I wish you would have played this game your first year! Here it is, girl - the one and only Taboo! Here’s what a few students have said: “One thing I liked about the Taboo game was that we couldn’t use certain words to explain the phrase or sentence. It made us think a little more and harder.” and “I liked that we were learning more and having fun!” This is a great review that will cause your students to grow in being self-controlled, thoughtful and teamwork - three things that I need my 6th graders to improve at. It is competitive and exciting! The class really gets into it. Materials Needed: - Taboo slides (see example) - Taboo student record sheet (template here) How to Play: - Split class into two equal teams - Set up a space on whiteboard that all team members can see to keep score How to Help Students Use the Taboo Sheet: - When you flip the slide, have all students write the taboo word or phrase under that column on the sheet - The team that isn’t playing that round is filling in anything they know to be true about the word or phrase in the “notes” column - After the team gets the word or phrase or runs out of time, ask students “What can we write in the notes section?” - Call on students to get correct information and have students put in “notes” section Rules: Examples:
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I’m not really sure where our competitive nature came from, but boy is it present! So it’s really no surprise that competition is a huge part of culture in my classroom. I think it has been since I started teaching, but I certainly didn’t have a structured system in those first few years. By far this is the best classroom management system I’ve ever used! This past summer, I was scrolling through Pinterest and found a blog post about it (you can read it here). I modified it to work for my class and have loved the impact it has on my culture. Here is how it works for me!
Cohorts LOSE points when...everyone isn't meeting expectation, procedures go poorly, etc. Cohorts WIN points when...everyone perfectly meets expectation, meets a goal (I time my kids passing in papers and give points for it), working hard, focus, lots of participation, etc. Don’t ever let classroom management be something you think about second, third or last. The culture in your classroom is the MOST IMPORTANT thing and the way you start off strong is having a great classroom management system! Remember at Texas A&M when you promised yourself that you wouldn’t be a boring teacher? When you said you wouldn’t overwhelm your students with busy work like packets and worksheets? Well, I am proud to announce that I think you kept that promise!
The words ‘worksheet’ and ‘packet’ make my teacher heart cringe. They have since I can remember. Well, I found a great way to spruce up any independent practice! Secret codes! Students can complete the assignment(s) independently and when they are finished, they use the “Secret Code” to input some of the answers from their independent practice. This is so engaging and it’s all about how you present it. Make sure you are dramatic. Excited! Intense. Offer a reward if they get the code 100% correct to add a little something extra. This activity works especially well when you are out for the day and you want them to review. In fact, I am even thinking about doing an activity soon where they have to use their notes in their binder to complete a “Secret Code”! That’s a fun way to do a binder test! |
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