What a week! This is going to be short post. I am usually an early riser and arrive at school by 6:00 AM…..most days/ On Monday morning, however, I just couldn’t bring myself to getting out of bed. I’m tired. Exhausted. Mentally exhausted. As a result, I arrived to school by 6:45 and was dragging.
Around 7:20 AM, twenty minutes before school began, the power went out. Was this a short power outage? Were we going home? Staff and students waiting….
Administration made a quick decision and decided to send everyone home. We had an unexpected day off!! It was much needed. I left school and drove to a local racquet club to watch my wife play tennis. I haven’t watched her play tennis in five years.
Monday – Day off…..no power.
Tuesday – Shortened class periods – we did some surprise Gimkits.
Tuesday
I hear it all the time, “These students just don’t know basic stuff.” I often think, “Well, okay, I agree. However, what are you doing about it?” I do know one thing, though; complaining doesn’t help. I’ve resorted to doing surprise Gimkits.
A surprise Gimkit is having the code up on the board, ready to go, and the students not knowing what the questions are about. I try to do this once or twice a week. The Gimkits are always with questions that address ‘basic stuff’ students should know. Here are my surprise Gimkits:
- US States – many people complain that students don’t know their states. Here you go. We started the year with a low 60% class average. Now we are in the low to mid 80% range.
- Citizenship Test – basic knowledge of government and history stuff.
- Dad Jokes – this is great for working on context clues to choose the best punchline.
- General Knowledge – math, science, history, ELA questions.
- Are you smarter than a 4th grader? – 4th grade questions.
- Who Is This President? – recognize presidents by picture
Rather than complaining, I try to address the issue with this simple, quick EduProtocol (Fast and Curious). Hopefully you can find some use with these. Have an awesome Thanksgiving!
Moler's Musings 