Amidst all of the Thanksgiving hoopla and festivities, my son and daughter introduced me to a the fantastic trivia game known as Smart Ass.
Me being me ... I found myself saying ... LESSON PLAN IDEA ... BINGO!!!
Here's a stark truth
We can skill-n-drill our students with practice multiple-choice until the cows come home ... but our efforts are pretty futile in terms of really making a difference in terms of raising scores.
So here's what I've done for today's video.
I gamified three poems by incorporating Smart Ass.
Through the elements of competition and collaboration, my students developed very close and analytical reads of the following poems:
Sentimental Moment Or Why Did the Baguette Cross the Road by Robert Herson
Jorge the Church Janitor Finally Quits by Martin Espada
Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
Here's the kicker --- good test takers are good test takers because they know how to question a text.
And that's what Smart Ass solidifies.
Believe it or not, gamification strategies like this also reinforce the Line of Reasoning tricks I've shared in my past few messages.
It's all one big thread.
If you'd like to learn more, join me as well as the National Writing Project on December 10th at 11 a.m. EST live in Zoom for our Teaching Line of Reasoning 2-Hour Intensive.
NWP will be awarding completion badges for those of you needing PD hours, and replays will be made available.
We'll cover it all ... the gamification strategies ... the templates ... even the edible templates and graphic organizers ... and let's not forget about the children's stories too.
Hope you can join us.
Happy teaching and happy writing!
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