I believe family, learning, & adventure are vital for a happy life. When I combine all three... Trifecta! I love to travel anywhere, anytime I can. Travel provides opportunity for people to make new friends, visit amazing places, & see the world through other lenses. This blog looks at my learning and teaching with a digital perspective. I hope my experiences & ideas come across clearly through the posts of my work as a Digital Literacy & Computer Science teacher & coach.
Although this was the most challenging of the games to setup, it was so doable. With some minor tweaks to the setup, we had a blast.
The Game
Balderdash is a word game in which the main player reads and spells a word aloud to the group. This word is an uncommon word that most likely have never heard. Everyone writes the word down on a piece of paper. The paper should be roughly the same size, color, etc. Any variation in the paper or color of the ink might give away a clue to the other players. The "player" writes the correct definition down on their slip of paper and everyone else makes up a definition to write on their slip of paper. Next, the "player" reads all of the definitions first to themself and then aloud to the group. Everyone has a turn guessing what they think is the correct definition. Points are awarded for various things: guessing correctly, having someone guess your definition, and being very close to the actual definition which does happen from time to time. With an online platform modifications must be made. The main mode of communication during game play is email or messaging. With friends and family, we text each other to share our definitions. Everyone messages the current player who can read and type them into the chat window once they collect them all. With students I use our school gmail accounts. This gives them a chance to use email and ask questions. It really doesn't matter what conferencing tool you use. So long as it is secure. Set-Up
Before the game begins, I email a list of 3-5 unusual words with their respective definitions to each player. In this case, I can only moderate the game, as I already know all the answers. A workaround this could be people using the cards from their own Balderdash game at home. There are a couple workarounds that come to mind. First, people could use Balderdash cards if they have the game at home. Second, they could go old school and play the way I learned this game, with a dictionary finding their own unique words. Either option gives everyone a chance to play. Reflections
I was pleasantly surprised at how well this worked and can't wait to do it again!
What's Next
So far we have had fun playing a variety of games. I can't wait to try something new and share it with you! If you have any ideas for other remote games or questions, shoot me an email or comment below. Got game?
Another fun night of games this time with family from California, Colorado, Maine, New Jersey and Massachusetts. It was great to see everyone, especially the two newest additions to the family. Pictionary was a great choice for connecting virtually, mentally, and emotionally while drawing pictures and guessing each others “creations.” We navigated this new way of playing virtually with ease and decided that next week we will play Balderdash. This was definitely a worthy experience. I love my family and friends and a good challenge. Exploring and learning new ways to bring fun, educational games to my family, friends, and students has been a real treat. I hope you will give it a try.
The Games
Pictionary is a board game where players earn various levels of points for their team by guessing what someone else is drawing under a time limit and sometimes with competition. In the board game players roll the die to identify their draw word using the number rolled as it corresponds to a word from a card in the deck. There are two options for drawing based on the identified word. If it is an “All Play” one person from each team draws the same word giving both teams a chance at the point. If not, that team gets control and draws only for their team. An “All Play” is indicated by a special symbol next to the word on the card. As points are earned and the die is rolled players move across the board in the hopes to reach the finish line first.
Turn this into a game of Charades by acting out instead of drawing. Watch this Youtube video to learn more about playing charades. Try my themed story spinners for the book, TV show, and movie categories. Here are two additional topic, animals and kids movies. Use the "Single Name" button at the top, not the spinner, to hide the list of options.
Drawing instrument (pen, marker, iPad, tablet or phone, etc.
Drawing surface (paper, whiteboard, chalkboard, iPad, etc.
Timer (the one in your board game, YouTube, phone app, etc.
Conferencing tool (Meet, Hangouts, FaceTime, Zoom, etc.
Messaging or email (To share words with players if you are acting as the moderator. With students I always use school based communication, gmail and Meet for conferencing.
Calendar invite with log in detail
List of players with email for play order and online communication if needed
Student Setup
I begin by creating an event in my calendar as well as a Google Sheet with dates, times and a certain number of slots for students to sign up. The number of slots per game depends on the game we are playing but I usually run sessions for 10-15 players. Students and parents are sent an email with a link to this sheet, the name of the game, and directions for signups. At this time conferencing tools are a bit on overload and they are trying to patch and create features that currently do not exist, I invite students 5 minutes before game play begins. Hopefully by the time you read this, issues will be patched. When students arrive they will be greeted with a “Be Right With You” sign of some sort and some Bossa Nova Jazz music.
As the moderator, I begin with a review of the game play, etiquette, and bringing an awareness to them of what they are sharing on the camera. A picture says a 1,000 words and the images in the background could give away personal details. We talk about the materials they need to play and they take a minute to prepare before we begin. The more games we play the more prepared they are the next time.
