License Plates & Traffic Jam
Grades K-12
Big Idea
Students compile their thoughts on a descriptive license plate and share with their classmates. This activity promotes communication, breaking the ice, providing a focus on a topic, reinforcing old learning though a different means, provides an exercise for introducing a new topic, engages all students within a group, and helps to develop relationships.
Directions
1. Photocopy a blank license plate template for each student or team
2. Teacher asks everyone to create a personal message relating to the intended outcome to share using only six to eight letters, numbers, or symbols.
3. Students "drive" around the classroom until they hit a traffic jam (are told to stop). Then students will share their license plate and their explanation for it.
4. Students exchange license plates and traffic picks up again.
5. The next traffic jam the students get into, they will be responsible for sharing the ideas of the license plate they are currently holding.
6. Again, the students trade license plates, and continue with the activity.
When to use
Each students' license plate message can convey a desired goal, a value held, a favorite saying, a learning point from the course, or something personal for sharing either in small groups or with the entire class.
Ideas include:
- As a formative assessment of learning
- Getting to know you
- Enhance classroom culture
- To summarize big ideas within units of learning
- To compile prior knowledge and understandings
- Reflections
Strategy Variations
- Teacher can ask students to group themselves with similar license plates.
- Students can be assigned different prompts (content based, levels of understanding based, etc.) for designing their license plates.