INTRO! Hello #XPLAP!
I'm Adam from SC. I teach USHIS and blog at https://t.co/4GYFrLQPOX. My favorite card game is UNO. We had one great night playing Skip-Bo too.
John Meehan from Washington DC. High school instructional coach and eleventh grade English teacher.
Currently loving us some @Superfight at the Meehan family household! #SUPERFIGHT#xplap
Hi! Patrick Amel 4th grade teacher from Oshkosh, WI My favorite family card games are Love Letter (#adventuretime edition), Sheepshead, Cribbage, Sushi Go, and Timeline. #XPLAP
Jimmy, math teacher from SD. Growing up we played Hand and Foot. My wife’s family has now gotten me to play up and down the river and to try pinochle. I also love Dominion (if that counts!) #xplap
Hi #xplap crew! Stefanie, instructional coach from Illinois. I’m choosing Velaria even though it’s not a game that utilizes a regular deck of cards, it’s still a deck building game.
Rich Anderson
North Syracuse
9th grade Global History
Ecstatic that I actually able to stay awake (although barely) to take part tonight—10pm EST is hard to make
Favorite card game with family is Rummy or Cards Against Humanity (depending on the crew) #xplap
Hi Jordan Billings 7th grade social studies and my wife and I love to play the Harry Potter Battle for Hogwarts deck building game...still need to beat Game 7 😬 #xplap
Dominion was the father of deck building games. I tend to like CLANK and TRAINS more than Dominion… But good call. If you have not heard of the two I just said you might want to pick them up! #XPLAP
a1) my favorite days were when we got to do hands on activities (probably why I liked science the most). also liked that our math teacher would put our names into the story problems. #xplap
A1. My 7th-8th grade history teacher (aptly named "Mr. Riddle" -- no joke) created elaborate simulations to help us reenact history as RPG guilds with competing interests. Native tribes vs. Manifest Destiny government. US vs USSR in the SALT Talks. TOTAL ENGAGEMENT. #xplap
A1 I remember having full class discussions on Controversial Topics in @Edwinivich's C.E. class. Made me consider what I actually thought about big political topics. Not sure how he got away with some of those topics... #XPLAP
It was one that I used to play with my grandma whenever we had family get togethers. Never knew it was something that other people played. Saw it at a story about a year after she died and said, I have to buy that! #xplap
A1 Whenever our Calculus teacher would challenge someone to draw a free-hand circle better than him on the chalkboard. Everyone was always up for the challenge, but nobody beat him...ever. 😢#XPLAP
A1: I remember loving playing the game Pit in consumer economics and we had a unit where our teachers had us choose stocks and we competed against each other. Don’t remember details, but had fun and learned a lot! #xplap
A1: FAVE: FIELD DAY
⚽️🏀🏈⚾️🥎🎾
We always had a field day at the end of the year, filled with games. Just goes to show how impactful games can be! Pretty sure the sack hop, shoe kick, and 3 legged race were the best ever! #XPLAP
A1 PBL I remember researching and presenting projects vividly from constructing a pagoda temple to making a puppet of Milton Hershey I think creativity and using ordinary materials to make something interesting is still fun, that’s why I always have a Rube Goldberg comp. #xplap
A1 As a kid, my favorites were the around the world games and a gym game called pinball. I have played a version of this with students. Will have to think about how I could make it a part of my classroom game. #XPLAP
A1 - we used to play charades with spelling words. It was one of the days I most looked forward to... and another who had 100 pictures hanging above the lockers. We tried to memorize them and he would quiz us... I just loved it. #xplap
A1 Easy! Pioneer Days in 4th grade. We dressed up and rotated to different centers (making candles, making Butter, hand sewing a pillow etc). Even then hands on activities made the most impact!! #xplap
A1: my chem teacher was SO hard, but lab days were amazing. The equilibrium lab always stands out because we divided and stood on opposites sides of the classroom throwing ping pong balls at each other for a certain amount of time then counting the balls kn each side. 😆#xplap
A1 In 9th grade my Global 9 Teacher, Mrs. DAmico, used to play this review game that I can’t remember how to set up but it was called “The No Friends In The Game” Game & you tried to stump the people you were played against. So much fun & we still talk about battles we had #xplap
A1: I remember a 7th grade teacher playing floors lava with us all day… It was awesome. Must admit, I tried it last week with my students and I think it might be a memory they keep too. #XPLAP
A1 - My school used to have a big cultural night on the Spirit Week. I don't know why, now that I think about it, but once they let me be the Director of that cultural night. It was the first time a student was leading that activity. #XPLAP
