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Gamifying Lessons is Possible, Even Without Technology
Apps such as Class Dojo, Socrative, Nearpod, Zondle and Play Brighter tend to dominate most conversations about gamification in education. This focus on technology can alienate teachers who may think, "I don't have any computers in my room, so that leaves me out!"
Yet "gamifying your classroom" simply means using game mechanics to motivate students, argued Linda T. Darcy in an ASCD Express article. The characteristics of a good game are the same, she said, whether that game is on the Internet or in a box with dice and a board.
Darcy offered five practices teachers can use to encourage game-like engagement in the classroom, and none of the practices requires technology.
Read the full story.
Article by Celine Provini, EducationWorld Editor
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Subject: Science
Grade: 2
Lesson Objective: To learn about where frogs life, the life cycle of frogs and then answer questions about the life cycle
Standard: 2-LS4-1: Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
Materials:
Printable Student Worksheet Handout
Starter:
Say:
Have you ever seen a frog? What do you know about them? (Allow the students to answer.)
Main:
Say:
There are many different types of frogs. Frogs are animals that are in amphibians. They live the first part of their lives in the water and the last part of their lives on land.
All of that is part of their life cycle. A life cycle shows the changes that happen to a living thing as it moves through its life.
Some living things, like plants and butterflies, go through many changes during their life cycle that change the way that they look. Other living things, like people, only get bigger.
The life cycle of a person starts when you are a baby. You are born as a baby, then you grow into a child and then an adult. As an adult, you are able to have a baby and the life cycle starts again.
People look the same from the time they are born until they grow to be adults. We have all of the same body parts when you are born that you have when you grow up.
Did you know that there are some animals that have different body parts when they are born and when they grow up?
Raise your hand if you think that you can describe the life cycle of a frog. (Allow the students to answer).
You are going to read about the life cycle of a frog, just like the frog in The Frog Prince.
You are then going to answer questions about what you have read.
Does anyone have any questions?
Feedback:
Say:
Who would like to share your answers? (Allow the students to share)
Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer
Kimberly is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.
Copyright© 2019 Education World
Related lessons:
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Emergency Sub Plan: Life Cycle - Reading (GR 2)
Emergency Sub Plan: Life Cycle - Writing (GR 2)
Emergency Sub Plan: Life Cycle - Science (GR 2)
Emergency Sub Plan: Life Cycle - Math (GR 2) 
One of my favorite teaching memes depicts a bright-eyed child with the words, “I love worksheets! Said no kid, ever.” The contrast of the child’s happy face with what the meme communicates really hits home. I doubt very many of us would argue that worksheets have encouraged higher-order thinking in student learning processes. Still, we keep them in the rotation, probably owing at least in part to ease of use. After all, we don’t have to worry quite so much about putting our content out there if we just hand it to kids on a one-sheet document. Still, there are better ways to check for understanding than a worksheet. Here are a few:
Create a culture of inquiry.
Instead of using worksheets to determine what students know, place the responsibility of asking questions on them. Early in my teaching career, I remember a student complaining to me about class discussions. “It’s always the same,” he said. “We read something, and then we look at a handout about the pages and discuss it.” His feedback illuminated the need to foster more curiosity about learning. Every time I taught a concept after that, I would try to facilitate open-ended question processes, which had the added benefit of upping language production. For instance, students might sit in a circle with index cards, write a thoughtful question about the content on the card (a question that could not be answered with “yes” or “no”), and throw it into the middle of the circle. When students picked up someone else’s question, they had to share it and we explored answers together. Strategies that place ownership for questioning the learning process on students results in higher engagement as well as classrooms that are safe spaces for healthy inquiry.
Provide meaning through discourse.
Instead of asking students to share their knowledge with a worksheet, get them talking so that their thinking is visible. One of my favorite teachers to observe has a classroom that appears chaotic, but if I listen to the conversations, students are focused on class topics. One day, students took turns impersonating notable historical figures while their partners interviewed them and recorded their responses. It was such an engaging way to see what each student knew about their assigned person of note, and the classroom was alight with enthusiasm. When I conduct class observations, chief among my typical recommendations is to include more discourse into planning with intention, rather than waiting for conversations (not the same as discourse) to occur haphazardly. Worksheets have the effect of shutting down student conversation, not encouraging it. Discourse that reflects equitable sharing and doesn’t put students on the spot is ideal.
Learn through narrative.
The power of storytelling is significant, and connects people to ideas on a level that is profound. One all-time student favorite text is Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime, which is a series of stories about his childhood in South Africa during apartheid. Rather than give students a handout about the book, I ask them to tell their own stories from childhood that connect to themes from Noah’s book. That way, they engage with the reading on a personal level, and the words come alive even more, as does their understanding of the text. Instead of giving students a handout, engage them in the inductive and connective process of narrative.
Let students take over.
Why should adults get to create all the materials that determine student understanding? Let them take control of the process. A student once approached me and asked if, instead of the assigned project on memoir, she could create a graphic novel-esque depiction of her own experiences (complete with thematic components) that highlighted her skills as an artist. Her project was stellar, coming from a place of passion. Her language use and the skills she demonstrated were exactly in line with what the assessment standards indicated. In my experience, letting students decide how they want to make meaning of their learning almost always results in gains that cannot be met with more rigid structures. The truth is, teachers are inventive, but we don’t harness all the creativity. When we let students work with us to make learning happen, the whole classroom community benefits.