I can have a turn drawing but I cannot guess as I send the words to my students. Rather than having each student use an online spinner, I use email to send them their words. You could do this with any players, but I use this method with my students to practice using email. Before the session begins, I prepare a bunch of draft emails which include student emails for that game which I pull from the Google Sheet signups. Each draft includes a unique word from my word list typed in the subject line. This helps me to prepare and gives them a chance to utilize email, a tool I find most middle schoolers are not familiar with. It makes sense, they use their phones to communicate with just about everything but email, e.g. text, Snapchat, Musically, etc. I’m not endorsing these tools, just mentioning some that I know some students use. Although I think it is important to speak to them in their own language I choose to use our school email accounts. They will be taking over soon with a host of tools that may not have been invented yet but for now, I keep it simple, keep them safe. It is my responsibility as an educator to communicate with my students in a professional manner which is why I stick to school policies and use our G. Suite accounts for email (gmail), conferencing (Meet), and all other communications.
Non-Student Setup
When working with adults I share the spinner tool and trust that everyone can manage selecting their own words. This eliminates the need to email words to the players and lets me fully participate in the game. Players are invited with my calendar app that includes the link to our conference.
Players
If players are signing up as individuals, we just take turns drawing while everyone else guesses with the chat window. It is always an all play. The moderator or the other players can watch the chat window for the correct guess.
If players are signing up as partners or families, each team takes turns drawing. The team gets to draw until the timer ends giving them a chance to guess first. If they don’t get it other teams race to answer first using the chat window. I don’t use all play for this setup but could with a more practiced group and if there was a dedicated moderator to watch the chat. I have found with any of the online games that I play one must be flexible and creative.
Score
Someone can keep score on a sheet of paper which they can share after each turn by showing the new score after each play with their camera. When I keep score, I award a point to the artist and the person who gets it right first. It is a team effort after all. Usually when I play with my students, I don’t keep score, we just have fun and support each other.
Reflections
The biggest challenges during game play are the microphones and how they trigger the video conferencing tool, and sending the words in a timely manner which I spoke of above in the “Student Setup” section. I’ll explain the microphones now. In my experience the "squeaky wheel" gets the mic. Whomever is talking, or usually shouting when playing Pictionary, is the person that the conferencing tool focuses on and the video that generally populates on the screen. As you can imagine, if everyone is talking at the same time, it is challenging to stay focused on the “drawer.” The screen keeps changing like Whack-a-Mole unless you can pin or lock that person's screen. This pin or lock screen feature is available on some conferencing tools. For this reason, I have found that participants must mute their microphones unless it is their turn which I explain as soon as the kids log on. Just like a traditional classroom, we need to take turns. That said instead of shouting responses they must type them into the chat. This clearly lets the moderator know who has the correct response, first.
As I continued to play I realized that I needed to build my own lists to include vocabulary that I expected my students would be familiar with which is why I jumped to one of my favorite tools, Flippity.net's Random Name Generator (RNG). This tool, like most of Flippity's tools can be used in ways not initially intended. In this case I used it for topics and themes appropriate for my students. Truth be told, while players were entering their guesses into the chat window, they gave me ideas for my existing lists. I have one RNG for kids movies, another for animals and I am continuing to build new lists everyday.
Different conferencing tools come with different opportunities and challenges. When I play this game with adults I use my free version of Zoom. One benefit of Zoom is the white board tool which any participant can use to draw on their computer. If you have ever tried to draw on a track pad it can be challenging to say the least. My advice is to use the index finger of your non-dominant hand to "click" and hold while you use your index finger on your dominant hand to actually draw. This takes a little getting used to but is much better than trying to click, and drag and draw with one finger. At least from my experience. Another benefit of Zoom, from a moderator perspective, is the private chat option. I can easily use RNG to select the next clue and share it with the next participant using the private message feature. Hangouts and Meet do not have a private chat option.
With Hangouts or Meet, you cannot send private messages so you need an alternative method to send the words to your participants. Currently, I use email to send words and phrases to the participants. This does add a little extra time but I have found ways to expedite this.
I do not endorse these tools, they are merely suggestions. You must find what works best for you and your setup.
What’s Next
As I continue to explore everyday board games in an online environment I will share my experiences in this blog. If you have any ideas or questions, reach out. I would love to hear from you.
As a digital learning coach my passion is to help teachers integrate technology tools into their day to day curriculum to provide essential skills and tools for student learning. With the current state of the world, you can imagine this can be an even bigger challenge. Now more than ever, I want to help people use these tools to connect with each other but many do not know how to navigate video conferencing tools. I'm even learning a few new ones myself. My hope is that while we are practicing physical distancing we remain SOCIALLY CONNECTED.
