Rube Goldberg Machines - Take 2

It's time once again for Rube Goldberg Machines! Last year, I posted about my class' experience leading up to and during this activity. This year, I only gave students one day of lead time (we were working on a large project up until two days before this activity, and I didn't want to distract from that). They were excited and curious, and spent approximately 20 minutes making lists of things that could help them solve an unknown design challenge. I also gave them the opportunity to request items from me, but only if they got their requests in ahead of knowing what the challenge entailed.

To start the day of the challenge off, I showed my students the OK Go video, This Too Shall Pass. If you've never seen it, I highly recommend taking 4 minutes right now to do so. I'll wait...

...

...

...

...

Amazing, right? This was the visual prompt I used to set my students up to create very interesting constructions. They had brought in a wide variety of items once again. Along with the basic items I provided to them (paper, tape, a tack, a marble, paper clips, clothespins, yarn, straws, a paper plate and a balloon) groups had brought in :

• duct tape
• nail scissors
• glue guns
• a canvas lawn chair
• empty water bottles
• a plastic bucket
• a pillow
• giant sponges
• locker mirrors
• skipping rope
• tin foil

As they began to work with their groups, I circulated around the classroom, listening in on conversations. I consider it a mark of enormous success that students did not ask me what they should try, but instead jumped straight into collaborating with their group members to make a plan.

Taking stock

Beginning to plan

Group 1 : Materials

Group 2 : Materials

Group 3 : Materials

As students planned, I listened. Here are some of the comments I overheard :

"Let's start by putting all the things that could pop the balloon in a pile."

"Ok, now try that way. Make a little dent in it."

"If we put the ball here instead of there, the ruler would have enough energy to move the sponge."

"We should put the tack on a string, and then it could swing and pop the balloon."

"We should start at the end of our machine - how will be pop it?"

"I'm not really sure if this is going to work, but it's a start."

"It can't go slow, or else it won't move the potato masher!"

Although none of the groups managed to pop their balloon, they had a lot of fun trying. At the end of the period, after they had all tried their machines, I took a moment to read them the list of comments I had overheard, and to underline the importance of perseverance. All of the groups had ideas for how they could have improved on their design, even though they knew they were not going to have a second chance.

The amount of learning that went on in those two hours that they were working collaboratively to solve a problem was phenomenal! It gave me a renewed sense of just how important it is to give students the freedom to try, fail, and try again. 

Dr Seuss as Inspiration

Appropriately, today is "Dr Seuss Day". My grade 7 English Language Arts class has been working on an author study based on Dr Seuss for the past few weeks. The final aspect of this unit is to create their own "Seussville" character, and to write about their character using Dr Seuss-style writing. This week, students were engaged in what I like to call Organized Chaos while they brought their characters to life.

It's not always easy to achieve Organized Chaos in a classroom. It takes a lot of discussion and negotiation to get students to the point where they can be working independently, on-task, taking risks, helping each other, making messes (and cleaning them up!) and just generally being creative without a whole lot of intervention on my part. We've been working towards this point since the beginning of the year, but with only 30 minutes per day it takes time to get students on board with my particular brand of Organized Chaos and have them be successful. For the past two Wednesdays, we have had 60 minutes of class time together, and we have unlocked this achievement - and I couldn't be happier! This particular group of students will be in my homeroom next year, which translates into roughly 3 hours with me per day. It makes me look forward to next year, knowing that they are already skillful "Mme Gaudet Interpreters" ;-)

Here are some of their Seussville characters in progress. You'll notice that they are using a wide variety of supplies to achieve their desired goal. Lots of problem solving is going on in my classroom these days...

When PowerPoints are banned

This past week, my students have been learning about specific groups of immigrants who have come to Canada for various reasons over the past 100 years. I set the reading up as a jigsaw activity, giving each student in a group of four a different article to read. After they had read their articles, they got together with the people from the other groups who had read the same article, and discussed what they had learned.

Then the fun began.