Are worksheets ever necessary? Maybe, but it’s doubtful. Think about how they are typically used: to get a class focused (which is about managing behavior, not learning), to demonstrate understanding, or to be efficient. Then, think about how engaging worksheets are, and whether some of the strategies above might be a better option. When we let go of controlling every detail of how we see our course content, even a little bit, the results can be rewarding in the long term, ultimately creating a classroom climate of mutual respect and trust.
Written by Miriam Plotinsky, Education World Contributing Writer
Miriam is a Learning and Achievement Specialist with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, where she has worked for nearly 20 years as an English teacher, staff developer and department chair. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, and recently earned her certification in Education Administration and Supervision. She can be followed on Twitter: @MirPloMCPS
I used to have fantasies about sitting down to lunch with other adults, using the bathroom when I wanted to and going home without piles of essays to grade. I would watch television shows that took place in sleek, modern offices where employees had access to good coffee. On the days where my sense of humor was intact, I compared my friends’ early morning rituals (yoga at seven-thirty in the morning) to mine (killing the ant infestation in the team room at five-thirty in the morning). On the days when I struggled, I reflected on the obstacles to teacher retention that are not related to instruction. Work conditions in schools reflect a growing urgency to implement strategies for staff wellness. What can be done to address some of the most pervasive obstacles to well-being for teachers?
Bathroom breaks need to happen. Full stop.
For years, I held it in. Most teachers do, since they are legally responsible for monitoring the students in their classrooms at all times, and they often teach for long stretches without a break. When I was pregnant with my third child, I went into early labor and wound up in the hospital. The culprit was a urinary tract infection, a condition that teachers experience as a profession at higher rates than adults in all other fields. Instead of forcing teachers everywhere to suffer silently, school leaders should collaborate with staff to create a relief system. Five-minute breaks can be orchestrated so that adults in the building (especially those who are released for non-instructional purposes) are on hand to help out their comrades in arms.
We spend way too much time in the dark.
My typical work day used to begin around 5:30. School starts early, and it’s standard for teachers to stick around after the day ends to provide academic support for kids in need, to run extra-curricular activities, or just to try and get some work done. Add to that a frequent dearth of windows and the inability to leave the building for lunch, and adults in schools easily commune with cinder block walls for 10 hours or more each day. To ease the oppressiveness of fluorescent lighting, the school can provide a “sun space” equipped with light boxes that mimic sunlight or organize a daily walk around the track, both of which would mitigate some of the effects of seasonal affective disorder. When teachers see literal light, they might feel some metaphorical lightness as well.
We go to work to create more work.
Teaching is completely absorbing; no multitasking is possible when we work with students, nor should it be. I remember teaching a scary story unit around Halloween, when the biggest challenge was to write something that actually scared the class. Some students took this in a humorous vein, writing stories about the college application process or a bad hair day. For those who really threw themselves into the task, the stories I collected for grading were often quite impressive, and quite long. Considering that teachers often have multiple classes in a day and as many as 150 students, that is an awful lot of work to take home. While there is no way to put an end to grading (there would be no teacher shortage if that were the case), there are ways to lessen the load. Not all work needs to be graded, so leaders should empower teachers to be selective about what they assess. Sometimes, students undergoing the process of an assignment is enough to spark the cognitive process without a grade being attached. Not all assessments need to be long, either; one or two questions or sentences typically tells us what we need to know about student mastery of concepts. Think about doing less to achieve more.
Our work environment is emotionally charged.
There’s really no way around the fact that kids need us; in fact, it is one of the primary reasons we come to work. Every day at lunch, my desk was crowded with kids who were there to get a healthy snack, or who wanted a safe refuge from the hallways. On some days, I remember feeling acutely tired or hungry. But I couldn’t let that show because the kids always came first, and they needed a stable adult who would let them get a real break in the middle of the day. It is not uncommon for teachers to go home at night feeling emotionally done in. During the day, it would be helpful to create relaxation zones for teachers as well as students. One of the best teacher appreciation moments in a school I worked in occurred when security closed off one hallway to students during lunch, letting teachers having the whole space to themselves. That day, people sat back and relaxed with their lunches and adult conversation, and headed into the afternoon with renewed energy. The best part? Nobody had to spend any money to make this small token of appreciation possible.
Systems for self-care are difficult to come by.
Whenever teachers are asked what they want most, the answer is almost always “time.” That makes sense, since there are not enough hours to get it all done. However, the problem with giving people time is the same problem as giving them space: it will be filled, and not for purposes of wellness. In fact, it is entirely likely that teachers might place more demands on themselves. For that reason, a more tenable solution to helping teachers involves the implementation of systems that support the priority of self-care. For instance, setting up a “lunch bunch” group dedicated to conversations about life outside of school can set important boundaries in a profession that is typically obsessive about shop talk. Teachers can even share personal skills (knitting, journaling, music) and share with one another. Adding in mindfulness practices, such as meditation or technology-free social time, can help teachers complete the day without feeling as though demands never cease.
While wellness is an achievable goal, it has to be implemented with intention. One of the most valuable leadership moves is to visibly and transparently prioritize wellness by ensuring that it is not just a nice idea; it is actionable and embedded in each day. If school leaders partner with teachers, they can begin to prioritize a higher level of emotional health for staff with one simple question: “What do you need?” With the follow-through, results with not only be gratifying for staff; they will translate to a healthier, happier school.
Written by Miriam Plotinsky, Education World Contributing Writer
Miriam is a Learning and Achievement Specialist with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, where she has worked for nearly 20 years as an English teacher, staff developer and department chair. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, and recently earned her certification in Education Administration and Supervision. She can be followed on Twitter: @MirPloMCPS
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