Technique 35: Props

(Part of chapter 5: Creating a Strong Classroom Culture)

A Prop is a class-wide "shout-out" -- acknowledgement of a student giving a great answer (or, even, asking a great question).  A Prop has to be given crisply, quickly, and enthusiastically.  The instructor says something like, "Two claps for David" and the response is two claps, quickly, and then it is done.

The Prop has to be enthusiastic, with the whole class participating.  It must be fun and lively to be effective.  The author also suggests that it can evolve -- if students develop a Prop into something else, that's fine, as long as it remains fun, quick, and effective.

The author suggests a bunch of ideas, most of which are pretty silly: A hitter -- the class pretends to hit a baseball out of the park; A hot pepper: students hold up an imaginary hot pepper, dangling it above their mouths, then pretend to bite it, and then make a sizzling sound.

My response:

I like being a bit silly in class, and I think my class enjoys it, too.  But, the author's suggestions are a bit much.  I've tried doing something where the class puts its arm up in the air and then lowers them quickly, saying "Whoosh!", like these same students do at a basketball game, but it didn't work.  Probably takes too long to setup.

I'm going to try this instead: "He/she shoots, he/she scores!  And the crowd goes wild!" and then the class makes a crowd cheering noise.  We'll see how that works...