Writing BINGO

I am always looking for fun ways to incorporate writing games into days I teach as a TTOC (Teacher-Teaching-On-Call, Substitute) as well as fun fillers for when my own class wraps up early on a lesson, activity or project. I saw this on pintrest and wanted to share it with you all.

Source: twocandoit.blogspot.com via Marie on Pinterest

Ice Breaker: Human Knot

This used to be my go-to game when I ran summer camps for years and years in my younger, pre-teaching years....

Summary: A good icebreaker or teambuilding activity for new people to learn to work together – in close physical proximity! The goal is to figure out how to untangle the human knot without letting go of hands.

Ages: 12 and up. Recommended number of people: 7-200 (group sizes of 10 are ideal). Messiness factor: Might break a sweat – (close proximity – hope you’re not claustrophobic!). Materials required: None. Recommended setting: Both indoors or outdoors.

Human Knot Game
Goals of the Human Knot Game:

• Team building and communication
• Problem solving
• Ice-breaker or get to know others better

Setup for the Human Knot Game:

This game is versatile in that multiple group sizes can play. Form groups of about 10 people each. Have each group standing, facing towards each other, in a circle. Each person should be standing shoulder to shoulder. First, instruct everyone to lift their left hand and reach across to take the hand of someone standing across the circle. Next, have everyone lift their right and reach across to take the hand of another person standing across the circle. Make sure that no one is holding hands with someone standing directly beside the person.

How to Play the Human Knot Game
To play, the groups must communicate and figure out how to untangle the knot (forming a circle of people) without ever letting go of any hands. If you wish, this icebreaker can be played competitively, in which the facilitator says “Ready.. Set.. Go!” and has all the groups race to become the first group to finish. If any group member lets go of a hand (breaks the chain), then the group must start from the beginning, or you could impose a penalty/punishment for that person (e.g. wear a blindfold).

This game typically takes 15-30 minutes to complete. You can impose a time limit if you wish to make the game more challenging. When you are done with the Human Knot activity, you can ask some debrief questions if you wish, such as “How well did you group work together? What strategies did your group adopt? How did it feel to solve the game?” etc.

Variations
To increase the difficulty level, you can either (1) blindfold some of the players or (2) require that the game be played silently (no talking).

Photo and instructions via: http://www.group-games.com/ice-breakers/human-knot-icebreaker.html

Website: Instant Classroom

Another cool site someone showed me... You can add your class list and it will generate seating plans, groups, class lists and more. I haven't played around with it much yet, but it is free and could be great for classroom teachers and TTOCs to quickly create random groupings or draw a random name for a job or to present first etc.

http://www.superteachertools.com/instantclassroom/

Ipad App: Answer Pad

Saw this new app that allows you to turn your ipad into a "clicker" which is ideal for teaching as you can get immediate responses from students as you teach and adapt the lesson as needed based on real-time feedback.

http://theanswerpad.com/index.php/go-interactive/ is where you can check out all the details. I heard about it from one o fmy new fave websites Teachnology Tailgate who writes:

The Answer Pad is a free way (1 class per teacher up to 35 students) to use the iPad as an interactive answer sheet. This is great for any T/F, multiple choice, fill in the blank, etc etc type of test or quiz. The teacher uses the web interface to setup their class and get instant real-time results. Plus, everything The Answer Pad does is aligned to state standards.

Now, they released their latest update w/ Go Interactive, this basically turns your iPad into a "clicker system". It allows students to answer any question the teacher asks, and they use their iPad to respond, either tap on Y/N, T/F, thumbs up/down, fill in the blank, or draw their answer.
 

I don't have an ipad, but I have a SMARTboard and my teaching partner next door uses an ipad for everything... I am excited to try our a browser/web version of this when it comes out.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2013

Usually I post holiday themed activities, but it is Spring Break and I am at the BCTF AGM with approximately 700 teachers.  So instead, I will just wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day and I hope you enjoy your Sunday!

Questioning in the classroom, Bringing Class Discussions to life

This article  looks at questioning and and how to make classrooms engaging through questioning.

 Middle E-Connections - Bring Class Discussions to Life

January 2013
Rick Wormeli

"Beuller? Beuller?"

Look in on class discussions today and what you'll see (I hope) is a far cry from the classroom of gaping-mouthed, drooling, blank-faced students in the John Hughes 1986 film Ferris Beuller's Day Off.

