Critical Squares: Games of Critical Thinking and Understanding, is a book written by Shari Tishman and Albert Andrade for Harvard’s Project Zero. One of the games I like to use in my classroom is “Whatzit Tic-Tac-Toe.” We generally play it to think deeper about novels that we have read, but I decided to try it as an end-of-year reflection activity yesterday.
We don’t play the game as the rules state in the book. I put the grid up on the interactive white board and all of the prompts are covered. The students are divided into teams, and I start the game by uncovering one of the prompts. Then all of the teams have 5 minutes to write down an answer.
The prompts all have the word, “Whatzit” in them, and we substitute our topic for that word. So, yesterday, we substituted GT (Gifted and Talented Class) for “Whatzit.” For example, one of the questions is, “List three important features of the Whatzit,” and the students wrote 3 important features of our GT class.
After 5 minutes, all teams submit their answers without any names on them. I shuffle them, and read all of the answers out loud, then select the one that “Wows” me the most (kind of Apples to Apples style). The winning team members reveal themselves and they get a point. Then they select the next topic.
Students are always engaged when they play this. Plus, they are super quiet because they don’t want the other teams or me, the judge, to hear their answers. But what I love most about this game is the variety of answers and what I learn about myself, my class, and the students.
One prompt is, “List two very different kinds of features of the Whatzit.” The winning team wrote, “Learning and fun.” I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or cry because this could be interpreted to mean that learning and fun don’t usually coincide in their lives.
I would like to be proud that a team listed me as one of the important features of GT, but that was probably a strategic move more than a heartfelt one 😉
I must say that, having dealt with intermittent internet for the last few weeks, I was definitely in agreement with the team that, in answer to, “Which feature of the Whatzit is hardest to understand?” responded, “When technology doesn’t work.”
Yep, definitely top of my list of things that are hard to understand in my class. Well, that and why kids always move faster when you start counting even when you don’t tell them what number you’re counting to and what terrible thing will happen if you get there. I seriously will never understand that – but like technology, it comes in handy sometimes…
