Fast Llamas,
In my last blog post I stated that I would continue sharing from a "mini PD" I created... well, I didn't post last week since I usually write on Sunday mornings and well, last Sunday I was at brunch with my family. (The Rustic, highly recommend) Sorry, y'all, the coffee and hash browns were calling. I also have picked up extra duties at school as well, so in addition to the eating (and, oh yes, the table was full of food)... there were chores to do to get ready for the week. I am caught up (for the moment) and while I promise to get back to the mini PD's offerings. I have been burning to write about today's topic.
WORDLE
Around Christmas, I stumbled upon a post on twitter about a little game called, "Wordle". It wasn't an app, but an actually website. Play Wordle here There are apps that quickly sprung up, but the original is the best in my opinion. It was quickly snatched up by The New York Times and people swear it has changed... I think it is coincidental... There are also other games, Worldle, a geography game, a math version and immediate implications for use in the classroom.
It took me a bit to figure it out and I have been obsessed with playing ever since. What's neat about the game is that you can share your results, without revealing the daily answer. Sharing includes all social media sites and text messaging. Wordle swept across the planet, people are still actively tweeting and posting about it months later.
I shared the game with my school buddies (ah, the people who keep me sane) and we began a daily text group, sharing our results. On the rare occasion we are all in the office together, we will play it and share a laugh with the ridiculousness of it all. It's fun and a great way to share a connection with others. Something that since the Pandemic, we crave more than ever.
By the time my friend Ellen shared a post that a WOMAN WAS SAVED FROM BEING KIDNAPPED when she didn't reply to her text message group's daily "Wordle check in". We were hooked.
In Quantum Learning we have a saying that, "people show up to a game, like they show up in life." It hit me, all of the postings I was seeing, articles about strategy and the conversations I was having with the game proved this to be true. I also started making correlations my philosophy surrounding learning and teaching.
Here are my observations:1. putting in the effort to solve each day
2. solving it, whether it took 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 tries
3. creating a strategy you use to solve it, it didn't take long for people to share their starting word and discuss how they solve it each day
4. not beating yourself up if you took 6 tries and your friend got it in 3
5. celebrate your friends success and ask them what strategies worked for them to solve it quickly
6. that if you didn't solve it today, you will be back tomorrow to try again
When comparing the Wordle experience to teaching we can see these connections:
1. celebrate effort with your students, the "try" is worth it... find small ways to acknowledge kids effort each day
2. learning, it is rarely a one and done. We recap, repeat and review until we master
it. We review every 10 minutes, 24 hours and 7 days. 10-24-7
3. when facing challenging conditions, teachers match the strategy needed with their students. Teachers understand that teaching and learning is iterative.
4. Failure Leads to Success. So what if your students didn't understand a concept the first time, the second time, hey, let's try it again until the "get" gets "get"
5. The power of the collective. In our buildings are vast sources of information of how to be successful. The teacher down the hall is being really successful in various ways with their students? Ask what is working.
6. understand that tomorrow is a new day... start each day with gratitude, hope and optimism. Know that your efforts have impact that might not be seen today... the "yet" won't happen if we don't try today. That's not toxic positivity, we know things surrounding education is tough, but we strive each day to make a difference, with our students and with each other.
I think one way Wordle keeps people coming back is the data. Ah yes, you can track your progress. And yes, people post it too!
I will leave you this tidbit from my youngest son, Casey. Casey is 21, is highly competitive, and loves to win... this is probably due to his older brother (by 6 years) allowing his 3 or 4 year old (at the time) brother to win at Candyland, Shoots and Ladders and Trouble every time they played. As cruel as it sounds, I told his older brother to allow him to lose. "Just play the game," I would say. Casey needed to "learn how to lose sometimes"... but, Mitchell, just couldn't bear to see his kid brother lose a game, even though I told him, we were "creating a monster". You cannot grow up thinking you win everytime... that's the point of games, to teach you strategy, competition, thinking skills, socialization skills and of course, grace in losing.
Casey shared this with me and twitter just a couple of days ago.
Until next time... pray for peace... No War, Know Peace...
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