There is One... Among Us...

 This week I decided to try to incorporate the wildly popular game Among Us as a review lesson in my classroom.

My school has been in-person for about two months. There are many restrictions in place to keep everyone a safe as possible - desks six feet apart, masks, limited movement in the classroom among many other protocols. Many of my engagement activities have been heavily modified or eliminated due to the restrictions, so I have been trying to figure out new ways to increase engagement and excitement.

Enter Among Us. If you are not familiar, Among Us is a wildly popular game/app apparently played by nearly every middle schooler in the country. You play the role of a member of a derelict spacecraft and are either one of the 'crew mates' or an 'imposter.'  While the goal of the crew is to save the ship, the goal of the imposter is to prevent repairs and eliminate all of the crew members. If you have played camp games such as Mafia or Town of Salem, it is very similar. 

How, though, to do this within the classroom of restrictions?  The game itself has a few basic characteristics: Crew members complete tasks in any order to save the ship. Imposters sabotage repairs and try to kill off crew members. There is a vote to eject a player. The goal of the crew is to eject the imposter. The goal of the imposter is to have them eject crew members.

I decided to use Desmos to build the game.  My thought was the first slide could be instructions, then some slides for 'tasks', a slide for the imposter to eliminate a crew member, a slide for a chat, and a slide for the group vote. Then have two slides at the end: one for a crew mate victory, and one for an imposter victory.

On Friday, I tried it out. To say it was well received would be an understatement. I first asked how many students had played before and every.single.hand.went.up.  The excitement and anticipation was incredible. They were already lobbing "how are we" and "what if" questions my way when I asked them to filter their questions and reminded them I haven't explained the rules or procedures. 

I emailed one student a message that said, "you are the imposter" and had each of them check their laptop (we are a 1:1 Apple school.) They then logged into the Desmos as a class. I explained that there are eight tasks (review slides) that they can complete in any order. Meanwhile the imposter needs to also do some tasks because if they just stay on one screen it will look very sus. Their job would be to get to screen nine, pick two classmates to eliminate, and return to tasks without being noticed. 

The game started and after a few minutes of them doing tasks the imposter struck and I hit the pause button. A small gasp was heard as students realized what was happening.  On the board I wrote two names - students that are now ghosts.  I opened up the chat and voting screens and let them discuss via chat, though they were more than excited to share their opinions verbally.  For this classroom version, I let everyone vote. After some discussion, the vote leaned towards 'skip' and nobody was ejected. 

Round two came to an end with an ejection and an announcement from me: "E____ was ejected.... E____ was NOT the imposter. One imposter remains..." Having the eject sound effect play added to the experience. 

Rounds three, four, and five all led to ejections as well.. and all none were the imposter. Unfortunately at that point we were out of time so the imposter revealed herself and an audible group of "I KNEW IT" and "YOU WERE SO SUS!"  erupted. 

The students were so enthralled by the game that their next-period teachers told me they had to remind students that the game was over and they needed to focus on their current assignment.

So from a student perspective it was a smash hit - but what about from the math review side? All of it is fun, but if they didn't do their review tasks it wouldn't really be effective.  I was so happy to see it was very successful. Students completed tasks with expected levels of accuracy and relatively quickly. Many had nearly all 8 tasks complete by the time the game ended. 

I got quick feedback on questions that were tough

I can't wait to try this one again. I'm looking for ways to as a 'sabotage' element to the game, so any of my readers that have experience with Desmos and could suggest something, I'd love to hear from you. 

The Fun of March Mathness!

This is, arguably, the most wonderful math-time of the year. I just happen to be teaching probability during the NCAA tourney. It is the perfect one-two punch - math with a high level of engagement!


This all starts with a game of coin flipping. Who can be the best of the best at flipping coins? We discuss probability, make connections to powers of two, create tree diagrams... then March Mathness begins.


"Did you know that Warren Buffett has offered $1 billion to anyone that picks a perfect bracket?"


"Wow, that's crazy!"


"How can he afford that?"


"Can you do more than one bracket? That improves your chances!"

We go back to the probability of picking 4 flips correctly (1 in 16) and make some predictions. I have each student complete a region of the bracket, which is 15 games. They predict what the theoretical probability will be for getting all 15 games correct. Guesses range from 1 in 100 to 1 in 20000.


I let them on the calculator and they discover the answer: 1 in 32,768.


Ok that's a big number. so then we talked about the entire tournament: all 63 games. What is the theoretical probability of picking all 63 correct?


Students used some logic to say about 1 in 128,000 since 32*4 (regions) is 128. others went slightly higher: 1 in 1 million, 50 million. One student said 1 in 37 trillion. Students laughed and he did too, figuring he was way over the mark.


We then head over to Wolfram Alpha where we investigate large numbers.


Eyes go wide as jaws drop. Students try to decode how to say the number in front of them: 9,223,372,036,854,775,808


I line it up with the 37 trillion value to show the magnitude of a quintillion.

How do we quantify such a number? Well let's start with space. The distance from the sun to Neptune is about 2.8 billion miles. So how many inches is that? wow. that's a HUGE number. Why don't we write those as a ratio. What is the unit rate? 59,000?


Oh, so that means you are 59,000 times more likely to guess which inch I am thinking of than making a perfect bracket.


Well let's get crazier. The universe is 13.7 billion years old. Let's calculate how many seconds the universe been around? (mathy mathy converting process). Oh wow, that is about 432,043,200,000,000,000 seconds... That still isn't bigger than 2^63. But what does it mean?


TO RATIOS!