A1 Ann from Colorado Springs here, I teach 5th grade. Engaging when I was a kid? I'm not sure that was a requirement! I mostly went for relationship - connection with teachers. That's what I remember. #xplap
I really enjoyed the atmosphere class debates/conversation created. Whether it was analyzing To Kill a Mockingbird or discussing current events, these conversations and debates can be easily recreated in today's class. #XPLAP
A1- first off I love telling students this and they look me with a super confused face (how can I live without google) 🤣. As a kid I really enjoyed simulations...I did several court room cases in class but I also performed scenes from books for ELA classes #xplap
Most engaging day: When we, the seniors, stormed into our junior english teacher's class on the last day of school, played "American Pie" (the song) and made him explain the meaning. He failed to do that for our class the year before. #xplap
A2 Having just had a couple of kids at this age I have 2 thoughts. 1) HW is difficult even in a conducive family situation. 2) People need to move. Even in 11th grade they are not automatons that can focus 100%. They need breaks. #XPLAP
A1: I loved doing something nobody else was doing. So, when kids were writing stories about the main characters in Lord of the Flies, I was writing about a kid who disappears in Ch. 1 just because I wanted to know what happened to him. #xplap
A2 - I was listening to podcast today and thexhat was about how the best athletes focus on practicing the basics even at the highest level. I am wondering what are some of the basics from PK... #xplap
A1- My 6th grade teacher had us form teams, create team crests and flags, and earn or lose points throughout the year on a map similar to Risk. I do an eerily similar process with my 5th graders 30 years later using @classcraftgame. #XPLAP
A2. @LEGO_Group and @storycubes! Can't tell you how much *JOY* these little buggers have brought to my high school classroom. Tactile, surprising, with near infinite applications. #xplap
This is was stuck out for me as well... I remember a stone soup play in 3rd grade that we did in German and English. I love how theatrics can play a role in my day to day teaching. #xplap
I remember my third grade teacher demonstrating how to write explicitly by making a peanut butter sandwich based on our instructions. We quickly learned "put the peanut butter on the bread" could be taken too literally. I remember how erasing and rewriting it was FUN. #xplap A1
A2: we seem more likely to acknowledge time and focus limitations of PK even though the info exists to show us it’s still a thing as they get older. Allow curiosity and exploration, not just memoriazation and how to get an A. #xplap
#XPLAP Hi Everyone! Susan Basalik, music teacher, from beautiful Collegeville, PA. Favorite family card games are Pit (except when I'm stuck w/bear) and pinochole.
A2: I also love to bring in hands on building or creating activities. Allows movement, different thinking, accessible to a variety for learners and hands on!! #XPLAP
A2: Create wonder through telling stories. Then allow them to explore their questions together based on this new wonder and idea that we just discovered. #XPLAP
A2- one thing I have been ambitious to try is a dust bowl simulation where students break down the dirt in science and build log cabins in my class. Then take them outside and with fans simulate a storm...maybe this is the year #xplap
A2: PKs are afraid to do something “wrong” They just jump in and do it. If it doesn’t have the expected outcome, they adjust or ask for help adjusting. #xplap
Let me tell you the Littles think I am amazing when I show them "old" technology. Explain and show them a rotary phone or typewriter, dial up internet . . .BOOM!! Mind Blown!! #XPLAP
A2 I'd say that spirit of make believe is inspiring from younger kids, although I think it lives in the older students too! Also inventing games. PK could probably do an interesting game jam! Could involve my 4th graders with both of these. #XPLAP
A2b I love reading the Butter Battle Book during my Cold War Unit. The students get to see how wickedly political Dr. Suess could be as we have "story time". #xplap
(its about nuclear arms proliferation)
A2: PKs aren’t afraid to do something “wrong” They just jump in and do it. If it doesn’t have the expected outcome, they adjust or ask for help adjusting. #xplap
A3: PLAY-DOH always wins. Students go crazy for it, and it's adaptable to so many lessons. Recently discovered it makes a great substitute Mr. Potato Head too! #XPLAP
A3 - I have an aiming zone in my whiteboard in which I have possible answers for questions and mysteries. The students have ways of earning a shot at this with a sticky ball. Super engaging! #xplap
A2 my first unit teaching what science is... is all PK! Shapes, colors, textures, smells... all types of data for properties of matter we play with Play Doh, organize blocks, color pages they love it! #xplap
uuuuuuughhhhh.
