So You Think You’re Done?

teacheratdeskMy students are always playing games.  Some are more fun than others…

So You Think You’re Done? is probably the most educational game we play.  Here are the rules:

1.  Line up and have your seatwork graded while you wait.  You can turn it in when you earn an A.

That’s it!  If you are not scoring 100%, you’re not done, so go back to your seat and keep working until it’s perfect.

So You Think You’re Done? has many advantages over regular grading:

1.  It makes grading easy.  You only collect perfect papers.  Everything in the stack earns 100%.

2.  You grade on school time, not at home.  How many of us have been frustrated by grading papers at home?  For one thing, you already put in a 10 or 12 hour day.  Beyond your own needs, think about the students.  You find out that they did not do a very good job.  Some were just lazy.  Others never bothered to turn it in.  Still others just didn’t understand.  No one followed the directions.  With So You Think You’re Done? you can make changes in your teaching instantly and correct mistakes.

3.  It forces kids to learn.  Some students just can’t be bothered to work hard and learn.  With So You Think You’re Done? they just won’t have any grades until they earn an A.  They start to get sick of missing recess to do work that was allocated 40 minutes of class time.

4.  Elementary school kids don’t understand grades.  They truly don’t connect the work they do with the grade on their report card or progress report.  The weird thing is, they don’t blame you for their grade, either.  It’s just sort of something handed down from the heavens.  So, trying to motivate little kids with grades just doesn’t work.  They do like winning at So You Think You’re Done?, though.

5.  You help those in need.  If a student spends enough time in the So You Think You’re Done?  line and  keeps failing, you know to buddy him up for some tutoring.

Tips: You have to teach little kids that So You Think You’re Done? does not apply to tests.  Otherwise, they will help each other take the test.  After all, we want everyone to earn 100%, right?

So You Think You’re Done? works much better if the kids get team points for turning in their paper.  Kids don’t care about grades, but they do care about winning an ice cream party.  If you give double points for getting it right the first time, the game will be much shorter.


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