Calling all Massachusetts Educators!

Apply for MASCD Designed To Learn Fellowship!

Fellows will....

• Join a network of MA educators to engage in a series of design thinking experiences that will make fellows 'experts' in the domain,

• Receive one-on-one coaching with Designed to Learn author and MASCD president as you ideate, co-create, and enact design thinking experiences in your space,

• Collaborate with expert educators throughout the year for ongoing connection, feedback, and support,

• Share your successes with wide audiences in a culminating event and receive support in writing and publishing about your design thinking journey!

Game On? Brain On! Wins Education/Academic Category of Book Excellence Awards!

I am incredibly excited to announce that I have been recognized as a Book Excellence Award Winner for my book, Game On? Brain On! The surprising relationship between play and gray (matter) in the Education/Academic Category.

Out of hundreds of books that were entered into the Book Excellence Awards competition, my book was selected for its high quality writing, design and overall market appeal.

To view my complete award listing, you can visit: The Book Excellence Awards Here

The book was released in 2020 and uses cognitive science to explore the ways in which play helps students gain and maintain critical skills. Game On? Brain On! invites creativity and excitement into the classroom results in big gains for everyone.

Writing for Learning and the Brain, Dr. Rebecca Gotlieb suggests that, “Especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic when students miss their friends and may find online learning to be exhausting and when teachers are seeing anew how challenging standardized curricula can be, we could better serve our students by absorbing Portnoy’s lessons about how to harness the power of play. As such, Game On? Brain On! will be of interest to an array of K-16 educators and education reformers.”

You can get a copy for yourself here: https://www.amazon.com/Game-Brain-Surprising-Relationship-between/dp/1951600428/

An opportunity for our post-pandemic education system

There are mountains of empirical research that fly in the face of our pre-pandemic ways of doing school. From opportunity gaps in access to the importance of motivation on student learning including the role of teacher expectations on student outcomes and the mental health pressures associated with an overemphasis on standardized testing, there’s no shortage of data in favor of changing everything.

What’s interesting is much of how we should do school has surfaced over the past year: centering on students’ social-emotional wellness, flexibility in how and what we teach, and adding more meaningful and applied learning experiences to each day.

There have been many stories of the horrors of this year of distance learning. I don’t deny the genuine hardships and losses that so many have experienced. But as an education researcher, school board member and parent, I’ve also seen some schools finally put more emphasis on what many call “soft skills” but that I see as essential: communication, problem-solving and navigating through difficult situations together while honoring our human-ness.

This year we’ve fortuitously placed a greater emphasis on “soft skills” as our kids learned to navigate new digital platforms and educators have had to take perspective of students to understand why turning on zoom cameras in zoom may be less than ideal. I believe these “soft skills” of flexibility and compassion may key to addressing our alarming pre-pandemic mental health crisis as between 13–20% of children living in the US struggle with mental illness each year. These pre-pandemic numbers are a reminder that the social-emotional wellness of our students has long needed to be a focal point for post-pandemic schooling.

As many students zoned out during zoom sessions, many others have failed to log in altogether. Not surprising as 3.7 million households nationwide lack consistent access to the internet. What’s more, of the 65% of homes with children learning online, 11% reported having no live contact with their teacher in the past week. These findings reveal many of the pre-existing issues within education that have been exacerbated during this time, including disparities in access necessary to build essential connections and those critical “soft skills” for future success.

As schools work overtime to find these lost learners, it is essential that we prioritize connection over content in post-pandemic education, to foster a sense of belonging to the school community. This work should include more inclusive partnerships between schools and families to the school community, something research has long demonstrated increases student achievement. And schools often ignore or wrongly associate barriers to a parent’s involvement in their child’s learning when in fact there are significant barriers to participating during the school day.

While we mourn the loss of gathering at sporting events or recitals to cheer for our children, many schools have used this time to flatten access for many families, redefining family involvement. Holding parent-teacher conferences via zoom removed a financial burden for those who require childcare, while PTA meetings online mean more community members have access to otherwise inaccessible school-community meetings. Board of Education meetings too have been remote and in my four years on our local board we’ve never seen this number of community members actively engaged and in attendance. Our post-pandemic world could benefit by casting such a wide net of inclusivity where all parents and community members can connect so seamlessly.

When my children’s school district went remote in March 2020 it was less than ideal for all involved. Without a single approach to distribute materials, meeting links, or grades online, our students floundered, parents roared, and teachers were stuck in an endless tailspin. So when given the option of hybrid or fully remote instruction for fall, it’s no wonder many chose hybrid.

Before school resumed last fall, teachers began more organized allowing our kids to flex their executive-functioning skills, becoming more self-sufficient learners. A unified online space for classroom materials, assignments and Zoom links removed some confusion around coursework and assuaged stressors over endless school paperwork, allowing our kids to focus on what matters: learning.

Faced with the daunting task of teaching via zoom, educators embraced a different approach: mini-lessons followed with group projects, placing kids in breakout rooms to practice new skills together. During breakout sessions, the teacher pops in to provide feedback in a new model of flexible, purposeful learning. Teachers reach out privately to check in on students, a welcome change for students with anxiety, including our middle schooler.

Cradling his cat in his lap during math instruction it appears our 10-year-old too enjoys the creature comforts of school at home. His sense of safety and ownership in learning has increased even if he forgets to turn on his camera. At parent-teacher conferences this year his teacher tells us he’s thriving academically with high marks. This is a departure from previous years where conferences focused heavily on forgetting paperwork endlessly lost between school and home, a problem solved by a single digital space and the teacher’s increased flexibility.

Without the endless work meetings and after school activities we’ve had more time to connect with my children. I recently asked my 5th-grader about his favorite learning experience from this year and he proudly declared: “I learned to solve a Rubik’s cube!” I laugh remembering an impromptu ‘show and tell’ via Zoom where one child proudly presented a solved Rubik’s cube and the entire 5th-grade became consumed with completing the puzzle in the fewest steps. But what no one noticed is the fact that he’s learned to solve it on his own, using YouTube. Something he saw in school sparked his interest to pursue and succeed at a challenge on his own time, those “soft skills” again. What he doesn’t yet know is the solution to that Rubik’s cube is based on a set of procedures, algorithms, Algebra. If this is possible why not explicitly connect Rubik’s cube to algorithms or Algebra or programming while they are in school?

