I was called for a substitute assignment on the last day of
the semester, just before the holidays’ vacation.
I don’t know how the full time teachers feel, but I feel the school
year is flying bye fast; already half way gone...
Knowing who the teacher I am replacing is, and recognizing
her style, I was sure no lesson plan or suggested activity would wait for me, so
I came ready with ideas, hoping they will keep students involved, for at least part
of the time…
I drew a table of Sudoku on the white board and explained
the rules to the few who were interested, and sure enough several did show
curiosity. With exception to my own usual rules, I did let them come to the
white board and fill the blanks.
Then I drew some brain puzzles, those frames with few words
and/or numbers that symbolize a word or
an expression…(e.g., ‘GO IT IT IT IT’ is ‘Go for It’; ‘CAST CAST CAST CAST’ is
‘Forecast’; “Right = Right’ is “Equal rights’)
After showing them few examples students did display some
excitement, and soon became real good at that. They were able to figure out
every expression I threw their way (a lot faster than I was when I first tried
it).
Of course, not everyone participated, only about a third of
the class. Later I offered cookies as rewards and that helped too… but each
student who did participate escaped for few minutes the tyranny of the digital world, and enjoyed the freedom of creative thinking
and solving a puzzle, using their intellect.
So, does it mean that there is hope for disconnecting the
young brains from their addiction to the screen if we just challenge them, energize
their imagination and encourage their competitive instinct?
Would we be able to
apply it to other areas in education, like math and beyond?
Some hopeful thoughts for the holidays’ season…