So if we compare the amount of seconds to the amount of brackets we get 4.68%.


WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?


That means... if... you started completing this 64-team tournament the moment the universe came into existence... and you kept filling them out, finishing one every second since the universe began. You'd be less than 5% of the way done.


They ponder, they think. They can't comprehend. How could they?


Eventually we'll get to compound probability where we multiply probability values to get the probability of two independent events. Then we'll take the probability of winning the Powerball and MegaMillion Lotteries on two consecutive days... and realize you are 100 times more likely to have that happen than pick a perfect bracket.


So. Why can Warren Buffett afford to give away $1 billion to a perfect bracket creator? Because so can you.

Who Knew Rice Could Be SO Powerful?

Exponents are a fascinating topic to me.  They rank up there with probability in the category of "unexpected answers that make no sense." With exponents students are amazed at how big numbers get and how fast they get there.  I have a number of activities I do to hook them in, but the first one I do involves some rice...

I started with an ancient parable of a farmer in Ancient China.  The parable has many different origins, most commonly in India, but I chose Ancient China because the students just finished a unit on this region and I felt it would be a great way to review the vocabulary and geography of the area. 

The story goes like this...

Once upon a time a farmer found a way to vastly increase the amount of rice produced on his farm.  He shared this information with his Noble who in turn told the Emperor.  The Emperor was very happy, for growing rice was one of the ways to get wealthy in ancient times.  It wasn't like they could just go to Kroger and buy rice, you know.

The Emperor insisted on an audience from the farmer, who showed the next day.  The farmer, being only a peasant, approached his Emperor with his head bowed the entire time.  The Emperor commended his subject and said as a reward he would grant him a reward of a pound of rice a day, every day, for a year.  This was an astronomical amount of food.

We then measured what a pound of rice looked like.  I always keep tupperwares of rice in the classroom - they come in handy for many different activities.  I also got out our science beakers and digital scale.  The pound of rice we measured had just more than 500 ml of volume.  We also estimated there were between 7,000 and 10,000 grains of rice in that pound.  Looking at a serving size, we learned that this would be between 8 and 10 servings of rice by today's standards. 

Doing some more math revealed that at the end of 30 days the farmer would have about 300,000 grains of rice. 

... Then the story continued...

Being a humble peasant, the farmer refused the reward.  Instead, he said, he wished for merely one grain of rice, doubled each day for the 30 day period. 

The Emperor laughed, but was impressed by his subject's modesty.  He granted his wish.

Students then discussed if this was a good plan.  Many of them had heard this story before, and so knew that the farmer made a good choice, but the challenge was to estimate how many grains of rice he would end up with after 30 days.  Estimates ranged from "a few hundred" (from students that had never heard the story) to "about a million." 

So to emphasize the deal I got out the rice again and said, "OK, day 1... ONE grain of rice" and I put the grain of rice on a random student's desk.  "Whew... ok... day TWOOOO.... two grains of rice..." (another student) "day three... four grains! that looks SO FILLING!" (another student.)  I do this through the first 5 days getting up to 16 grains.

Students were then challenged with proving which deal was better.  To do this we decided to use chess boards and post its to help organize our thinking and planning.  Students were put in groups of two or three students to record the results. 

The numbers started small...

... but they started growing...

and kept growing...

Students were shocked at how large the final answer was (over 500 million grains of rice on day 30 alone!)  At the end we did some reflection on exponents. Here are some responses from the closing:

• The numbers start off really small, but got big REALLY fast after like day 20.
• The emperor must have been really upset!
• It didn't seem like a good deal, but on day 19 he already had more than all 30 days from the other deal. 
• That was WAY more than I thought it would be. 
• How many pounds of rice is that??? 

The last part of the assignment was for them to write how the story ends.  What happened to the farmer? Ideally they would use their knowledge of social structures to answer the question (would the Emperor kill the farmer? Honor the agreement? something else?) 

It was a very fun lesson and really emphasized the power of exponents!  

The Amazing (Review) Race

For a final review in term two I decided to host an Amazing Race activity.  This review would use the TV show as inspiration to review concepts in the major content areas.

The students walked in to a dimmed room with the opening theme to The Amazing Race playing on repeat.  We watched a quick clip to help orient students that have never seen the show before and then I explained how it was going to work today.

• Students were on teams of three or four. 
• Each team was assigned a color and symbol.
• Clues for each team were in envelopes with their symbol. 

The Teams

Unlike the actual amazing race, the goal wasn't necessarily to be the first team to finish. Instead it was a point-based game where you can earn points for various tasks:

• Completing a route: 20 points
• Completing a road block: 15 points + points for creativity, quality, and originality
• Bonus points: 5 points each (given at the end of the match, similar to Mario Party)

Students were also told there were ways to lose points.  I really wanted to focus on them working together and using each other as a resource:

• Getting help from an adult or other team: -5 points
• Running or unexpected hallway behavior: -5 points
• If your group is split up / not together: -10 points
• Opening the wrong envelope: -10 points

We also talked about 'sabotage' and how it wasn't allowed (for instance, seeing someone else's envelope and moving or otherwise interfering with other teams.) 

That is a great haiku about China - but you didn't talk about the government... ROAD BLOCKED

After that I put them in their groups and said their first clue was in the commons.  They left the classroom, found their clue and the game began.  

We played a total of 4 route cards and one road block.  The route cards reviewed skills from all the major subjects that my partner teacher and I presented in term two.  To add to the game I bought some programmable padlocks from amazon.  Certain route cards led you to a locker number with a lock. The clue also had the combination to that lock embedded in the clue.  A few groups came up to me for clarification, but when I used the phrase, "is this an official asking for help question?" many of them chose to figure it out as a group rather than lose the five points. 