This week, I explored using video conferencing tools to bring small groups of students, friends, and family together to play online games. We have had so much fun. With my students I ran 9, 30 minute sessions of a Hangman like game to review vocabulary and CONNECT. A couple of my students broke out their guitars and I, my mandolin. We strummed along while we played the game and talked about using Google Meet to jam or play more games. Several students had so much fun they signed up for additional games. We are scheduled to play charades next week.
Boggle Board
In addition to working with my students, I have had two rounds of online Boggle, one with my colleagues and another with some leaders in tech ed. We too had a lot of fun. A lot of our discussion was on the current situation and the great need for staying connected.
Many people are alone at this time, people of all ages. We have an only child. Hanging out with mom and dad all day gets old fast for a 13 year old. My goals right now are to help my students, friends, and family to connect and learn how to utilize this tool so they can play games, share stories, jam, and find interesting ways to physically distance themselves while staying socially connected.
I am planning new games and have several scheduled for this weekend starting with my scout troop and later with my family. Games we will play include hangman, Balderdash, Pictionary, Taboo, and charades. I have shared invites through messaging, Facebook, and Twitter in the hopes for more friends and family to join in.
We have been thrown into an unprecedented situation and are scrambling to find our way. Some families lack the tools they need to connect, like training, a device to connect, and a much needed internet connection. This can make connecting an even bigger challenge.
I so want to push this idea forward to keep us connected, particularly isolated folks and those living in elderly homes. I am looking for people to help with this effort. If you aren't sure how it works, read my last two blog posts or better yet send me an email to sign up for a game, then you can start to organize your own games with your friends, family, colleagues, or whomever you wish to stay connected with. If you have the skills to do this already, reach out to others, start scheduling games of your own. Someone out there needs this now!
After a go at "Hangman" with my students, and some conversation with my #ScratchEdPLN buddies Heidi MacGregor and Zak Kolar, I started offering other remote gaming opportunities for my colleagues, family, friends and students, reaching out through email and social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. In addition to having some fun playing online games, this project gives me a focus and lets me continue to do some of the things I love, work with others, utilize technology, be cheesy, and have fun!
The Game Boggle is a fun game where the players challenge themselves to find the most unique words they can from a 4 x 4 grid of dice with letters on them. You can only letters once per word and they must be connected sequential in any direction. Can you find B-O-G-G-L-E? What else can you find? M-E-A-L works but M-E-A-N does not.
Set-Up
Start by establishing your conference and sharing the link with your players. With my students, they start by signing up with their email using an empty slot on my Google Sheet. Emails are added to a calendar invite which includes the Google Meet conference link. Reminders are sent out that morning and again about an hour or two before we play depending on whether or not I am running back to back sessions. Although parents want to be helpful it is important that only student accounts are used during online school activities. If anyone signs in without a school account I have to assume they are not students and block them from the Meet. Nothing personal, it's just the right thing to do. Different platform, same concept. You wouldn't expect any adult to just walk into a classroom whether physical or online.
Stand Setup
When setting up my Boggle board I used a stand to prop my iPad. On this iPad, I log into the conference with my Meet app, turn off the microphone and volume, and make sure that the camera captures the Boggle board. You could use a stack of books or some other configuration that works for you just make sure that you have a separate device to manage the Boggle board and everyone can clearly see the letters. Sometimes I have to move it around a little to get it just right. I often use a sheet of paper and trace the bottom of the Boggle game so I know exactly where to set it up with continuous shakes and plays. During play, make sure to "wake" the device you are using to share the Boggle board. My iPad went to sleep a couple times and the screen went black during play. With the "moderator" device, I use my laptop. I log in about 10-15 minutes early to share a welcome screen and play some cheesy but appropriate music for my audience. This lets them know they are in the right spot and that I will be with them shortly. It also provides a space for the players to socialize before we begin, one of my main goals. It also lets me check my sign up sheet to see if there are any last minute entries. I can then add them from the conferencing tool. Once we are ready to go, I review the chat window as well as mute and no video options for the players before we get started. The moderator should also have an online 1 minute timer or a physical one which comes with the game. You can ask someone else to run a timer, pick what works best for you and your players. I suggest using the physical one to get started if this is a new experience for you. Start small and build your skills as you go. Lastly, all players need a connection to see the Boggle letters in addition to a paper and writing tool to record their list of words. We use the honor system when reviewing responses but you could have players leave their list on the keyboard so they can tilt the monitor screen camera down to others can see your responses but only do this once the timer has gone off. Use your discretion and decide what works best for you. Game Play
Remind people to mute their microphone until it is their turn to share. When multiple people are talking at the same time and their microphones are on, the program bounces around between them as it is "trying to listen" and react. It is triggered by the players microphones and could change what each player sees on their screen. As the moderator, you can share your screen so which forces your screen onto the players windows. You can also mute any or all players but, only they can unmute themselves. It's a privacy thing. Now that everyone is ready, review the game rules. Like any game, you can modify these rules to meet your needs. Just make sure everyone knows them at the start to avoid disagreements. Here are the rules that I play by.