I asked each group to come up with a way of communicating their pooled information to the rest of the class, to the people who had not read about that particular group of immigrants. The catch? They were not allowed to create anything resembling a PowerPoint presentation (no Google Slides, no NearPod, no slideshow of any kind) As they started discussing what they would do instead, I heard one group laughing at their shared idea of doing an obstacle course - they were dismissing the idea out of hand.

I casually mentioned to the class at large that any idea would be worth exploring, and that they shouldn't hesitate to think outside of the box for this activity. The group discussing the obstacle course positively beamed when they realize their idea didn't have to just be a joke!

Here's what they set up to teach the rest of the class about Vietnamien refugees between 1975 and 1995.

Getting ready for the rest of the class to arrive

Setting up

Students had to relay race on mats to represent the boats that Vietnamien refugees would have travelled on to get to Canada.

Building a house with substandard materials to represent camps that refugees often stay in.

Vietnamien refugees were ill-prepared for the winters in Canada, and had to wear whatever they were given.

The beanbag toss represented the fact that it was easier for younger refugees to find work (the students in each group lined up from youngest to oldest, with the youngest students closer to the hoops)

Putting all the pieces of the puzzle together. Each group had a different puzzle to make, to underline the fact that many elements go into determining whether or not an immigrant will be successful in Canada (languages spoken, former education, age and luck were all pieces of the puzzle discussed by the group who created the presentation)

I love it when I give my students the freedom to think and create outside of what they normally view as "school" activities. This group in particular was very thoughtful in their creation of an activity that would simulate in some small part the challenges that immigrants and refugees face. PowerPoints have their place, but so does creative thought. And, in my opinion, even more so.

Recreating a Painting in Minecraft

I've been dabbling with Minecraft for the better part of a year (or, more accurately, with MinecraftEDU, the educational mod that is available thanks to the wonderful people at TeacherGaming) Through our Exploratory program, I've experimented with a wide range of worlds, mainly with students who have prior experience with, and lots of passion for, Minecraft. My main goal, however, has always been to integrate Minecraft into my teaching practice.

This week, for the first time, I had an opportunity to do just that, in the context of grade 8 Visual Arts. The other teachers who teach Visual Arts with me were incredibly open-minded, and let me take the reins (and I think they were as pleased with the results as I was!)

I created a questionnaire for students, asking them to choose a painting that they would recreate in Minecraft, with a group. Their choices were:

Starry Night - van Gogh


Tahitian Landscape - Gauguin


Three Cats - Maud Lewis


The Scream - Munch


The Great Wave off Kanagawa - Hokusai


Composition #2 (1920) - Mondrian


Three Musicians - Picasso


Tulip Field with the Rijnsburg Windmill - Monet



After students had made their selections, I assigned them to work in groups of four or five. Surprisingly, only one or two students had chosen the Monet, and none were interested in the Picasso, so those two were not recreated.

Upon entering the Minecraft environment, students found themselves in a room with 8 doors, each labeled with the title of the painting as well as the students' names.



They walked through the door, and teleported to an empty field with these instructions:


And then they got to work. Sitting next to their group members, they decided what format their recreation would take, and then dividing tasks to be as efficient as possible in their building. Several students who generally let others take the lead really stepped into a leadership role at that point, as they have lots of experience in Minecraft. There were two students who had never played Minecraft before, and their group members were patient in explaining how to move around and place blocks.

Here are the results of two days of building (approximately 90 minutes in total) :

Starry Night (work in progress)
Look at all the detail they have included! The tiny houses! The swirls in the sky!

Tahitian Landscape (work in progress)
My newest Minecrafter created that mountain from scratch. I am also quite impressed with their choice to combine a 3D idea with a top down view.

Three Cats (complete)
This group took on the challenge of finding a way to make their cats look fuzzy :-) 

The Scream (complete)
All the detail! The bridge! The sky!