Those grownups in the control center looked like wide-eyed kids to me. What a missed opportunity to experience history.
#MarsLanding#xplap
I was talking with a science teacher yesterday who couldn't show the Mars landing in class because it didn't fit benchmark teaching schedule. #txeduchat#sad
A3, v2 - Badges! My badges are stickers for the library card. They earn them when they show mastery of an expected learning result or skill. These give them access to more library services! #XPLAP
A2 I still teach the Littles but I also like to show them how I take risks and invent / play. Give me a time to dress up (cosplay) I am IN!! They need to feel comfortable and trust you to take some risks like the PK kids. #XPLAP
A3: Play-Doh, adapted board games, dice, public leaderboards, #sketchnotes, story cubes - all no-tech bc sometimes you just don’t need it to be the main focus. #XPLAP
A3 Questing (aka choice menus) allows for a lot more conversations and relationship building. Meaningful Choices are deeply engaging. #XPLAPhttps://t.co/EGNUVO1Ler
A3: I bring them out to the playground and after their play, asked them if they found anything that was related to science (tons of answers - bugs, how to the see saw works, plants, anything really!) #xplap
#XPLAP I'm a big fan of song parodies. Right now, I've re-named Baby Shark to Crazy Sharps & I'm using the song to teach musical concepts like key signatures. My students love to come up with funny lyrics.
A3 I use magnets to hang things around the room to pique interest. The eraser game is also low tech: butcher paper, white board eraser, and a marker tray. #XPLAP
A3: My students love it when I put an object or clue up in the room but don't tell them about it. They like to "find it" and show it to me. :) (Like I didn't put it there). Sometimes it doesn't make sense right away but for a future activity. #xplap
A3 I use a lot of role play activities—I just did one while teaching Hinduism that created a Caste System totally by chance (picked a card & the what caste that card was was decided by a roll of the di) & getting ready to do one on the 3 Chinese Philosophies...Ss love it #xplap
A3: Love adapting games into class. Just discovered this little bit of history in our game closet over Thanksgiving. https://t.co/Wp1aEqHLNx#xplap#mlmagical
A3 Paleo simulation with hunters and gatherers. We hunt mammoths using a target and koosh ball. Also, we play lots of catch during the day and my kids go crazy for little stuffed animals. #xplap
A4: listen to their stories. Pick up likes and dislikes. Incorporate them into your classroom (and classroom game). If they ask you if you’ve heard ___ and you haven’t, say no and let them teach you. Listen to their ideas and actually consider/implement them. #XPLAP
A3 My steps: Step 1: rearrange the classroom they will not know what’s going on and engage curiosity. Step 2: have something fun drawn on the board (by you or a student;) Step 3: have a unique item to engage their interest and focus #xplap
I try to get my students outside when the weather is nice or to a different location where they can spread out and be more comfortable breaking down/discussing the reading. #XPLAP
A4 I am as present as possible in the hallways during the school day. I greet students by name. It's a small thing, but goes a long way. I also allow for students to "side track" the class every now and again when I know we have the time. #XPLAP
I like to meet my PhysEd students in the hallway with some equipment we will be using for the day. Really seems to engage/foreshadow the upcoming activities #xplap
A4: I try to connect with my students when ever I can. I eat lunch with them, I have some come up and play games at recess, and I try to go to some of their special classes like Art, P.E. and Drama! They love that too! #XPLAP
A3 Paleo simulation with hunters and gatherers. We hunt mammoths using a target and koosh ball. Also, we play lots of catch during the day and my kids go crazy for little stuffed animals. #xplap
A3 Immerse yourself in what you are teaching (dress up, take on the traits of a character, read a book aloud, get other staff involved and engage). Involving the kids in Game Chats so they take ownership in the Game. Genius hour or Passion Projects. #XPLAP