What we’ve learned during the pandemic isn’t showing up on assessments but is important in the real world. It seems that during this time of struggle, we’ve acquired what schools term “soft skills,” communicating effectively, problem solving, and navigating through difficult situations together while honoring our human-ness. Essential for a successful future, these are skills most difficult to learn. We’ve taken things that used to be annoyances to classroom instruction like a child bringing in a Rubik’s cube or fidget spinner and leaned into the possibility that student interests are drivers of learning.

To be sure, our family’s experience is one of privilege. Our children have access to broadband and are old enough to monitor their learning without constant supervision and they have grown ups nearby who can walk away from work to troubleshoot tech issues or scaffold solutions to linear equations. Yet the very real social-emotional crisis across the country is a wake up call to see the human-ness of our students and the potential of partnering with their parents before it’s too late.

Honoring student needs, enhancing home to school connections, and connecting content to what kids care about is hardly novel and reinforces what research shows as best practices in developing a sense of belonging to a community prior to acquiring facts and figures to pass a test. As we return to school, let’s maintain what has worked during this time to make life better for us all: centering on students’ social-emotional wellness, flexible teaching in delivery and time, and more meaningful and inclusive experiences connecting with one another. The pandemic feels endless now, but the opportunity to connect with our children is fleeting.

What research shows and our kids know is the bane of your existence may be the video game controller in your kid’s hand, but it’s also the key to unlocking their potential.

My two boys are playing Fortnite as I write this. Theoretically I should feel badly about this, as fears of learning loss have ignited sit-ins from Berkeley to Rome and incited anxiety over increased screen time. All this while students of all ages logged 100 billion hours watching, and learning, online last year.

It is understandable that after suffering through nearly a year of quarantines and lockdowns many can’t wait to “get back to normal” in many aspects of their lives. But how sure are we that the pre-COVID schools our children were attending 5 days a week and away from our watchful eyes were the best possible way to “do” education?

No parent has ever worried about their child becoming zombified as a result of playing too much chess, football, or violin. It’s curious that video games, with a raft of research demonstrating their potential to positively impact on student persistence, learning, and collaboration, still surfaces so much anxiety.

I don’t mean to infer that our educators are not doing miraculous things during this time. But I do wonder if what’s missing from the debate about learning loss as the driving factor in getting our children back into classrooms is a critical chance to see how the gaming console under your TV holds the potential to transform education through more self-paced, student-driven, mastery-oriented, active learning.

And for those concerned about the relationship between video games and aggressive behavior, a longitudinal study recently published doffs those fears and suggests that “playing violent video games early in development is a poor predictor of aggression in later life.”

Cognitive neuroscientist Sabrina Schenk’s research shows how “video game playing is associated with many cognitive benefits in the realm of visual imagery, problem solving, and visual processing.” And while the pandemic has exacerbated many pain points in education including student anxiety, depression, and social isolation, games have helped dampen that isolation felt by learners worldwide. To some, “online gaming has become a social lifeline.”

Rote concepts like cardinal direction take on new meaning in game play as teams iterate on plans in real time all while considering varying perspectives of their teammates. The importance of social interactions during game play are evidenced in work by psychology professor Anat Shoshani who found that “playing a cooperative video game may also foster positive and prosocial outcomes.”

Gone in games is age sorting where it doesn’t matter that kids are in elementary and middle school. I’ve watched as together my children defeat the Ender Dragon along with their friend from summer camp and that friend’s cousin who happens to live in England. Isn’t this similar to the benefits demonstrated by Montessori where younger children from older classmates, and older classmates benefit from the reinforcement of modeling for younger children?

Learning through play is self-paced of the players own volition. For instance when my 10-year-old wanted to learn to build structures in Fortnite on a platform his older brother doesn’t use, he hopped over to YouTube for a quick tutorial from a professional player. The parallel to the learning model popularized by Khan academy was not lost on me, where every learner can watch a lesson and practice on their own until mastery is achieved, and no longer.

Within the school curriculum worksheets require every child solve 100 questions, some children only need 3 questions, few need all 100. Yet in play those same children know they have learned because they’ve leveled up. Perhaps this is why our teachers too see the irony in standardization of students when successfully filling in multiple-choice bubbles on the SAT may have less to do with knowledge than with socioeconomic status. This is something the College Board continues to address.

Classroom learning is less about a singular subject and more about learning to learn. Similarly in games it’s not about the game title but conversations around play that provide a template for an improved post-pandemic system of education. Asking my kids why they’ve selected a game, a character, a move, or friends to play with launches us into discussions about representation of characters, consequences of actions, and invites conversations about the choices we make.

After a tumultuous evening of game play replete with expletives I ask my children how they felt when they won, lost, or their teammate took their turn or stole their loot. And what they learn is the language of pride, defeat, anxiety, and empathy. And when I ask how they felt or responded when something didn’t go their way or how they’d do something different next time, we are talking about executive functioning skills of planning, monitoring, and assessing ourselves in real time can be put to use in the future.

To be sure, games are not a single panacea to fix an inequitable education system rife with issues of access from the significant risks faced by reopening schools and many students without access to reliable broadband. Andur educators have done incredible work engaging our children during in-person and remote schooling through this pandemic. But before we rush to throw our children back into the same education that has needed reform for so long, let’s consider that what’s missing from the debate about learning loss is a critical chance to see how the way our children interact with the gaming console under your TV may hold the potential to transform education.

What research shows and our kids know is the bane of your existence may be the video game controller in your kid’s hand, but it’s also the key to unlocking their potential. If you’ve listened in as I have while my kids orchestrate a sneak attack on a rival squad in Fortnite, you’ll hear all the critical skills our children need to be successful in their future. Not only are our children self-regulating as they plan, monitor, and assess their progress, they are doing so together. Isn’t that sense of purposeful collaboration the best chance humanity has to survive?

Simple, Quick, and Delightful Games for More Active, Engaged Learning In-Person or Remote TODAY!