Great Wave off Kanagawa (complete)
These students struggled a bit with their idea and their ability to work as a cooperative group. They became frustrated and destroyed what they had begun two times. As a result, they didn't have a lot of time to create their painting, and it is significantly smaller than the others. However, their use of real flowing water, and the fact that they placed NPCs (non-player characters) in their boats and named them after themselves more than makes up for the size! And in the end, they were very happy with their effort.

Composition #2 (complete)
This one was the simplest, but I was impressed by the amount of thought and planning that went into getting the proportions correct! 

All in all, I consider this first educational application of Minecraft to be an enormous success. Students were engaged, creative, cooperative problem solvers.

On Tuesday, all students will go on a gallery walk through the paintings of other groups. I can't wait for them to appreciate the work that each group put into their recreation, and to show off their own piece of art!

Take a Video Tour!

Gaming to Communicate

I like playing board games. And card games. And guessing games. And logic games.

I like games.

I try to use games in my teaching as often as possible. Not the "made for the classroom" games that seem to take much of the fun out of playing a great game, but games like 99 (a great card game that also reinforces Math skills), Word on the Street (spelling! tug-of-war!) or Morphology Jr (an excellent combination of building, charades and guessing). I also really value the days during the year when I have time to play other, less obviously academic, games with my students. Ghost Blitz and Squashed were crowd favourites last year.

This year, I've decided to try something new to build a strong classroom community. I am hosting once-a-month Games Nights for students and their parents. The guidelines are simple : students must come with at least one parent or guardian, parents or guardians must come with at least one student. No cost. No commitment. No RSVP. Whoever shows up can play whatever games they want.

Tonight was the first night. Only one of my students attended, with her mother. Their game request? They both wanted to learn how to play Settlers of Catan. We spent a highly enjoyable time playing together, and I feel as though I know a lot more about that particular student from watching her interact with her mother, and from observing how she plays games.

I am very much looking forward to future Games Nights - sometimes there will be only two guests, other times there may be many more. Either way, I think this is going to be a great opportunity to create connections with parents whose only contact with the school up to this point may have been phone calls or emails about missing homework assignments or discipline problems. If I can get parents to have fun with me, those more difficult conversations may become ever so slightly easier.

And, of course, I'm just always looking for someone to play games with me ;-)

Photo credit: http://www.ubcieee.org/events/boardgames2015

Fun With Physics

As the year winds down, it can become more and more difficult to maintain students' interest in day-to-day school activities. My classroom environment is pretty much "organized chaos" throughout the school year, so the mood doesn't change much at the end of the year, although I do end up with more flexibility in my scheduling. As a result, I am able to integrate some activities that take up more time than a standard sixty minute class.

Last week, I started laying the groundwork for "The Challenge". On Monday, I informed students that they would be attempting a challenge on Thursday morning. They would need to bring items from their lockers and from home in order to complete it. Following my usual classroom rules (nothing stinky, nothing dangerous, nothing illegal), I told students that they were permitted to bring anything at all.

"But what is the challenge that we have to complete? How will we know what we need??" students were quick to ask me.

"More information to follow..." was my mysterious reply.

On Tuesday, I reminded them to coordinate with their groups in order to bring a large variety of items.

On Wednesday, I gave them the information that they would have to cause an object that I would give them to have an effect on another object that I would give them. And that the only materials they would be permitted to use would be the few items I supplied them with, and the items they brought from home.

Students arrived on Thursday morning with all kinds of items. A rubber boot, a Newton's cradle, a Lego airplane and a magnifying glass were all in evidence, along with many other supplies.

The Challenge? To create a Rube Goldberg machine that would use a marble as the impetus for causing a balloon to pop.  I provided them with :

- 2 large sheets of paper
- 2 metres of masking tape
- 6 desks
- 6 chairs
- 1 thumb tack
- 2 paperclips
- 6 straws
- 1 marble
- 1 balloon (for testing purposes - if they popped it, they were out of luck! They received another one when they demonstrated their machine to the rest of the class)

And..... GO!