$10 on Amazon. Great purchase.

After the game was finished, students completed a reflection / feedback survey.  The results were very positive.  Students rated their partner's helpfulness at 3.2 out of 4, Fun rated a 3.3 out of 4 and 93% of students said they'd want to do this again.  It took quite some time to create this, so I'm glad that it went so well!

I really enjoyed this activity for a number of reasons. Students were encouraged to ask each other for help rather than asking a teacher. Only two groups asked a teacher for help throughout the entire game, and that was after they realized they all were stuck.  I got to incorporate a mix of topics - science, social studies, math, and language arts were all represented.  On top of academics, the social pieces - communication, team building, and all the skills that go with that were also emphasized.  I'll be excited to try this again in term three!

Escape the Math Classroom

This I made my first attempt at an 'escape room', but I decided to do it digital style.  Students came in and saw an on the front board with the message that said, "Escape the Math Classroom." 

We had a quick talk about "escape rooms" and I asked if anyone had experience with these. To my surprise a number of students have done these activities.  I asked what qualities escape rooms had.  Students answered with "puzzles, clues, a time limit, and teamwork."  I agreed with all of those.

I explained that today would be a little different than a traditional escape room.  Today's would be all digital.  Clues and answers would be solely on the computer.  Students would still have to figure out clues and work with a partner to solve the puzzles to move on, and they would only have until the end of class to finish the room. 

This escape room was designed around a math review for integers and the coordinate plane.  Each clue was designed on Google forms. Using the response validation option when I set it up, students had to correctly answer each question before being allowed to move on to the next response. 

Students were excited to get started and were engaged from the start.  It was fascinating to watch them work together to solve each review question - there were levels of frustration and perseverance, and absolute excitement when they finally moved on to the next clue. 

Some students finished before others and went on to other academic choices, but all groups ended up solving the room by the end of class.  For homework students had to complete a reflection survey to help me get some feedback as to how well they felt it went.  Overall they enjoyed it and were looking forward to doing it again (with more clues than just digital.)   Here is the survey they had to complete: Reflection Survey. (TTQA = turn the question around)

I plan on expanding this activity soon to include many more multi-sensory activities.  I purchased programmable combination locks and plan on storing some clues in lockers throughout the division.  Also, the next one will be multi-class and incorporate many clues from language arts as well as science and social studies.  I'm excited to team up with my teaching partner to create this game!

Here is the room for those of you that want to try it out! Escape the Math Room

Thanks for reading!

Explore Like A Pirate: Pandemic Based Game!

Last week a dangerous infection was let loose in math. Nobody knows the source or the cure (well except the teachers, of course), but class has been on edge trying to solve the mystery.

Students walked in on Monday and saw they had a 1 in 5 chance of being infected. They had no idea what this meant, but they were told that by completing problems in class they could start to find clues as to who is infected and how to cure it.

One of my favorites. Why not put it into class?

It was interesting to watch because even though they figured out the theoretical number of students currently infected (four), most chose to work alone because they didn’t want to risk sitting by someone that was infected. This led to a great social studies connection about how fear creates walls.

Students worked on problems related to simple and compound probability and were told that they could draw 2 cards for every 5 problems they got correct (which allowed them to connect ratios from a previous unit.)  If the student draws a heart card, they would get some information about the game.  This allowed students to complete work at their own pace while still being engaged.  Work could be done at home optionally for draws the next morning.  I have never had more students do optional homework than that night.

The right column is very filled with names now.

On Friday I conferenced with students one-on-one while they took a formative assessment. The meeting gave me an opportunity to do many things. I asked them how they felt about the learning targets, how comfortable they were, where they needed to improve. I also informed them whether they were infected or not.  Students that were infected had two choices: They could work for the light side and try to discover a cure to help the class, or they can play the role of antagonist and join the dark side to spread the infection.

Tomorrow they will come into class with a list of actions on the board, some for the light side and some for the dark side.  Actions include trying to cure the disease, spread the disease, mutate the disease to make it stronger, or protect someone from becoming infected.

The Game ends when one of these things occur:

• Everyone is cured (light side wins) 
• 80% of the class is infected (dark side wins) 
• Mr. Taylor or Mrs. Menker says “the game is over”

(that last option allows us to end the game should students lose sight of the objectives or forget rules about physical and emotional safety.)

Students will complete problems (this will be a general review of the term so far) and after each problem they will fill out a google form to choose one action. From there teachers will discern the outcome and let them know the result.

We’re right in the heart of the game and I have no idea how it will turn out. Will students unite to destroy the infection, or will darkness win? I’m excited to see what happens!

Go To the Mirror!

Those who are longer-term readers know that I am very into protocols, routines, and procedures.  The students at my school have many executive function difficulties and the more consistent and familiar the classroom schedule is, the more success they generally have during that class.

However protocols, routines, and procedures do not have to be boring and dull.  Take reflection.  This is one of the most important parts of my lesson, and there is some form of reflection integrated into all my my activities.  This is also a place where I have the ability of having lots of fun.

It is also important for students to reflect on all aspects of the classroom, not just the 'academic learning targets.'  How are students feeling about the class? How did they like a lesson?  Do they have a suggestion for the improvement of the class?

