On Monday we discussed the reasons they might have for wanting to become better readers - and they came up with everything you might hope and more - and I touched a little bit on the areas of reading we might develop skills in (I didn't use the term Assessment focus).
Later in the week they worked in pairs and groups to suggest activities they might undertake to demonstrate their skills in these different areas. Again, they were brilliant and took it really seriously. They had lots of ideas for performing or retelling activities, which I have not perhaps explored too much myself, on the grounds that they might be too noisy in a classroom - but perhaps I need to explore these non-written methods more. They also suggested 'unpressurised' - their word - reading comprehension tasks/tests as a way of demonstrating understanding - and that seems like a great idea. I thought they might even do it collaboratively (although collaboration always makes individual assessment more difficult).
Which reminds me that I do have to make time for them to learn, and not just show me what they've learned.
On Friday I gave myself permission to spend some time on the task (it feels like so much more fun that 'real' work that I feel I have to restrict the time I spend on it) and came up with the beginnings of a class display to show off what we are doing.
We are Oak Class, so I have called the space 'Oakenaria' and created a map on the wall, with seven areas to visit, each aligned to one of the seven reading skills (or AFs). The places have names such as Mystery Mansion (for AF2 - fact finding or detective work) or Jigsaw Jungle (AF7 - how our literary heritage fits together) which will hopefully fit the theme.
Today, I have slotted all this into a powerpoint slideshow which begins with the map, with each place to visit linked to a page identifying the features of the skill learned there, with some indication of skills progression. I've up-loaded it to the school's learning platform so that the children can view it at home too.
It feels good to be making progress. I do feel that I'm putting off some major tasks though. And I'm not sure I even know what they are.
Parents' consultation evenings this week and the KS2 production next month are bound to intervene, too, but little by little I will get there.
The next thing to get my mind around, and I'm not sure whether to involve the class in this, is more to do with the game mechanics. For example, should
the next level be 'unlocked' by proven skill at the current level, or can players select quests from any level?
Hi there. I thought I would drop a comment on here, as this kind of thing excites me even if I'm way behind you at the moment!
ReplyDeleteI'm an NQT in secondary science in the UK, and as an avid gamer myself I'm fascinated by the gamification of learning. I am just starting out with Lee Sheldon's book (Jane McGonigal's book is excellent, by the way), and constantly trying to figure out how to pry some game-based learning into my classes without the concept being poo-pooed by 'too cool for school' teenagers and ignored by others. It is very difficult figuring it out without increasing my workload hugely, which is something I'm struggling with as it is.
I've thought about levelled tasks myself. You could simply vary the amount of XP granted by a task based on its level - so a level 5 task might be worth 20 xp, whereas a level 4 task might be worth 15xp. This should present different abilities with appropriate levels of challenge - if you start them off on level 2 tasks and they find them really easy, they have the freedom to try for more xp by going for higher level stuff.
This may lead to more quest resources being needed but should tick some 'differentiation' boxes and allow kids to challenge themselves!
I look forward to sharing more thoughts when I have a bit more time (ie. weekend :) )
-Nat
Hi again.
ReplyDeleteJust wondering how your game system is doing?
I've implemented "Revision: the Challenge" to my students, a very gentle introduction to gameful learning - they get different amounts of points for completing different revision activities, and progress charted on the wall (which sounds a bit primary school, but my year 11s seem to like it). I'm putting them in different leagues - I have my year 9s competing with a parallel set, and I'm setting up all my exam classes against each other. It will run until the exam in January - then after that I hope to have a similar gameful system sorted out for studying/classwork/homework.
We'll see how this works! Hope yours is coming along well.
-Nat