I was recently in a classroom doing a digital breakout. What a fun activity and highly challenging task! No one was able to unlock all the locks, yet most students agreed they'd be willing to do it again.
We had them working in small groups & we noticed something. They were working next to each other ... not really with each other. Many groups appeared to be working on the same task ... at the same time ... in the exact same way. When one member got stuck, they all were stuck.
As the teacher & I were debriefing, we talked about how to encourage students to work collaboratively. We agreed - the students have to have the opportunity to practice and improve on their collaboration skills. One of my favorite collaboration tools popped to my mind. But it's not a project with rubrics. It's not a task with work divided up. It's actually a game. A game that can be ready to be played in a matter of a minute.
Quizlet
Maybe Quizlet isn't new for you. But if it is ... wow! You are in for a life-changing study tool.
For today, I'm focusing in on ONE piece of Quizlet. Their game called "Quizlet Live". Several years ago, I was honored to receive an email one day asking if I'd be willing to try out a game they had created. We happened to be a point in our unit that a game would work nicely ... but I didn't know anything about this game. My students were AMAZING - they agreed quickly and were eager to learn the game at the same time I did [what a cool experience on its own!].