Once I was seated at the table, I found it hard to concentrate on the directions after about five second. I realize I am an antsy person and am self-diagnosed with ADHD but I never notice the effects of this as much as when I am extremely excited. Once I sat down in the seat and had the envelope in front of me, that envelope was all I could think about. Did the directions Jeff was giving matter? Yes, most definitely, as it changed how I would/should play the game. Still, I found it extremely hard, if not impossible, to concentrate on what he was saying. I felt just like the children in the Stanford marshmallow experiment. If you need a specific visual, check out 1:44 and 2:26.
Once Jeff let me open the envelope, 3:07 embodies what I felt like. Additionally, I was especially enthralled by this because it reminded me of Top Chef and if anyone is addicted to cooking shows - its me. On one episode of Top Chef, they had the contestants come in and stand on one side of a curtain. On the other side of the curtain, which had the same food and utensils, they had an assistant that they may or may not have known. The challenge was to create the same dish, from the taste down to the appearance of it. It ended up being a loved one, which the contestants realized after they heard the contestant speak, and it made them that much more emotional about completing the task. I was thrilled to be a part of something that resembled people I watch on TV!
I would love to do something like this in my classroom. As we talked about a bit in class, there are many ways to make this into a world language course. One idea I had was for it to be a multi-level activity where there are four people on each team and multiple teams in a classroom. On each team, two people are working together to put the puzzle together, and two are observers. To complete the level, you need to complete the puzzle, but that's not all. The puzzle will either have an action or a concept in it. In order to complete the level, one must assemble the puzzle AND identify the action/concept. For instance, if there was a picture of someone getting a haircut, the student would be expected to identify an action in that paragraph, such as cutting. This would tie it in to any vocabulary section we had been focusing on. Another idea would be to have it be a concept, such as this one:
The student pair would be expected to put the picture together and identify that it is "Bastille day" which is basically the equivalent of the American 4th of July. Once the level is completed, the pairs switch and the players are now the observers. Both groups need to complete their level in order to "win." We could have multiple games going on at the same time possibly but I have not worked it out yet.
Another idea to make it more complicated stems off of an idea someone brought up in class. Someone thought about having just one person move the pieces and the other direct them. I would like to take it a step further and blindfold the person that is being directed. I really think this game teaches teamwork and reliance on others, as well as creativity and cognitive thinking and problem-solving. I had so much fun participating, and doing this blog, and can't wait for fall semester!! Tata for now,
"Ms. Stilman, how much caffeine you have today?" - Scarlett student.
ReplyDeleteBut really, I love your enthusiasm. It's especially helpful when my own caffeine hasn't kicked in yet...
It sounds like you have some really good ideas for world languages. Maybe you could incorporate the blindfolding idea by simplifying the puzzle? Use maybe a picture of something French (I know, so specific) and have the students work in pairs, one person blindfolded doing the assembling and the other giving directions in French. Just a thought...
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I really like your adaptation of the game we played in class! I think world language teachers can be really creative when it comes to teaching anything from vocabulary to culture and I think your ideas would help to capture both! When I was in French class in high school I would have loved it if we had played more games that were puzzle based. I really liked this one activity we did where another student had to direct someone in French through a recreated town (with little boxes and stuff to represent stores/post office, banks etc.). They had to push a Hot Wheel car through the town, stopping at like three different places and we had to use directions and locations. It's vaguely similar to this puzzle idea, but I think you could adapt this game to a lot of different things!
ReplyDeleteSimilar to language arts, games would be a great way to make science less intimidating. There are so many concepts to learn when it comes to science that the games have to be simple while still provide enough information to introduce a big idea, new topic or even new vocabulary words.
ReplyDeleteThe activity we did in class really showed how games could work with a large group or in a classroom.
As I think about it now, I see that it could be time consuming. Already there is not enough time in the day to meet the standards.
I really enjoyed the Marshmallow Test video. How refreshing and funny children can be. You can be sure that with the introduction of a game into any classroom there are bound to be unexpected and surprising result which can be turned into learning opportunities.
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