Gaming Grammar--What I've Learned

Last year I decided to jump, both feet, into the flipped--game-theory-classroom with my 8th grade during their grammar unit. I spent hours at school, recording all of the videos, putting together all the resources, and then trying to stay one step ahead of my accelerated learners who devoured and mastered everything I set in front of them. I was nervous about the whole thing--I have books upon books that tell me I shouldn't teach grammar in isolation, yet I had years and years of students not learning in context. I had friends who had mastered the flipped classroom and others who were asking me how to do it. In the end, I felt like the most frazzled, incompetent, overworked teacher ever, and I wasn't so sure it was worth it.

But when my students sat down to take that final, end-of-the-year grammar test, 95% of them passed  with an 80% or above--something I never thought I would live to see. And even better, for the remainder of the year, I heard them using grammatical terms when working with their writing and revisions. And finally, this year's high school teachers report that most of my students are retaining  and applying the information still.

So it couldn't have been the flop that I had thought it was, when I stood in the classroom, quickly grading quizzes, punching numbers into a calculator, not answering every question, forgetting which students needed help, juggling mountains of paperwork, feeling completely overwhelmed, but too far in to admit defeat.

This year, instead of scrapping the unit because it was difficult and I had made many many mistakes, I hesitantly decided to tweak it a bit. Currently, we're three weeks in, and I am hearing comments like, "I LOVE what we are doing in your class right now!" When I hear them say this, I want to take them squarely by the shoulders, look them in the eye, and say, "You DO know that we are studying grammar, right?" I mean, I've never heard a collective group of kids equate pronoun agreement with fun. But really, we are having fun. And while I'm still making mistakes, they are not quite as grievous as last year's. I feel more in touch with students and have found ways to manage the workload a bit better.

So...for those of you playing with the idea of flipped classrooms and game theory? Here are the mistakes I made. Try to avoid them, if you can:

• I didn't check in w/ students at the beginning of class to make sure they had notes taken, so many kids wouldn't watch the videos & use class time to do this. That meant I didn't have time to work with them or get a feeling for where they were.

• I did all of their assessments on paper, and they weren't allowed to move on to the next level w/o an 80 or above, so I spent most of class time grading papers and not working with students.

• I had a graph paper spreadsheet for grades & points, so when I wasn't grading, I was adding up tallies to give to the students.

• In my state of being overwhelmed, I didn't give many formative assessments, so I never knew who was struggling until they had taken the quiz and failed.

This year, things are different. The classroom is calmer, and I am connected with every student. What are we doing different?

• Students are required to take notes by a given day--these notes are checked & counted as a grade or points (and a quick aside: when doing game-theory, points are much more important to the students than grades!). Videos are only watched in class if they need reinforcement or are moving ahead.

• All assessments are hosted on Edmodo. They receive their grade right away, and if they didn't do well, sit with me. I can spend my time breaking it down for them, recognizing where they need further help, rather than just spitting out numbers.

• On Edmodo, the points are automatically tallied--no calculator for me!

• Every class period starts with a quick, formative assessment. Based on how they did, I am able to group and regroup students for more practice, further instruction, or studying. On any given day, some students are working with me, others are practicing with a friend who has already mastered the material, some are playing a computer game for practice, some are sitting with an old-style grammar book, and others are moving on to the next topic. I know who struggles, who is stuck, who needs a quick reminder, and who is marching on at full speed. 

As with anything, all or nothing generally doesn't work (I would like to say I have moved from flipped-classroom to blended-classroom), and when we do things for the first time, we are likely to fail.  As teachers, we want our students to understand the benefits of learning from failure, but we are too afraid to model that risk-taking ourselves. Yet, anybody who is contemplating playing with a flipped- or blended-classroom model (and I highly recommend it!) or integrating game theory into his or her classroom must be prepared for imperfection. But if you are willing to learn alongside your students, change your pace midstream, and admit your downfalls, you might be surprised at what blooms within your classroom walls.

It's a Showdown.

It's a Tuesday morning. Eighth graders file in with typed papers without their names on them and hand them to me. Excitement hums in the air. I shuffle the papers and number them 1-16. "Are you ready?" I ask them. They stand with clipboards and excitement, and nod at me.

Today is their Nonfiction Showdown. We've been working on implementing narrative elements into their expository writing for over a week, and they are ready to prove that they can write nonfiction that sings off the page as well as Marc Aronson or Jim Murphy.

The 16 pieces of anonymous writing are spread around the classroom on separate desks. Students stop at each piece, analyzing it, re-looking at the criteria they agreed upon as a whole, and then scratching out all the positive things they can say about it on their paper. They spend the entire period in utter silence, reading. The only murmurs I hear are whispers like, "Have you read this one? It's SO good." Once in a while I stop and exclaim, "Oh my goodness, you guys. These are too good. We're never going to find a winner!" In the end, the students turn in their notes, highlighting the number that they think was the best one--the one that should represent their class. I sort through the papers and choose the four that receive the top scores.

Later in the week, we combine the papers with the other section of 8th grade's papers, and we do a finalist showdown. The same process is worked through, but this time they know they are choosing a final winner. And the Nonfiction Showdown Winner receives 4 things: 1. A pass to not have to write a book review for a month of their choice. 2. A bag of Swedish fish.  3. A crown. and 4. A bulletin board that showcases their (and all the finalists') work.  This is a serious job.

Sometimes when I think a piece was overlooked, I add it to the finalist pile. Sometimes when the tallies are too close, we pull two pieces together and everybody revotes on just those two. The only steadfast rule is that only positive comments can be made.

And so...what are the results of this?

Every time we do a showdown in our classroom, I am handed such astounding work that I want to run into the hallway and read it aloud to every passerby. Suddenly, knowing it will be evaluated by their peers, students pour themselves into the process and deliver exquisitely stunning writing. I have the experience of walking through and reading and commenting on each piece so that when I sit down to grade them, it takes less time. Students have the experience of reading real samples of writing and become more cognitive about what elements are used in high quality prose. When faced with two excellent pieces, I watch them independently start breaking it down into word choice, sentence structure, voice, ideas, and organization. And finally, each and every time we do this, somebody unexpected rises to the top. Students are stunned when they hear the names. New luminaries get patted on the back while they blush. I have students stay after and say, "Wow. I didn't know So&So was such a good writer!"

Too many times we avoid competition in the classroom--we worry feelings will be hurt if not everything is "fair." But kids love to compete--it's why they love gym class and spirit week. And while life is not always fair, it is important for kids to know that when we work hard, we all have a fair chance. And when we don't encourage and model healthy competition, we don't teach our students how to celebrate the successes of others. I want my students to be the kind of people who openly congratulate a classmate for doing quality work and not focus on their jealousy.

Next week, the 7th grade has challenged the 8th grade to a Sonnet Showdown, and we have extended the challenge to another school in our district. The excitement is building, and I am convinced that my students' drafts could already rival Shakespeare himself.