SOAPBOX DISCLAIMER: Reflection is very personal.  It allows students to think about what they have learned and to process that learning.  It is also a great tool for me as the teacher; if the student didn't write the 'correct' information about what was learned, it is an indicator to me that my method, presentation, or delivery didn't have the intended effect.  I don't 'grade' reflections for content (thought I tell them grammar rules always apply), and I never tell someone they did not reflect correctly (unless, of course, they don't answer the prompt given.)

Sometimes reflection doesn't connect to reality. Use that information! 

Today's reflection: Mystery bag. 

For this reflection I gather students into a circle.  This is another procedure we have practiced many times throughout the year.  I've outlined this in my previous blog.

Once there I held an old lunch box up and shake it up a bit.  The students make some guesses as to what might be in the bag.  Then I dump the contents right in the center of the circle:

Well that was unexpected...

After the circle is ready, I pose the question.  For example, the first time we did this activity I simply asked "Which of these objects remind you of math?"  I explain that there are no 'wrong' answers, as long as you can make a connection to math.  I give them 2 minutes of think time and at the end ask them to put a thumbs up if they have an object and reason.  Most, but not all, usually will be ready.

I explain that we're going to go around the circle.  Each person in turn will pick up the object, explain why they chose it, then return it.  This means there is no worry about someone else 'taking' your item.  I also explain that if someone picks your object and has the same reason, that is fine.  You will just pick the same object and say your reason in your own words, even if it sounds like someone else's response.

I then address the students that are not ready.  This is a VERY abstract concept and not all students will be able to connect an answer.  I tell them that their job is to listen to everyone else's response and I will be calling on them to make a connection (or agree) with someone's reasoning.

I love doing this activity for a number of reasons.  First, it is completely unexpected.  Students have never walked into a math classroom and seen something like this.  It let's them know that "we'll have routines, expectations, and protocols, but don't expect it to be dull."

Second, I LOVE the responses I get.  It allows me to get some insight into the thought process of my students as well as their abstract reasoning ability.  Here is a smattering of thoughts that came out from the first week of school:

• Math is like the dice because it has numbers (very concrete thinker.)
• Math is like the battery because it has positive and negative signs. (attention to detail!)
• Math is like the turtle because you have to just keep swimming (movie connection!)
• Math is like the multi-colored pen because there are lots of different ways to solve problems (are you kidding me?)

Reflection does not always have to be exit tickets, written statements of what I've learned, and 3-2-1 cards.  Feel free to mix it up, but always get them reflecting!

Where have you been? Mediocreing?

The problem (for me) with blogging is twofold:

a) not having anything to write about because
b) I have so much I WANT to write about.

It becomes an endless cycle of 'list topic, start blog, ohh squirrel!'

Then I realized something.  This is what happens with teaching as well.  By this point of the year we're all 'in our groove', first term (or so) is finished, and we're hitting the main stretch of the school year.

Of course by groove I mean not-being-able-to-get-into-a-rhythm-due-to-all-the-holidays-and-days-off.

It is really easy at this point of the year to just lean back on the culture and routines you've established and just coast through winter break.

"What's the point of getting this fantastic lessons ready when I have a 3 day week then a 4 day week then a 2 day week, then just about two weeks, then winter break? I mean the students are going to be so disengaged that I'll just do this easy lesson and it will basically do the same thing."

Fortunately for you, the amazing teacher inside of all of us is shouting at full lung capacity:

As teachers, we need have many responsibilities, but there are also things we are NOT responsible for doing.  We are not responsible for 'getting through material' with 'easy to create' lessons.  We are responsible for sparking life long learning.  We are not assigned to stuff knowledge into student's heads.  We are assigned for opening, and then blowing up, our students' minds (more on this on my next blog!) 

A big push in education is student engagement.  Are students asking questions? Are they showing grit?  Are they moving up Bloom's taxonomy? 

Here's my question: How can you expect your students to be engaged if the TEACHER isn't engaged?  

You are responsible for your students engagement, and it starts with you.  If you are creating safe lessons, lessons that don't excite you to teach, lessons that you are bored even thinking about, how can you expect your students be engaged to learn?

As Dave Burgess, author of Teach Like A Pirate says, "Safe lessons are a recipe for mediocrity at best."

And you did not wake up today to be mediocre.

#tweet your learning

Processing is one of the most important aspects of learning, and yet is often one of the most overlooked areas of education.  Students need time to reflect on what they have learned, have time to digest new information, and connect it to previously learned material.  Reflection ensures students are fully engaged and making meaning of the material - producers and not just consumers.

Over the next few blogs, I am going to talk about some of my favorite processing tools in the classroom.  These activities allow students to actively internalize information, have them use different cognitive skills during the activity, and have an element of fun or interaction which I also enjoy.

The first activity is "tweet" your learning.  I am not yet at a point where students have active twitter accounts (though I'm working on this!)  However, using a subpage on classtools.net called Twister, students create a tweet to tell me one important fact they learned from the day.

I love this exercise for many reasons.  Students can only give one 'tweet',  and so they only get 140 characters.  They have to be precise with their vocabulary and word choice. They start reflecting on 'what did I learn' and 'how can I summarize this so succinctly.'  Students are actively forced to use different types and levels of metacognition.

When students get to the site they have four fields to complete: name, nickname, tweet, and date.

On the surface, students can write their name their 'nickname' and give a tweet  and a date.  So, in theory a final product could look like this:

This tweet would definitely meet the expectations.  It told me one fact and even had some of the vocabulary we discussed.  While this is all great, one of my favorite aspects of this site is that it comes pre-populated with different images.  If you type a popular name into the real name field, it will use that person's (or creature's) picture in the tweet.  I showed this example to the students:

This tweet also shows comprehension of new concepts, but does so from a different perspective.  The tweet itself shows a dino misinterpreting those darn kids with the actual object in the sky.  The date, 65 million BC, matches the researched date of when the extinction level event occurred.

