The Golden Mystery Prize

When I look back, I am happy that I made the prizes set up more like an MMORPG/RPG. It's very interesting that students (even those who were mostly in silver tier) chose the mystery prizes more than the known prizes. I know that a few of the students have checked out the blog and have gotten a sneak peek at what the mystery prizes are, but they seem to have kept the secret to themselves.

These prizes gave an element of excitement to the rewards because students have to spend an entire week just to figure out what the prize is. The golden mystery prize was the Wii U. I spent about 500USD yesterday purchasing a Wii U, the game, 3 wireless pro controllers, and tax. My efforts have not gone to waste (and neither have theirs).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

What I like the most about games like SM3DW is that the experience is different every time. The reason why a game like SSBM is so fun is that despite having the same characters and the same stages and the same moves, there are so many items that provide for a different experience almost every time. Have you ever eaten the same thing over and over and over and over and over again? (I have, which is why I added an extra two "over"s to emphasize my point). You literally cannot eat it anymore.

But there are so many worlds to explore in SM3DW and students have to work together to complete levels and progress in the game. Just look at the first video. What I liked the most about this was not only the collaboration aspect, but students took turns and were able to share the controller and the gamepad without any quarreling. We are off to a great start for the new year! I have created a system that inspires students to feel good about themselves and the EFFORT and hard work they have put into my class. It's not about being smart or being the best at math. It's about working as a team, being responsible for your actions, and trying your best.                                            

The Success of VSC Math Recognition

Success!

The first day of VSC Math recognition was a success. The plan I laid out from an earlier post worked:

1) Spend the first 5 minutes of class by having students cash in their tokens and recording the prizes.
2) Hand out any tangible prizes at the end of class, and keep record of intangible prizes for later.
3) Prizes that require students to come upstairs are either scheduled (and upheld) or take place during lunch on Thursday.

The key thing is that this reward system is manageable. There was only 1 issue:
I have 3/4 classes before lunch, so 1 class was left out today because I do not have them before lunch. The only fix I can think of is going to the class they're in during my prep and completing this survey, but this is obviously not going to work.

This class will have to get their rewards (the ones require students to come upstairs for lunch) on Friday. This is fine. When mail starts, that class will have double the rewards on the same day, so I think it balances out nicely. The fact that this system is manageable means that I can move onto mail (something far easier to manage) without revising, but most importantly I will give this system a little bit more time to settle in first before moving to mail.

VSC Math Treasure

                                                  Yep, it's real. What lies in the box?...

Memoirs of the 7th Graders Pt. 1

I have been extremely busy as of late but I've finally got a chance to post. This week I've had the experience of a few of the 7th graders I had last year come to my room before going to the cafeteria for lunch. It's interesting to hear their new experiences and how things have drastically changed. As a teacher that struggled with management last year, there is a gigantic shift between previous expectations from last year, and their current math teacher's expectations.

Because of those management issues, I didn't think I made much of an impact on those students at all. However, plenty of them wanted to have me back, recalled what it was like to have a teacher that explained the math to them, and even remembered their seat.

L: "Right here Mr. E! This was my seat. Right here!"

A former student has also come into my room for homework help.

S: "You always explained this to us!"

Maybe I wasn't the best teacher. But I was wrong. I provided them with a space to learn math, and served as a person they could go to with any question about math or trouble in school. And they know that they are welcome.

The VSC Math Time Bomb

The anxiousness of the process of students cashing in these tokens has seriously gotten to me. I have no idea what I'm going to do tomorrow. All I've come up with is:

A) I have 3/4 of the classes BEFORE lunch.
B) Perhaps I can bring up the reward page and give students about 2-3 minutes to discuss with their group what prizes they want. I'll remind them that if they have combinations such as 3 golds and 1 silver, they have to choose from silver prizes.
C) I'll record what each group wants on my clipboard.

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A) Fruit snacks/Bronze Mystery prize will be given out at the end of class
B) Silver prizes (Lunch with Mr. E will be Monday) and other silver prizes will be accounted for
C) Gold mystery prizes given at lunch Thursday.

Let's see how it works!

Find Someone Who............

Before creating my seating chart and making groups, I decided to take an activity I found from a master teacher on betterlessons and use it. We've also played a similar game during a PD on Overcoming Obstacles. It's a game (or at least I framed it as such) called find someone who, in which the following sheet is used:

A lot of groupwork is going to be done in my class and students have to be able to work together and cooperate with one another. I wanted them to see that although they are all unique, they also have plenty of similar qualities and can get to know one another. Watching students get to know each other was fascinating:

Students go around asking their classmates to sign one of the boxes that applies to them until they get one full row of signatures, either vertically or horizontally. However, my goal was simply for students to get to know one another, so the goal was to gather as many different signatures as you can in 10 minutes. I think this goes a long way towards the students being able to work well with one another, and even if it has nothing to do with math, it does help them break the ice with each other and make a new friend in their first week of 6th grade.