A4: I try to keep up with the latest trends. like doing the floss dance although I look really stupid doing it but the kids love that I try to connect with them #xplap
Hey there! Melissa, principal from CA, here. Favorite card game to play with the fam bam? Hearts with the older crowd and Slap Jack or War with the under-6 set. #XPLAP
It's always good to interact and learn with this crew! I gotta get back to my #14 HAWKS on tv!!! I'd love for you all to follow our journey @MrDsDreamTeam we have a goal of 250 class followers! Help a dude out!!! #XPLAP
A4: Love the favorite things activity to begin to know kids and their passions right from the start. https://t.co/w0g556y1Gz
Also, team building activities, go to their events, talk to them about what they love. Kids can tell when we care #xplap#mlmagical
#XPLAP Q4: I'll have my students lead part of our activity. I'll ask several them to be guest conductors at rehearsal. I give the conductors a specific skill to observe in their fellow orchestra members. It's a real trust building and team building activity for me & my students.
A3- Locks! Padlocks, Combo locks, key locks, bike locks, even an old Club lock from when I had a Jeep. I lock the kids out of the treasure chest, laptop cart, snack cabinet, etc. They solve my homemade break outs/escape room challenges/ quests to find keys/clues to combos #XPLAP
Students with emotional issues can be empowered when they learn they can choose their feelings and then work on their brains to free themselves from unwanted feelings. #xplap
A3: I love dice. You can add them to just about everything. Today I had a student ask me why I had a large bag of random dice. My response: "Doesn't everyone carry around a large bag of dice?" She laughed. My kids get me. #xplap
A4 I talk to the kids about their lives. Last year I used @Flipgrid as a way for them to participate in Show and Tell. I talk to their parents and encourage them to send pictures of important days or events on Remind so I can be a part of it. #XPLAP
Thanks everyone for coming tonight. I love the #XPLAP community. You are all amazing people. Keep doing your best for the kids you serve and the profession you love. We are all benifiting when you do that!
A4- I am a huge fan of daily interactions at the door to welcome students into my classroom (usually with some awesome music) and I am involved in a number of after school activities- track coaching, and I am about to direct a one act play in a few weeks #xplap
I like to meet my PhysEd students in the hallway with some equipment we will be using for the day. Really seems to engage/foreshadow the upcoming activities #xplap
A1 #XPLAP My most engaging days in school were ones where I was totally engrossed in the “story” (history or lit) or days where I could build/explore/take apart (science).
A4: The best part of my school day is sitting with kids and talking to them about what they are reading and writing. I try to do this as often as possible and have made an effort lately to talk 1:1 with each student every week. #xplap
A1: I loved doing something nobody else was doing. So, when kids were writing stories about the main characters in Lord of the Flies, I was writing about a kid who disappears in Ch. 1 just because I wanted to know what happened to him. #xplap
A4- Storytelling. Telling about my struggles with reading as a kid, college football successes and failures, my bulldog, my funny kids stories. Showing you are human makes all the difference with building relationships and community. And don’t take myself too seriously. #XPLAP
#xplap community you are all amazing! Thank you so much for the inspiration and a place to chat about the awesome things happening in classes all about gamification and engagement. Good journey this week
A2 #XPLAP Preach!!! I primarily had secondary school experience before becoming an administrator years ago. My current school is PS-5G. I learn the most sitting in those PS and PK rooms. Voice and choice. Get up and move. Grab that teachable moment. It’s ok to be silly. Love it!
A4: Get to know them. Ask questions about their interests. Respect how they choose to participate. Show up to school social events and engage families. You can’t be everywhere and do everything, but you can show them that you genuinely care. #XPLAP
