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Presentation and Reflections by UM-St.Louis Student Teacher --Winter 2006 KATIE DALTON |
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This poster is
what started it all…
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The
three novels students could choose from were: Jamie and the Mystery Quilt Author: Vicki Berger Erwin From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Author: E.L. Konigsburg The Westing Game Author: Ellen Ruskin |
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After reading these novels for a month and a half, as the assessment I created four stations for students to design a game board representing their novel's theme, plot, characters, and elements of the mystery genre. The students worked in groups of 4-5 and while each student had a separate responsibility for their game, they all cooperatively worked together to make thier finished product. |
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This group read The Westing Game and they modeled their board game after the game Clue substituting information from their novel. |
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This group read Jamie and the Mystery Quilt. They designed their board game from the description of the quilt from the novel. |
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This group put the pieces of the mystery genre together as a puzzle. The object of their game was for each player to collect as many puzzle pieces as possible and put them together to discover the culprit of the stolen quilt mystery. |
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Using a step by step keynote presentation created by their teacher, students created their own instructions complete with an equipment list, how to set-up the game, how to play the game, and how to win. |
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These students are creating and revising their instructions for a final copy. Each referred back to the keynote presentation to make sure they had completed all the requirements. The requirements for each element of the board game were given to students before they began so essentially they were able to "choose" the grade their group would recive based on the scoring guide. They knew what was expected; therefore, they could earn the amount of points they wanted. |
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This student published her group's directions in a mini-booklet assembled with construction paper and yarn. It added the extra touch to make the instructions more official. |
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To show their comprehension and understanding of the plot and characters from the novel students incorporated at least 20 question and answer cards (or clue cards) into their game. |
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This student is publishing the final draft of her group's question and answer cards complete with small illustrations from events in the novel. These cards were used as clues the players collected to find the solution to the mystery. |
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This student made revisions to his rough draft of question and answer cards and is publishing a final draft. The teacher provided most of the materials for the project, including construction paper cards cut to exact dimensions for the question and answer cards, poster board for game boards, markers, crayons, etc for illustrations, and 2 in-class computers for typing final copies of thier instructions. By providing the resources in the classroom, it made it easier for the students to complete thsi project as a group in class rather than having to make alternative meeting times after school. |
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After students had finished publishing their final drafts, the cards were laminated. The students were excited to have thier work laminated, giving them a sense of completion |
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The groups had to work together and make a game box to hold the contents of their game and the board. The box needed to include a creative manufacturing company, the purchase price, and the age requirement to play their game. |
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This group created a logo for their game and used it on their cards, their game board, and their box. |
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These two students worked hard to make their game box represent not only their game but the theme of the novel as well. |
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On March 2, 2006, students were given the opportunity to play their classmate's games during their incentive day. We split the classrooms in our wing into novel rooms. This was a success, not only were students entertained by playing the games they reinforced their understanding of their novels. As their teacher, I was able to survey all the games and the level of engagement the students had while playing the games, which helped during the assessment of the games. |
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In the Jamie and the Mystery Quilt Room, students decided to play the different games in their novel groups from reading class. After playing the games, students filled out a peer evaluation of the games based on the clarity of the instructions, the entertainment level of the game, the accuracy of the question cards, and if the objective and purpose of the game was clear. This gave the students who created the games immediate feedback from their classmates and the peer evaluation scores were taken into account for the teacher's assessment. |
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In The Westing Game Room, some games had players trying to find the murder of Samuel Westing, while others had players trying to chase after the $200 million prize. The variety of games gave students the opportunity to test their knowledge of the book with different objectives in mind |
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The game which was awarded the Best Game of 2006 Award was played in the From the Mixed of Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Room. As time was running out students had gathered to watch the conclusion of the game and which player would find the file which held Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler's secret. |
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This culminating activity was unlike any I had ever participated in much less planned and executed. Although this was an untraditional assessment, I was able to learn so much more about each of my students then I would have had I given them a multiple choice, short answer, essay cumulative test over each of their novels. Students had to use higher level thinking throughout the week and a half long process of creating the game in addition to their concrete knowledge of the plot, characters, and theme of their novels. They also had to experience the positive and negative aspects of working together as a team and Moreover, while they were playing these games, they were learning (whether they believe it or not). |