They then download the tweet as a .pdf and then upload the file into our digital dropbox.

The students really enjoyed this and don't realize how much thinking they are doing.  I got so many wonderful responses.  Here are a couple of student examples:

What would you tweet about what you learned today?  Who would you use as your avatar?

Gaining Perspective on a Geological Scale

Earth has been around a long time. I mean a really long time.  Some people think landing on the Moon or the invention of the digital watch was a long time ago, but Earth hasn't even blinked a metaphorical eye in that time.

So the question is always how to explain to students what 4.6 billion years of history actually looks like.  Worksheets, articles, and videos all do a decent job, but this year I went a different route.  We started with students investigating various types of geological time words: Eon, era, period, epoch, ages.  We compared those to years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds.  Each word connects to a longer period of time and it is possible to say we're living in 2015 as well as saying it is September, or it 5:00 pm.

From there they investigated 4.6 billion years of history in one of three ways: an article, a brainpop video, or the geological timeline.  The goal wasn't to master any of the vocabulary or concepts, but just to get some familiarity with the material.

4.6 billion years of history in an itty bitty space

I ended the lesson by saying to get familiar with one of those three materials because our next session we're doing a lab... and I'm bringing in a time machine.

The next two days they did nothing but ask me about what I meant.  All I told them is "don't be absent otherwise you'll have to build your own time machine and go back in time to see mine!"

Amazingly, I had perfect attendance for my next class.

But first I had to build it.

When students arrived we did a quick entrance ticket on half life and then they got into their guilds to discuss what item they studied and what facts they remember.  Students started discussing many of the vocab words, concepts, and I had to make some clarifications, but overall there was a great supply of knowledge shared.

From there I said we would be going back in time 4.6 billion years.  Each group was given four flags with major events from the geological timeline: fish first appear, dinosaurs first appear, dinosaurs go extinct, humans first appear.   Their task was going to be to place the flag on the correct spot of the timeline.

My time machine was definitely a step down from a Delorean

The students went to the playground field and were told we would walk back in time.  As we did we'd see lots of historical events, but their job was to find the four they've been given.  I explained that there were many colors of rope, and that there was an orange piece of tape in the middle of each rope color.  I also gave them a paper with a scale on it: one foot = 12,000,000 years, color changes = 600,000,000 years, end of rope to tape = 300,000,000 years, and tape to tape = 600,000,000 years.

We walked the timeline back and ended 400 feet from the present day, reviewing the scale for the first few tape marks and color changes.  From there I gave them 15 minutes to debate and decide where their flag should go.  Each person was in charge of their own flag, so if there was a disagreement the owner of the flag had the final say.

Then I just let them go.  The debates and discussion was amazing.  Students cited evidence from their reading or video, used visual references from the time line they may have studied, and recalled their previous information to help build their hypothesis.  They were outside with nothing but their flag and their brains - no notes, no computer, just recall - but they were all actively engaged and using evidence. They also were working on disagreeing respectfully - a skill that we practiced the first few days while we were building our classroom culture.

Me standing in present day, my co-teacher about 1 billion years in the past, and dots of children at the birth of Earth.

After 15 minutes we had many different places of the flags.  We talked about which was easier: deciding the order or deciding the placements.  The students made the connections to relative and absolute age from previous lessons and were able to experience how much easier one is than the other.  When I asked how many flags their group put in the right place, all of them predicted zero. 

     Lots of debate on flag placement

 Different color flags represented different groups.

And it led to some fantastic debate

When time was up, students came back to the birth of Earth. I grabbed my meter wheel (top left photo) and we started walking the timeline together.  We examined sixteen major events, with the four they placed among 12 other key items.  

There were so many OMG moments and WHOA I DIDN'T REALIZE comments during the return to present time.  "Before we can have life, the Earth needed a crust... and that took... {walk walk walk} 15 meters, or about 600,000,000 years.  As we passed flags students picked them up to see how accurate they actually were.  

Below is the table I used as we walked the geological timeline.  

We did some processing in the field.  The biggest take away was how long it took for fish to appear.  When we returned to the classroom students completed a 3-2-1 exit ticket involving things they learned, whoa moments, and lingering questions.  Here are some of their responses:

"WHOA" moments:

I never realized how short of a time humans have been around! Dinosaurs were around for like 150 million years but humans have only be around for 2 million!

I knew that humans were the newest flag, but I didn't realize fish have been around for so long!

Life really just started on this planet compared to how old it is!

It took longer for the crust to form than when fish first formed to today!

When life started forming it happened fast! like we did almost the whole timeline before we hit fish but then it was like every meter we stopped!

and my favorite:

At one point algae was the highest form of life on this planet. 

What do you want for dinner? SUNLIGHT? MY FAVORITE!

Front Loading the Gaming Experience

I hope everyone is having a great first week back (or is getting ready for an amazing first week back!) We've had a great start to the school year here in Central Ohio.  The weather has been amazingly mild (which is fantastic since I'm training for my first marathon), student attendance has been near 100%, and the gamification of my classroom is well underway!

Are you building excitement in your classroom? Are students dying to be called on in your class? If you are having trouble with this, read on!

We started our year with many of the team building activities I outlined in my past few blogs.  It really helped students and teachers learn names, set up a classroom culture of focused fun, and allowed students to get back into the routines of school after a summer off.  It was so nice to not even touch academics until the fourth day of school!