The Effect of the Tokens

As with any system, it's important to note the pros and cons. I've made a list of pros and cons from Friday (Day 1) of the tokens and here is a write-up from what I've seen:

PROS

• Increased collaboration - Students are more motivated to work with one another, share their thinking and discussions are focused on the topic or question at hand.
• Students holding each other accountable - In an ideal world, we'd want students to correct or re-direct their own peers. I've seen students remind their teammates that they need to stay on task. For me, this is huge as this takes the responsibility off of my shoulders (and this is the goal, is it not? A classroom where the teacher just has to guide, but not completely take over). Not having to deal with behavioral issues and being able to teach is a dream to many current teachers.
• Feedback - The tokens are also a form of direct feedback on classroom and group performance.
• Tangible - Having something concrete and tangible makes things a lot more "real". Students are also responsible/accountable to their group for carrying these home and bringing them in.
• Students praise each other for their effort - I saw one of the groups of students cheer each other at the end of class when they got a gold token. Complimenting them goes a long way towards increasing their motivation. They will actually be happy to work with another and be excited to work as a team next class. 

CONS

• As mentioned in an earlier post, I still need a way to manage all of the students redeeming tokens all on one day.
• I saw one student upset at another student for earning silver instead of gold. The question becomes "What happens when students in a group aren't doing what they're supposed to? Will I be penalized?" I think acknowledging students who did contribute to the group is the right approach here. However, this is also an opportunity for the group members to have a conversation and be accountable for one another.

 

Side notes:  I saw some students deciding to split the work and coordinate what problems they will share! I was very happy that they were working together on a level that even I function on with my cohort and fellow classmates in college. I will remember to reinforce the teamwork aspect of this system at the end of each period, perhaps with a handshake or a 3 minute discussion where students can reflect on how they worked together that day. I think this will go a long way.

VSC Math Recognition

Here's how it works: Each day, groups can earn 1 token (gold, silver or bronze) depending on factors such as coming prepared, classroom behavior, participation, and working together with their group. The week starts on Friday and ends on Wednesday. Students can earn tokens on Friday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thursday is the day where students redeem 4 of their tokens for a prize. I give them out at the end of class and the students coordinate which member of their group will take them home and hold onto them.

The following are the prizes:

Each tier of prizes contains a mystery prize. The students will have to figure out what these prizes are. I modeled it after RPG/MMOs. I think leaving it up to the students to figure out what the mystery prizes are contains some kind of value that I can't quite put my finger on yet. Students have a choice to pick whatever prize they want. Each member of the group will get a prize, and each member gets the same prize.

Gold mystery prizes: Playing Nintendo Wii U during lunch period on Thursday (once a week). Nintendo has tons of kid-friendly games that even adults enjoy and they are all multiplayer. I won't purchase all of the games upfront. Students can earn more games over time (I'll buy them and add to our collection). These include fun competitive multiplayer games like Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario 3d World.

I told students about this blog earlier this week. Thankfully, they are very excited about it! The other gold mystery prize is a feature on the blog! Silver mystery prize is 10 minutes of free time (thinking of 15 but I want to start small first). The bronze mystery prize is a plush toy. If students earn 4 gold tokens for 4 weeks in a row, they'll be added to a Hall of Fame section of this blog that I'll create. These are all subject to change depending on the kinks that need to be ironed out (as with any system).

So far, students have been holding up their end of things, so I hope things will run smoothly on Thursday. One of my challenges will be the actual process of students redeeming these as I can't have so many students in front of my room! I'm thinking of distributing bronze prizes in the lunch room, and take the students who will play or spend lunch with me upstairs.

VSC Math Token

I wasted no time to get these done at staples. They cost about 40 dollars for 20 of each. While they may not look as perfect as the original image does, they do look great and they're quite durable. I introduced the system to the students on Thursday and we began on Friday.

Our Classroom Sign!

BIG thanks to our new art teacher Ms. S, for helping us with our new sign that now hangs high in our classroom. It is the first step to filling up some of the empty space in the class. The others will showcase student work, which is the best decoration one could ask for.

I have some other things of the kids that I would like to post but it is 1AM. I put in so much effort. I really hope this will be a successful year.