In the Battle of Heroes vs Villains

Existing with and inside of a curriculum can be difficult. Especially for someone who wants to innovate and push the envelope constantly. This year, our district adopted a new curriculum for science: Amplify. I have had ups and downs with curriculum, especially scripted curriculum. I will say that Amplify has been pretty cool. Best of all though, is it lends itself very well to gamification. The two seem to compliment each other.

At the the end of each chapter, the students have to write a scientific explanation or argument to respond to the chapter’s main question. In a gamified classroom this would typically be a boss battle, in which students answer questions correctly to defeat the “boss” (the test). Tom and I tried that out, calling the parts of the rubric, the bosses hit points. It never felt quite right though. Writing does not lend itself well to the boss battle concept. After some discussion we decided that for our final paper of unit two, we would try something different.

Our game is based on Superheroes, but at the beginning of the year we allowed the students to decide if they were a hero or a villain. It was a decision we had not emphasized to this point. During this unit the students took on the role of conservation biologist in order to save Tokay geckos in the rainforest who were dying. Over the course of the unit students learned that street lights had been installed in the area were making it hard for the geckos to see because of their high sensitivity light receptors.

Tom and I choose to emphasize their affiliations of heroics of villainy in their final explanations in order to foster both competition and unity. For the heroes, they would write the explanation as they would have before, but they also had to add a solution to save the geckos and still protect the drivers. The villains on the other hand would write their normal explanation, but need to include a plot to use what they had learned to push the geckos in the area into extinction. Each paper would graded on the same rubric. Then we would take all the heroes scores and all the villains scores and average them out. To the winning side: 200XP on the leaderboard.

There was palpable excitement in the room as we broke this down for the students. We explained it and shared our expectations. We told them that if they wanted to share their papers with others on their team to get feedback, they could. This practice encourages teamwork and support. We also asked that their plot not be things like throwing all the geckos into a volcano, or getting rid of the highway altogether. They went to town, and it was crazy, y’all. There was real feedback and support as both weaker writers reached out to ones that they knew could offer constructive criticism.

After grading them, the students wrote some really great papers. Many students making their best efforts of the year. In the end, my favorite part was the plots to save or get rid of the geckos. We had heroes that suggested using lights that would dim or brighten based on motion sensors and building walls around the highway to limit stray light. We had villains that suggested installing additional street lights in between the existing streetlights and cutting down some of the trees near the highway to maximize the reach of the light being generated. Of all 74 students, whose papers that I read, only one did not base their plot around the information we learned about light and vision. Our final averages were heroes with 8.9 and villains with 8.4. The craziest part was that in three of our five classes the villains actually won. It came down to one weak performing villain group that did not work together, to give the heroes the victory. Talk about a teachable moment in cooperation.

There were some tiny things I will change when (not if) we do it again. Like setting the room up with heroes on one side and villains on the other. Making sure Tom and I used the exact same rubric, we had a small difference in point breakdown. We may allow sides to use a power up that pulls players to their side through “mind control” or “redemption”.

That said this was a huge success. Students were motivated, helpful and encouraging to one another. My favorite part of all of it though, was kids coming up with solutions that focused on the information they had worked so hard to learn. That is our goal, right? To have them apply what they learn to solve problems. This put the students in a position to really consider how we make problems better or worse. This took a fairly straight forward explanation one step further and made them apply their knowledge, which is the best display of learning I could ask for. It was amazing.

Operation! I'm the Doctor for You!

Last year when working with order of operations, I had a fun idea to have the kids look problems that were wrong, and fix them. When setting it up I drew the large pictures of patients who were sleeping. On each one I placed an incorrect problem and had the kids move around the room and ‘fix the patient.’ This year, in fourth grade I don’t go as in depth with that concept. However, my students are getting their first go at both long division and multiple methods of double digit multiplication. So it seemed like a good time to pull this activity out of my pocket and put it into practice.

I set up six stations; three with long division mistakes and three with multiplication mistakes. For multiplication I opted to use both the standard algorithm and the box method. The mistakes I highlighted were the same mistakes I had seen from the students. The students that had displayed a good understanding of the process through exit tickets and class practice could move around freely as they diagnose each patient and complete the problems correctly. The few students who were still having troubles would work with me to complete the six problems first, and then they could match the work to the patient and figure out what they did wrong.