I also show my math class this video.  It is an amazing four minutes during which so many students, especially female students,  make incredible connections to the speaker.  It also destroys various stereotypes about 'math people.'

• "She's a math major? She looks like she'd be in fashion."  
• "That's so true - I always compare myself to everyone else!"
• "I never thought of it as being at different places." 

For math class at Marburn, we start with pre-assessments which have students check out on basic facts for all four major operations, as well as whole number, fraction, and decimal computations.  As a class we have decided to do an operation a day and follow it up with a mini game.

objective: don't die!

We talked about how math is like a video game.  Students had to face 'speed boss levels' for their 2 minute timed fact test and then take on 'mini-boss challenge' for their operations.  You'll get a challenge, and sometimes you'll beat the boss level.  When that happens you get to go on to more challenging levels where you use the skills you've learned to take down stronger boss levels.

If you don't defeat the boss, you get new items and techniques to be better prepared the next time you reach that end level!  Most of the students attached to this quite well.

Many have enjoyed the paradigm switch from "I didn't do well on the assessment" to "I need more power ups before I'm ready to beat that boss level."

I've also enjoyed impressing my new math teaching partner with my ability to turn any game into a classroom activity.

"Hey, Erika, we're going to play Clue today in math."
"Clue... in math? Can't wait to see it!"

Students came into class while some mystery music is playing.  They saw their names on the board in groups of two with the instruction of 'sit next to your partner.'

But what if my partner is the killer?

From there I went through the procedure that is outlined below, making sure to keep the drama going strong throughout.

Game: Clue
Materials needed: Clue (cards and suspect sheets), white boards and markers (or notebooks)
Prep: Powerpoint of various math problems

Procedure: Put students into groups of two or three.  One person is the first 'writer'.  Each group receives a clue card of suspects, weapons, and location, a mini whiteboard, a marker, and a high tech white board eraser (a tissue.)

Each group also gets a set of 'clue' cards based on how many groups.  The game has 21 cards, 3 of which are removed as the confidential 'answer.'  The other 18 cards are divided up among the groups.  This may mean that some groups get more initial clues than others, for example 6 groups would have 3 cards for each group, whereas 7 groups would have 2 or 3 cards per group.

Students should take a moment to mark off the clues they have been given.  After that, they should leave their clues face down where anyone in the room would be able to access them.  I generally have them 'fan' out their cards on their desk.

Put the first math problem on the board.  Students work as a team to get the correct answer, but ONLY THE WRITER may write on the whiteboard.  Other students can help, guide, and suggest, but the writer is in control.  This also means if there is a disagreement about an answer or procedure, the writer gets the final say.

After an appropriate amount of time, have the students hold up their white boards. Any students that have a correct answer will have a chance to gain more information.  The writer passes the white board to their partner (or the next student if there is more than two in a group) and stands up.  They take one of their clue cards and can walk to any other group and trade.  They put their card face down and take any of the other group's face down cards. I have a specific procedure for this to minimize arguments and issues:

     a) trading round all happens at the same time
     b) once you touch a card, that is the card you take
     c) you have 15 seconds to trade

During the trade period, writers that had correct answers may trade with ANY other group, whether or not that group got a correct answer.

We do this is 'slow motion' the first couple of times to get used to the movement.

From there the new writer takes over for the group, a new question is posted and the procedure is repeated.

As the game continues, some groups may get close to solving the mystery.  If a group thinks they have the correct answer I have them circle their guess, but the game continues without them announcing their accusation.  If time runs out, groups circle their accusaton on their answer card.

I generally then give out the homework and announcements, and really build the anticipation of the contents of the confidential envelope.

I also give any correct investigators this certificate with all of their names on it.  I generally wait until all classes have played and list all the winners on one certificate.  I also post the certificate outside of the classrooms.

As they get used to the game, I change the cards to ones that have a bit more personality - I'll use teachers from the school as suspects, rooms from the school, and school items (staplers, scissors) as weapons.  This really gets them even further immersed into the gaming experience.

I love the engagement that this game naturally builds.  Students start to develop strategies such as trying to track who might have the cards they need to see, convincing other groups that they want to trade with them, and discussing answers to ensure they can gain new information.  The anticipation and excitement builds as more clues get revealed.  I've also added variations to this game so that if a group can explain their reasoning they get a 'double trade' (trade two cards instead of one.)  You will NEVER see students SO EXCITED to WANT to get called on as when you say "this question can earn a double trade."

I hope some of you try out this game in your room.  If you do PLEASE let me know how it goes and what variations you use! I love hearing different 'mods' in the game world!

Team Building Parts 4 & 5 - Two more games!

First off, thank you for the wonderful feedback, everyone!  I really love getting e-mails, twitter comments, and messages on facebook about how the protocols and ideas I'm presenting are impacting how you approach games,  facilitation, and processing to start the school year.

One quick point I'd like to make based on a couple of comments I've received: I STRONGLY encourage you to use these protocols with your staff, team members, or friends before trying it with students.  First, it makes the struggle more authentic when you have experienced the same frustrations.  Also, it makes it much easier to facilitate and process the activity when you have an idea of what directions the game may head.

And of course, they really are fun to play!

Today I present two more games designed to help build culture during the first few days of school.

Protocol: Me, You, Left, Right

Materials: None

Procedure: Have students stand in a circle with you in the center.  Explain that the person in the center will point to someone and say one of four words: Me, you, left, or right.

