If You Are on the Fence About Gamification, Jump Over....I'll Show You How and Why I Did

To say I have a great group of kids this year would be an understatement.  I have a awesome group of kids.  Of course, that doesn’t mean they are perfect.  As teachers, we always discuss how a certain group of kids can build a reputation for certain things.  For example, someone might say, “Just wait until you get these next 4th graders.  They are an athletic group”.  What I remember hearing about the group this year is that they were a tough group.  Well they must have morphed over the summer.  They are polite, kind and funny as a group.  If I had to pick one area that frustrates me with them, it would be responsibility.  In the first few weeks of school, I would give an assignment and the day it was due, about 16 kids out of 48 would turn it in on time.  That blew me away.  How could so many of this sweet group of kids not turn something in?  Of course, I assumed it was me.  My directions were terrible or something like that.  Then I started creating video directions and nothing changed.  I took points off assignments if they were late.  Still nothing changed.  I started racking my brain and trying to think of someway to motivate these kids.  I believe something flowed across my Twitter feed about Gamification.  It’s not like it’s a new topic but I’ve never really let it get inside by head.  I went ahead and read up on it and the ideas of how it might help this group started flowing like fine wine.    

             

Gamification can mean different things to different people.  For me, I wanted it to be a way to make the students better students but also better people.  I wanted to get away from the mind set of punishing kids for what they are not doing and into the mindset of rewarding them for what they are doing.  I teach reading and writing to two 5th grade classes.  I started the whole gamification journey by asking the students, “If this classroom was a video game, what would the name of the game be?”  My first period class came up with the game title, “Clash of the Warriors”.  My second period class came up with, “Rise of the Warrior”.  The game titles alone got me fired up and made me want to redo our whole class into a video game concept.  I started by thinking, “What do I want the students to do?”.  That led me to create a system of actions that would be rewarded with points.  Here is the link to my points system.  Points  Next, I created a system of levels that the students could achieve as they earned points.  Here is the link to the levels.  Levels  It wasn’t easy trying to come up with those levels but I wanted to make it look as cool as possible for the kids, so you can see how the font changes and grows as they move up levels.  Mind you all this creating was going on without the students knowledge.  The more I got into it, the more I got motivated to make it epic.  The kids were then given a secret name.  I had to come up with 48 names, so I tried to make it easy.  The names are random names like PinkUnicorn01.  I try to be sly, so I don’t make the PinkUnicorn1 a girl.  I give that name to a boy.  They have to keep their name a secret.  There are two reasons for that.  The first reason is because I knew I was going to post a leaderboard and I didn’t want any child feeling bad because they were at the bottom of the leaderboard.  This way, they only see a fake name and they have no idea who it represents.  The other reason is because by earning 1500 points, they reach The Ultimate Warrior level and they earn their way to a party.  This is no ordinary party.  It’s a reveal party.  At the party, they must try to dress up as whatever their name is.  They reveal their identity at the party.  When I told them this, I think their heads almost exploded.  The excitement was thick in the air.  I have a checklist for each class and I award points during the week and add them to the checklist as they earn them.  Over the weekend, I submit the points to Class Dojo and enter them separately into a Google Form that calculates a Leaderboard.  Here is what the leaderboard looks like and the credit for it goes to Chris Hesselbein.  I found his video on YouTube.  Leaderboard  In one way, the kids are competing against each other because the person with the most points will get an award.  The top ten will also get awards.  In another way, they are working together to succeed.  The group points part of the system has kids encouraging each other and helping each other.  I don’t care if they are only doing it for points.  Isn’t it said that if you do something enough times, it becomes a habit?  What a shame if having good manners, learning teamwork and becoming responsible become a habit right?  Wrong!  Bring on the good habits.  I should add that a friendly little rivalry was born between my two classes.  They came up with the idea of competing against each other. We worked on making video game posters for each class. Check them out.  

