Crumple and Shoot

My first year of teaching, I had a 6th grader named Lamar. Lamar was the wiggliest, squirmiest, most energetic little guy I had seen yet. He literally rolled around on the floor almost every day.

And I, a 24 year old “newbie” was supposed to keep him in his seat? And focused? And LEARNING? Uhhh... they didn’t teach that part in college.

Seriously?

I had no idea how to do that. When I told him toget in his seat, he would usually do so -- only to “fall out” two minutes later. When I turned my back, he had dance moves ready. Sometimes seated, sometimes not. He would accidently-I-mean-on-purpose mess up his paper so he could throw it out -- and make points for the basketball shot into the trash can.

Well, Lamar, here is the game I wish I had for you.

It’s called “Crumple and Shoot” and it’s a review game. But it’s BEST use is as a review game for higher order questions. Here’s how it works:

Prep the game. :

1.      Create/compile a stack of higher order questions that would help students with the upcoming assessment. Don’t forget the answer key!

2.   Chop some scrap paper in quarters. Old worksheets or messed up copies are perfect! You need a lot – one per team, per question.

3.   Make sure your trash can is clean-ish and useable. Or, use a box or another basket. Place it in a clear area. Place a piece of masking tape at a reasonable spot a few feet away, and then another behind that one.

4.   Create a scoreboard on the board at the front of the room.

Play the game:

5.      Arrange students in teams of three or four.

6. Go over rules with the students:

• Stay in your seats at all times
• No heckling
• Both feet must be behind the line until the ball leaves your hand. Otherwise, your shot doesn’t count.
• One piece of paper per shot.

7. Teacher reads the higher-order question aloud – or display it on the board on power point.

8. Group members discuss and agree on an answer then write it LEGIBLY on one piece of paper. Not too loudly – don’t want other groups to hear!

9. After the teacher says “Answers Up”, one group member holds up the paper.

10. If your answer is wrong, the teacher will take the paper.

11. If your answer is right, the teams will send up one person to crumple the paper and shoot it in the basket (or box or basket).

12.  If the shooter makes it, the team gets a point. The group with the highest points wins.

13.  Consider having winning team get an extra credit point or two on the assessment.

Pro Tips:

• Create a “one point” line and a “two point” line a little further from the trash can.
• Create a bulls-eye, like in darts, around the trash can.
• Give points for good behavior, so kids don’t get squirrely.

Benefits of Crumple and Shoot Game:

·         Student engagement and teamwork

·         Way to make higher order questions more fun.

·         Engages students who prefer physical movement

Watch Out For:

• Kids struggling to know answers. Consider making this open book/open note/open brain.
• Kids getting rowdy.  Remind students that they are not to get out of their seats or to heckle. Award points for good behavior.
• One team is winning and others are giving up.  Award a second place prize to keep the rest engaged.

What do you think? Do you have a version of Lamar in your class? Some kid who can’t stop moving? Do you think he would be successful at this game? Will you try it? As always, I love to hear! Email me!  newmantr@pcsb.org

-Tracy

Skim and Scan

My house if full of “talkers”. I know. You’re all soooo surprised.  

But in our house full of talkers, we all, on occasion, start talking without giving any context. I don’t know if my kids do it because my husband and I accidently model that? I don’t know if their little brains just start at the “good part” and forget to give us background?

But anyway, sometimes it’s hard to understand the story without the context.

And it’s easy for us-the-teachers to jump in and TELL the kids the context.

But if we believe that “the person doing the talking is doing the thinking”, then we know that the kids will think about it better and it will “stick” better (in their brains), if we let them come up with the context.

“But Tracy”, you ask, “if they don’t have any context, how are they supposed to make their own context? I mean, if they have never heard of the Haitian Revolution, then they have never heard of the Haitian Revolution. How can they have context if they have never even heard of it?”

Good question.

This is one of the best uses for your textbook (or related article).

This is when you use  ......  Skimming and Scanning!

No, really! I know we talk a lot about document analysis and close reading, but sometimes -- we just need to skim and scan.

You and I do this all the time in adult world. We skim and scan our email. Maybe you are skimming and scanning THIS email (Hey. I don’t judge.). You skim and scan student work sometimes. You skim and scan articles in the news and on social media.

You-the-educated-adult don’t do a close read on EVERYTHING that comes your way.

Neither do I.

Let’s get into the nuts and bolts of skimming and scanning.

How do I do skimming and scanning with my students?