On the day of the activity I had students fold a piece of paper in half. One half of the paper was for their diagnosis and the other half was to complete the problem correctly. The free moving students worked very well moving from one station to the next. One or two of the problems stumped the students because the mistakes were tricky to notice. Every student got through at least five of the six students. Working with the students who had difficulties also seemed to go really well.

That said, we only had about 35 minutes to complete the activity. So I was not able to get through all of the equations with the students I was working with. Also, while I had time to go over the answers, I did not have enough time to go in depth with the mistakes in the problems each patient had. I have already noted to myself the need for a full class for this activity the next time.

What I like about this activity is that the classroom transformation immediately sets a tone that this will be different. Students usually rise to a different atmosphere. In a dream world they all get scrubs, clipboards and face masks. For a first effort in Ohio, this went pretty well.

Breaking Out of the Norm

It has been a long time since I tried to blog. I think too much about what I am trying to say. So here is a different approach inspired by a few amazing Twitter friends. First topic, a digital breakout.

Tom (my amazing partner in crime and coleader of the our Science Heroes Classroom game) and I started our new unit with Amplify science about Earth features. However, I had to take my son to the dentist. I thought I would use this as an opportunity to try my hand at a gamified approach to being out; a digital breakout.

If you don’t know, a digital breakout is a set up where students work through different puzzles or challenges to get keywords or numbers which open locks to finish a challenge. Digitally, this can be created on Google site using forms. It takes some work but the results (if done right) are pretty cool.

I started by watching an amazing video by Meagan Kelly (found here) and just began building. After putting together the Science Heroes website and playing around a lot with Google Forms as exit tickets it wasn’t all that hard to put together and I learned a thing or two about answer verification, which is awesome. Tom suggested four locks for our first go. Our initial key was found in an article about Sue, the big T-Rex fossils in Chicago. Correct answers provided the key. For key two, I pushed them to a puzzle online which needed to be completed to help answer questions. Key three found students having to rearrange a web address in google slides to find a site to help them get the answers. The final hid a link in a picture, that gave them the information that they needed.

Tom, Guy (our awesome media specialist) and my wife all tested it for me. This was a huge blessing as we were able to catch a few problems and make it hum. I highly recommend you get people to try it first.

You can find the breakout here.

Look at this crew working hard.

I set it up for my sub, and only a few kids were able to finish during class. My intention was to give them some more time when I was there the next day, but to my surprise a few of them went on to finish that night at home. When I got back I was greeted by many kids saying that they wanted more time and asking when we would do this again. The locks all seemed to hit just the right notes and none were too easy or difficult. The activity provides the students with a solid foundation for the unit, giving them some introduction in to layers of rock, fossils, and the area of the country we are focusing on.

So intense.

On the flip side, I never want to miss being there when I unleash it on them again. I missed their initial triumphs, and while I got to experience many of them beaming with pride when they finished the next day, it would have been nice to be there for it all. Also, while I think this was a great introduction to this sort of activity, they can handle a lot of challenge and come through. That perseverance is so key to teaching the grit. Going forward I want to work in a video and maybe add some more cross curriculum elements, but it was definitely worth the time to learn and build going forward.

(Em)Powering Up my Students

A little background, coming out of college and moving to Roanoke, I got really deep into a collectible card game called Marvel VS System. It was an especially nerdy time in my life. Yeah, let that one sink in for a second. I really enjoyed all aspects of it. Collecting, building decks, and especially getting together with people to play. So when I read about the item concept in Explore Like a Pirate, my mind was immediately drawn to it. It is becoming a bit of an obsession.

I dabbled in power ups/items last year just try my hand at it. My kids liked them. They liked having them. They liked when they were random drops during class. They liked earning them by doing things. The items added to the game, which added to class. Having the items also meant that I was not bribing the students with candy and other stuff. They earned items that pointed them back toward the class. However, there was more to it than that. It gave them power to impact the class. Empowerment has a huge impact on students investment in a classroom. If students can impact little things that matter to them, they will care more about what happens in class.

That brings us to this summer, and I am all in. My awesome new partner Tom and I are incorporating a superhero theme for our science classes, which I will pull into my math class in a slightly different way thanks to an excellent idea from Justin Willetts, @jwilletts12 on Twitter. A big component of that will be our collectible Power Up cards. Students will all be getting a baseball card sleeve to keep an inventory of 9 cards. They can hang on to the cards, trade for ones that suit their personality, or use them in different class situations.