We’ve been doing this for three weeks now and I can report the changes I’ve seen.  Let’s start with the turning work in on time.  The first assignment showed quite an improvement from the beginning of the year.  The 16/48 kids turning an assignment in on time, turned into 47/48 kids turning the assignment on time.  When I wrote that I could literally hear Matt Damon saying, “How do you like them apples?”.  I know that may sound a bit corny but that turn around just fires me up.  The kids are also showing better manners.  We just had 4H earlier in the week and I had to step out of the room for a meeting.  In past years, the kids could be pretty rude to the 4H teacher.  When I returned, the 4H teacher said, “That is the most polite group of kids I have taught all year.”  It never hurts a teacher to hear comments like that.  I also see kids picking things up in the hallways, helping each other and doing assignments that I didn’t even assign.  I’m just waiting to see where the hurdles are going to be but hoping there won’t be any.  One thing I keep asking myself is, “Why didn’t I give Gamification a chance earlier?”.   Stay tuned for the end of this marking period when I take pictures at the reveal party.  I know I can’t wait!  I will have another little surprise for them at the party.  I can’t write about it here because my students might read this and that will give it away.  It’s just too good of a surprise to ruin, so make sure you check out my follow up in a few weeks.  I know it will be worth it.  

The Teacher I am HATES the Teacher I used to Be

     Cruel detentions, tucked in shirts, hours of homework. These are  some of the policies that the old me used to  enforce that the new me would never allow.  

     What is a cruel detention?  If you ask any of the kids that I taught in the first ten years of my career, I'm sure everyone of them will know.  If they broke any of the class rules three times in one day, they would earn a one hour detention after school.  During this detention, they would have to sit with both hands on top of the desk and not move their hands or feet.  Just typing that alone made me cringe.  I'm not saying I did it to be cruel.  I didn't!  I did what I thought was right at the time.    I wasn't a monster though.  With kids staying an hour after school, there was no crossing guard left to help them cross the intersection outside our school.  I would walk them across the intersection and many times, I would even walk them most of the way home.  See, I wasn't all bad.  However, I could have been better.  I could have found a better way to inspire kids to behave in school.  Now I know that when you create great lessons and make things in your classroom fun, kids don't misbehave nearly as much.  A huge part of classroom management is making learning fun and keeping kids engaged. That of course doesn't eliminate every behavior problem but it takes care of most. 

     We were a uniform school and I always required the boys in my class to tuck their shirts in.  In some way, I guess I was trying to force them to be disciplined and look nice.  Meanwhile, I was walking around with my shirt hanging down to my knees.  For some reason, the word hypocrite comes to mind.  It made sense to me at the time.  It doesn't make much sense to me today.  
      Today, I spend more time focusing on preparing my students for 6th grade.  I set my sights on much different goals.  For one, I want them to learn to love learning.  I want to make them want to come to school.  Another goal is to make them self driven learners.  That's not an easy thing to do, but it's worth a try.  I work so hard to make them understand that the only person worth comparing themselves to is themselves.  I want them to start from right where they are and go forward and improve and see the results of their effort.  That sure has nothing to do with whether a shirt is tucked in or not. 

     Kids love homework don't they?  I'm sure my students did.  They got so much of it, they may have learned to love it.  I was big on teaching kids how to outline text.  Why?  I don't know.  I still think that knowing how to outline is a great skill.  The worst part is that I would often assign this as homework.  Outlining takes time and we know all kids are different.  Some may have been done in thirty minutes, but others may have taken three hours.    Today, I don't even believe in giving homework.  The only time a kid will have homework in my class now is if they waste time in class and don't finish something.  That is their choice, not mine.  Kids have so many after school activities they might be involved in these days.  It might be a sport, cheer leading, karate, music or some other activity.  I want them to have time for these things because they are just as important as anything they can learn at school and more important than anything I could make them do at home.    I want them to go home and work on their fast ball,  practice their jump shot, learn to play the piano or just go home and do something different than school work.  Unless....... you wasted my time in class.  Then you can go home and do homework all night!   

     The funny thing is that my old students probably have no bad thoughts about the detentions, the tucked in shirts or the homework.  They may even look back on those times as great times.  Many of them are friends with me to this day and they still say their year with me, was their best year ever.  I always think how much I wish they could be in my class now or how much I wish I knew then what I know now.  Wouldn't life be grand if it were that way. 

     I didn't write this to step on any toes.  I've been very transparent here and I've been critical of myself.  I'm not judging anyone else or how any other teacher does things.  I'm not telling anyone to give or not give homework.  I'm simply judging how I did things and how I've continued to evolve over my career.  More importantly, I'm showing that I'm always reflecting about what I do as a teacher, why I do it, and if it benefits my students.  We should all be trying to improve continuously.  Learning to be a better teacher has never been easier or cheaper.  The thing that has helped me grow the most is Twitter.  So many wonderful educators share the best ideas they have to offer, freely.  If you haven't tried Twitter, I think you should. Let me end with this parting thought, "Ten years from now, I hope the teacher I am then, HATES the teacher I am today." 

