We just finished a math unit, so for the final day before March break, jumping straight into the next math unit wasn't ideal. Instead, we did a STEM activity involving spaghetti, yarn, tape, and marshmallows.
Not only did it involve those four things, but those were the only materials that my students were allowed to use. Each group of three students was given 10 sticks spaghetti, 20 inches of yarn, 1 yard of tape, and 1 marshmallow. Their goal was to build the tallest standing structure to support their marshmallow using only those materials with 15 minutes on the clock. Their structure would be measured from the floor to the marshmallow. Here are a few pictures of my students hard at work....
Looks like hard work, right? It's true, my students put a lot of hard work, strategizing, and logical thinking into building their spaghetti towers.
But you know what? They all fell.
Yep. Every single one of them. As soon as the fifteen minute timer went off, their hands had to take their hands off their structures. No sooner had they taken their hands off when one by one, each structure toppled over. There was a bag of marshmallows on the line for the winning team, but unfortunately, no one was awarded that bag of marshmallows since not one team met the requirements (but don't worry, they still split the prize and got one marshmallow each).
The students may have failed at building their spaghetti structure, but that doesn't mean that the activity was a failure. There was still a lot to learn. We talked about what worked and what didn't. We talked about the importance of both planning and risk taking. We viewed pictures of successful structures, and what we would change for next time. Here are a few specific things that we learned from this activity...
Trying something sometimes means taking a risk.
Like these spaghetti towers, sometimes you just have to stop overcomplicating things and take a risk. This week, my students had multiple tests, so I thought it would be a nice break to do a fun review activity in the form of a game. It involved movement and noise, so I thought it would for sure be a success. We ended up having to stop the game twice because of noise levels, arguing, and lack of listening. That being said, I will not be doing that game again. Playing this type of review game was risky, especially with this class. But I did learn that my class cannot handle this type of game, and I will plan accordingly in the future. Despite taking this seemingly unsuccessful risk, I think that it is important to encourage students to take risks in their work.
This week, I got to experience parent teacher conferences. I got to sit in on the conferences of a few different teachers (all with the parents' permission), so it was good to see how teachers differed from each other in running their conferences. During some of these conferences, one thing that continually came up, was the need for the student to take more risks. Students can get so stuck in right and wrong thinking, that they forget to think outside the box. Instead of focussing so heavily on getting a specific grade (which is countercultural in many Asian cultures), kids need to be kids, taking risks, and putting creativity into the work they do.
If something does not work the first time, that doesn't mean that you've failed.
Many of my students started their spaghetti towers by creating a base, which was actually a really great idea. They were definitely onto something. They did not quite get it to work, but the whole idea was not in and of itself a failure. I have also tried a few things (such as that review game) that seemed to be failures at first, but it doesn't mean I've failed. I have emphasized how loud and noisy my class can be. And really, they are so loud. all. the. time. You can imagine that the week before spring break wasn't any calmer. Well I decided to try something out to try to gather their attention when it seemed to be straying off. The whole "one, two, three, eyes on me" seems to be too juvenile for them, and I DON'T want to revert to their last student teacher's method of using a whistle (although I've been tempted). It needed to be fun, interactive, and maybe even involve a bit of movement. So I tried the "If you hear me clap once," except I'd say it kind of quiet the first time, so only the students around me could hear, and I would say different numbers not starting at one. It was kind of like a game, and I hyped it up as much as I could. Once I started trying it during class, some of the boys refused to clap even though I called them out, and since there is no behavior management system in place, there is no consequence in place for not listening to me. Even though this method did not work, I am going to continue to look for different attention-getter strategies. Any suggestions are welcome!
You learn from your mistakes.
As each spaghetti tower toppled over, I'm sure many of my student thought to themselves, oh no, I've made a mistake. Despite this, the students still learned from their mistakes and they learned from the activity. You do not always get things right the first time and that's life, but you can choose to learn from those mistakes. I am noticing that the same goes for teaching as well. I am a student teacher right now, so if I am going to make some mistakes, now is the time, especially while being supported by a cooperating teacher. I had my first observation this week, and overall it went really well. It is nice to get feedback from people who are experienced in the field of education and can help you see the ways you are doing well as well as the ways in which you can improve. The main improvement that I was told in which I could make based on this observation is stopping to get all the students' attention. This is feedback that I will use to continue to keep trying and keep getting better so that I can be the best teacher that I can be.
When you get it, it's a really great thing.
After the spaghetti tower activities, we got to see picture of successful spaghetti towers that hadn't toppled. My students oohed and ahhed at the simple, but creative structures, saying things like, "we totally could have done that!" Although it takes mistakes to get there, when you finally find something that works, it is a wonderful thing. Even though I just went on and listed some of the things that did not work so well for me, I also had moments this week where I though, wow, this is really working well! I taught the final science lesson of the book this week, which was on exploring space. For part of the lesson, I turned off the lights and we simply viewed pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Students could comment on what they liked about it and what they wondered about it. There were 100 pictures in the album, but we only had time for about 15. When I stopped it, they wanted to see more. I also heard a student say, "I love learning about science!" (which is something I never would have heard at my last placement!) I also showed my students a video about comparing the earth to the size of a golfball to show them how big the rest of space really is, and how we cannot even begin to wrap our minds around how small we are and how big this universe and God really are. This was one of those lessons where I thought afterwards, this really worked well. I could tell my students learned a lot and were impacted by the lesson.
Another thing that I got to see this week, which I thought went very well, were student led conferences (SLCs). For SLCs, parents would come to class and the student would show them different activities in science, math, and English, showing them what we have been learning recently. The students seemed to be so excited about showing their parents what they were learning. It was especially fun to see those students who don't usually participate start explaining the content in ways that I did not even realize they knew!
And now...
It's off to Cambodia for (a much needed) Spring Break!
Classroom Confidential: Chapter 6
One strategy that I enjoyed reading about which I could incorporate into my own teaching is the section about codes. At my last placement, there was a "Crypto Club" which was having students decode things and look at ciphers. Simply by having review activities or even introducing a concept in this way would be more engaging for the students.
Listen and Draw was another strategy that I could see myself easily incorporating into my teaching. My students right now love to be busy doing things, and many have trouble just sitting still and listening. By having my students engage in the activity of drawing the things they are envisioning in their heads, I would be catering to a variety of learning styles. I also think it would be cool to use these pictures for sort of a gallery walk style discussion where we could see the things that our classmates made and then talk about it as a class.
One last strategy/activity that I would like to implement into my teaching is the Everyone's an Editor strategy, specifically the Editor-in-Chief. So far, it seems like the students I have had for student teaching could use a lot of help on editing their work. Students can be quick to see the errors of others, but not see the flaws in their own work. By having each student actively participate in the editing process in a way that seems like a game, they will be more motivated to find those small errors within their and others' writing.
Hannah, I love that you are not afraid to try new things, which often does mean taking risks. But as you discovered, even if things don't go like you hoped, you can learn from these activities and you can make adjustments. You're right that now is the optimal time to take risks, feel supported, and learn. As far as getting the class's attention, you might try some unobtrusive visual cues - hand signals, a light, maybe even some air freshener (quiet spray). Or you might try an app on your phone for soft rain noise or wind.
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