Phenomenal video!!! We just started homeschooling and our oldest is just now grasping more board games with critical thinking. Will be hard not to shamelessly plug this video to get them to join the hobby I’ve adored for over 10 years lol!
I’m only here to encourage this trajectory in the channel and say that a part 2 would be really nice. You have more to say and on this subject and we are here for it.
I have taught science and various STEM subjects for 25 years in Texas. Standardized testing and the quest and drive for more "data" is killing education. Currently in our district we do the following standardized tests every year. STAAR - The state mandated standardized tests for every core subject. MAP - Subject area growth testing, 3 tests per year per core subject so 12 times per year. District DCFA (district common formative assessment) - tests the district puts together for each core subject. 3 times per year per subject, each test takes about 2 days to administer. TELPAS - Testing for our ESL students, generally takes up 2-3 days. Field tests for STARR - we don't always have these, they are literally field testing questions for standardized tests. By my count we lose a minimum of 25 days to various standardized tests. That's 5 weeks we could be teaching. The teaching environment and budget cuts have only gotten worse and if I could retire I would. I qualify for retirement at the end of the school year this year but I need about 7 more years in order to be able to financially retire and not have to go do something else.
Thanks for sharing this. People need to know what these exams are costing us. The fact that you have quantified it into “weeks of lost teaching” really means something. Thank you for your many years of work.
There’s a disproportionate amount of current/has been public teachers that homeschool their kids. I’m one of them too. The public school system is in steep decline as our national culture/society swirls the toilet bowl.
It sure seems like it. I haven’t looked up any stats and of course I am in an echo chamber: now that I homeschool, I have met many more like minded people. I really enjoyed teaching, but my wife joined the Navy and now our family moves all over the world. That is the real reason I left the classroom.
Such a great video! I was talking to my wife about this, we have a lil 10 week old baby girl and when she is around 5ish years old I'm gonna start doing a board game / TTRPG club for her and her friends. We'll probably be home schooling so I see this as a way to train critical thinking, collaboration and social skills as I start getting a group of tiny humans together. (They won't even realize they're learning while they're having fun muahahaha) One thing that stuck out to me is the word "Engagement", I wanted to be a teacher for a while and now I work with a boys mentoring non-profit and that word is so important. The more present and fully engaged youth are with what they are doing, the more they benefit and learn. School work is not very compelling and studies show that an excess of homework can actually be detrimental to student focus, motivation, and life satisfaction. But, when they are actually engaged mentally, physically, and socially, their performance, information retention, and memory recall is off the charts!!! I'm curious to see how educational systems around the world will begin to restructure as studies continue to come out. Excellent video brother, can really feel your passion for this topic!
Thank you so much! I actually made a video about teaching board games to very young kids. I got my younger playing when she was three. She didn’t fully understand what was going on, but it was a good time to introduce the concepts of taking turns and achieving an objective. She is 7 now and’s she LOVES games. She watched this video with me and she said “Daddy, can we play the alien power game now?” Anyway, I’m very glad to hear about your goal! It will work well!
I have students design board games that are educational. I generally model a game like Ecologies through class play. Then students use similar mechanics to basically build expansion decks. I also use games for social interactions and team building. So many HS students are staring at their phone and need to be pushed into more social interactions
Thank you! Your encouragement, along with some of the other comments, have already got my gears turning on how to follow this up with something like a “part 2”.
I'm a teacher so this video was interesting. How large were your groups for the group quiz? I assume groups of more than 3 students are not going to work well because some wont have to or won't want to speak. BTC has been pretty clear that groups of 3 are preferred and when that isn't possible groups of 2 are better than a group of 4.
They were actually groups of four. I did groups of three only when there was an odd number of students. I never did pairs. The reason I think this was effective is because the groups were homogeneous. It allowed everyone to feel like they had something to contribute. I will reiterate what I said at the beginning and end of the article: I think a teacher has to find there own way to do it and set up their classroom culture to be conducive to such an activity. My group quizzes were a revelation for me, but they weren’t the only collaborate activity I used.
Phenomenal video!!! We just started homeschooling and our oldest is just now grasping more board games with critical thinking. Will be hard not to shamelessly plug this video to get them to join the hobby I’ve adored for over 10 years lol!
I’m only here to encourage this trajectory in the channel and say that a part 2 would be really nice. You have more to say and on this subject and we are here for it.