Find and list as many words as possible in 1 minute.
Words must be made by sequentially connecting letters in any direction, up, down, sideways, or diagonally and they cannot be used more than once in a given word.
Words must have at least 3 letters. I use 2 if I'm playing with young kids.
No abbreviations, acronyms, or proper nouns.
Only unique words can be counted toward your score.
Have fun!
Shake your Boggle board put it in place and start the timer. Everyone should make a list of all the possible words they can find. Be wary of English teachers and librarians, they tend to be very good Boggle players. ;-) When the timer goes off, you can cover the Boggle board with a paper or move it out of view so you can check the responses. New players sometimes need practice with the sequential set of letters. See the example above with MEAL and MEAN. Have the person with the most words go first, then the person with the most words remaining, and repeat until everyone who needs to has shared their list. Each reader crosses off any duplicate words and ultimately tallies up all of their unique words. I have found that the reader should pause between each word to give people a chance to respond. Another suggestion is that ONLY those how have the same word should respond with something distinguishable, like I have "that word" instead of yes or no. I mentioned earlier that individual microphones pick up on sounds using short or irrelevant words can make communication difficult and unclear. If someone is simply saying NO and their microphone is not muted another persons response may not be heard. Everything will work its way out in the end but these steps may save you some time.
When this play is done players should add their tally to the chat window, i.e. 5. After each play, they can add + some number = new total score, i.e. + 3 = 8. This will help to keep track of the score. Another option is sharing out scores at the end and having one person keep track. Reflections
We have had one go at Boggle with another game scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. During our first game we discovered that in addition to some much needed social time, there are other opportunities for students to practice word building and validation. While sharing word lists others can use appropriate resources to look them up. Stay tuned to learn more about future games. Have fun, take pictures and share them here using #appygames! What's Next
Stay tuned for more #appygames like Pictionary, Charades, Balderdash and more.
In light of our current social distancing and the fact that schools are closed, my first remote learning opportunity for my students began today. For the next three days I plan to chat with my students and introduce them to a remote learning while playing Snowman online, a Flippity.net tool, with Google Meet. My goals are to connect with my students, have fun playing games in this stressful time, and to introduce them to video conferencing tools so they can continue to connect with family and friends during this time.
The Game
Snowman is a game made with Flippity.net that works like hangman but instead of adding body parts to "hang," the snowman melts as the temperature goes up. Missing letters turns up the temperature. I used hangman in my blog post title as most people are familiar with this game, not Snowman.
Flippity Spelling Words "Game"
Using Google Meet with groups of 10 or less, students will take turns guessing letters to identify words and phrases using our curriculum vocabulary. I am still working on logistics and identifying how many participants should play in a given game. Give this game a try by clicking here. The words and phrases in this game are related to our classroom constitution see the post "Our FABulous Classroom Constitution," technology and computer science. Simply chose a list, select more, and finally, choose Snowman to begin. I always include an ALL list option should someone want to work using the largest list of vocabulary. This quick game lets us spend some time together to have fun and review vocabulary from our classroom and curriculum. We also get to explore Google Meet so students learn how to navigate the tool. Maybe they can use it to stay in contact with family and friends. Staying connected is so important at this time.
Set Up
3 Day Schedule
Sign up Sheet with email Address
In order to participate students must sign up on my Google Sheet with their email address so I can add them to the scheduled Google Meet. This step ensures that only my students have access to our resources. The Google Sheet is shared with all of my students in advance along with a schedule. If interested, they simply pick the date and time of choice then sign up for a slot with their email. These emails are added to a calendar event which is then shared with them. this event invite includes the Meet link for easy access. Before the event, I create a list of the student names on a piece of paper so I can keep track of the order of play. In one case, a sibling was able to play but they used one account. You will see two entries from that person.
To play the game you have to use two separate windows. In the background window, I leave Google Meet open with the chat window active. The foreground window includes the Flippity game which I share so all the participants can view it while we play.
