Focus Questions
What are the Tools needed to play WAY in class and at home?
Outcome - A Master Binder is Created.
Steps
Skim this page - study the Graphics. Speculate on uses.
Create a Master Binder.
Make two Place Cards and a class set of Card Boards.
Watch 3 Videos to help answer - Why the WAY?
Practice making Questions and Activities for the WAY Game.
12 Support Tools
Support Materials for the WAY Game evolved and improved over the years; I can't recall when each came into existence. Upon reflection, each tool was student-focused; let's look at the features of each Tool:
1} Place Cards
These are not Cards as the name suggests; they are a sheet of Bristol Board cut in two, with seven Pockets equally distributed, which will hold each Team's WAY Cards and seven Game Cards. Place Cards are in front of the class and may be in different colours. I used clear plastic for my pockets; why not improve the design?
2} Card Boards
Print on a single sheet of paper; a student will need three Card Boards for three Terms in the school year. They function as a Score Sheet, a Game Card Display and a Game Card Improvement Checkboxes. Each week, a student's Game Card is peer edited with a Game Card Evaluation Rubric, and the result is added to the student's Card Boards, which are displayed in class. I hung my Card Boards on a string on a Bulletin Board. Each Term, I would total scores and use them on Report Cards. Students try harder when their efforts count for actual grades.
3} Game Card Evaluation
Students are taught to think like teachers when peer evaluating Game Cards. Teaching students how to assess Game Cards gives purpose, develops responsibility and builds empathy in students.
Sixty-three percent are awarded to Q and A's and Conventions. Thirty-seven percent is for Graphics and Design. May I suggest teachers cut and distribute Evaluation Strips on Game days when Game Cards are evaluated?
4} A Captain's Job
There are two Team Captain's sheets printed for each Game. Their responsibilities are recorded here. Captains give final answers for the Team, record Clues the teams win, record discipline and call for a Captain's Challenge when there is a disagreement in the Judge's ruling. Provide each Captain with a binder to house Pathfinder and a list of team members.
5} Discipline Judge
Students get a taste of being in the role of the Teacher when they are the class cop, keeping order, fair play, and protecting the honour of students. Yellow Cards are recorded, and if the negative behaviour continues - Yellow Cards turn into Red Cards. A Red Card can be issued for more serious offences. If a Red Card is given to a player on the Team, the whole Team loses a Pathfinder Clue for the Team's next win.
6} Judges - 3 Role Cards
There are three student Judges for each Game; they are chosen randomly with WAY Cards when Teams are made. Their responsibilities are outlined as the Card Board Judge, The SMART Board Judge and the Discipline Judge. Cards are used to Score the Games - first Team, second Team, or right side or left side wins. Cards are worn around the neck with break-away lanyards.
7} Pathfinder Clues
One of the WAY Game's objectives is developing empathy. The WAY Game is designed to help students get to know one another to help with the bullying problem. It's harder to hate when you know and work with someone. There are about one hundred Pathfinder Clues on eleven sheets to be printed on Card Stock paper, hole-punched and bound. Pathfinder Clue Cards are given to the Team Captain to randomly select clues the Team has won.
8} Seven WAY Game Cards
The Seven WAY Games sheet is printed on Card Stock, cut, shuffled, and placed in one Team's seven Place Card pockets. Game Cards are placed face down. In the WAY Game, you never know who you will play with or against, nor what Game you will play.
There's a ton of Notebook Support on this site to help Students learn the game.
9} Prizes
I used nine prizes; teachers may choose their rewards. I would advise you to avoid candy and toy prizes. Use the 9 Prizes you see here as Guidelines, or use mine. There are nine prizes awarded for each round. Date and Initial each prize on the day they are won.
10} Weekly Planner
Plan commitments using symbols and abbreviations. Plan weekly, not weekly. Families don't plan to fail; they fail to plan.
11} Pathfinder for Scoring
Print two Pathfinder Response Sheets - one for each Captain's Binders. Highlight the clues a team wins. The Teacher enters what the Mystery Kid wrote for each response on their Pathfinder. Enter clues when students aren't around.
Players outside of class use Pathfinder for points - each clue won has a corresponding point value.
12} Player's Score Sheet
They are used for Home Play and Virtual Play for Players outside of a classroom.
A WAY Game Round constitutes from when the Mystery Kid is chosen to the day they are discovered and a new game starts. There must be multiple games before teams win enough clues to make a guess. If a team guesses and guesses incorrectly, then the opposing Team is awarded five new randomly chosen Pathfinder Clues.
Print support sheets on an as-needed basis.
These are the sheets needed for one round.
1 CAP Note sheet a day per student
2 Pathfinder Sheets - one for each Team Captain to record Clues won.
3 Game Card Evaluation Strips - seven sheets for 28 students
4 Captain's Job - Two sheets - one for each Captain.
5 Discipline Judge - one sheet per Game
6 Prizes - one sheet per round
The rest of the Materials should already be made and in place, like Place Cards, Card Boards, WAY Cards, Clue Cards, Judges Role Cards, Seven Games Cards, and the weekly planner.