One great way to get students to think critically and move information into long-term memory is through dynamic class discussions. However, ensuring these discussions are effective requires clear principles and strategies.

Whoever asks the questions does the learning. If I ask a student about a topic and listen to his answer, especially if I'm interested in the topic and the student, I'm learning a lot, but the rest of the class is sitting passively. Do you see something wrong with this picture? I am the teacher; I already know the material. My goal is for students to learn it. Students, therefore, need to be asking the questions.

Students learn the most when they ask the questions themselves. To make this happen, teachers have to make question-asking compelling and habitual. As often as possible, ask students to brainstorm questions, queries, and investigate starting points for as many topics as time allows to get them in the habit.

• Create 10 questions to which "colloquialism" is a good answer.
• What are all the possible things we'd want to know about cuneiform writing?
• What do you wonder about your future?
• What questions might a visitor from another planet ask after observing our election process?
• Pretend you're a radicand (the number under the radical sign in a square root). What would concern you as this math algorithm progresses?
• Create all the "Why … ?" questions you can about light and the way it behaves.
• Skim the whole chapter and list at least eight questions the chapter seems to answer.

Making question-asking compelling is another issue, however. Here, we're trying to make students so curious that they form their own questions: "Why does it do that?" "What will the effect be?" "What are the exceptions to this rule?" "Why do you believe that?" "How is this false?" "Where's my mistake?" and "What would happen if … ?"
We can create curiosity by presenting students with puzzling phenomena, surprising facts, challenges to accepted opinions, appeals to imagination, playful situations with manipulatives, connections among seemingly disparate concepts, moral dilemmas, and personal dramas when facing struggle.

Another way to involve more students in active question-asking is to get your students to ask the follow-up questions. If one student answers the initial question you pose, ask a second student to offer evidence to support or refute the first student's response; then ask a third student to critique the second student's evidence. Go back to the first student who provided the initial response and ask her to respond to what the other two students said. This creates positive anxiety in the classroom. We want students so concerned that they will be called upon to say something intelligent that they remain on their toes mentally. To be effective, we have to make a habit of this redirection so that students know it's going to happen. This keeps the entire class thinking of answers and questions to ask.

Another tip for keeping the whole class engaged is to always pose questions to the entire class before calling on a specific student to respond. This invites percolation, which builds those neural pathways. Wait time is important as well. Research shows that waiting 10 seconds or more before calling on a student to respond leads to more depth, thinking, and investment in the conversation. It takes practice, but it's worth promoting this expectant silence so that students know you're counting on them to come up with a quality response.

This article was excerpted from the new AMLE release The Collected Writings (so far) of Rick Wormeli: Crazy Good Stuff I've Learned about Teaching Along the Way. For more great teaching advice from this beloved speaker and author, pick up the book in the AMLE Store.

Game: Four on a Couch

Four On A Couch

Name of Group Game: Four On A Couch Type: Indoor Number: Medium Group (12 - 19 people) to Large Group (20 + people) Age: Middle School – Adults Time: 20 - 30 minutes Four On A Couch Set-up:

Summary: Fun strategic memory game for medium to large groups. Great for teenagers to adults! Goal: Try to get four of your teammates on the couch! Preparation: - Four marked chairs or a "couch" that can fit four people. Four people must sit on the couch at the beginning of the game. Everyone else can sit on the ground in a circle or in unmarked chairs, with the outer circle boundary including the four special chairs/"couch". - One piece of paper for every participant and pens - A bag to collect the pieces of paper How to Play Four On A Couch: 1. Split everyone into two equal teams and ask them to sit in a circle. Add one empty seat in the circle. When starting, each participant needs to sit next to his/her opponent on both sides (alternating team members), including the four people on the "couch". Hand out the pieces of paper and pens (one per person). Ask everyone to write their names on their piece of paper and to put their pieces of paper in the bag. 2. After this, pass around the bag and ask everyone to draw one piece of paper with someone else's name on it. Each person should read their own piece of paper without letting anyone else know what his or her paper says. 3. Explain that the goal of the game is to get four of their teammates on the couch. The person on the right of empty chair/spot calls the name of a game participant. The person whose piece of paper has the called name sits in the empty chair. Whoever sits on the right of the new empty chair calls out another name. 4. Start by asking the person to the right of the empty chair to call a name. The person with the piece of paper with the written name sits in the empty chair. Continue this pattern. The first team to have four of their members on the couch wins the game. Source: http://www.greatgroupgames.com/four-on-a-couch.htm