So You Want to Use Green Screen in Your Classroom

Why You Should    

     Nothing is more exciting for a teacher than seeing excitement boil over in your students.  Making school fun for our students should be one of our biggest goals.  Using green screen technology in your classroom is one way you can achieve this for many students.  I'm not saying everything in school is fun.  Taking assessments doesn't exactly equal to a party.  However, all assessments don't have to be multiple choice or long answer.  Showing what you have learned about something can be done in a fun way using green screen.  Here is an example of kids learning about the Bill of Rights and using video technology with green screen to show what they've learned.



This next video is an example of using green screen technology to create a video newsletter in 2012.   

Using technology this way helps kids with the writing process (writing scripts), and helps them learn to be more creative through designing, filming, editing and publishing the videos.  We've gotten a bit more advanced over they years.  This is our latest video newsletter. 


 What You Need

     I've been using green screen technology for many years and I can't tell you how often I've heard other teachers say something like, "I wish I knew how to do that" or "I wish I had the resources to do that."  It's easier than you think.
     To start, you need a green screen.  Here is the one I started with: My First Green Screen. ($18 on Amazon).  For this green screen, you will also need a way to attach it to a wall or board.  I used these spring clamps at first (Spring Clamps).  You will also need something to video tape with.  You can use something as simple as a smartphone, or something as sophisticated as a top notch video camera.  Most schools have something in the middle available to them.
     Finally, you will need video editing software.  Those schools that use Apple products can use iMovie.  iMovie has chroma key editing features built into the software.  WeVideo is free, and it's easily integrated into Google Drive.  I use Sony Vegas Movie Studio, which can be purchased for as low as $50 and you can find it even cheaper on Amazon.   Some people may be nervous about learning to use the software.  No fear my friends!  Youtube has more videos than you can count for virtually every software program.  We all also seem to have at least one "tech wiz" in each class.  You can have that student learn the software and teach you or teach the other students. 
     If you get more advanced or come into some funds, you can upgrade to a green screen like this (Green Screen with Support Stand).  One important thing to also mention is lighting.  You either need a room with pretty good lighting or if you have the funds, a Lighting Kit.  You don't have to have perfect lighting but the better lighting you have, the better the green screen affect will work.  The picture below was made using a green screen with a lighting setup. 

Now go get a green screen and get started!

My First Time Flipping Language Arts

Monday evening began my first attempt to Flip Language Arts in my class room.  I stayed up pretty late that night and created the video that turned out to be a little more than 7 minutes.  It was a writing strategy to help students come up with ideas for writing personal narratives.  I sent the parents a pretty lengthy email explaining to them what Flipping was and how this would work.  Tuesday, I talked to the kids in depth about it and showed them how to access the video at home.  We talked about plans for kids that don't have Internet or what would happen if the Internet was down.  I thought we had all the bases covered. Then I sent the kids home.  Tuesday night I got about a half a dozen emails, as I was sitting at my son's football practice.  Some people couldn't access the video.  I had emailed the video as an attachment to myself in case that happened.  I like to be prepared!  I simply emailed the video to those parents that emailed me.  I had no idea what to expect on Wednesday. 

The first kid that arrived on Wednesday morning had a note saying that the video didn't work.  Probably about the next 10 kids that arrived also had a note.  My thought was "uh oh".  That about summed it up.  Out of 56 students in two classes, only 6 were able to view the video and three of them were because I emailed it to the parents.  I would say that my first day of flipping language arts was an EPIC fail.

That doesn't mean that I won't continue.  Tommytude is not a quitter.  It turns out that the problem was with the LMS that our county has provided us.  Come to think of it the LMS wasn't even the real problem.  Many people simply didn't have the proper plug ins to watch the video.  I even had one parent bring in their laptop and I used it to figure out how to access the video.  The process of figuring it out would have been enough to make me lose my hair if I didn't already sport and very shiny dome.  I found out that when kids log in at school, Vimeo, SchoolTube, YouTube and Teachertube are all blocked.  Isn't that pleasant?  "grrrrrr"

I put on the video in class and watched myself teach along with the kids.  It was a bit weird being taught by myself.  I did realize that I'm not as funny in the video as I am in person.  That was verified by my students.  It didn't help that my family was sound asleep when I was trying to record the video, so I was trying not to be too loud.  One email I just received a few minutes ago chewed me out for giving homework that required a computer.  Let's just say the email was very rude.  I never knew I would offend someone by trying to be a 21st Century teacher.  I typed out a very nice response and told Tommytude to stay out of it.

