Guess Who? Post It!

This is one of those activities that is beautifully simple and therefore very effective and also splendidly transferable to a wide range of contexts, right across the age range and across all kinds of topics. It’s been developed by Joanne Philpott, an AST in Norfolk, for use with A level students studying 20th century Russian history but don’t stop reading here because a) you don’t teach A level or even at secondary level or b) you don’t teach Russian history. Carry on reading and then try to apply it to your contexts. For example, this would be a very good activity to use at the end of KS2 to look back on the people children have studied throughout KS2 or, similarly, at the end of each year of KS3 or at the end of the Key Stage as a whole. And the potential uses at GCSE are legion.

So, over to Jo to describe the activity.

Download

A WORD version of this activity and accompanying chart can be downloaded:

For Activity file [ click here ]

For chart [ click here ]

Objectives

The use of starter activities is now common place in many classrooms. In an A Level classroom, starters provide multiple functions. For example they can allow for recap of prior learning; checking of homework; introduction of a new skill or topic and assessment of existing knowledge. Starters also allow a teacher to maximise the time for learning opportunities available in the classroom. This activity not only ensures learning begins as soon as the students enter the room but also emphasises the demands of preparatory work.

Through the regular use of preparatory reading, I have endeavoured to encourage my A Level students to take responsibility for their learning. My intention is for them to rely less on me as a provider of knowledge and more as a facilitator to guide and assist the means by which they can discover history. In lessons we analyse the events and address the necessary historical skill required to do this effectively and without preparatory reading this approach would be impossible. This has required a cultural shift for me and the students, and those who fail to keep up very quickly realise their own loss within lessons and in most instances remedy the situation with minimal intervention from their teacher.

The Activity

The whole activity described below takes no more than 10 minutes. Any longer and it gets boring, loses its edge as a refreshing starter and eats into the main activity time.

Step 1

Before the lesson students complete preparatory reading on the key players in the struggle to succeed Lenin in Russia 1924-29.

Step 2

As students enter the room the Russian Leader sheets are on desks [ see below ].

Allow 5 minutes of silent reading of the sheet to refresh and extend knowledge.

Step 3

a) Turn over the Leader sheets so they can no longer be read and explain the task to students. They are to work in groups of about 6. [Some students may opt out if they are in a large group or work on this activity as a whole class.]

b) The teacher gives one student a sticky label with the name of one of the six key players (see chart for six individuals) written on it. The student is not allowed to see the name and must stick the label on his/her forehead in order that class mates can see who they are.

c) The student then has to ‘Guess Who?’ he/she is by asking a given number of yes/no answer questions of their class mates. I allow them between three and five questions with fewer if this is being used a revision activity.

If he/she guesses correctly he/she may choose the next recipient to play.

d) Now repeat with another key player and then another, depending on how many you wish to cover. You do not have to do all the leaders and certainly don’t simply use all six names in sequence as then students will play by process of elimination and not by effective questioning and knowledge. You can cheat – by repeating one of the key players when students aren’t expecting repetition! Remember that 10 minutes is a good maximum time to spend on this activity.