This year the other teachers and I decided that our students need to think about their futures and spend time thinking about all of those little events that happen that aren't planned for.
We enlisted the aid of Mrs. Owens' son Zac and he drew the Game Board from the Game of Life on one of the white boards in the Star Center. He was equipped with a whole handful of brand new multi-colored permanent markers and he did an AWESOME job. Once the board was designed, he handed off the baton to Mrs. Tripp to fill in the squares on "track" with the directions of what to do. She added a few special artistic touches (stop by and see the lovely self-portrait she added to the middle of it) and we were ready to have kids participate. The students were all given business card sized magnets with card stock attached (instead of the "cars") and asked to design a magnet that would identify them from all the other students in the class.
The game took on a whole new life of its own, and while some students were very diligent with playing every day, others weren't. Imagine... just like real life!!
While, it hasn't been a perfect experiment in "The Real World," it's a step towards the conversations we want to have and should be having.
While, it hasn't been a perfect experiment in "The Real World," it's a step towards the conversations we want to have and should be having.
Great blog - I wish I could take credit for the LIFE game, but ya know ;) I do think it has sparked some great conversations with students about their future and forced them to think about real life and it's many unforeseen obstacles.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a neat idea. I'd be interested to learn more about how the "game" works. Do the kids do certain activities each day that focus on real life experiences?
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