Originally posted-March 25, 2013
Well, Mind Soccer didn't work as I had imagined in my mind. I found a really awesome description of Mind Soccer along with all of the rules and "ins and outs" of the game. I think finding this just before I introduced this with my sixth graders may have overwhelmed me just a bit. This combined with trying to explain the rules and not really knowing them myself factored into my first attempt not working as I had planned. Now, this class loved the idea, but I wasn't calling out questions fast enough, and I wasn't comfortable with the rules, so I did not continue the game with the remaining three classes that day. With there being so much information to review and cover the day before the World War II test, I just could not risk feeling as if I was wasting time by introducing a new game.
So the rest of the day was spent reviewing with gestures, mirrors and words, and a cut, sort and glue of major events. There was so much material to cover that I, honestly, could have used another day of review.
I have not given up on mind soccer, but I do need to review the basic rules I found on the website, found here: Mind Soccer: Power Teaching Game, and practice during a time when I am not pressured by a time and testing. The whole concept of the game is great, and I have not, by any means given up on using it. I told all of my classes that I was devising a plan for completion of homework. After five nights of homework, if each class has at least a 75% average of homework completion they will get to play Mind Soccer.
75%-84%=3 minutes of M.S.
85%-94%=4 minutes of M.S.
95%-100%=5 minutes of M.S.
85%-94%=4 minutes of M.S.
95%-100%=5 minutes of M.S.
They were excited about the possibility of playing mind soccer! But with very few minutes of play, the teacher must know the rules like the back of her hand. And right now, I confess, I do not!
Have you ever played Mind Soccer with your students? If so, so you have any suggestions for being prepared or getting started with the game?
Mariaan C. commented-
ReplyDeleteMelinda, I had the same experience with Mind Soccer the first time. I had my questions ready, but due to it being a new game I decided to only use penalties for "guffs", and steals for answering questions wrongly. At first I moved the eraser, but it was too hard to do, while asking questions, listening to answers, and keeping an eye on behavior. So the next time we played I picked team captains who moved the eraser when their team had possession of the "ball". I also had to change my rules for answering in full sentences for this game only, since it takes up too much time. There is a learning curve for all of us :)
To keep the game flowing make sure you have the questions prepared in advance, and that the team captains know what to do. When questions are answered correctly the ball moves closer to their goal, if you give a penalty it goes to the other team. If a questions is answered incorrectly, and the other team knows the answer, that's a steal and the ball goes to the opposing team.
Good luck!
Thanks, Mariaan! You cleared up several points to the game for me. All of the rules were a bit overwhelming, and you reminded me that I need to start small and work my way up to the 'big' rules of the game.
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