In talking with Matt Miller for his awesome #DitchSummit, “the Netflix for PD”, Matt asked if I might share some ways to seamlessly infuse play into everyone’s learning day starting right now. Of course the answer was a resounding yes and… 

The “and” is a special surprise. I’ve invited a brilliant doctoral candidate from Northeastern University and fellow lover of games, Scott Silver-Bonito (@SrBonito1 on twitter), to join me in sharing some of our favorite low-stakes ways to use play for learning in class during remote or in-person learning.

You may remember that huge pile of games I shared last month? Well, today I wanted to do a quick how-to for creating (or just borrowing) these games and a few more of our faves for use in your own learning space tomorrow.

Today’s post is about Level Up 21: Boss Level from Game On? Brain On! This final “Level Up” is a culmination of the myriad ways play taps into our innate cognitive architecture to enhance and extend learning (see image above). 

Chapter 8 in the Game On? Brain On! shares simple and concrete ways to 1) use existing games, 2) hack those very same games, or 3) create entirely new games specific to our own classrooms or living rooms for teaching and learning today.

Two lucky Ditch Summit attendees will win some swag to accelerate gameful learning in their space and EVERYONE can level up through play starting right now with a few simple tools from a set of dice, some index cards, markers, or just an internet connection. 

SET: Cognitive flexibility on warp speed

A game of SET

Online or in person, SET is a game of visual perception that will have your brain feeling buff and brilliant in no time. The goal seems simple: find a set of three cards in an array of 12 cards (see below). 

But what constitutes a set? I’m glad you asked…  Cards have four features: color, shape, pattern, and number of items. Each set of three must include cards where each of the four features (color, shape, pattern, and number of items) is all the same OR all different. Below are four SETs of cards:

The first line is a set because they all share a color and pattern and they are each completely different in shape and number of items. Line one’s set includes three cards (from left to right): 

• Card 1 = Red (color), Squiggle (shape), Solid (pattern), and Two (number of items)

• Card 2 = Red (color), Diamond (shape), Solid (pattern), and Three (number of items)

• Card 3 = Red (color), Oblong (shape), Solid (pattern), and One (number of items)

Line two is a set because they are each different in each feature, color, shape, patter, and number of items. Line two’s set includes three cards (from left to right):

• Card 1 = Red (color), Squiggle (shape), Striped (pattern), and Two (number of items)

• Card 2 = Purple (color), Oblong (shape), Clear (pattern), and Three (number of items)

• Card 3 = Green (color), Diamond (shape), Solid (pattern), and One (number of items)
  

SET is a great example of an EXISTING game you can infuse into your in person or remote learning classroom tomorrow. If your learners are engaged in online learning they can play in a breakout room, on a shared screen, or even as a warm up. If you’re feeling competitive ask them to track how long it takes them to find all six SETs!

If your learners are meeting in person or if you want to use this with your own kiddos at home, SET is an EXISTING game that invites conversation about flexibility and growth, patterns and mindset. Try asking your kids these questions as you play: 

• What are some strategies you’re using to find solutions to SETs?

• How could we calculate the probability of finding SETs in each group of 12 cards?

• Which types of SETs are most easy or difficult to identify?

The conversation alone is worth the exercise in play.

Apples to Apples: Sweeten the game with words, images, or both

Apples to apples is the PG version of Cards Against Humanity. Each player begins with seven red apple cards (noun) and the winner is the player to collect four green apple cards (adjective) first. 

Players take turns as “judge” where they flip over the green apple cards and read the prompt aloud , flipping over green apple cards (adjective, for instance: squishy) and all other players play their red apple card (noun) they think the “judge” will choose as the best match (ear wax).

Apples to Apples is an example of a simple existing game you can HACK to with your learners to bring more play into your classroom specific to YOUR content area by inviting your kids to co-create with you.

If your learners are meeting in person or remote, some creative brainstorming allows students to create their OWN list of words for both sets of cards. If you’re meeting in person a set of index cards will do the trick. If you’re learning remotely you can use a host of tools to share play (think: Quizlet) and brainstorm together (think: Google Sheets or Jamboard).

Make the game your own by swapping out words on the red apple (noun) cards for images, or memes (above). I can’t think of a more fun way to learn phrases in a new language than by trying to match them to a meme! 

Heads Up!: Challenge learners to practice circumlocution

Heads Up! is a game of old fashioned charades. And it’s a great game to build interpersonal communication and collaboration while honing vocabulary skills. Even better news? There’s a free app for Heads Up! available for both Android and iPhone devices, but it’s also a fun game to play using index cards or even projected on the smart board (remember to have the ‘guesser’ face AWAY from the word!

Scott uses Heads Up! in his world language classroom to help students practice circumlocution (e.g., describing a word without saying the word) a way of enhancing vocabulary by reducing his student’s tendencies to use circular definitions. 

In this game, students are given a notecard to put on their forehead (no peeking, of course). The rest of the class has to use their vocabulary terms to help the student guess what word is on their head.

For example, one student in Scott’s class drew a card with the term “El abuelo” (grandfather). The student placed the card on their forehead and it was up to the other students' mission to get their classmate to guess the term without using any form of “abuelo”. Students had to get creative in their guessing and said things like: “El padre de tu padre” (father of your father) or “muy viejo” (very old) to help their classmate guess the term correctly. 

Heads Up! Is another example of a game you can HACK to use in person today. If you’re learning in person, a stack of index cards is all you’ll need to get started. Get your students in on the action by having them create a list of words.

Lindsay plays Heads Up! to conclude PDs and workshops where participants each get an index card to write down a new word they learned (e.g., epistemology). Crowdsourcing the new words means at least ONE participant will be able to prime others in guessing correctly (e.g., the nature of knowledge and knowing)!

The consummate pro, Scott has played this with remote learners while using Zoom. The only catch? Make sure the student who is guessing lowers their screen to hear the clues from their peers, but not see them.

Tenzi: Luck and Strategy

Photo Credit: J. Portnoy (Lindsay’s 12-year old)

Tenzi is a game of strategic thinking where each player aims to be the first to get all ten of their dice to land on the same number. Once every player gets ten of the same colored die (green, yellow, pink, and white) it’s anybody’s game.

