::A Geek in Korea::

Now that I have much larger classes, the typical ideas as to what I can do as a game activity need to be changed. I decided that I’d try something new, and made a "Battleship" style game for my classes to see if I could teach them how to play something new. The results weren’t as good as I hoped. I created two grids in a word processor program, then went about writing down the rules. The students had to draw four shapes on the grid of various lengths, then find their opponent’s shapes by calling out grid coordinates to "hit" the hidden shapes. Just like the classic game "Battleship", except it’s done on paper, and I replaced the boat names with space ships and Starcraft related words. It would work with pairs of children, but that means you need even numbered classes, with the proper mix of boys and girls every time.

My first class was bright enough to understand the rules, but one girl wouldn’t pair up with a boy. I made the decision up to the students with a game of rock paper scissors to determine who would go into the mixed group. There was only one boy in class, and he didn’t care who he played with. When the girl refused to play with the boy, I made her sit out a round and played the game as his partner instead. I told her she was being unfair to him, and that he shouldn’t have to miss out on a game because she didn’t want to play with a boy. She is usually a very good student, so I was a little shocked at her behavior. She waited until the next round started, then asked if she could play with someone else. I didn’t object.

The second class is much, much larger and didn’t have problems with pairing up, except their was an odd person out. I was going to play with them, but it turned out that half the people didn’t understand the rules after I explained them. The problem was they would yell out their own coordinates, trying to sink the other person’s ship, but wouldn’t hit anything, because no one had the same placement as they did. Then they would basically just copy what they wrote into their "enemy territory" grid and think the game was over. Some of the students took several explanations, a test game, and other examples to understand how to play. Some of the slower students never figured it out. It was really tough, as this was the first game I’ve had that just completely flew over the heads of some of my students so badly.

I think I’ll work on making the demonstation better if I ever play it again, and when the classes had an even number of students while also high enough a level to understand what was going on. Live and learn. Some of the best activities are the ones where you hope you can get your students to understand, and they figure it out with you as you work. Occasionally, and much less than before, this doesn’t happen. It’s part of being a teacher you just learn to deal with and get better at.