Games and thoughts for the start of the school year

We still have a good amount of summer to enjoy, but with all the back-to-school stuff showing up I figured I'd compile some of my own resources appropriate for this time of the year.

First, here are the presentation games I made for ActivInspire that are great for those first days back:

• Oh, Really* - Students rank items in order from most important to least important.  This is based on my published party game What's It to Ya?*.  Another related way to play online, not requiring ActivInspire, is here.
• Say Anything - This is a very simple creativity game where some students compete to come up with the most popular answer.
• This or That? - Here's another game based on a party game I made.  This one gets attention year round, but it's great for introducing students on the first days.

*Update 8/7/2013:  My friends at Fair Play Games have one edition of my party game What's It To Ya?game on sale for $7.99 for four copies.  That's enough for the whole class to play if you're using the physical party game!  Check this post out for more information.

A new school year means a great time for some fundamental changes to how we run our classes.  Here are some thoughts I shared earlier for engaging students with meaningful work.

• Do something big NOW - I added our music video to this recently too. Why I'm not big on career planning lessons anymore
• Lifelong Learner Challenge - A philosophy for ongoing learning and meaningful contributions
• Learning for Doing - Is it bad that I finally gave up on making everyone love to learn?
• The 4 C's of Success - One way I presented the importance of making commitments and doing what it takes to follow through
• The 3 P's of Success - What I learned about success from working with high school seniors
• Advice to a New Teacher - Some overall lessons I learned that I'd tell myself 20 years ago when I started teaching.  I think every teacher could benefit from writing similar advice to themselves.  Also, this post ends with the "Key to Success" that I always told students on the first day of school.

And here's a favor if you've got any interest.  Let me know if this pet project of mine looks interesting.  

Helping Students Live Better Stories

I haven't elaborated much on it since this original post, but it could be a great, ongoing project for a class.  If you like the looks of it, tell me and I'll work on it some more before school starts!

Back to School Game

I put up a flipchart for a back to school edition of Oh, Really! recently. It should make a fun activity for any teacher and class in the first days back. It has one slide relating to summer, one relating to the start of school and three for general discussion.

Teachers should consider creating their own words for this one to personalize it.

As always, find all my flipcharts here.