1. Project the text on a Smartboard or ELMO
2. Model how skimming and scanning can build background knowledge by:
1. Using titles and captions to activate/build background knowledge
2. Look at images, people, maps, timelines, charts, graphs
3. Look  at bolded or highlighted information or words
4. Read sidebars or fact boxes
5. Read first and last paragraphs
6. Record “first impressions” and “fast facts”  
7. Have students summarize and put those impressions in a summary statement or “final thoughts”.

     C. Ask students to practice skimming and scanning a short (chunked) piece of text with a partner, using steps i-vii above.

2. How do I keep my kids on task?

a.  Keep the text short.  

B. Use gradual release.

C. Correct misconceptions when kids think every word is equally important.

3. Why should I try this one?

1. Because not all text was created equal. Some text is created for close reads – and some is just for background info. Kids need to know the difference and they need to know what to do with less-important (but background building) text. Students need context to be able to appropriately tackle a more complex text.

4. What can go wrong?

1. If not well monitored and corrected, students can get confused and mistake essential  info for non-essential. That’s why gradual release is essential with skimming and scanning. Also, kids can struggle to stay engaged. That’s why timers and modelling and chunking text are so helpful.
2. Also – your adolescent students are not as well educated as you-the-college-educated-teacher. Don’t expect them to get as much out of their reading as you do. And that’s ok.

Give them a chart like this to jot down their answers...

First Impressions	Fast Facts	Final Thoughts

Do you see how having your students do a quick 5 minute skim and scan can help them build background knowledge? Instead of having the kids read the textbook section before getting into the deeper content, have them skim and scan before getting to the document or the higher-order thinking activity. It teaches them to get an overview and it builds background knowledge.

AND -- it saves time!

Everybody wants more time!

Choose text to build background knowledge and have kids skim and scan. Don’t choose the really- important document that you need to dig into.

Choose the one you just need to use to build background knowledge.

Will you try it, judiciously?As always, I love to hear from you! Email me at newmantr@pcsb.org

Have an AWESOME Thanksgiving. I am thankful for all the awesome colleagues I work with! Have a great -- and well-deserved- break!

-Tracy

Frustration and Scaffolding

Do you live in a land of frustration (in your classroom)? I feel like many teachers set themselves up for failure and then get frustrated.

Their day goes like this.

1. Assign higher level task (because my administrator/colleague/friendTracyNewman says I should.
2. Watch students have non-productive struggle and give up -- OR watch students just do a really terrible job at the task.
3. Decide that students can’t handle the task and next time give them really easy (lower level) tasks so they can be successful.
4. Repeat -- or shy away from giving students challenging tasks for the rest of the year.

How do you feel about giving struggling students higher order thinking? Is it scary to you? Do you think it’s something only for OTHER teachers with OTHER students in OTHER classes or schools? Do you think that YOUR kids can’t handle it?

You’re completely right.

Your kids can’t handle it.

...unless you scaffold it.

“But Tracy”, you argue with me (it’s ok. I can take it). “I don’t actually know how to DO that. I think you think that’s easier than it really is. It’s not easy! It’s hard!

You’re completely right (again).

Scaffolding is hard.

Where should we start? Here are a few strategies to help you get your kids moving UP to that task you’re hesitant to give them.

Quick Go-To Scaffolding Strategies!

1. Chunk It: A struggling student may give up before he begins, if the task LOOKS daunting. Make it look less daunting by shortening the tasks or text into manageable chunks. If you’re giving them a page-long text to read, slow it down and give them one paragraph at a time. If you have ten steps to a task, give them one or two steps at a time. If you have twenty questions, give them the questions in groups of four or five. It is so much more manageable to chunk the text or the task to scaffold it for struggling kids.

2. Remove the Content: (just for a minute!). If students are struggling with a skill or  concept, try to help them understand the skill or concept without the content. Then, add that content back in. If they don’t understand why any Colonist would have stayed Loyal to Britain, ask if they would want to stay if Florida and Georgia decided to leave the US. Or if Pinellas County became it’s own state. Then describe it WITH the content.

3. Model It: Kids bomb their tasks a lot of the time because they don’t know what the task should look like. If you’re asking kids to debate, demonstrate some things the two sides might say. If you’re asking them to write, show them what their writing task should look like. If you’re asking them to track you visually, show them what it would look like to track someone.

4. Gradually Release It:  If your kids can’t “handle” a particular task or activity, try modelling part of it first. Then, do part of it whole class, where you facilitate the learning but the 25 (or 35) brains in the room do the thinking. Then, have them try a part in groups or partners, where a few brains can work together. Then -- and DON’T forget this part! -- make them do (even a little) part on their own.

