works fine, but wasn't thought of by anyone just because its not the accpepted method. Lesson learned! For the next three hours we wouldn't be allowed to think normally. When we got around to designing the bottles, we all dived into creating 25th century bottles, but were reminded soon after that it had to be practical and solve real consumer problems.
After presenting our prototypes, we then set about picking a winner. Armed with three poker chips, each group invested in another eventually leading to the best water bottle, coincidentally named "The Greatest Water Bottle on Earth", stealing the show! In just 3 hours we had made rain and produced a water bottle prototype, all by thinking outside the box and looking for different approaches to the problem!
Written by Shane O'Hanrahan 4POT2 year student
Mr. Fergal Brophy and his team with fourth years! |
Its all in a days work for these 4th year design thinkers! |
Prototype presentations! |
Fourth year designers busy at work! |
Niall, Mitchell and Conan making their presentation! |
This is how you do it! Confident designers! |
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Peer learning in CBC
TEACHING THE ART OF WRITING STORIES TO FIRST YEARS
"Eoin and I were chosen by Mr.Fitzmaurice to teach English, primarily story writing, to the 1st years. We were picked because we have been involved with Fighting Words every Thursday afternoon so we have done a lot of work with story writing. There were five of us picked Eoin Vaughan, Morgan Moore, Owen Johnston, Brian Barry and I. We started off brainstorming ideas of what to do during the class, what we wanted them to learn and how they can get better at story writing. We came up with some good ideas for an enjoyable class but had to get the right balance between fun and learning. We also had to keep in mind the 40 minute time constraint of the class.
In the class
itself, we gave them a sheet that we did out on the ‘Ingredients of
Story-writing’ and then told them to write a story based on four titles –
Ocean, Fear, Nature, Future."
Reflections
Throughout our teaching experience we found
that there are many skills involved in teaching. We found that we enjoyed
working in a team. We also discovered that there are many things to organise but
we would love to do it again! Thanks very much to Mr. O'Sullivan for giving us the opportunity to teach his class
.
( More great details on Fighting Words workshop run by Roddy Doyle and many others can be found in website address below!) .
Written by John O’Mahony and Eoin Vaughan.
ENTHUSIASTIC FIRST YEARS ARE MENTORED BY JOHN O'MAHONY! |
EOIN VAUGHAN KEEPS FIRST YEARS BUSY! |
MORGAN MOORE GETS FIRST YEARS TO IGNITE THEIR IMAGINATION! |
STUDENTS
INVOLVED WITH FIGHTING WORDS PROJECT IN FOURTH YEAR PASSING ON THEIR
KNOWLEDGE….
4th
years involved; Owen Johnston, Morgan Moore, John O’Mahony, Eoin Vaughan, Brian
Barry.
Last week,
we did a short story Workshop with the first years. After days of planning we
were finally ready. At first we were nervous, but soon we started enjoying
ourselves. After a short introduction we split them into groups. In the groups,
we asked them what their favourite book is and why. We drew a mind map on the
board with 4 story topics; Ocean, Nature, Future, Fear. We asked the class to
give ideas for stories on each of these topics. Soon the ideas started pooling
in. We then gave them paper to draw their idea for their story. After that we
gave them homework which was to write 1A4 page minimum of a Story based on
their picture. The next day they read out their stories and we were all very
impressed. They really outdid themselves!
Reflection
We think
that the first years really learned a lot from our workshop and overall it was
a thoroughly enjoyable workshop for everyone involved.
Written by OWEN
JOHNSTON
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