Tonight I will be working on my next flip video.  Nobody is at home right now, so I can talk louder.  I also plan on incorporating some of the wigs I wear in class to ratchet up the entertainment level.  I will send the kids home tomorrow to watch another video and I'm sure there will be some that don't have Internet and others that can't watch the video because of a plug in.  It might even further insult any parent that is against their child needing a computer for homework.  Whatever happens, I just hope it's better than what I dealt with today.  If not, I'll keep trying.       

If you Flip it, will it Flop?

I still remember the day I updated my Interwrite Pad software and a tab labeled "record" showed up on the menu bar.  When I realized you could record every action you created on the Interwrite software and save it as a video, I was like a kid in a candy store.  Immediately, I started creating videos.  The first videos I made were used more for remediation and review.  I created the videos, so children could get extra help if they didn't understand something in class.  

I first read about the idea of flipping the classroom in a newsletter I get from SmartBrief.   By the title I thought flipping the classroom had something to do with reversing roles and having the kids teach.  I couldn't see how that would work.  When I read more about it, it became very clear to me that this was a great idea.  I loved the idea that the kids would be able to watch the videos as many times as they needed.  I also saw the benefits of the child being able to do something I'm sure they sometimes wish they could do in class, pause me.  I could even picture a kid at football practice with a parent sitting on the sidelines watching the video on their smartphone and then telling the child about it on the way home.  The most important aspect that really got me was that instead of standing in front of the kids lecturing, I would be able to walk around and help them with their "homework".

I graduated from creating videos on Interwrite software to using Camtasia and this allowed me to make better quality videos.  They were to watch the videos at home for homework.  The videos I created were between 10 and 15 minutes.  They were required to keep a journal and write notes while they watched the video.  This was a way for me to keep track of whether they watched the video and it also provided them with notes that could be helpful in class.

In class, I divided the kids into 3 groups that had from 7-10 students in each group.  One group would be working on math problems that allowed them to practice what was taught on the previous night's video.  This is the work that in the past was given as homework and it usually consisted of a workbook page.    Another group would be working on a project that would help them apply the math skill we were working on.  The final group would be working on practice problems at the computer or on another device with Internet.

I was amazed at how successful flipping my math class was.  All students improved on the math assessments.  Those students that typically struggle in math were making A's.  The kids also really enjoyed doing math this way.  There were times when a child did not watch the video that was assigned and there were students that did not have access to the Internet at home.  I only required them to bring a note from a parent and they were excused.  I also had them watch the video the first thing in the morning and take their notes.  By the time math time came around, everyone had watched the video lesson and taken notes.

During math, I was able to walk around and visit anyone that needed help in any of the 3 groups.  The great thing is that many times the kids in the groups were helping each other and I didn't need to help them.  I didn't even tell them to do this.  It just happened.  It also wasn't always the "Math Wiz" that was being the helper.  Sometimes the kids that usually struggled were helping the other kids.  I strongly recommend flipping the classroom.  I've only done it in math but it was very successful.  I do believe that you have to do it correctly for it to be successful.  Your videos should be short and to the point and you shouldn't try to cover too much information.  Your video doesn't have to be as good as an episode of Good Luck Charley but you should try to make it as interesting as possible.  I tried to make sure the same personality that cracks my students up in the classroom was also on each video I made.  I told jokes and talked in different accents at times.  I'm sure my jokes were only funny to me but they were important because that is the way I am in class.  I think it's also important to provide kids with tasks that will allow them to apply the math skills they are learning on the video.

Below is a link to the second video I made.  Since I'm not perfect, you may catch a little mistake I made in the beginning.  The kids sure did :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_elD8rRGWBU&feature=player_embedded#!

Should We Beat Ourselves Up Over Test Scores?

When I look back on this last school year, I really have mixed feelings.  I have to admit, my kids test scores were lower than they probably have ever been before.  I have racked my brain trying to figure out why this happened.  I've come to the conclusion that it's not just one thing.  I could blame the schedule, the kids, or myself but the real truth is that my goal for the kids was never to make them score higher on a test.