5. Spiral It: Start small. Start with Level One (recall or “right there”) questions. Then move up the DOK or Bloom’s Ladder. LEAD the kids there by “spiraling up” the questions and tasks. Kids can get where you want them to go if you lead them with some very intentional, pointed questions.

6. Sentence Start ‘Em: Kids don’t always know where to start or what the teacher is looking for. SHOW the kids what you’re looking for with a sentence starter. If you ask the kids, “What are the causes of _____?” then give the kids a sentence starter that says “The causes of _____ were 1)_____ and 2)____.”

Your kids can do it. I promise! Maybe not every kid every time, but a whole lot MORE kids can handle a whole lot MORE content and thinking with some good scaffolding.

Doc Dos and Doc Don'ts

Do you ever see those lists in magazines or online of “Dos and Don’ts”? Like, things to  DO when running (or doing a new hairstyle or shopping for a tablet or whatever) and things DON’T do when running (or doing a new hairstyle or shopping for a tablet or whatever).

I know that many of you are using tons of documents in your social studies classes these days. That’s awesome!  Hooray to you for making social studies authentic and for using complex text!

Now, it’s time for a little refinement. Let’s take it to the next level! Let’s talk about some Doc(ument) Dos and Don’ts, to make your classroom use of documents a little more effective, engaging, and authentic. The last thing you want is for kids to hate documents because they are something the kids find boring, insurmountable, and soul-sucking. Here are some ideas:

1. DO be choosy about your documents. Not all documents are created equal. Just because it’s a document doesn’t mean that it’s right for your kids or your lesson.

DON’T choose a document just because it’s a document or because it’s mentioned in the text.

• Is it something they HAVE to dig through to understand the benchmark, like the Declaration of Independence? It’s better to read excerpts of the Declaration than to read what someone else wrote ABOUT it...
• Is it something the kids can make it through? Slogging through Beowolf or the actual Proclamation of 1763 can be too much (even for me!). If the kids can’t make it through the document, you’ll need to either scaffold it or find a better doc.
• Is it somewhat engaging? If you’re going to ask kids to step into the past through the eyes of someone who was there, please try to make it something they can find something interesting. Otherwise, it will flop.

2. DO use excerpts of the document to make it accessible.
DON’T give the kids a whole document if they don’t need it.

• Use ellipse ( ... ) to remove chunks that are not crucial to the understanding
• Cut out sections that are not necessary to the learning target or are redundant
• Make the document a manageable size for your students. Of course, 6th graders can’t handle quite as much as a high-schooler can. That’s ok. Make it age appropriate.

3. DO “tamper” with the document, when necessary

DON’T rewrite the whole document for the kids. That’s not a primary source anymore.  

• It’s ok to put a synonym in parentheses so the kids don’t get stuck on a particularly tough term. For example, “We hold these truths to be self-evident (clear) that all men are created equal.”
• It’s ok to put explanations in the text, too. For example “He (King George III) has called together legislative bodies unusual, uncomfortable, and distant...”
• DON’T put the main ideas in bullet points for the kids. Let them do that!

4. DO scaffold it.

DON’T decide your kids can’t handle it before they try.

• Break up the text. Add asterisks (*) with necessary information below. Add questions in between sentences or paragraphs or sections to help kids build their way up to higher order thinking..
• Give the kids the tools they need to work their way up to the understanding that you want them to get. Take away the big barriers. Instead of writing too much, make copies they can glue in. Explain context, vocab, and unfamiliar phrasing.
• Add lower level questions that build up to higher level questions to help students work their way up one step at a time.

5. DO let the kids struggle through the document

DON’T just tell them what it means

• The only way kids will get better at working their way through documents -- is to work their way through documents.
• Let them struggle, productively, but not in a way that will make them want to give up.
• Realize that their (adolescent) understanding will NOT be as solid as your (college-educated) understanding. That’s ok. They’re just beginning. But let them come to their own understanding. Don’t just give them your understanding
• Don’t put the main ideas on the board for them to copy.

6. DO give the kids structure to their document digs

DON’T just give them a document and have them cold read it.

• Try the DBQ Project Document Analysis sheets or the National Archive ones https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets or the Library of Congress ones http://www.loc.gov/teachers/primary-source-analysis-tool/

There are ways to use historical and political documents to increase literacy, rigor, and authenticity in your social studies class.  And there are ways to use documents to suck the enjoyment out of your social studies class.

What DOs and DON’Ts would you add to my list? How do you make using historical documents successful?

As always, I love hearing from you! Let me know!

newmantr@pcsb.org

-Tracy