Wait Till They Get a Load of Me.

Do you ever get the urge to do something that no one sees coming?

This morning, I got to school early, snuck into the bathroom, and applied a layer of paint to my eyes to create a mask. Why? Well, it was Batman day in my math class. It garnered me some looks and laughs from coworkers. Students weren't quite sure what to make of it, but it came together beautifully.

I began by setting the tone. The face paint mixed with the theme from Batman Begins, lights out, and a board that said, "Riddle me this, when does eight 8's add up to 1,000?" all did the trick. Sadly, I only had one student who pushed hard to come up with the answer. Most of the students were stumped by the riddle.

From there I did our normal whole brain intro, going over the rules, procedures, and objectives...while doing my best Batman the Animated Series Joker impression. The kids caught on really fast and particularly seemed to like when I dropped into a lower register of my voice for my call to attention. One child remarked out loud, "I knew he was going to do that, so cool."

To transition into the main activity I showed the title sequence of Batman the Animated Series, then flipped back to the flipchart to present the students with the problem at hand. "I, the Riddler, have planted one of Mr. Freeze's old freeze bombs in one of these rooms. Your job is to follow my clues and try to disarm it in the next 50 or so minutes (I adjusted for each class based on time). The hotel only has 100 rooms. So if you work out a clue I have given you and find the answer to be more than 100, it means you received a red herring. Go back to your previous problem and find your mistake. Don't forget your P. E. MD. AS." I revealed the first clue and started the timer. 

Students worked with a partner and had to approach me together and in agreement. They presented me with their answers, and I handed them a new problem. If their previous work was correct, they moved closer to the finish of the activity. If not, I gave them one of two red herring problems. As I did this I would tell them a story about them entering the room to find another clue. I love differentiation, so I had a regular list and a more challenging list, which I used for my honors class. 

As time ticked away I would prod them with lines like, "Tick Tock, Batsy." and "Look at that, another minute closer to Gotham's demise." 

Ultimately, students would complete 8 or 9 problems, depending on which list I used for their class. If they managed to complete the activity in the time allotted, they earned a pencil for themselves and a point for their class on the scoreboard. By the end of the day, I only had 3 pairs that did not finish or at least make it to the last problem, my students were all over this activity from bell to bell.

If/when I do something like this again, I will prep cards or strips of paper with the next expressions, ready to go. Writing their next expressions was not a major issue in my two smaller classes or my co-taught class. However, my last block is my largest and it was tough to keep up with that group. 

At the end of the day, however, that didn't matter too much. Between the awesome feeling of seeing a few boys that brought their own capes with them, just for my class, and the girl who thanked me for doing something "much cooler than a worksheet." it was all worth it. Great day, couldn't recommend taking chances like that enough. Now get out there and be awesome.

How Engaging: It's your happy fun time!

*Note: this, my second post, is actually my third. My second was lost in a tragic app closing accident propagated by my 3 year old son. Sorry you missed it, I may come back to it.

In my 9 years of teaching I have learned a lot about classroom engagement. How to hook kids, gain attention, keep attention, send them to small group discussion and then retrieve them to make small discussions big again. This year, I have leaned very heavily into the concepts of Whole Brain teaching. We start of with our hair on fire and ride the wave in the direction we must go.

In Whole Brain Teaching there are five rule...

#1 Follow directions quickly

#2 Raise your hand to speak

#3 Raise your hand to get out of your seat

#4 Make smart choices and

#5 Keep your dear teacher happy

On Friday, I tried something with a student in one of my classes. This student is bright, but does not seem committed to learning. He' often makes comments about being tired. Knowing that we just needed to get a feel for working through order of operations problems that contained exponents. I decided to hand over a bit of "power" to this young man. I renamed the page that contained our problems on the board (insert student name)'s Happy Fun Friday Math!! There was some immediate low level laughter and the student shot me a few uncomfortable glances.


"Don't worry, my friend! Today is your day. For the rest of class, rule 2 does not apply to you. You have my permission to answer any question as you please. But, if you don't want to answer, feel free to pick someone else in the class to share."

It worked like a charm! The whole period he was either calling out answers as he completed his work, or he would finish and call on another student. Kids would raise their hands as soon as they had answers, hoping he would call them. What was really interesting is that he spread out who he called on around the room. I was watching very closely to make sure no one with their hand up would be left out, totally prepared to swoop in and declare that his next 4 people must be girls. However, I never had too.

So my encouragement to you is be willing to share a bit of the "power". It is still your classroom, but you might just be able to rope in a student or two who is typically avoiding work. Have a great week, everybody!

Yes! Yes, I want to be great.

I sat there Friday and told one of my best teacher friends, "I am done pretending like I don't want to be great at this. I am close, and I want it." I don't remember if the second part was exactly what I said, but it is what I meant. So as I sat there Saturday afternoon and read the words of Dave Burgess in the final section of his book Teach Like a Pirate, I was blown away. 'Do you want to be great?' 

Yes!

 

My entire career I have wanted to be great, but since moving to my current district I have been moving closer and closer. I have learned a ton and worked hard.  In the last year, opportunities have led to an unquenchable appetite for methodology. I listen to podcasts, lurk in Twitter chats,  write ideas in Google docs on my phone, and find a wonderful sense of joy in creating and sharing activities. I have been completely sucked in. Burgess, Teamann, Provenzano, Sackstein, and Wettrick; names that meant nothing to me months ago are now my go to source on the web for encouragement and inspiration. They aren't it, but they have pushed the barrel into the water just before the falls, and I am ready. Adrenalin's pumping. I am going over the falls, and there isn't any looking back. 

The thing about being great is that it isn't about my ego or your ego. It is different than saying I want to be the best. The word great implies that I am really, really good at what I do. The word best implies that I am better than you. Everyone in the building can be great! Imagine that for a second. Going to a school where every teacher is truly great.  Every teacher being passionate about what and how they teach. It would overflow on to the kids like a tidal wave. But, it starts with you (and me) looking into the mirror and deciding greatness is our goal.

I am going for it and I am going to share this quest with you, whoever you are...even if it is just me rereading. Join me on this quest to be great. I will do my best to be all Neil Patrick Harris and share more than once a week (I have just dated myself), we will see how it goes.