Although I think there might have been other issues which remained unsaid, I had another student complaining about games a month or so ago. As I may have mentioned a couple of (hundred) times, I’m not a huge fan of explaining everything you do in class. However, I think I might have found something to keep everyone happy that doesn’t use up any class time at all. How about a little two line explanation at the bottom of each worksheet in brackets explaining the justification behind the activity and how it is set up?
It would work something like this:
(This post is designed to keep the blog ticking over until my brain starts working again in autumn. It may also help any people who can’t resist getting their business students miming because, when it comes down to it, it works)
Despite the silly comments (nice to have the heat to blame for those), I really think it could work. What do you reckon?
The rest of the Getting Away with It series of posts:
I agree about explaining – or rather not explaining why we do what we do in class time. Usually, students complaining about playing a game just don’t want to do anything at all in class.
This assumes that the game is useful and not being overused of course. We have probably all used games as a pointless filler too.
I’m dubious about adding a footnote to any all worksheets. The students need to have a little more faith in their teachers.