Used in the traditional way, Tenzi is a quick and fun way to get everyone laughing and focused. But follow this link to a channel of countless HACKS to the traditional game and you’ll see how many creative iterations await.

A favorite at Lindsay’s home is even-zi where you have to roll all even numbers, or pyramid-zi where the goal is to stack the dice in a pyramid once you roll four 4’s, three 3’s, two 2’s, and one 1.

Battleship: Strategy meets World Language

Another staple of Scott’s world language classroom is Battleship. Verb conjugation becomes a very laborious, rote task for students, but it doesn’t need to be. This version of Battleship is another example of a game you can HACK to bring more low-stakes but more engaged learning to the classroom each day through play.  

Source: https://conjuguemos.com/verb/battleship/133

In this iteration of the classic, students practice conjugation and their “gameplay interpersonal vocabulary” as an added bonus. What’s more? This new take on an old favorite can be played in the classroom or online. The version of Battleship called Barco de Batalia that Scott uses in his classroom can be found here. But this game can be HACKED to fit your classroom learning just like Scott has hacked it for his learners. 

For in person learners, students each receive a game board and place their ships in the bottom half of their game board. Once the ships are placed it’s time to begin! It’s a race to see who can sink the battleships of their opponents first. As an added bonus Scott provides an on-board glossary of terms such as “hit”, “miss”, “sunk” and the names of the different ships. 

Students take turns guessing the location of their opponents' ships by attaching a subject (on the left) with a verb (across the top), and conjugating the verb. The first to sink their opponents battleships, er, Barco de Batalla, is the winner!

For remote learners or those who want to play a simple digital version of this fan favorite, the good folks of conjuguemos have a digital version called Frog Battleship ready to go right here. Even more exciting? You can play against a computer or log in and play against a friend at home. Game on!

Boss Level: Create a New Way to Play!

If you’re ready to beat the ultimate boss level, it’s time to throw away the old rule book and invent your own kind of play. Will you CREATE a new card game hacking together pieces or actions from your favorite games? 

• Can a game like Uno be used to categorize living things in the same genus, group fractions, or assemble favorite authors by genre?

• Can you use MineCraft to recreate the Colosseum, the chambers of parliament, or the city of Atlantis?

• Can you make a whole new video game that your friends can play using a tool like Gamefroot?

The sky’s the limit so let your creativity fly. Most importantly, ASK YOUR KIDS to decide where they’ll begin.

Source: Makey Makey Invent Everywhere: https://makeymakey.com/pages/how-to

And in the spirit of sharing and ultimate creation, our good friends at Makey Makey have shared some of THEIR tools for creative play.

The folks at Makey Makey never fail to disappoint and today they’ve shared eight lessons for learning in class or at home for those lucky folks with a Makey Makey Classic.

Follow this link to find lessons on how to craft a circuit, code using scratch, and even learn to make your own two-player arcade game. 

And if that’s not enough inventive fun, check out their Invent Everywhere page here where educator extraordinaire Colleen Graves shares dozens of lessons for using Makey Makey to create from PreK to 12th grade.

These are just a few of the MANY games that are:

• simple to play,

• easy to begin,

• can be played in your living room or classroom,

• are easily hacked to YOUR learning goals, and

• are guaranteed to delight learners of any age from 7 to 77. 

So what are YOU waiting for?

It’s time to learn, er, PLAY!

Game On? Brain On! Redux

The DBC crew recently asked me to share my version of Sunday 7, or seven quick and quirky facts you may not know about me. When I started writing I realized that there were still so many games to explore and share and ways to level up using each game that I had not shared in Game On? Brain On! that I realized that it warranted a whole new post. And here we are!

The following is not only a list of super simple, reasonable, and FUN games, but also links to find each one AND ways to level up and connect on a deeper level or think about how each might be used in a novel way in your space. (disclaimer: I am NOT affiliated with any links/games)

And…if you have a copy of the book and want to access all the free resources, tips, and tools in your space please don’t forget to visit the landing page I created especially for YOU here.

Behold! The stack of games that never seems to get put away because they are constantly in use.

…True story!

These games are so much more than meets the eye. Now that we’re all home more than before, games have become even more of our crew’s way of relaxing, laughing, connecting, and learning together.

Special thanks to my youngest kidlet Levi for helping me organize our favorite games while modeling how much of an impact each game has made on our at-home experience this year. 

Get loud. If you’re ready to make some noise then Tenzi and Slapzi should be on your list of family games. Each game has a super simple game mechanic (or way to play) and is sure to get your crew thinking, talking, and playing. The bonus is that each can also be used to reinforce a variety of concepts from math and English to strategic thinking and perspective taking. 

From left to right: Slapzi and Tenzi

In Slapzi (top left) each player gets five double-sided picture cards and someone flips over one of the green clue cards and the first person to match one of their picture cards to the clue by slapping it on the clue card yelling “Slapzi” wins. Super easy, super fun, and EVERYONE can play immediately! 

Level Up: Use Slapzi to launch a conversation about perspective (a bagel would totally be too heavy to lift...if you were an ant, right?) or create your own game of Slapzi where the picture cards are different representations of formulas, concepts, or facts, and the clue card is the category that each could match. Then enjoy the debate that arises as each player advocates for theirs as the very best fit!

In Tenzi (top right), four players each get a set of ten dice that are all the same color. Someone shouts “GO!” and the first person to get ten of a kind (all 4’s, etc…) and shout “Tenzi” wins. There are also lots of different versions of the game including Pirate-zi (say Argh! between rolls) and my favorite, pyramid-zi pictured above and to the right. 

Level up: Use Tenzi to reinforce number sense, collaboration, or right before or after lunch to engage in playful and creative learning.

Clockwise from top left: Anomia, Swish, and Set

Activate your PFC. If you want to see how well your crew can plan, monitor, and strategize during game play then you must launch into a game of Swish, Set, or Anomia immediately! Your prefrontal cortex, or PFC, is the part of your brain just behind your forehead that helps regulate cognition, or thinking. Playing games like these taps into your innate cognitive architecture to help practice skills like decision making, regulating thoughts and behaviors, and planning for the future.

