This activity I've shamelessly stolen from Mini-lessons for Literature Circles by Harvey Daniels and Nancy Steineke (2004, pg 43-7).
Start with the sports page in your local paper and announce the standings of a few of your home teams. Point out to students that the teams typically do better at home than away (unless they are incredibly good or incredibly bad). This begs the question, why do teams win more games at home than away? Give students a few minutes to work with a partner or a group of three to list as many reasons why they think this is the case. Then as a whole class, compile a master list.
Daniels and Steineke's major goal with this lesson is to discourage put-downs, and the big moment in the lesson comes when the teacher tells the students, after compiling the list, that "one of the most important ways to keep the home court advantage is to avoid using put-downs. From now on, if anyone hears a put-down, just gently say 'home court' to remind that person to stop" (pg 44-5). It's a great idea.
But it can be taken so much further. Many of the items from a class list can be adjusted and implemented in the classroom. When I worked with teachers in South Africa, they had this thing where if a student did well, the teacher would say, "give it to him." On this cue, the 48 other students in the class would rub the palms of their hands around, one on top of the other a couple times, finally letting the top hand slide in the direction of the student.
I thought it was pretty lame the first time I saw it. Especially in the context of corporal punishment being used by teachers so often to punish misbehaving and even simply forgetful students. What student would care about this meaningless motion when they feel too unsafe in their classroom to learn?
But you should have seen the face of the student on the receiving end of that praise.
I'm not suggesting anything quite like that. It would be too easily ridiculed in most middle school classrooms. But supporting the idea of praise and encouragement between students is certainly not a bad idea.
Daniels and Steineke designed this as a mini-lesson, but I devote at least a full class period. Once you've made the list, discuss with students how these could translate into the classroom. It might be interesting to see if they see themselves as all being on the same team, or if the grading and the current schooling system creates a more competitive attitude. Ask students what they can do on a daily basis in the class to support a home court environment.
Daniels and Steineke suggest as a variation on their mini-lesson asking students to create posters displaying some of the elements of a home court advantage along with how these would look in a classroom. Despite the feelings of the rest of my 2005 pre-service teaching book club, I think this is a great activity, would use it to wrap up the discussion, and put the finished posters up in the room for the remainder of the school year (while still alternating other displays in the classroom throughout the year, because us secondary teachers don't do it enough).
Previous - Day Four through Six: Two Truths and a Lie
Next - Day Eight: Creative Problem Solving
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Classroom Community Days Four to Six: Two Truths and a Lie
Closing in on the first week, I know a lot about my students from the information sheets they filled out. Students began to learn each other's names by playing name games. They may have identified with each other during the classroom grids activity. Now I want them to get some of the information I had on the first day, but in a way that the student has more control.
Two truths and a lie takes a lot of class time, but is time well spent. Every student gets about 10 minutes of time when everyone is giving them their complete attention and asking about them. There's no need to force students to go, but most teenagers are alright being the center of positive attention.
One person tells the class three things about themselves. Two of the statements are true and one is false. Members of the class can ask any (and as many) questions as they want to figure out which statement is the lie. The person who offered their three statements doesn't have to answer these questions truthfully - so the object is to make them slip up and reveal their lie.
I model first. My three statements might be:
1. I was on Sesame Street when I was 8 years old.
2. I was a Boy Scout for 16 years.
3. I lived in Africa for two years.
Then I give students a good half hour to ask questions. It gives them an opportunity to figure out and practice asking good ones. Then we vote on which statement the students think is the lie.
For the game to be worthwhile though, the instructor has to very clearly model the activity and set some guidelines for the two truths and the lie. Students who don't see it modeled and understand how to choose good statements might give the following three options:
1. I have five brothers.
2. This summer I went to Disney World.
3. I have a pet dinosaur.
Students who know the individual outside of school may already know they have five brothers, or that they went to Disney World. Or that information might have shown up on the classroom grid activity. And all students probably know that dinosaurs are extinct.
So after I model, I offer a few guidelines to help students choose their statements.
One, don't choose any statements that are related.
1. I've lived in South America.
2. I speak fluent Spanish.
3. I have a pet dinosaur.
If someone knows the majority of countries in South America are Spanish speaking, one will know that the first two statements are most likely true because only one can be false.
Two, never say never.
1. I've never failed a class.
2. I speak fluent Spanish.
3. I have a pet dinosaur.
It's hard to determine the truth value of a negative.
Three, all three statements should have a certain level of unbelievability.