Groups began by taking stock of the items they had in their inventory.  (I put the tape on the floor to confine them to their own area - they were only permitted to use the items that were inside the rectangle)

Next came the planning and trial stage.

Students were engaged in building their machines for just over an hour, tweaking them and trying to improve upon them. It was inspiring to see their collaboration and perseverance on this task!

What I particularly like about this activity, each time I do it with a class, is the creative thinking and collaboration it calls for. Students become so reliant on teachers to tell them exactly how to perform a task (and teachers become so used to providing the structure and steps necessary to achieve the "correct" result) that they (and we) forget what it is to experiment, rework, possibly fail, and enjoy the entire process! 

Teachers, We Need to do Better

Teachers, we need to do better.

For the past ten days, I have been on tour with Xara Choral Theatre, bringing a show called Fatty Legs (based on the book by the same name) to schools and communities around the Maritime Provinces.

The show deals with the reality of the Residential School System in Canada, which is something that we are just starting to teach about in schools. For a long time, this practice of removing Aboriginal children from their homes, and placing them in schools with the aim of erasing their culture (“Kill the Indian to save the child” was the official wording), was not acknowledged – even given the fact that the last school of this type closed in 1996. I only learned about this part of Canadian history when we first did the show in 2011 for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission event in Halifax. Since then, I’ve made sure to teach at least my homeroom about it each year, by reading and discussing the book Fatty Legs.

I was thrilled that we were finally able to remount the show and tour it to schools. We performed for over 4000 students during our ten days of touring.

Performing in front of a rapt audience of students in grade 2 through 6

Most schools were very receptive, particularly at the elementary and middle school levels. We were prepared for students to have questions about the performance, and about the residential schools. We were prepared for people to express anger, sadness, confusion – and those reactions were present when we did our Q&A sessions after each show. Opening honest and constructive dialogue was one of the main goals of this show.

However, we had some very negative experiences in the last two days of touring. In two separate high schools, students exhibited a complete lack of respect for both the subject matter and the fact that 15 people were attempting to perform in front of them.

In one of the schools, students openly mocked the dancer by mimicking her movements. They were spoken to by a teacher after about 20 minutes of this behaviour. Other students were making jokes (either about the show, or about something else entirely) and laughing loudly. Several of them were eventually asked to leave by another teacher. I am grateful to those teachers who took action to stop the disrespectful behaviour, although I wish it hadn’t happened in the first place.

In the final school, a student THREW A ROCK onto the stage during the performance. As the saying goes, the show must go on. One of the singers took it upon herself to move the rock out of the way so that nobody would be injured (the show is performed in sock feet). To my knowledge, no action was taken by teachers in response. One minute before the show ended, the bell rang to signal the start of the next class. Approximately 40 students, scattered throughout the audience, stood up and left. When I asked them if they could stay for the last minute of the show, they told me they had to leave because they had a test. According to the students, their teachers (two different teachers, from what I understand) told them that if they arrived late for the test, because of “the play thing” (students' words), they shouldn’t bother coming at all and they would receive a grade of 0 on the test.

TEACHERS instructed students that they were to get up while a performance was in progress in order to be on time for a test.

Teachers devalued a show about a terrible part of Canadian history that has been shrouded in silence for over 100 years.

Teachers, we need to do better.

We need to explicitly teach our students about respectful behaviour during performances, and model that behaviour ourselves.

We need to intervene when students engage in disrespectful behaviours.

We need to take a step back and realize that the test students are writing in our course may not be the most important part of their day. Or, at the very least, we should not use threats to indicate to students that it is acceptable to behave disrespectfully.

Teachers, we need to do better.

We need to prepare our students before we take them to see a show that deals with serious subject matter. How (or if) we pre-teach our students sets them up for success. It also instills in them an understanding that there are behaviours that are appropriate in certain situations that are not acceptable in others.

I am so honoured to have been part of telling this story, of bringing this show to so many students. I burst with pride when I think about how our dancer, narrator, and singers persevered in the face of adversity to always give their all on stage.

But teachers, we need to do better.