Anomia is a silly and super smart game of attention, recall, and speed. Think of Swish as memory’s spatial cousin and Set as a deceivingly simple matching game that stumps PhDs and preschoolers alike.

In Anomia (top left), players take turns drawing a card from the draw pile at the center of the table and placing it face up in front of them to form a single pile. You have to stay alert and keep an eye on the cards each successive player draws because once another player draws a card whose sign (e.g., the four red dots in the image below) matches the sign on the card at the top of your pile, it’s time to get into action. When the signs on the two cards match, the first of the two players to names an example of the item listed on the other player’s card is the winner. Seems simple enough, just keep an eye on the signs of all the cards that are facing up and have an idea of an object that would fit, right? Not exactly. Over time your pile grows and there’s always a waterfall lurking right around the corner. A waterfall is when one person removes their top card only to reveal a card whose sign matches yet another player’s card. And I haven’t even broached the topic of wild cards!

Level Up: Use Anomia to introduce new topics that lead to even greater discussions. For instance, we launched into a whole conversation about renewable energy when the fuel card came up during one round. Driving past the gas station took on a whole new meaning after that experience and now our kids are starting to understand the imperative for solar energy.

In Swish (top right), twelve translucent cards are laid out on the table in an array. Players look at the array of cards until they see two (or three) cards that can be combined to complete one another (how very Jerry Maguire) calling out: SWISH! In the example above you can see the blue arrow is outlined in one card and filled in on the other card, while the orange blob is outlined in one of the cards and filled in on the other card. Flipped onto one another they complete each other and you, my friend, have just earned your first Swish! You’re welcome. 

Level Up: Try to find three cards that make a Swish when stacked together and add a level of complexity by having players talk about how they would have to flip the cards to make them ‘swish’.

Set (bottom middle) is the game I didn’t know I had been looking for all my life. And I do not say this lightly. In this game your goal is to find three cards that are a set. Sounds simple, right? Not so fast buster! While the cards vary in feature (color, pattern, shape, and number of objects), a set of three cards means each card has each feature either entirely the same or entirely different.

In the above array of cards one set includes the single green oblong object that is not filled in, the two purple oblong objects that are completely filled in, and the three red oblong objects filled in with the striped pattern. They all share the feature of shape (oblong object), they all have different patterns (empty, solid, patterned), and each has a different number of objects (1, 2, and 3).

Level Up: This is a game of next level awesome already baked in or to borrow from the words of a friend, “this game is just begging to be the topic of a PhD study.”

From left to right: Apples to Apples, One Night Ultimate Werewolf

Take Perspective. If you want to see empathy in action, a game of Apples to Apples Junior or if you’re feeling particularly adventurous or eager for an entertaining game of logic and deception then One Night Ultimate Werewolf is in order! 

Apples to Apples (top left) is the original version of Cards Against Humanity. It’s a brilliantly simple game of perspective taking, creativity, flexibility and negotiation. Players each get 7 red cards (nouns) and take turns being the judge. The judge flips over a green card (adjective) and players must choose the card in their hand they think is the best fit for that adjective. For instance, my kiddo may play his card ‘monkey’ for the adjective ‘well-mannered’ when his brother is the judge but when I’m the judge ‘music lessons’ is the card he choses. And here’s the kicker, the player place their cards upside down and the judge moves them around so no one knows who shared which card. Then the judge picks them up one by one and decides which card THEY think is the best fit. Talk about playing to your audience, right?

Level Up: It is beyond hilarious listening to my crew negotiate for or against one another’s cards. I mean, monkeys are clearly the best choice here, right? But this is also an opportunity to talk about perspective and how important it is in connecting and communicating (e.g., I’ll remind mom how ‘well-mannered’ we were when we went to see ‘Wild Kratts’ live and maybe we’ll get to stay up an extra half hour tonight!).

If you’ve ever played the social deduction game Mafia (see also: Among Us), you are going to LOVE One Night Ultimate Werewolf (top right). Game play is deliciously simple and excitingly fun. There are two teams: Werewolf/Minion and Villagers (all other roles). The goal of the game is to accurately reveal the Werewolf (if you’re a villager) or to deceive the villagers (if you’re a Werewolf). Each player has a very important and unique role to play that unfolds during the night (e.g., One NIGHT Ultimate Werewolf).

Game play is straightforward: Each player receives a card (face down) that tells them their character whose actions are repeated during game play in case they should forget. Players simply look at their card and replace it, face down, in front of them on the table. They do not show their card to anyone else around the table. Everyone closes their eyes and the moderator (or the free companion app) calls out the rules as the ‘night’ progresses. Each player can take different actions on their turn to ‘wake up’ from moving or swapping cards or simply see who is in cahoots with whom. Then at daybreak the fun begins as players all wake up and have five minutes to decide who among them is the Werewolf.

Bonus: there is a FREE companion app (for the web, iOS, or Android devices) you can download that acts as the moderator, calling out directions during game play and is complete with fun music and a timer to keep things moving once decisions are required. 

Level Up: In Designed to Learn I talk about the incredible work of Matt Farber who hacked the game ONUW to create game play based on the characters of the Scarlet Letter. Why not try your hand at recreating the game with characters from your favorite novel or film. Ready to level up even more? Ask your kids/students to create their version of the game as an alternative to useless reading logs or boring book reports. We are here to level up learning, right?!

Bohnanza

Seed new growth. Games are my favorite way to get to know other people, learn new things, and even engage in hard conversations. One of my partner’s favorite games is Bohnanza and while it is not the most complex game on the planet, it’s a game that has many levels of strategy and invites entertaining negotiation tactics. The player who harvests the most lucrative beans wins, but different types of beans have different values which correspond to their quantity. So as game play progresses so too does your opportunity to connect statistical and negotiation skills to have the most fruitful yield.

Level Up: Bohnanza is a great game to play to explain probability, or likelihood of an event occurring and can be connected to supply-chain economics. Depending on your comfort with a variety of topics (GPD, exports/imports, even news media) you can invite a variety of conversations within a seemingly simple and fun game.

