Games for Engagement

As I reflect over the past year, I see my classes were not as engaged as I would like. There is already a deep dislike for my subject, so I feel it is time for me to step out of the box and incorporate more creative lessons. I notice students tend to be quite intrigued by games. They never tend to want to stop hoping that soon the game will be conquered. Wouldn't it be nice to have that experience in my math classes.

I decided to do some research online for some game ideas. I did not want to use technology because many students don't have phones or the internet is slow. I did not want speed games because research states that completing math problems fast is not an indication of intelligence or success as opposed to someone who did not get the answer as quickly. I post videos online regularly explaining the concepts contained in the lesson. The plan is to motivate them to watch the videos before class in order to participate in the games. Some of the game ideas I found on the internet and some I modified myself

1. Speed Dating Kate Nowak-Speed Dating My plan is to set up the room the day before. I will give the cards as they come in and have cards labeled as hard, easy, or medium difficulty. the rest I will follow Kate's lesson.
2. Traders day- My creation- I will have groups of four and they each will have a worksheet. They are to pass the worksheet around working a different problem. When the sheet gets to the original owner, they must check to make sure all answers are correct. They will get 5 points. Then they are to decide if they are sure all answers are correct and work shown before passing the worksheets to another group. If the other group finds an error or work is not shown, they loose their points and the other group gets 10 points on each of the papers. They will continue to trade until every paper is checked. Some modifications--I may have each group have only 2 worksheets instead of 4 and have the pair of students share the worksheet.
3. Grudge Ball Grudge Ball- This game seems to be very interesting with very little prep. This will be the first time for me to try it so I hope it is as engaging as it sounds.
4. Hot Seat-Who is in the Hot Seat? This cooperative learning activity has students practice 8 different concepts while playing a game. Students are given a math problem that they each must solve. The person in the "hot seat" is in the back of the group and must solve the problem on a white board. They pass up their answer - and each group member must agree before the board can be passed all the way to the front. When the answer gets to the front the first person puts the answer on the board then the students exchange places in line and someone else is at the back of the group.

I will try these and reflect on the engagement of the students.

Note: This post was written when I was in the public school classroom about 7 years ago

Windham Staff Development Highlights

It was a glorious morning as I left my home in Fresno on my way to staff development in Dayton, Texas. I had never traveled to Dayton before and was quite excited for the opportunity to be away from my normal routine. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky as I travel down 610, I -10 and all the other thoroughfares in order to arrive at my destinations. It took about an hour and I arrived at about 730 which was about one hour earlier than was scheduled.

The first session was quite fascinating. The presenter showed us many ways to make our classless interactive, interesting, and dynamic. The presenter demonstrated tools that she used in her classroom. I was quite impressed with her ability to do more with less. She stress the fact that she used all the materials. To avoid waste,  she requires her students to write on both sides of the paper and she made available colored paper to to distinguish from various activities or lessons that was included in their folder. I was particularly impressed with the countless ways that she could fold paper. I never incorporated foldables in my classroom; however, I am considering it now that I see how interesting it is and how it adds to instruction. One activity that fascinated me was how to draw a perfect circle using a paperclip and two pencils. I always wanted the students to draw a perfect circle in order to teach  radius, diameter and circumference; however, I did not know how to create neat circles but now I do.

She demonstrated how she taught social studies and science using the table of  contents of the Common Core book. She showed us how, by using the table of contents,  she instructed the students how to write the information onto foldables. This was extremely creative to me.

The next session concerning exit tickets was information presented that I was familiar with. We talked about how long the warm-up should be and she gave sample demonstrations as to how we can create an effective exit ticket for our classes.

The next session had to do with how to implement math in our classrooms and some shortcuts and explanations of how to teach various topics such as slope, geometry, equations, and integers. I learned a lot about different strategies and  ways of presenting some of the same activities that I previously presented. The discussion was robust and very informative and the presenters were well prepared.

There was plenty of snacks and the teachers were very friendly and welcoming.

All in all it was a fantastic day.

Update: Currently,I teach GED at  a state jail.