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Looking for a simple and effective activity that students can do to review for your Algebra class? Even better, put the ownership on THEM and make it self-directed. Then the "Guru Review" is for YOU.
Disclaimer: I did not create this activity. It was shared with me by a colleague. If you are the creator - or know who the creator is - please let me know so I can give credit!
In the "Guru Review" activity students work in groups with one student acting as the teacher (the "Guru") and facilitating a review of a skill in your unit for other students in their group, before rotating to a new group and skill. The number of groups corresponds to the number of skills you are reviewing. The time that students spend during each rotation will vary depending on the demand of the skills. If there is a lot to review the rotations can be longer. If they are quick skills then the rotations can be shorter.
Simple Steps to Prepping:
To prep this activity up you will need a worksheet for each skill or skill group in your instructional goals. You will need to print one copy of each worksheet for each student in your class. I like to create a different folder for each skill where I put all of that skill’s worksheets with one copy of the answer key (for reference) and I give this to the group’s Guru.
Assigning the Guru:
The group’s Guru is a student who is strong with that skill. For the first round the teacher assigns the Guru for each group. The guru has the job of distributing the worksheets and guiding students through the examples. I like to let the Guru use big whiteboards to present the material to their group, just like I do in direct instruction! Once done, the Guru will step down from their role and assign a new Guru to teach the next group of students when the rest of the group rotates to the next skill.
Gurus can be assigned ahead of time based on your own judgement and assessment data or you can assign them in the moment using formative assessment. I like to do the latter while also having a quick review of all of the skills. As a whole group I have students complete a practice problem on their individual whiteboards and hold it up when they are done. The student that does it correctly first becomes the guru for that skill’s group. This allows me to see who has a good command of the skill that day and it also allows me to start the review process with the whole class so they don’t go into their groups cold.
Timing:
I typically give students 8 - 12 minutes in their group, depending on the demand of the skills, before rotating. To ensure that time is used most effectively, every group knows that if they finish early they need to come up with their own examples of the skill with the time that remains.
Setting Expectations:
At the start of the lesson I like to set the expectations directly by having an explicit conversation about what should be happening in the groups.
Some of the points I make:
Gurus move around the group to reach EVERYONE. They check work before they are asked. They SHOW instead of TELL. They encourage their classmates and are patient and resilient with them. They praise their classmates. They challenge their group to make more examples if they are done early.
To incentivize this I then introduce the competition for “Most Valuable Guru” and I tell students that I will be walking around the room during rotations to look for these qualities and award the “MVG” for each round.
I’ve found that it helps to capture the main points of this discussion by recording the qualities and expectations of an “MVG” on the board so students can refer to them, so I can refer to them when awarding the round’s MVG and so I can use them as a reminder during and between rounds if I need to encourage better behavior. You can write them on your whiteboard/chalkboard/digital board.
You can also set expectations similarly for the student role. You can award the “Most Improved” student or create another award for the student that is best engaged and working hard.
Want to take it to the next level? Attach a reward to the process. Bonus points, choose your own seat, homework pass, candy,...whatever works for you!
Getting Started
To get yourself started with implementing this activity you just need to:
Identify the skills/skill groups that are part of your instructional goals right now
Gather practice problems for those skills and generate worksheets for students to use, as well as an answer key
Take a chance and try it out!
Want to get started right away? Check out this Guru review activity for factoring. It's always a hit in my class!
Good luck!
Did you try the Guru Review activity? Share your experience below!
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