W.H.A.C.(k)
What is W.H.A.C.(k)?
The World History Athletic Club -W.H.A.C.(k) is the classroom experience that is presented to my students as they study 7th grade World History. When they walk down the hallway to my classroom on the first day, they are met with "WHAC(k) is Back!" posters. As they enter the room, they will see a definite baseball theme in the decorations.
The class is split into 3-5 groups, or teams. In fact, they are no longer in a class, but a "League" and their groups are "Teams". Each team will be competing throughout the marking period, "Season", for Wins and Losses.
The teams earn points to determine their Wins and Losses through different types of competitions.
The points each team has earned for the week is totaled to determine wins and losses. The first place team can receive 20 wins for first place and 0 losses and last place the opposite. It depends on how many teams are in your league for what they other teams receive. Usually 2nd place in a 3 team league receives 10 wins and 10 losses, in a 4 team league, 2nd receives 13 wins 7 losses, and 3rd gets 7 wins and 13 losses.
The first place team receives a first place sticker for winning the week and the team that finished in last for the week earns a toilet bowl sticker. Teams that win special events also receive a sticker in honor of their accomplishment. Weekly points are erased, but the wins and losses remain, and a new week of competitions begin. At the end of the marking period, the team with the most wins is declared champions and receive some extra credit points for their accomplishment. The new marking period brings about a new season, with new teams as all players become "free agents" settling in with new teammates.
Why I do all this:
The World History Athletic Club -W.H.A.C.(k) is the classroom experience that is presented to my students as they study 7th grade World History. When they walk down the hallway to my classroom on the first day, they are met with "WHAC(k) is Back!" posters. As they enter the room, they will see a definite baseball theme in the decorations.
The class is split into 3-5 groups, or teams. In fact, they are no longer in a class, but a "League" and their groups are "Teams". Each team will be competing throughout the marking period, "Season", for Wins and Losses.
The teams earn points to determine their Wins and Losses through different types of competitions.
- Ratty Scrap/Classroom Yahtzee (Brief 5 question reviews of the information of the unit that earn them rolls of the dice for points)
- Team Projects (Evaluated by other teams in other leagues, classes. Best project adds more wins to the teams totals.)
- Special Event games (Unit Review Games, the Election Game, the Economic Game)
The points each team has earned for the week is totaled to determine wins and losses. The first place team can receive 20 wins for first place and 0 losses and last place the opposite. It depends on how many teams are in your league for what they other teams receive. Usually 2nd place in a 3 team league receives 10 wins and 10 losses, in a 4 team league, 2nd receives 13 wins 7 losses, and 3rd gets 7 wins and 13 losses.
The first place team receives a first place sticker for winning the week and the team that finished in last for the week earns a toilet bowl sticker. Teams that win special events also receive a sticker in honor of their accomplishment. Weekly points are erased, but the wins and losses remain, and a new week of competitions begin. At the end of the marking period, the team with the most wins is declared champions and receive some extra credit points for their accomplishment. The new marking period brings about a new season, with new teams as all players become "free agents" settling in with new teammates.
Why I do all this:
- MOTIVATION a middle school classroom should be kid-centric. Even if a child does not fall in love with history, I hope that they at least feel comfortable and want to be in my classroom.
- ASSISTING KNOWLEDGE INTO LONG TERM MEMORY the more information a student can access in long term memory, the more resources they will have in working memory to create, comprehend, and analyze. It has been said that making students recall information is more valuable in accomplishing that than re-reading information.
- COLLABORATION students need to work with each other, create with each other, & learn with each other. These skills will help prepare them for any endeavor their choose as a career no matter the subject of your course.
- EVALUATION even as a teacher, one skill that was not fully developed in my undergrad courses was how to evaluate another's work. By assigning each person to score another group's project in for the good of the game gives them that opportunity.