Currently, I am using the website GoDeckYourself.com, which allows for the creation of your own cards. It has templates that are easy to use and offer different choices. Personally, though, I have some design philosophies that I hold to.

• One, there have to be cards that appeal to all types of learners. Cards that will affect my explorers, socializers, achievers, and a term I have borrowed to call my griefers, philanthropist.
• Two, and this is important to me as the father of a girl, my cards must feature female superheroes as well. This can be tricky, as comic book art is not extremely tactful all the time.
• Last, there have to be commons, rares, and unicorns. Cards that many of the students have, cards that not every student will have, and cards that only a few will get the entire year. Those unicorns, man, they have to be special.

Here is a taste of what my fourth graders are in for.

Common Sample #1

Whoops, as labeled, is geared toward my explorers. Kids who are excited to learn...constantly, and because of that may forget to bring something to school.

Common Sample #2

Partners is a card aimed at my socializes, like me. Kids who want to share all of their thoughts, but might benefit from having a sounding board.

Rare Sample #1

Look! Up in the Sky! is a rare. About 1 in 5 cards will be a rare card because the effect will be very cool. Look! gives the students an opportunity to get involved with sharing cool things taking place in our classroom.

Rare Sample #2

Shine the Signal is for the kid who can not contain the desire to share that they know something. This card is an outlet for that kid, it gives them the opportunity to take over for a short time and be the center of attention. That said, giving them a number of uses forces them to choose wisely.

These are just some of my 12 rares and 16 common cards. I am not ready to share unicorn cards, they will be given in very special circumstances. I am also planning to introduce Villain cards or Schemes in the second half of the year, but those are only in the brainstorming stage. If you want to see the rest of the set, let me know on Twitter, I would be happy to share. 

Keep the Fire Burning

I have a peace, y’all.

This school year was outstanding. My students made some amazing extra curricular projects. We had fun and relivant lessons. My classroom dipped it’s toes into gamificiation and it rocked. My peers nominated me as teacher of the year for our school. I found a powerful weekly professional learning network on twitter (#XPLAP Tuesday nights at 10pm eastern).  I also got to try my hand at speaking at conferences, which was unforgettable.

So...how do you top it?

Well, that is where the peace comes in. You see, right now I am standing at the edge of uncertainty. My home is on sale, my wife and I have resigned, and some time in the next two months we will move ourselves to Ohio. After 12 years of becoming who we are; growing, learning, and meeting a lot of great people, it is time to go home. For all that is yet to be revealed, there is one thing I know. I can not stop now.

I have a job with the Forest Hills School District in Cincinnati and I can not give up on the momentum. I have aspirations of a fully gamified science class built on students being given a classification based on what kind of gamer that they are. I get one group of math, and you can bet it is going to be one piratey group. I want to go all, or mostly google classroom. I am already brainstorming a couple of project ideas based on the work of Kevin Honeycutt (If you are an educator and you don’t know him, look him up). I am hoping to get back into being involved with the Extra Life charity and having another evening of gaming for children’s cancer research. I have every intention to collaborate both in and outside of my building. I am going to seek out opportunities to speak, and remain a regular with my weekly twitter chat folks. The fire is burning and I don’t want to stop.

Personally, I get see my Mom and Dad. My kids get both sets of grandparents. My wife and I get a little bit of a reset. For the things I don’t know, there is a lot that I do. For this reason, I have a peace, y’all.

The Day Before Spring Break: Experimentation Day

The week before spring break can be tough. Kids are ready and excited, which finds them not making the best choices. There is a lot to wrap up and square away, because as soon as we get back, it is business time. The countdown to standardized testing will be on. This year, we finished a unit on Thursday, so we had a Friday to relax a bit. I love days like this. I call them experimentation days. I get to try some crazy idea with my students. 

For this experiment, we played a review game that I have been toying with for a while called Tumbling Towers. Like all good games there is story to set it up.

"You are a member of an island tribe. Your people are constantly warring with the surrounding islands to prove who is the best. Now to demonstrate your superiority, you have begun construction of a tower to give other islands no choice but to look up to you . However, as you begin to build, you notice the other islands have the same idea. You will not stand for this! Luckily, these islands also have an endless supply of boulders. When the time is right, you will unleash them on your unsuspecting neighbors. Get ready to watch the Tumbling Towers!"

