Games in the Classroom

As a review, I attempted to play a game with my class yesterday.  A powerful and unforgettable lesson took place... for me.

In short, while I've been working and making considerable progress on my classroom management, I undid all sense of a managed and well-behaved class by poor planning.  Mainly, this involved the game.  It was a disaster, and I knew it as soon as I asked the students to get into their teams from the very beginning.

It was a simple game - students simply needed to be the first to write the English translation for the Spanish word they heard.  All of the words were cognates with the patterns they already knew.  Then, they handed off the marker to the next teammate.  Here are the problems:

1. Students moved into "teams" to sit next to people and then check out.
2. Students were constantly talking instead of trying to play the game.
3. These issues stemmed from the fact that only one person was required to do something at a time.
4. One student at a time leads to very few repetitions that students feel responsible to comprehend.
5. This leads to very little learning taking place.
6. This used an immense amount of time for students to get situated and understand the game, not to mention all of the pausing and asking students to behave during the game.
7. In the end, no one was too happy with the game anyway because I couldn't manage and teach, they got competitive and upset (I felt like a replacement NFL ref, too), and no one really cared about the game anyway because they were checked out.

In the end, something that could have been reviewed in 5 minutes or so took much longer, wasting valuable class time, and most students didn't get much out of it.

What would I do differently in the future?

1. Place priority on efficiency.  This doesn't just apply to games, though they are a good example of an unnecessary way (no matter how well they go) to waste class time rather than simply covering the material and moving on.  It doesn't have to be the "most fun" way.  Rather, what is the most efficient way to learn and review the material?  To meet this criteria, at least 90% of my class time should be devoted to learning and repetitions (rather than explaining a game, getting situated, waiting for student to switch turns, and managing them).
2. Ensure that all students are involved.  If the game does not require participation from every student at all times, then students will become distracted and not get the repetitions they need (and, most likely, become a distraction to the class and me as well).
3. If I do play a game, it is explicitly coordinated and judged, so explanations are clear and concise, students are already in place to play (don't move to different teams, but rather play from their seat), and there will be no question of who "won".  For example, "BINGO" meets all of these requirements.