If you’re inspired to try a new game with your partner, colleagues, your own children, or your students, my hope is that you will share your experience. If you’re still not sold on the power of games for learning try using these questions with your crew and let me know what you find! 

By sharing the rich opportunities for learning afforded by play we see that learning doesn’t have to be uncomfortable and rote, it can be fun, meaningful and APPROACHABLE to and for every one of us.

Game on, friends!

Is Monkey Business the Most Important Business?

When my kids were small they loved reading board books. A family favorite was the classic text called “Caps for Sale” about a person selling caps who, on a slow day, decides to take a nap under a tree. The cap seller wakes up to find each of his caps on the heads of a dozen or so monkeys in the branches overhead. Needless to say, this does not go over well with the cap seller.

The man demands the monkeys return his caps, and wields his fists while shouting loudly: give me back my caps! As one would guess, the monkeys don’t quite speak human, so instead of kindly responding, the monkeys simply copy the man’s hand motions thus making the man even more furious. A classic case of monkey see, monkey do. Or is it?

All of this was great fun to my children, who squealed with delight as I’d shake my fists playfully while acting as the cap seller saying: tsk tsk tsk! But what I realized on the second (or perhaps fortieth) read was how completely oblivious the cap seller is to why the monkeys were seemingly mocking him: the troupe of monkeys did not speak the man’s language.

While I can’t recall the day my children stopped reaching for that board book, I’ll never forget the powerful realization that so much of our communication is literally lost in translation. What’s more, we all wear many hats, and the way we communicate changes depending on the hat we’re wearing. 

As a mom, I am often silly, sometimes stern, and always ready for a hug. As a professor, I aim to provide prompt but pithy just-in-time support with enough compassion to let my students know I care deeply and respect their time. As a school board member, I try to model thoughtful questioning and active listening, although I sometimes pull from the playful “mom” behavior to bring levity and grounding to our heavier conversations.

As educators, we know that behavior IS communication! And oftentimes, breaking the barriers of language or culture (or species?) is best done by meeting others where they are, through the lowest stakes possible. When it comes to our kids it’s often through play.

When the schools closed down in March, it was devastating to watch as our children suffered from the missed human connection. But the moment they hopped on to Fortnite, it was as if their entire ‘squad’ of friends magically descended upon our living room as I heard excited talking, connecting, and my most favorite sound of all: laughter.

My hope in writing Game On? Brain On! is not simply to share the earth-shattering insight that we all learn best through play. Every good educator knows that! Instead, my goal is to share the many ways that play taps into the best that learning science has to offer and then turn to the experts, our educators, and ask: where can we infuse more playful and perhaps more compassionate learning into our work together? 

Learning looks differently right now and all bets are off, but there are some constants that can both ground your work online or in-person and will hopefully inspire you to use this time to add more play to your every day. Here are a few ways you can start this work tomorrow (or Monday!):

1. Get to know the players in your space, including what THEY like to play.

The universal language of play is a low-stakes way to communicate and connect and a much more fun way to learn! If you haven’t already, ask your learners AND your colleagues to share what games they like to play when they aren’t in class. There will likely be the common refrain from games on the ballfield to those on the keyboard, but listen closely because what they tell you is not only who plays what games but why they play and with whom. 

You can even borrow the image from Level Up 4 here to get started. And if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you might ask them to bring those games into class and see if they can’t find ways to bridge the joy of play with the joy of learning. How can your students use the Zoom whiteboard to play a game of Pictionary or use MinecraftEdu to build a replica of ancient Egypt? Learning through play makes it more fun, less stressful, and invites that natural collaboration that each of us yearns for in learning and in life.

2. ...and don’t forget to introduce YOU!

We’re all inundated with messages about Maslow before Bloom, but how many of us take the time to really get to know our colleagues or are invited to share unique attributes of our own lives? A dear friend and colleague, Chris Unger, likes to recall the story of a time he stopped a PD just as it began and abruptly asked the teachers in the room: what do you really care about? What are you doing when you’re not here at school? 

The mood in the room changed entirely, but the story doesn’t end there. The school has reenvisioned their curriculum by including novel courses inspired by the teacher’s passions, from “Being Politically Active” to “Bad Sci-Fi Science” where students learn important concepts from scientific inquiry to identifying issues that matter most to each student. Built off the passions and expertise of the faculty, the school re-envisioned how teaching and learning takes place. What a powerful way to help teachers and students see themselves every day.

3. Share the gameboard by using The Force: Dreams, needs and shares

What are the hats you wear? How do you communicate differently in those different roles? As you think about the many hats you don in your life and how each one requires you to communicate in different ways, consider the other players in your space who have a different voice, different experiences, and different goals. Sharing the gameboard means knowing about who is in your space and being clear about what supports you need and what superpowers you can share so that everyone is met with opportunity.

Pre-COVID, when I could run PDs in person, one of my favorite activities and the one that was often loudest and most generative, was called Dreams, Needs and Shares. It’s a simple exercise based on a single question: What is a pie-in-the-sky dream for your work this year in the classroom? 

Based on the dream statement, I’d ask you to consider: What do you need to attain that goal? And lastly, I’d ask: What superpower do you have that your colleagues may not know about but could be valuable to them? Sharing everyone’s dreams, their needs to make those dreams a reality, and the shares that reveal the potential within the room is the real warp zone to innovation in education.

Together we have everything we need to solve even the most complicated problems in our world. The only question that remains is: Are you game to begin?

…

Read the entire guest post on the Dave Burgess Consulting blog here: https://www.daveburgessconsulting.com/2020/10/07/is-monkey-business-the-most-important-business/

Coronavirus: Remote learning turns kids into zombies because we're doing it all wrong

“Hey mom! There’s someone leaving a garbage bag on our front porch,” shouts my sixth grader from his makeshift home office in the living room. Scooping the lopsided bag off the porch I notice both fourth and sixth grade kiddos are now hovering around me as if I’m Indiana Jones unearthing the Holy Grail. That small things are so gripping during this time never ceases to surprise me.