1. I have two brothers.
2. I ate a hot dog yesterday.
3. Michael Jackson is my uncle.
Though you could potentially fake a number of people out, the object is to get to know each other better, and one doesn't learn a whole lot about a person by how many brothers they have or what they ate for dinner.
Four, lies need to be complete lies, not half truths.
1. My uncle is Michael Jackson.
2. I speak Spanish fluently.
3. I grow all my vegetables in my back yard.
It's pretty lame when people have voted to say "ha! I grow all my vegetables in my front yard! Tricked you all!"
One thing that can go wrong with this activity is students will start asking all kinds of questions that don't have anything to do with the three truths. While this is in a way the point of the whole activity (to get them to want to know more about each other), it could become uncomfortable for the student put on the spot. One potential intervention is to limit how many questions they can ask to a hard number - "okay, only 10 more questions and then we vote!" Students will start asking good questions about the statements rather than going off on tangents.
Each student will need about 10 minutes for offering their statements and answering questions.
Previous - Day Three: Classroom Grid
Next - Day Five: Home Team Advantage
Two truths and a lie takes a lot of class time, but is time well spent. Every student gets about 10 minutes of time when everyone is giving them their complete attention and asking about them. There's no need to force students to go, but most teenagers are alright being the center of positive attention.
One person tells the class three things about themselves. Two of the statements are true and one is false. Members of the class can ask any (and as many) questions as they want to figure out which statement is the lie. The person who offered their three statements doesn't have to answer these questions truthfully - so the object is to make them slip up and reveal their lie.
I model first. My three statements might be:
1. I was on Sesame Street when I was 8 years old.
2. I was a Boy Scout for 16 years.
3. I lived in Africa for two years.
Then I give students a good half hour to ask questions. It gives them an opportunity to figure out and practice asking good ones. Then we vote on which statement the students think is the lie.
For the game to be worthwhile though, the instructor has to very clearly model the activity and set some guidelines for the two truths and the lie. Students who don't see it modeled and understand how to choose good statements might give the following three options:
1. I have five brothers.
2. This summer I went to Disney World.
3. I have a pet dinosaur.
Students who know the individual outside of school may already know they have five brothers, or that they went to Disney World. Or that information might have shown up on the classroom grid activity. And all students probably know that dinosaurs are extinct.
So after I model, I offer a few guidelines to help students choose their statements.
One, don't choose any statements that are related.
1. I've lived in South America.
2. I speak fluent Spanish.
3. I have a pet dinosaur.
If someone knows the majority of countries in South America are Spanish speaking, one will know that the first two statements are most likely true because only one can be false.
Two, never say never.
1. I've never failed a class.
2. I speak fluent Spanish.
3. I have a pet dinosaur.
It's hard to determine the truth value of a negative.
Three, all three statements should have a certain level of unbelievability.
1. I have two brothers.
2. I ate a hot dog yesterday.
3. Michael Jackson is my uncle.
Though you could potentially fake a number of people out, the object is to get to know each other better, and one doesn't learn a whole lot about a person by how many brothers they have or what they ate for dinner.
Four, lies need to be complete lies, not half truths.
1. My uncle is Michael Jackson.
2. I speak Spanish fluently.
3. I grow all my vegetables in my back yard.
It's pretty lame when people have voted to say "ha! I grow all my vegetables in my front yard! Tricked you all!"
One thing that can go wrong with this activity is students will start asking all kinds of questions that don't have anything to do with the three truths. While this is in a way the point of the whole activity (to get them to want to know more about each other), it could become uncomfortable for the student put on the spot. One potential intervention is to limit how many questions they can ask to a hard number - "okay, only 10 more questions and then we vote!" Students will start asking good questions about the statements rather than going off on tangents.
Each student will need about 10 minutes for offering their statements and answering questions.
Previous - Day Three: Classroom Grid
Next - Day Five: Home Team Advantage
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Classroom Community Day Three: Classroom Grid
On the first day of school I do an information sheet to get to know my students. Then over the first and second nights of school I make up classroom grids for each of my classes. Each student gets a grid with one block of information for each student in the class, but there is no name.
Every student has to find all the people on their grid. The rules: you can't ask questions like "which block are you?" or copy off someone else's sheet. You can ask, "hey, do you have a dog and ride your bike to school?" The teacher should play along as well (unless you've memorized the answer sheet, which you shouldn't do because that's cheating).
Name tags are a nice thing to use on these days, since it's only the third day students have seen each other that year. Then there's none of that awkward, "who are you?" while students are filling out their sheets.
Previous - Day Two: Name Games
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