• If the person in the center says "me", the person that is being pointed at has to say the name of the  person in the center.
• If the person in the center says "you", the person that is being pointed at has to say his/her own name.
• If the person in the center says "left", the person that is being pointed at has to say the name of the person to his/her left (which is the center person's right).
• If the person in the center says "right", the person that is being pointed at has to say the name of the person to his/her right (which is the center person's left).

Play continues until someone being pointed at doesn't know a name.  The two people involved introduce each other with a handshake or fist bump, and then the person who didn't know the name switches into the center.  

Variations: 

• Ten-in-a-row: if the person in the center points to ten different people and they all get names correct, the person in the center gets to choose someone to come into the center.
• Jail break: if the person in the center can name all (or half or ten) of the people in the circle, he/she gets to choose a new center person.

Protocol: Forced Choice

Materials: A list of this-or-that choices

Procedure: Gather students into the center of the room.  Explain that you will list two options.  You have to choose the one that describes them the best - not their 'favorite' but which one describes the best.

Read off one of the this-or-that choices (for example "river or lake"), pointing to one side of the classroom for each choice (river go left, lake go right)

When students make their choice, have them find one or two people to explain why that word describes them better.

Circulate during this discussion time to facilitate more conversation and learn about your students!

I often ask students to explain why they chose what they did.  Depending on the group I may even have students introduce each other and say their explanation: "This is David and he chose river because he is always moving."

After a few minutes, have everyone return to the center and complete another choice.  I'll often remind them to think about how the choice describes them - not to pick their favorite of the two.

Here is a list of potential this-or-that choices.  I love using the more abstract options as the game progresses to see how deep of thinkers I might have in my class.

"Are you more like (a):"

• crocodile or frog
• noon or midnight
• trumpet or violin
• Phineas or Ferb
• tent or castle
• hammock or water bed
• taco or burrito 

I hope to hear how some of these activities worked in your class.  Have an amazing first week back to those that are starting up soon!  I start up with students on Wednesday and definitely plan on using some of these to build the culture of the room!

Saving The World, One Electronic Device at a Time

My school just had our annual Discovery Night - a night were students celebrate their learning and display their expertise to parents, friends, staff, and guests.  Our classroom's topic this year was electronic waste and its impact both socially and environmentally.  It began with a unit on the periodic table, elements, and how elements are in the everyday electronics we use every day.

Students had been learning about this for the past quarter.  The more they learned, the more engaged they became.  It started with "wow, there is gold in my cell phone?" to "wow, I didn't realize how much stuff was made - they sure need a lot of copper!" and ended with "we really need to do something about this."  Students became aware of the environmental impact of creating and disposing all of these devices and how regions have been devastated due to mass consumerism.  They also were made aware of the social impact and how poorer countries tend to get our used junk.

One of many photos and videos we saw about this issue

Students were divided into five groups and assigned a specific type of electronic: computers, monitors, phones, printers, and televisions.  Each group did research about their specific device and the dangers presented by recycling, trashing, or burning it.  Students came up with amazing facts to help quantify the amount of e-waste generated each year.  For instance, did you know that about 150 million mobile devices will be disposed of this year?  This means that if you placed the disposed phones down end to end, they would stretch almost half way around Earth!

Facts like that really got the adults' attention.

The presentation was set up in a what - so what - now what format.  Students explained what e-waste was, used facts like the ones above to explain why we should care, and then described a plan that their group designed to help impact the problem.

Only one group would be able to move on.

Originally the students plan was just"recycle" their items, but they found two major problems with that.  First, it didn't take into consideration the consumerism issue.  Recycling is great, but buying less will vastly reduce the amount of e-waste being produced.  Secondly, we found that recycling doesn't always mean what we think it means. We learned is that even when you "recycle" electronics, there is about an 80% chance that the device will be shipped overseas where it will be dismantled and burned for precious metals.  Places like Ghana, China, and Indonesia have areas that have become e-wastelands, and their proposals had to make sure this wouldn't happen.

That is when they learned about recycling certification, and found different locations that have one of the two major certifications: R2 certified, or E-steward certified.  They decided any proposal that used recycling had to include places that were certified.

The big night came - parents were given score sheets and were asked to evaluate each group's project.  We explained that the group with the highest overall score would come to life.  Our class wasn't just going to come up with ideas - we were going to take action!

Five groups - five proposals - one winner.  Here is an outline of all five:

Delete E-waste: Students in this group want to write the Ohio Senate and House to pass legislation to require citizens to bring electronics to certified e-waste facilities.  This proposal includes ideas such as tax incentives for bringing items to certified locations, or for locations to become e-waste certified.

Time to Monitor Our E-waste: This group decided to create a teen-friendly PSA which will inform people about the dangers and causes of e-waste.  Specifically they would talk to the audience about "do you REALLY NEED a new phone? why not hold off..." to try and target a reduction in consumerism. They would post this on social media as well as the school website.

Earth's Last Call: Earth's Last Call want to go right to the source - talk to CEOs and designers about using sustainable materials in the production stage.  Their angle: sustainability is the new buzz word - just like organic was once only available at specialty stores, but now available everywhere, consumers are starting to become more aware of their impact.  As such, designers and companies should corner the market on sustainable equipment because this is the future of technology!

Running Low on Resources: Students in this group want to do a social media blitz to encourage recycling all of the old electronics that are sitting around their homes.  Their plan - take a selfie of yourself recycling an electronic at a certified e-waste location (such as Staples).  Then upload the picture on social media with the hashtag #SaveTheBigBlueMarble.  From there, tag three people and challenge them to recycle at least one item at a certified location!