The main rules of the game

• Your group works out a problem on the board and come to a consensus. (We played with white boards.)
• If your team is correct, you roll a RED and GREEN dice. The Green is the number of one inch wooden cubes your team gets to use to build a tower. The Red is the number of stripes of paper your team gets to build boulders to throw at other island's towers. All strips of paper could be used individually or wrapped together to make larger boulders. (I used recycled paper in fourths.)
• Teams have to use the blocks to build the towers inside of a square of tape on their tables. (Pictured below) 
• If the tower falls, students may reuse any block that does not fall outside the tape.  Fallen blocks outside the tape are lost.
• The goal is to build the tallest tower of all without having it knocked down by other teams boulders.

Bumping rules

• If you bump your own table and your tower falls, all rules apply. So be careful.
• If you bump someone else's table. They get to rebuild and you will be removed from the activity. Sabotage will not be tolerated. You may not leave your island.

  All power ups were usable. I even offered a set this week that worked well for the game.

For the game I set up our tables like so.

This added a nice feel to the class. It increased the island theme and the students knew something was up the second they walked in the door. To throw boulders, students had to stand at the end of the table. This added an element of strategy. The easy shot was the table next to you, but you have to beware revenge. It also added excitement for the team brave enough to take a shot all the way across the void. 

The game was immediately understandable to my students and was a huge hit. They had a blast strategizing their moves, deciding how big to make their boulders, and when to build up or expand the base. Depending on the class, we got 8 to 10 questions in during the game, this including modeling and corrections if students forgot an older topic. Work was not rushed because correct answers mattered. These experimental days can sometimes be things that I never return to. Tumbling Towers will be back, and likely sooner than later.

Turn Based Strategy X Probability

So, I went for it. I pulled my favorite style of game into my class. I actually turned my class into a turn based strategy game, and it worked...on the second try.

A little over a week ago I was partaking in the #XPLAP chat on Twitter, which if you don’t participate in something educationally on twitter and you teach, you totally need to. During the chat, the idea of using an hourglass came up, which lead some back and forth that looked something like this…

You should totally follow both of these guys by the way. Great educational minds.

The gist of the conversation was that the room is the battle field for a strategy game. As we are studying probability I thought it would be a good opportunity to give this a try. As I am currently playing a lot of Fire Emblem Heroes, Nintendo’s turn based strategy mobile game, I drew some of my inspiration from that.

I wanted to make sure we had a play area with a grid. I used rubber bases from the gym class. Color coding would have been awesome, but in order to get a 5 by 7 play area I took every rubber base that they had. Another thing I thought would add something was classes with different movements, abilities, and weapons. Though, I narrowed it down to movements and abilities as assigning weapons limits the mathematical possibilities. Giving them one weapon and they would be repeating the same formula over and over. Instead, the probability to be worked out was assigned to their place on the play area.

My grid based floor and the lettered version of it on the board.

Spectators, those not playing, would complete the math for a given player involved in the match. This would hopefully maintain engagement as I had no idea how long it would take. I even created a ‘Tactician's Log’ for them to keep up with.

During the game students were allowed to take 1, 2, or 3 steps on their turn. Then depending on the space they were standing on, they would be given a situation in order to attempt to eliminate another player. They would use dice, spinners, a set of 10 cards, or a bag with foam squares in it. Each space had it’s own circumstance, some more probable than others. Those situations were the ones the spectators would have to work out.

As I said, the first block to try it didn’t go so hot. I put too much on them and I realized it. They seemed to get it, but asking them to follow different players meant I had to make sure different groups were doing different things all while half the class waited. Too many balls in the air. Once that class left, I gave a few seconds of thought to throwing in the towel on the concept altogether, but I knew it could work. I just needed to streamline a bit.

Students had to roll two dice, spin two spinners, select two cards, or pull two squares from a bag in order to eliminate other players.

During lunch, I changed two things and it made all the difference. I had kids not playing focus on one player per turn, which increased their engagement. It allowed more students to see what I was going for in my essential question; how can we use probability to help inform decision making? I also sped up turns by having the other members of the team complete their actions while non players worked out their math. I am so glad I didn’t give up on it.

A big thank you goes out to Mr. Taylor (@TeacherRunner42 on Twitter) for being a sounding board on the lesson. I hope it is the beginning of more to come.