| In the post All the World’s a Stage ~ Spotlight Your Students’ Learning, I shared some of my favorite ways to spotlight student work either throughout the year or at an EOY showcase event. In this post, I’ve elaborated on three ways to make a showcase more exciting for your students to create and more engaging for an audience to visit. |
If you are planning some kind of Open House or Showcase Event at the end of the year, I can recommend these three ideas that require very little additional work, increase engagement, and impress your visitors!
IDEA #1 -ADD A SCAVENGER HUNT
A showcase event usually includes displays of some sort. If your students will have Genius Hour projects to share or there will be some kind of display that shows what students have learned throughout the year, work as a class to create a simple scavenger hunt for visitors to do as they view the displays.
As your displays come together in the weeks just before the event, have each student write ONE QUESTION that can be answered by looking at or reading something at their display. If they’ve created something or done a service project, they can share some interesting and not widely-known information related to their project – something they learned as they did research. Make sure students provide you with both a question and an answer- spelled correctly!
The questions can be typed up to create a simple scavenger hunt, but it’s fun to turn them into clues for a crossword puzzle. This is so easy at puzzlemaker.com. If you zoom in on the photo above you might be able to make out the crossword puzzle we created. We had both parents and students visit our displays and as they walked in, we handed them each a clipboard (borrowed from teachers) with a crossword puzzle clipped on. They completed the crossword puzzle by visiting the displays and finding the answers. The visiting students and parents were totally engaged and learned a lot, and the teachers were thrilled that they could enjoy the displays, too, rather than disciplining unruly kids.
IDEA #3 – MAKE IT A MENU
You may want visitors to view and even engage in a variety of activities. With your students, create a simple menu to hand out upon arrival. This would be a list of “what to do” at the showcase, and it can let visitors know approximately how much time might be needed to complete each activity. “Appetizers” might be activities that take less than 5 minutes (such as viewing 3-D printed items displayed on a table), “entrees” would take more time (such as completing a puzzle or playing a game), and “desserts” could be something created for the visitor or something you’d like them to do before they leave. Ask your students for ideas!
You can use hallway walls, tables, the back of a door- every available space to provide examples of what students have been working on in the class all year. A favorite display of mine was our student-created logic puzzles. We laminated them and had them at a table. On the wall, I posted several that I had enlarged to chart size. Any office supply store can do this for you. It was something novel and everyone enjoyed solving these. In the pictures below, you can see some on the back wall. We were fortunate in that we were able to use an empty classroom for extra space, but the walls look a bit sterile!
IDEA #3 ~ ADD INTERACTIVE FEATURES
I’ve written about this previously HERE, and there are additional ideas in that post about making your displays 3-D, too. Here are two types of interactive features.
Student Audio / Video – Students can record themselves telling more about a project or activity using Flipgrid, for example. The video link can be used to create a QR code to attach to the project. Visitors simply scan with the cameras on their phones to view or listen. Again, read more HERE.
Touchable / Moveable Elements – Visitors can be invited to interact with displays through elements such as flaps to lift, matching games, or quizzes (using magnetic or even light-up elements). Any kind of feature that invites touching and manipulation makes the experience interactive. Children’s museums can be a great source of ideas and inspiration.
What ideas have you tried that you can share?
We love to discuss and share in our Facebook group. Join us!