E-Waste Channel: This group wanted to create a video and post it on social media.  The idea behind this video would be educating people on what e-waste is and why it is a growing problem, focusing on sustainability.  The video would be presented to students at our school as well as posted on social media.

The adults voted, tabulated, and checked for accuracy.  I will announce the winner this week!  In the mean time, which group would you vote for?

Place votes in the CD-ROM slot, please

Get in the Game!

I love board and card games.  They are incredibly fun and social. They get me to think.  They give me an excuse to hang out with friends.  And, best of all, they get me off of the screens!

Board and card games also give me an opportunity to learn by playing - a part of education that seems to be frowned upon in today's world.

This year I have used games in the classroom as often as I can.  There are a few games I regularly use in my classroom. This blog will explain two of them: Settlers of Catan and Blokus.

Settlers of Catan
This game is great for math and social studies integration.  Students begin by exploring the map which represents different geographical features and resources.  I explain that the number value represents the die roll needed to produce a resource from that land.  Each land tile produces a specific resource.  Recalling their knowledge of dice and probability, they have to determine what are the best locations to settle.

During this game students are faced with many challenges that early explorers faced - acquiring resources, controlling trade routes, and finding quality places to settle.  They quickly learn that the 'best' settlement areas are quickly claimed by rivals.  If their settlements aren't productive, they need to come up with creative ways to meet their resource needs, either through diplomacy or settling less desirable areas.

Students also learn that as the game goes on, the relative value of a resource changes.    

Four students start - only one will win.

After the game students reflect on their play.  Yes, I said reflect.  As is true in any learning activity, the learning occurs in the reflection aspect of the lesson.

What resources, number values, or trade routes did they control?  How did they start and finish the game? Was there a missed opportunity or a great play by an opponent? This is a great way to tie students back into tracing settlement over periods of time, the randomness of probability in short experiments, and long term goal planning.

Blokus
The Boston Globe recently published an article about Why the US is falling behind in Math.  In it the author discusses the lack of logic curricula as a key reason.

Blokus is a chess-type game (abstract strategy - no luck, all information is given) so players constantly need to think ahead.  It develops a student's geometric and spacial reasoning - being able to see how certain pieces fit in the negative space - as well as developing logic with tactical thinking and strategies.  The students learn what pieces are most important to play early, mid, and during the end game.

Students also just take their pieces to 'fill the space' to make a perfect square or rectangle.  They all do this - I'm convinced that it is built into their DNA.

This is my favorite game to watch the learning happen. Games are relatively quick so they get to play multiple times.  Students go through specific learning stages with similar reflections after each time they play the game.  These reflections include where to play, what pieces to play early, and how to recognize and build "escape routes."

You can't stop red, you can only hope to contain her. (They didn't)

After the game has concluded, students also tally the size of each piece they have remaining and the total percent of 'bloks' they have left.  They then reflect on the board, their game play, and what strategies or lessons they have learned to improve their gameplay.

With all this reflection, students think I'm trying to build master players.  The truth is that many of these reflections tie right back into our 'regular' curriculum.  Did you use your resources wisely?  Did you take your time?  Were you thinking and planning ahead, or were you just making decisions in the moment?  How did these decisions work out for you?

I really enjoy these games because of their multiple tie backs to different learning standards, but also due to the fact there is not just "one way" to win. You can't memorize the 'answer' because there isn't one solution.  This ties back into The Globe's article - students need to think creatively, logically, and two-steps ahead to achieve victory.

There are other games I use on a regular basis in the classroom as well including Dominion, Dixit, and Ticket to Ride.  What games have you used and how have you successfully implemented them in your classroom?

Multiplying Decimals at the Casino.

Hello everyone!  I'm really excited as we just started spring break here, so instead of my weekly post I've decided to do a bunch of short success stories from the year.  These are all ideas that I've wanted to blog about, games I've played, or just a-ha moments.  

The first one is a card game I played earlier in the year that helped students reinforce the concept of multiplying decimals.  

Protocol: Decimal Blackjack (or 21 if Blackjack is taboo at your school)

Quick summary: This activity has students practice multiplying decimals.

Materials needed: decks of cards with the 10s, Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces removed.

Procedure:

1. Put students in partner groups (see my blog on my beliefs of getting into partners here)
2. Give each student a modified deck of cards
3. Ask students who knows how to play 21.  Explain the differences in this game:

• Your goal is to get to .21 or HIGHER without going UNDER.
• You will be multiplying, not adding, your values
• Each card represents a decimal, so 8 is actually .8
• The person closest to .21 without going UNDER wins.

4. Students each draw one card from the deck.  The player with the higher value goes first
5. The student draws a card and multiplies the two values:

This student started with .9 and had to multiply that by .3

6. Play continues until one player goes under .21 (twenty-one hundredths).

I really enjoyed this game.  Rounds went fast (sometimes ending in just one card) which meant lots of repeated practice.   Students quickly made lots of connections to the number line, the algorithm, and reviewed basic facts, but also increased their number sense... Here was one of the big take aways from MANY of my students:

Low numbers "suck" - They learned that when you  multiply by .2 or .3 the value goes down QUICKLY!

Mr. Taylor! I had .9 but then I LOST IN ONE CARD! *SCREAM*

This was by far my favorite unintended consequence of the game.  Building that number sense helps them estimate answers much more accurately and find errors in their thinking in more complex problems.

Students have really enjoyed this game - I've kept it in my game center and they often ask if they can play.  I'm looking for ways to increase the application and metacognition of this activity.  If you have thoughts, please let me know!