I admit that I can be a bit old-fashioned. And for middle-schoolers, that just means old. 🙂
I’m also the age of their grandparents (or older!!!) which doesn’t help either.
So, selfishly, I wanted them to play Kahoot. I wanted them to know that I wasn’t THAT old. That I knew how to use some of the fun stuff. 🙂
But I am also selfish with our time!! I really did not want to lose time because it might seem “fun”. But there was no way to know without trying….so….here is how it went:
Holy Moly they did have fun. About 90% of them. More about that in another post.
We played for several days in a row….which I didn’t want to do at all. But…my kids seem to need a few times to get used to things and so that was good.
Choosing team names quickly became more fun than anything else. By Day 2 I only accepted Team 1, Team 2 etc. I wrote the name on a Post-it and gave it to the player with the phone. Anything else became a way to make the class laugh and get away with finding a name that the teacher didn’t know the meaning of/reference to. That WAS a waste of time. So, as much as I could see how fun it was 🙂 , that was out.
I’m glad that I waited until we had really set a tone for the class. Not everyone had a phone, and sharing is not what middle schoolers are best at. So it really did take a few days for them to work how who would play with who and do it nicely. It worked out wonderfully in the end.
They felt super successful answering the questions. Really successful. It was the instant feedback, video-visual high that they have grown up with and it fed that need.
We did several types of questions. The “jumble” which puts things in order was not a hit with this group. Multiple choice was. The vocabulary ones made them feel smart. The reading ones got them reading even if they got the questions wrong. :o)
The best games were the ones I had time to make because I know my kids. But it was nice to not have to make everything.
This is not something they are ready to do only in the target language. So much energy and excitement that it all came flying out in English. We will be working on that. :o)
I do not plan on playing often. Never do too much of a good thing. :o)
If you haven’t tried it…think about it. Not everyone needs a phone/device but the more the better unless you are good at setting up teams. Also…if you are relying on the school’s internet, that can be a challenge.
I felt that I had to warn parents about the possible use of data!! The kids of course, did not.
Next time, I’m having kids help me plan questions to type of for the game!
You can find Kahoot at https://getkahoot.com
with love,
Laurie