Both kids watch in anticipation as I open the bag and slowly realize what I’m unpacking. Five composition notebooks, three-quarters used. A bag of highlighters, markers and pencils with plenty of life left. And the kicker: the magnetic locker organizer. My son’s first year in middle school meant his first time having a locker. He was so proud of this small milestone on the path towards independence with the opportunity to organize his own learning in some small way. And so, the waterworks begin.

Read more here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/07/31/covid-19-education-online-learning-tools-classroom-column/5503493002/

Feedback: Less gotcha, more growth

For nearly two decades I've worked in education and all the while I’ve maintained my stance that there’s a very specific type of feedback that is essential for growth. This is the feedback that will improve learning, teaching, and living. 

To be clear, this is not the summative one stop shop of SATs that do little more than demonstrate your socioeconomic status (SES). Instead, I'm talking about the feedback that is iterative and formative and helps us see the opportunity to grow right now.

What is formative feedback? It’s about figuring out 1) what we know, 2) how we can show what we know, and lastly 3) where we need to grow (or go).

Yes, it’s really that simple.

But feedback is only useful if we use it to make a change. Changes can be made to policies, practices, approaches to teaching and learning, all ways of changing the status quo in search of something better.

So in reality, formative feedback is only a lever for change if it is used. And herein lies one of the biggest issues with formative feedback: understanding why so often it is NOT taken.

There have been books written about how to give feedback and very few about how to receive feedback. Think about that for a moment: while it’s easier to call out what needs changing, it’s harder still to ensure that the ‘what needs changing’ is raised with the right people and that it is actually received. 

We know the power of formative feedback. Yet very few schools are actually using formative feedback to inform instruction or pivot on their practices. This is the same for our children and for us as grown ups.

I’d argue that the same could be said about the use of formative assessment in the workplace. With all the talk of ‘growth mindset’ how often are we really given the opportunity to reflect and improve in meaningful ways at work?

This is likely an issue of culture in organizations. It’s the resistance to taking feedback as an opportunity to reflect and iterate with additional information. Instead, our gut reflex is to take feedback as criticism because we see it as personal. So how do we break this cycle?

How we move from our innate reflex of seeing feedback as criticism is by stopping to separate ourselves from the feedback. My suggestion: take feedback from a place of curiosity. Instead of looking at it as being about you, look at feedback as being about the giver of the feedback. Better yet, when getting feedback from students or colleagues try to wonder: how can we do something different and potentially better with this new information?

We’re in the midst of a global pandemic and the need for feedback has never been greater. The feedback we should be collecting could transform what the future of learning looks like for everyone in our country. We’re creating a new way of learning that has never been done before. And the need for feedback has never been stronger. 

This doesn’t mean the feedback loop stops once we return to whatever becomes our new normal. But it does mean we should be doing better to collect feedback from our students and their caregivers now and using that feedback to inform what we do tomorrow, next week, and in the next decade.

In business school you learn about customer discovery. This is exactly the way we need to go about collecting feedback about learning during this time. Formative feedback from our children and their caregivers will shed light on what is essential to know in planning for what comes next. Below are some examples of what formative feedback might look like for each of those stakeholders.

Formative feedback from our students can be a simple check in via Google form:

1. What is working for you during this, to coin a phrase, “crisis schooling”?

2. What is not working for you during crisis schooling?

3. How are you feeling connected to your peers, your teachers, your school?

4. What would you like to feel better connected?

5. If you had a magic wand, what is one thing you would change about how we’re doing school while not in a building?

Formative feedback from caregivers can be a simple Google form as well:

1. What is something you’ve seen your child struggle with during schooling over this pandemic?

2. What is one way you’ve found yourself helping your child to access their work on a regular basis?

3. What is something you want the teachers, administrators, school board to know that is working well?

4. What is something you want the teachers, administrators, school board to know that is not working well?

5. What is something about the nature of learning during this time that you wish would be clarified?

6. If you had a magic wand and could change anything about the way schooling is taking place during this pandemic, what would YOU change?

The purpose of feedback is to inform: It’s about growth, not gotcha.

Way to bury the lede, yes? Now you’ve officially seen the title to the forthcoming book!

But back to the feedback: You can not do better if you don't know what's not working. That's what feedback is for, to tell you what's missing and help you fill that gap. An opportunity to do better because you now know more. Less gotcha, more growth. Don’t squander that opportunity now that you received the feedback. Commit to making changes to address it.

Education is a huge system. And it was not created in a way to serve everyone equitably.

Creating effective systems is about listening to all the stakeholders in that system. Questioning from a place of curiosity. Finding ways to innovate to serve everyone as equitably as possible, and continuously collecting feedback to do better.

Less platitudes and more concrete paths forward.

There are plenty of children, caregivers, and community members who have a wealth of information to share about what is and is not working right now. Those firsthand experiences are the exact experiences we need to consider as we usher in the new model of education that is sure to follow this pandemic.

The question now is: are we ready to listen?

Finding your footing in uncertain times: Balancing multiple kids with multiple schedules

...while staying (relatively) sane during a global pandemic

When the first schools closed in response to the pandemic, my immediate response was to create a sense of structure for my children and establish a feeling of safety and consistency during crisis. I spent a weekend pulling together a plan that was flexible but still structured to create a semblance of footing during uncertainty. There were so many questions we needed to address.

How could we help our children feel supported while still doing the work we need to do each day to keep our own jobs? 

How could we use this experience to empower our children and help them become more autonomous and independent learners? 

What concerns should we plan for, conflicts can we predict ahead of time, and how can we stay flexible enough to ensure our focus is on our kids’ mental health while still learning? 

And then I had to stop myself. We’re a gaming family. We love to play! And there’s no better analogy for how to learn than how to play through iteration with pivots and continued perseverance than games.  

Using this lens I sought to bring clarity in a time of confusion and an attempt to share the more playful nature of our family and shared with the folks at Khan Academy the idea of “The Five C’s for Bringing Your ‘A’ Game.”

These C’s are a direct response to commonly asked questions from parents far and wide and the high level ways we’re trying to stay in the game of learning together during this strange time:

1. Clarity

2. Curation

3. Creativity

4. Curiosity

5. Compassion

The overarching goal is simplicity and consistency with plenty of room for iteration. 