Using Two Windows to Play the Game
Game Play
Once we are connected, we have a quick chat to catch up before we get familiar with the tool, learning how to turn things on and off like the microphone and camera. Using the player list, we rotate through the players taking turns to guess a letter and if they think they know it, the answer. If not, they can pass so the next player can have a turn. We continue this process until they guess correctly or snowman melts. To start another game, click the green arrow to prompt a new word.
Reflections
The first day we played Snowman I was able to run two games. The first was a small group of 2 and the second included 5 students. In the second game, two students played together using one account. You can see this in the screen capture above. It was great to connect with my students. We had a lot of fun! In addition to this game, we talked about playing future games with video conferencing tools like Boggle and Charades. I can't wait to do this again and I look forward to sharing more ideas in the coming days. Some things we learned.
Spend time before the game begins catching up with each other. This is a chance for us to socialize and have some fun!
Play music and include a sign when people enter the Meet, i.e. "Be Right Back" or "Almost Ready."
Make sure you understand how the microphone and video camera work.
Don't wear or show information that identifies you personally, e.g. a school sweatshirt, team jersey, year book. etc.
Mute your microphone when you aren't using it or if there is a lot of background noise. You can always turn it on when you need it.
Enter your letter suggestion in the chat window. The moderator will have a list of names to help ensure that everyone gets a turn.
Pay attention to the used letters. If you ask for it, it counts.
Student Testimonials
Student Testimonials
What's Next
Stay tuned to see some other games that might be of interest to you. If you want to build another game but aren't sure how, visit flippity.net for instructions or complete this form to share a list of your own and I build it for you. Games will be add it to a curated Wakelet Board for easy access.
Take a look at some other Flippity tools that I have utilized. It is one of my favorite online tools. By thinking outside the box, I have found clever ways to use these tools beyond their initial purpose. For example, I use the name spinner in the random name generator tool to compare and contrast items or to generate a writing prompt or for improvisation activities. Think how much fun your students would have with this online.
Creating a classroom culture where my students feel safe, have fun, and are welcomed is important to me and why I decided to ask the experts, my students, for their input. They have been doing this student thing for a while after all so they should have the best ideas. Students, much like adults, need to feel included and cared about. By giving them an opportunity to share and discuss ideas for their learning, they were able to provide input for our FABulous Classroom Constitution. Just before we started this activity, I was sitting in my own class on responsive classroom. The instructor was talking about using the acronym FAB which stands for fun, acknowledge, and belonging. I love the simplicity of this catchy phrase so I found a way to incorporate it into the students’ work to develop our classroom constitution. We will get to that a little bit further down in the post.
Students began this lesson brainstorming ideas in small groups using the prompts you see to the right. These prompts were also projected on the wall in the classroom. As they shared and discussed ideas, a scribe recorded these thoughts on the handout below. Click here to view the digital version or to make a copy of your own.
One of my classroom goals is to create lessons and activities that require both student collaboration in learning and self reflection to show what they have understand about a given topic. Middle school students love to socialize and benefit greatly with time to talk to their peers. Why not give them a chance to talk with purpose before sharing what they have learned? After the group brainstorming activity, each student was required to summarize the ideas in their own words using a Google Form with the same five prompts. This self reflection gave me a chance to organize student responses while reading about their thoughts on a successful learning environment. It also gave every student a platform for sharing ideas and being heard. In addition to summarizing the group discussion, students could add new ideas.
Positive Learning Environment
Using student responses, five word clouds where created to highlight the big ideas and vocabulary that was shared in the Google Form. We discussed the purpose of word clouds and the fact that bigger the word in the word cloud, the more frequently it occurred. This gave us a chance to further discuss their ideas and give ownership to the shaping of our classroom. To the right are the results of student responses for what a positive learning environment looks like.
Next I shared the constitution that I had created based on the FAB concept, fun, acknowledge, and belonging. I wanted to keep it short, to the point, easy to remember, and focused on student voices. Before we published this constitution, each class was given a chance test whether or not their ideas met the criteria. I wanted to make sure that every voice was heard. Ultimately the students had to decide whether or not the final set of guidelines met all of the ideas they developed during the group brainstorm and independent reflection. Some students shared ideas that they felt were not captured in our constitution but after some discussion and feedback from their peers, everyone agreed that all ideas were in fact included in these three simple guidelines. Our classroom is in fact FABulous!
Before the game begins, I email a list of 3-5 unusual words with their respective definitions to each player. In this case, I can only moderate the game, as I already know all the answers. A workaround this could be people using the cards from their own Balderdash game at home. There are a couple workarounds that come to mind. First, people could use Balderdash cards if they have the game at home. Second, they could go old school and play the way I learned this game, with a dictionary finding their own unique words. Either option gives everyone a chance to play. 