This year I gave up control in my class.  Does that mean kids were hanging from the ceiling and running around the room like animals?  Of course not.  It just means that I gave the kids many more choices than I ever had in my career.  I went away from the traditional set up of me standing in front of the kids and lecturing them.  I let them choose their own groups, seating arrangements and resources for learning.  I provided them with the standards, created pages of resources on my website and provided them with any materials they needed.  They had access to laptops, cell phones, desktop computers, iPads, iPods and other devices.  They chose all kinds of ways to show their learning.  They built models, made videos, created rap songs, used Web 2.0 applications and found other creative ways to show what they learned.  I saw them improve at collaborating, creating, public speaking, researching and in some cases even leading.  Many even got better at trouble shooting the devices they were using.  They were still given assessments so I could give them a grade.  It would be a lie if I said there were no behavior problems or struggles.  There were both.  Welcome to the real world.  All of this may sound good but it didn't necessarily result in higher test scores.

Should my main goal as a teacher be to prepare them for a standardized test or should my main goal be to turn them into 21st century learners?  That is a very hard question to answer.  Parents want to see test scores improve.  I don't think most parents would be able to recognize if their child has become more creative or a better collaborator.  I don't think they would even care about that.  However, we are told that today's workforce desires creativity, collaboration and critical thinking.

In a perfect world, this type of learning would always result in higher test scores for every student.  This is not a perfect world and I don't think that is ever going to happen.  That doesn't mean that I wont spend the next school year trying to make that happen. 

TO BE elite OR NOT TO BE elite!

What exactly is the purpose of the whole charter school push that currently faces us?  Is it a way to try and circumvent the ridiculous guidelines set by the epic fail we know as No Child Left Behind or maybe there is something much more evil at hand here.  Could some be using this as a way to create schools of "Haves" and "Have Nots"?  Let's take a look at some of the things that are currently going on and let everyone have a chance to form their own opinions.  

Why would a charter school have kids fill out an application and then go to an interview before they find out if they have been selected to attend the school?  More than once I've heard people talk of kids being a "good fit" for a certain school.  It blows my mind that kids would need to be a good fit for a school.  I always thought schools existed to meet the needs of students.  Would a school have a selection process like this so they could have complete control over who attends?  For if they did not have control certain kids could not be guaranteed to get in.  Worse yet certain undesirable kids would get in.  Try to imagine this process from the perspective of a child.   

First there is a lengthy application that has to be filled out and a number of recommendation forms that have to be completed.  Once that is turned in, you have to attend an interview.  At the interview, you work with a small group of other kids, some of which you have never met and you work on a project together.  While you work a group of teachers from that school watch you and evaluate your performance.  Weeks later you get a letter in the mail letting you know if you "made the cut".  As I type this I'm reminded that this sounds like trying out for a basketball team.  The child that makes it can't wait to go school the next day to let everyone know their exciting news.  However, imagine the child that doesn't make it.  They will have to go to school and face those other children that were lucky enough to make it.  Who would want to face that?  I know I wouldn't!  The other part is the pain of knowing that you tried out and didn't do good enough to be selected.  That gut wrenching feeling of failure is something they will surely never forget.

In the past, I had a student apply to attend a certain charter school and was denied.  This student was very intelligent and super creative.  She didn't make the cut though.  I emailed to complain.  I asked professionals at my school their opinion on why she wasn't selected.  I was told that this student had a history of not doing her school work and of generally being unmotivated.  I pointed out that this child just spent a year in my class doing her work and being super motivated and even producing such creative work that she raised the bar for others in my class.  I was then told that just because she was able to do that in my class for one year, that doesn't take the place of the other years that were characterized by lack of motivation.  That makes absolutely no sense to me.  The description of her history of low motivation that only improved in my class told me that she is exactly the kind of student that should have been selected first for this prestigious school.  Could it be that she spent other years in classes that did not peak her interest and tap into her creativity and when she was placed in a class that provided those things, she blossomed?  It almost seems like the very kids that are turned away are the ones that need to attend this school the most.  Why take all the brightest, most creative and motivated students out of other non charter schools and put them in one charter school?  If that school is such a special school with such innovative ideas, shouldn't every child have the same chance to attend?  I had another student that wasn't fortunate enough to be selected and even though she had a record of very few absences throughout her academic career, she missed three days in a row after getting a letter in the mail that she didn't make it.  She spent those three days in bed crying.  That child did eventually get a call and get selected but that doesn't take away the misery she went through.    

I'll end with a few more thoughts to ponder.  If Spanish is so important, shouldn't there be some kind of Spanish program in all schools?  If technology and creativity are so important, shouldn't it also be found in abundance in all schools?  Should schools that are "special" be turning away the kids that may need them the most?  I for one would love to see the whole charter school idea become a thing of the past.  I would like to see all schools become elite.  That to me would be so much better than the current elitist trend of trying to pick students that are a "good fit".