Great presentations today - games are always winners!! Here are my responses to the couple questions.
1) I would not consider a 'grading scale' to be motivational to most students. Those who are educationally focused might be motivated that way - but most of your middle school students aren't.
2) I'm trying to attach a list of websites for differentiation and motivation as requested. If it doesn't work on here, I'll send an email with it attached.
3) I do hold the groups to their time frames. However, I adjust when I interject.
4) Of course you can do games in your classroom, and yes, there will be a winner. In real life there are winners, and we are to be preparing them for real life. If you want to have a 'bigger'/'different' prize for the 'winner' and then something smaller for everyone who participated - that works, too.
What do you think about the 'winner" /"loser" thing in middle school? Let's discuss it.
See you next week.
Diann
15 comments:
winners and losers is a touchy subject!
I always loved review games ecspecially when a bonus on the test was for the winning team
that made things competitive but motivated everyone to be involved so they could get bonus points of the exam!
the losing is hard because by counting off some hardworking students could get stuck on a bad team...i would suggest making teams ahead of time and differentiate have different levels of every team!
So first of all... I had so much fun doing the Motivation presentation today! I had a great group to work with : )
Anyways, winners and losers....hmm From personal experience I enjoyed the winner gets the prize sort of thing; however, when i'm the loser I feel like it's unfair. My suggestion is to possibly play the rules like, if you are the winner you get 2 extra credit points if you "lose" you get 1. So everyone gets a point for effort... that sort of thing. It is important to make everyone feel like winners, because really they all are.
I think if you win, you win. If you lose, you lose. They will get over it and switch up the teams next time. Just because the losers lost once doesn't mean they lose all the time so It's not like they are going to quit. And also, the team that loses, I can almost assume that not everyone participates so why should they get extra credits points or a prize for doing nothing? They will think that they can sit there, let the group do the talking and still get a reward out of it so why would that motivate them?
Especially in Middle School, I think students have come to realize that there is a winner and a loser for everything. Yes, for some of us we like to think that the world is perfect and everyone is a winner, but it isn't anything like that in the "real world". I also feel like it is important for students to grasp this concept. I wouldn't let the students pick their teams, because then it could be the same team winning all the time, which could lead to everything being unfair. And this could be were the whining and complaining comes into play.
The presentation on Motivation went really well!
I loved the creative game and the whole class really seemed to be interested!!!
Nice Job!!!
I agree with Jamie! I always loved review games (especially Jeopardy) because it was a review over the material for our upcoming test and it was good for us as the students because it made us study ahead of time and really learn our material to earn the bonus points for our test!
I really liked the games it was alot of fun.
You asked us to post our name with post. Amy Fruth
I thought the game was great! It was a lot of fun to participate in. Its nice to be up and involved in the lesson instead of just listening.
Ashlee
I really liked working in teams as well and having review sessions. In American History in HS we did that and played jeopardy for review. The winning team got 2 points ec on the exam. We were allowed to use our notes during the game. Everyone wanted the ec and so everyone tried to win.
as for losing. That is always hard, but I do think learning early on that you cant win everything is important and by middle school you should know that. my teacher always offered 2 points ec in the exam as well, so even the losing teams would have the chance to get some ec points
I think the group did a really nice job on Friday! It's hard to compile everything you have learned and out it into a presentation.
I also really enjoyed this class and am sad that the last session is on friday....it went so fast!
Diann...do you teach any other education classes besides this one and 101?
-Sam Deeds
Win or lose is tough for kids today. Mainly because a lot of them are coddled and are never shown the reality of life and helped to understand how to deal with loss and make it a learning situation. Like mistakes - loses should be treated as opportunities to learn. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but if you approach that loss as a learning opportunity, it's a growing pain instead of a devastating one.
Thanks for your kind words, Sam. I will miss meeting with you all as well. You are an excellent group, and I can honestly say one of the best I've had in this class.
To answer your question, I never know from term to term what I'll be teaching for sure. I no longer teach EDHD 201. Right now, besides these two sections of 202, I teach the middle and one section of early social studies methods as well as the middle student teaching seminar. So, if this schedule continues and you're a social studies person, you could be stuck with me twice. However, the likelihood of the schedule remaining the same is pretty much non-existent - so who knows??? With the budget crunch, I'll just be happy if I keep my job.
Hi Diann!
I am back from 6th grade camp and want to tell you all about it. First, it was a fantastic experience and my excitement to be a teacher has been rejuvenated. Second, the weather was freaking cold. I was in three layers plus winterwear and freezing.
Ok. So we (4 female teachers, 4 male cabin leaders, and myself) took 27 6th graders to Storer Camp in Jackson, MI. This wasn't a normal 6th grade camp. These students were selected because they were seen to have leadership qualities. The entire weekend was based around team and leadership building. The teachers and students accepted me as teacher, which was cool. One teacher stayed with the cabin leaders because they were high schoolers. The students were split into two groups for most of the weekend. Two boys took boy group A, two boys took boy group B. A teacher and myself took girl group A and the two other female teachers took girl group B.
We got to camp Friday after school and immediately went to dinner. After dinner, we did warm up games and sing-alongs to get the students comfortable in the environment and introduce those who didn't know each other. After that the teachers explained to the students why they were selected, and what was expected of them.
Saturday, we did team building activities with YMCA staff. Some of the activities were how to get everyone on a small space, how to steal a stuffed lion from the cage, how to communicate effectively, horeback riding, and square dancing. Side note - this was my first time on a horse and I was so nervous! I was going to stay back with any kids who chickened out, but sure enough, all of my students went and I was forced to go or face student ridicule. :p It ended up being fine. The students learned how to square dance and a dance was held as a camp closing activity Saturday night. I also learned to square dance, which wasn't as traumatizing as riding a horse.
Sunday we packed up and took the kids home. It was amazing to watch the transformation over the weekend. The outgoing loud students sort of learned how to stop and listen. The quiet students found their voice and gave great ideas to their group. Students who hung out on the edges of the group were social. The camp was a great success! And, it was the first year no one ended up in the emergency room, which is a good thing!
Ok, there is my debriefing, haha!
Kristen
One more thing. We did stay in the cabins with the students, and I wasn't pranked!
I thought the motivation presentation went very well. I really liked the game because it was something I had never played before. I can't wait to watch the final presentation of the semester!
I think offering some sort of extra creit or a homework pass or something for winning teams or students is okay as long as they know in advance. I always hated when teachers didnt say until the end that a student got extra credit until the winner was picked because sometimes you give up or dont try as hard if you dont know and while i agree the students should be trying anyway its still sucky to not know. Also i think that having a clear cut winner is okay as long as there are lots of opportunities for students to win something and its not always the same student(s) winning. maybe having a small prize like candy or something for everyone who participates and an extra credit kind of prize for everyone else.
I think review games are a great way to get kids involved. They learn a lot from each other!
Teachers should consider giving everyone a little treat or reward. If not that may discourage some to get involved.
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