I am so encouraged to hear it! I will try to put something together. The push really helps.
It’s unbelievable how your channel doesn’t have more viewership. Top quality videos every time with thought provoking views and ideas. Thanks
Wow, thank you!
I have taught science and various STEM subjects for 25 years in Texas.
Standardized testing and the quest and drive for more "data" is killing education. Currently in our district we do the following standardized tests every year.
STAAR - The state mandated standardized tests for every core subject.
MAP - Subject area growth testing, 3 tests per year per core subject so 12 times per year.
District DCFA (district common formative assessment) - tests the district puts together for each core subject. 3 times per year per subject, each test takes about 2 days to administer.
TELPAS - Testing for our ESL students, generally takes up 2-3 days.
Field tests for STARR - we don't always have these, they are literally field testing questions for standardized tests.
By my count we lose a minimum of 25 days to various standardized tests. That's 5 weeks we could be teaching.
The teaching environment and budget cuts have only gotten worse and if I could retire I would. I qualify for retirement at the end of the school year this year but I need about 7 more years in order to be able to financially retire and not have to go do something else.
Thanks for sharing this. People need to know what these exams are costing us. The fact that you have quantified it into “weeks of lost teaching” really means something.
Thank you for your many years of work.
As a homeschooler this video was great and very informative! Would love to see a part two!
Thank you for voicing that opinion! I will start brainstorming where to go from here.
This is refreshing content from a board game channel. Subbed, liked, recommended to friends.
Wow! Thank you so much!
Appreciated as always. 🔥
There’s a disproportionate amount of current/has been public teachers that homeschool their kids.
I’m one of them too. The public school system is in steep decline as our national culture/society swirls the toilet bowl.
It sure seems like it. I haven’t looked up any stats and of course I am in an echo chamber: now that I homeschool, I have met many more like minded people.
I really enjoyed teaching, but my wife joined the Navy and now our family moves all over the world. That is the real reason I left the classroom.
Such a great video! I was talking to my wife about this, we have a lil 10 week old baby girl and when she is around 5ish years old I'm gonna start doing a board game / TTRPG club for her and her friends. We'll probably be home schooling so I see this as a way to train critical thinking, collaboration and social skills as I start getting a group of tiny humans together. (They won't even realize they're learning while they're having fun muahahaha)
One thing that stuck out to me is the word "Engagement", I wanted to be a teacher for a while and now I work with a boys mentoring non-profit and that word is so important. The more present and fully engaged youth are with what they are doing, the more they benefit and learn. School work is not very compelling and studies show that an excess of homework can actually be detrimental to student focus, motivation, and life satisfaction.
But, when they are actually engaged mentally, physically, and socially, their performance, information retention, and memory recall is off the charts!!!
I'm curious to see how educational systems around the world will begin to restructure as studies continue to come out.
Excellent video brother, can really feel your passion for this topic!
Thank you so much! I actually made a video about teaching board games to very young kids. I got my younger playing when she was three. She didn’t fully understand what was going on, but it was a good time to introduce the concepts of taking turns and achieving an objective. She is 7 now and’s she LOVES games. She watched this video with me and she said “Daddy, can we play the alien power game now?”
Anyway, I’m very glad to hear about your goal! It will work well!
I have students design board games that are educational. I generally model a game like Ecologies through class play. Then students use similar mechanics to basically build expansion decks.
I also use games for social interactions and team building. So many HS students are staring at their phone and need to be pushed into more social interactions
Great content. Cheers from Brazil 🇧🇷
Very nice video! As always, this channel is different.
Thank you! Your encouragement, along with some of the other comments, have already got my gears turning on how to follow this up with something like a “part 2”.
I'm a teacher so this video was interesting. How large were your groups for the group quiz? I assume groups of more than 3 students are not going to work well because some wont have to or won't want to speak. BTC has been pretty clear that groups of 3 are preferred and when that isn't possible groups of 2 are better than a group of 4.
They were actually groups of four. I did groups of three only when there was an odd number of students. I never did pairs. The reason I think this was effective is because the groups were homogeneous. It allowed everyone to feel like they had something to contribute.
I will reiterate what I said at the beginning and end of the article: I think a teacher has to find there own way to do it and set up their classroom culture to be conducive to such an activity. My group quizzes were a revelation for me, but they weren’t the only collaborate activity I used.