You will find all you need under the WAY Game tab; at playway, look for the Files Page.
5M Plays the WAY Game 2:56
Students Report on the WAY Game 3:34
Kids With Signs 1:51
Teacher Stories
Teacher stories don't always happen in the classroom but can be a learning experience; this is one of them.
I'm usually up at five writing; it's quiet, and I can get my work done and watch the sunrise. At seven, a text came from Bob's wife, Jane; she said that Bob was stuck somewhere on the Bow River upstream from the Carsland weir. Could I help?
Bob spent the night alone and cold on the banks of the Bow River. He's in his late seventies with knee and heart concerns; Jane, his wife, is naturally concerned. He still has a cell phone connection, but his battery is low. I called, no answer. I left a message that I would pack some gear and find him. I tell Jane my plan; she says she is coming to my place to give me some clothes and food for him. I know that part of the river well, it's not a single channel, there are small channels that we fish, you have to know the river, which changes each year.
I've fished with Bob for forty years. I did so because I enjoyed fishing, but I didn't enjoy getting stuck on the river. Thirty years ago, I bought my Inflatable with a twenty Mercury Jet prop, wooden floor and good for three adults. Light enough to walk through shallow water. I've never been stuck like Bob has. And you don't have to be stuck; you can sheer off the foot of your jet prop, or get condensation in the fuel line, or the boat can get left high and dry as the tide went out, or you can drop the boat keys in the ocean.
Getting on 'Plane' in a Jet Boat is essential on the Bow River in the fall because the river is low. On 'plane' means to pick the boat out of the water so you can go through shallow spots in the river. The water can be hard to read, and you can end up on a gravel bar very quickly. I can walk my Inflatable through trouble spots, but Bob can't. But I digress.
Bob has been the architect of my possible demise on four occasions. That is why I have my boat, to reduce my 'fishing' time with Bob. It was for my own good; I'm not kidding. Here, briefly, are a few things that happened to underline what I'm talking about - a cable snapped and almost took my head off while winching his smashed boat from the river; another time, we hit the bank, and a forty-pound spiked anchor and almost took my head off, the boat sank, and we had to walk out with four moose nearby - in fall. Then there was the Semi and the deer, say no more. The most exciting story was when the boat got caught in a giant whirlpool outside Kitimat, B.C. It was like being flushed down a big toilet. That was the first day of a seven-day camping adventure. And don't get me started on getting unstuck.
Bob spent the night stuck on a small island in the Bow River. It's not the first time, but Jane says, "It's his last time" [for this year], thank God.
I still haven't heard from Bob; the sun's up now; hopefully, he can get some sun on him. I am unsure if he slept on the boat or wadded ashore and slept with the coyotes.
So Jane called at seven, hoping I could take my boat and help him. The problem was we were supposed to get snow here shortly, so I took apart the boat and trailer for storage. I planned to try and spot him from the bank; I knew he could be anywhere in a three-kilometre stretch of river.
I put some lifejackets in a dry bag to cross deep water or mud. The mud in places is just like quicksand. Bob could be in any of five places where he could be stuck; I was improvising at that point.
Jane was at my house when we heard from Bob, who had his phone off for the night to save batteries. He was okay, and don't come and get him. He has all the gear to get himself out of jams. But Bob is seventy-eight with a knee that needs replacement and high blood pressure.
It's been three and a half hours since the first contact; the last contact said it would take longer than expected. I know his dilemma; he needs to anchor the winch to something on that island. I know because I passed by it two days before.
As the story goes, Bob got stuck last night, phoned Jane and said it was too dark to get home and that he would spend the night on the river. It was a good move because there were far worse spots he could get stuck on the way downstream in the dark. Because the river is so low, even with a jet prop, spots are no wider than your boat to get through, especially with Bob's inboard engine; his boat is built like a tank.
It was two in the afternoon when Jane came by for the second time; the plan was
We will call the fire department if we don't hear from him shortly. The alternative plan, which Bob agreed to, would be to walk out.
In teaching, you always need a backup plan. They say, "God laughs at those who make plans." Maybe so, but we should have a backup plan anyway. Bob is adamant that we not call the fire department. Okay, we are coming to get you. We found a Range Road that will get us close to the river; walkout, meet us on the Range Road, and I'll return tomorrow to help you free the boat. So I pack up my gear a second time and head to Carsland. We got the call shortly after leaving that the boat was free; there was no need to come and get him.
Bob got home at about five yesterday. I now know why it took him so long.
The moral of the story is that when friends reach out for help, give it.
Yesterday, the day of the 'event' was Bob and Jane's fiftieth wedding anniversary. Jane has been elevated to sainthood, while Bob may be in the dog house.
And before you ask, [as my friends do], why do I go out with him? Bob is a kind, intelligent soul with a saint of a wife; he has a sense of adventure and a love for fishing, and he's a great storyteller and one of my mentors. Say no more.
What's Next
Enough about me - this is about you.
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