Below you will find links to materials that support each of the C’s that will help your team level up with continued reflection. 

Click on the linked text to access each of these tools. Use what works, ditch what doesn’t. It’s that simple. We often swap out the existing activities for the work their teachers send home and always have back up for fun and purposeful projects for active learning throughout the day.

Clarity: Game Plan with Your Team

Clarity is all about setting expectations for what lies ahead including the resources you’ll need and the ways you’ll communicate. This is where our flexible weekly ‘game plan’ comes in. The timing stays the same for a sense of consistency and stability, but each morning (or on Sundays if we have a week at a glance) we sit down together to discuss:

• What has to be done and by whom (e.g., Game Plan)? 

• Where will we find what we need? 

• Where will everyone be? 

• When will you know it’s time to start, break, & stop?

• Why are you doing this work, how is it helping you grow (e.g., Today I Learned… & Morning Reflections)?

• When can each learner receive feedback on their work from caregivers (Feedback FTW) to keep going and keep growing?

• If you’re stuck, where can you go to get help? We set up a ‘help desk’ for our kids to jot down specifically what they’re struggling with so as soon as we’re off a call or can step away from our work we can help them (e.g., Help Desk!).

Curation: Know your Players and The Resources They Need to Succeed 

Curation is all about preparing ahead of time (to the extent possible). As a team we’ve done a game plan, or a weekly overview of what needs to get done. But here’s where as the grown up’s we have to predict potential pitfalls that may arise and plan to address each team member’s needs to the best of our ability by considering:

• What problems may arise while my kids are doing their work? Technology access, confusion around instructions?

• What might distract my kiddos from doing what they need to do (e.g., sibling stuff)?

• How can I make material accessible so my kids develop a sense of autonomy?

• What can I do to prepare the space so it’s not distracting and workable for everyone?

• Where can my child write down what they need so I know where to start when I can sit beside them and help (e.g., Help Desk!)?

• How much time should I set aside to check in (more on this later) and how can I support my children in seeking solutions to problems that arise?

• What opportunities can I provide to my kiddos to engage them in purposeful and playful learning when they’re waiting for additional support (e.g., While you’re waiting…)?

Creativity: Level Up

Creativity is all about thinking outside the box and trying to stay flexible despite some seriously complicated times. During play, creativity reigns supreme! Creativity is not just about creating things, it’s also about being open to the possibility that there’s a better way to do what you’re doing and shifting to meet a need with a new perspective. We have leveled up in our home by inviting our kids to share their thoughts to the following questions. And trust me when I tell you that their insights are awesome. But don’t take my word for it, ask your own kiddos and then write it down!

• How can we use our space to work in the most productive way possible for everyone? How will we have to shift throughout the day to meet everyone’s different needs?

• What will we do when different people need quiet and others are in meetings and how can we think of timing before it becomes a problem?

• What snacks can we have out for our kids and how can we help them learn to prepare their own food if we’re not there?

• How can we provide feedback in more creative ways? Leaving post-it notes when you have a minute to peek at what they’re up to is great as is a family white board to jot down notes about what’s working and what you still need. I also love to use Google Docs to write notes to my kids as they go through their daily game plan and write reflections if I haven’t been able to check in as regularly as I’d like (see also: Feedback FTW).

• Whose responsibilities need to shift and change when we reflect on the learning each day so everyone feels supported?

• What other activities can be available when my children don’t have work sent home from school (e.g., While you’re waiting…)?

Curiosity: Game On!

I’m insatiably curious about everything, which is probably why my kids love it when I sit next to them while they’re playing Minecraft, asking them a zillion questions about every little move. Being curious about the silver linings of this experience has prompted some powerful conversations in our household. Together we’ve talked about how we can be curious about learning during this strange time by asking some of these questions together:

• What kind of feedback do you need to keep moving (e.g., Feedback FTW)?

• Here’s a really tough question: How can we take feedback from a place of curiosity instead of criticism?

• Do you see yourself differently as a learner now (e.g., Today I Learned…)? If yes, how? What new things are you excited to learn about? What are things you don’t think are super important and what other things would you want to learn (e.g.,  Morning Reflections).

• How is this new way of learning teaching us important lessons about where we live, what we know, who we know, and how we learn?

• What are the silver linings of this experience? Lunches together when there’s time, less homework at the end of the day?

• What new ways to play, learn, and create have you discovered throughout this experience (e.g., while you’re waiting…)?

Compassion: Maximum XP

The heart and soul of living (IMO) is the ability to take perspective and continuously challenge your beliefs in the hopes of being better tomorrow than you were today. This is a tall order but if we're serious about making the world a better place I believe it is an important one. In games, XP is an abbreviation for “experience points”. Showing compassion in learning levels up your experience points in life. Invite your children to think through this with you, you’ll be amazed at what you discover:

• How can we be more flexible with each other during this time? How can this flexibility stay in place once this time passes?

• How can we act more compassionately towards our children, their teachers, and ourselves?

• When can we take small breaks each day to reflect and find ways to show that compassion?

• How can we be compassionate but still communicate the reality of what’s going on in our homes to get to our children, their teachers, and ourselves? 

• Many parents are upset that teachers are asking children to sit for ‘timed tests’ while at home while other parents are upset that teachers are not demanding any tests for their children. No one is ‘right’, but everyone has different needs. How are we honoring these different needs?

Children, like all of us, need a sense of structure in their lives. My goal is always to create a flexible but intentional structure for any work that I do and encourage you to think about plans as intentional but flexible structures that are open to iteration. Like Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

My hope is that as we learn to do better, we can use this knowledge to transform what education looks like in the future. We can change the way we do education, but we all need to be honest about the purpose of education before we can start to consider the possibilities about what it could be! 

If you find these intentional and flexible learning templates useful please let me know. If you have ideas for ways to iterate and improve upon them please share those ideas too! We’re all designed to learn and can do so much better when we do so together.

**Special thanks to the incredible humans at Khan Academy whose resources helped keep my kiddos learning without missing a beat AND to the awesome folks at Slides Carnival who made and released presentation template for free**