Who Are the New Teachers?

Guest post today from one of our student teachers from this past semester.  Sarah Cavazos will be student teaching in Fennville, MI this fall and is - to steal a phrase from Sir Ken Robinson - exceptional but not an exception.  She is bright, dedicated and passionate about teaching.  I find that many of our novice teachers have much in common with her.  This past semester I got to see her try a game of her own design in a classroom that had not done much of that, and adjust it on the fly to improve both gameplay and better address learning outcomes.  Then she gave a terrific Little Big at the end of the semester about teaching all students.



Triangle Rummy

Object of Game: Obtain a set containing the picture, the name and the definition of the same triangle.

Triangle Rummy is a game made for two to four players that contains 24 cards (7 pictures, 7 names, 7 definitions and 3 Free cards). There are 7 different triangles in the deck of cards, each demonstrated by a picture, a name and a definition. There are also three Free cards (Free Picture, Free Name and Free Definition).

To start the game, the dealer deals out three cards to each player and places the rest of the deck face down between the tables. The youngest play starts by taking the top card from the deck. In order to keep three cards in their deck, the player must discard one of the cards in their hand face up next to the facedown pile. The player to the left can chose to take the face up card in the discard pile or choose to take a chance and take the next card in the discard pile. In order to win, a player must obtain the same triangle demonstrated by three different cards.

If any player obtains a Free card, they can choose to use that card in place of a triangle name, picture or definition depending on the name of the card. For example, say a player had the picture of an isosceles right triangle and the name of the isosceles right triangle and then obtained the Free Definition card. In order to win the game, the player must say the definition of an isosceles right triangle. If the Free Picture card was played, the player must draw the correct picture as well as have the matching name and definition cards. If the Free Name card was drawn, the player must name the correct triangle and have the matching definition and picture cards.


The Unreachables






Photocredit: qthomasbower @ Flickr