CALLA

Cuddly Learning Strategies: Animal Mascots

by Jill Robbins, National Capital Language Resource Center

One of the challenges of teaching learning strategies has been that of taking an abstract concept and making it tangible in classroom practice. A solution offered by some teachers is the use of real objects associated with the strategies. For example, some teachers have used pictures of tools to create strategy reminders on the walls of their classes. In one such classroom, I saw cut-outs on the wall of a wrench, a saw, a screwdriver, and a hammer, all labeled with the names of reading strategies like “skip it” “use the context” or “predict.” Others bring in a toolbox of toy tools that can be labeled to remind students of strategies. A list of tools and the strategies they might represent follows this article.

In Allentown, Pennsylvania, a pair of kindergarten teachers, Diann Garnett and Jason Sizemore, at Midway Manor Early Childhood Center, came up with the idea of using a stuffed animal to represent the strategy “Monitoring.” Their aim was to help their students learn how to monitor their behavior in school, and then to transfer the strategy to academic work. They created a storybook in which Monitoring Monkey goes through a typical school day and asks himself what he should do in various situations. You can see the storybook on the CALLA website: http://calla.ws/monmonkey.html This storybook inspired me to associate other learning strategies with stuffed animals, which could serve as a concrete reminder in the classroom for students to apply a particular learning strategy.  

When Anna Chamot and I first brought these animals to a group of elementary school teachers, they were excited to consider the possibilities. Finally - a way to make these abstract concepts into cuddly mascots, that could help the teacher to model strategies in a way that children could understand!  The photos that follow this article show the strategy mascots and short descriptions of how they apply their strategies. The names of the mascots can be varied depending on the target language; some of the teachers in our workshops came up with Spanish names for use in their dual-language classes. For example, a stuffed donkey can be Buscalo Burro (representing the strategy 'selective attention', or 'look for it') and a rabbit can be 'el conejo que canta.' (the singing rabbit, i.e., Using Sounds)

I had an opportunity to use the mascots in my own class this summer, with adult students in a university intensive program.  In an activity where students completed an exercise by writing on an overhead transparency, I passed “Checking Chick” to one student and asked her to check on the sentence as it was displayed on the screen. I asked, “What does ‘Checking Chick’ think of this?” She evaluated the sentence, we made corrections and then she passed the chick on to another student. Each student in turn evaluated his or her sentence with the help of the class as they applied the strategy Monitoring. The chick served as a kind of Native American talking stick, to indicate who had the floor at a given moment. It was also used in an exercise when students wanted to make a correction to another student's work; they said, "Checking Chick should tell you that the verb is missing there." In this situation, the mascot served the purpose of an avatar, distancing the speaker from the criticism they were offering. This might make it easier for some students to correct each other's work in class.

When students were doing group work, I gave them the Cooperating Cow, and reminded them that each member of the group should contribute their best effort, helping others to complete the task and learn together. At one point the vocal interaction in a student group became louder as individuals argued. A student in a different group murmured, "They need cooperating cow over there." Suddenly our class had a tangible symbol of the cooperation that we needed to strive for, which could serve as a reminder as she sat on students' desks or on their laps.

Another use of the mascots was with a student who was reluctant to speak up in class. I handed him Monitoring Monkey to hold during class, and asked him to be aware of how much he was contributing in class. He smiled and when his chance came to volunteer, he talked louder and longer than he had before. He seemed to draw inspiration from the monkey, which was cradled under his arm on his desk.

One of the cutest animal mascots is Background Bear, which is actually a Benjamin Franklin-styled bear. He has a gold-trimmed coat and horn-rimmed glasses. He came into play when we began preparing for a reading on the topic of environmental awareness. We used Background Bear to stimulate discussion about the students' knowledge of the trend toward recycling and conservation in various countries. I explained that by bringing up our background knowledge, we were stimulating our ability to understand and remember the new material we would be learning. Since Background Bear is an historical figure, he is a good symbol of the importance of relating what we have learned in the past to what we are learning today.

The most surprising aspect of using these animals with various groups is the positive reaction I have observed. People of all ages appreciate the chance to hold and stroke a soft, cuddly toy. There doesn't seem to be a gender difference, either, in the desire to touch these mascots. In situations where learning may be stressful, the mascot seems to help by relaxing a student who is holding it.

If you want to use animal mascots in your classroom, you can find the stuffed animals very cheaply at thrift shops or yard sales, if not in your own attic. Their name tags can be recycled name badges from teacher conferences, or "Hi, my name is..." stickers from an office supply store. The plastic-coated name badges hold up best, though, under the frequent cuddling these teaching aids receive. Take the opportunity to be creative with the names you assign your little friends in the target language. If you do try this yourself, please let me know how it goes: write to Jill

Learning Strategies Through Play:

Toy Toolbox items:
Hammer = Summarize (build something up by yourself)
Saw = Problem-Solve (separate it into parts you can handle)
Screwdriver =    Find/Apply Patterns  (twist and turn to see the patterns)
Flashlight = Use Selective Attention (visual imagery) (What do I see?/Hear)
Pliers = Manage your own learning (get a grip!)
Measuring Tape = Evaluate (how much did I learn/ how well did I learn?)
Magnifying Glass = Make Inferences (look closer)
Monocular/Binocular: Make Predictions (what’s ahead?)
Duct tape or electrical tape = Substitute (how can I make this work?)
Play wood & Nuts & Bolts = Use what you know (You build with what you have)

Stuffed Animals:

METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES

Plan / Organize: PLANNING PANDA
Monitor / Identify Problems: MONITORING MONKEY
Evaluate (Check): CHECKING CHICK

TASK-BASED STRATEGIES

USE WHAT YOU KNOW

Use Background Knowledge: BACKGROUND BEAR
Transfer / Use Cognates: COGNATES CAMEL

USE YOUR SENSES

Use Images: PICTURING PENGUIN:
Use Sounds: SINGING SEAL
Use Your Kinesthetic Sense: HANDS-ON HIPPO

USE A VARIETY OF RESOURCES  

Access Information Sources (Resources): RESEARCHING RACCOON
Cooperate: COOPERATING COW

For more pictures of the animal mascots, go to http://calla.ws/animals.html