This summer I was fortunate to attend one of the AVID national conferences in San Diego, California. This was my third time attending and I wasn’t disappointed. Highlights of the conference were the student speakers, keynote by the humble and amazing Rick Ramirez, and attending the Digital Learner strand.
When I attend a conference, I’m always on the lookout for something to implement right away. This time, it was the Sweet 16 gamified challenge to learn about 16 different digital tools (Think March Madness). The tools included:
When I attend a conference, I’m always on the lookout for something to implement right away. This time, it was the Sweet 16 gamified challenge to learn about 16 different digital tools (Think March Madness). The tools included:
The Challenge
In groups of two, participants were randomly assigned a digital tool to research and create 3 different tasks.
1. Create a 60 second presentation focusing on the features of the tool.
2. Complete a sentence frame making connections between the tool and AVID college and career readiness and WICOR strategies.
3. Create a meme that included a tagline about the tool.
All presentation links were collected in a Google Sheet.
Teams were given about 45 minutes to create and submit their links. When the first round of presentations began, two teams were paired off then timed for 60 seconds. The match ups were tools of similar purpose like Code.org vs Scratch, Canva vs Adobe Spark, Flipgrid vs Seesaw, etc. After both teams presented, the audience voted using Kahoot. There was so much engagement from the presenters and the audience. After the first elimination round, teams in the Elite Eight presented their sentence frames. Then the Final Four shared their memes. The championship round was a vote off of the final two.
This was such a fun way for us to learn about new tools, engage in the 4 Cs, build culture with the group, and have some good ole’ fun.
Classroom Application
As soon as we got started with Sweet 16, I knew I had to bring this back to class. But what topic would I use? After a few days of pondering, I decided to use the topic of “brands”. Some of the match ups include Coke vs Pepsi, Google vs Microsoft, and Skittles vs M and Ms. My purpose for Sweet 16 is to introduce my students to Google tools they’ll be using in the classroom, start developing a mindset of the 4 Cs, and have the added bonus of creating classroom culture at the same time.
Here is a copy of my Sweet 16 Brands Edition. Feel free to use it as it or modify to meet your needs. If you use it, I’d love to hear how it goes.
Shout outs
I’d like to give two huge shout outs. One, to my AVID mentor, Martay Monroe, that has been my AVID trainer for two years. Her passion, love for AVID, and gift of empowering teachers to be the best they can be for students makes her a fabulous role-model. Second, to the amazingly inspirational and humble educator and national speaker, Rick Ramirez. His energy is off the charts! But even more impressive, is his love for students and making a difference in their lives. Thank you both for making my AVID experience memorable.
#MuchLove to all . . . Marilyn ❤
In groups of two, participants were randomly assigned a digital tool to research and create 3 different tasks.
1. Create a 60 second presentation focusing on the features of the tool.
2. Complete a sentence frame making connections between the tool and AVID college and career readiness and WICOR strategies.
3. Create a meme that included a tagline about the tool.
All presentation links were collected in a Google Sheet.
Teams were given about 45 minutes to create and submit their links. When the first round of presentations began, two teams were paired off then timed for 60 seconds. The match ups were tools of similar purpose like Code.org vs Scratch, Canva vs Adobe Spark, Flipgrid vs Seesaw, etc. After both teams presented, the audience voted using Kahoot. There was so much engagement from the presenters and the audience. After the first elimination round, teams in the Elite Eight presented their sentence frames. Then the Final Four shared their memes. The championship round was a vote off of the final two.
This was such a fun way for us to learn about new tools, engage in the 4 Cs, build culture with the group, and have some good ole’ fun.
Classroom Application
As soon as we got started with Sweet 16, I knew I had to bring this back to class. But what topic would I use? After a few days of pondering, I decided to use the topic of “brands”. Some of the match ups include Coke vs Pepsi, Google vs Microsoft, and Skittles vs M and Ms. My purpose for Sweet 16 is to introduce my students to Google tools they’ll be using in the classroom, start developing a mindset of the 4 Cs, and have the added bonus of creating classroom culture at the same time.
Here is a copy of my Sweet 16 Brands Edition. Feel free to use it as it or modify to meet your needs. If you use it, I’d love to hear how it goes.
Shout outs
I’d like to give two huge shout outs. One, to my AVID mentor, Martay Monroe, that has been my AVID trainer for two years. Her passion, love for AVID, and gift of empowering teachers to be the best they can be for students makes her a fabulous role-model. Second, to the amazingly inspirational and humble educator and national speaker, Rick Ramirez. His energy is off the charts! But even more impressive, is his love for students and making a difference in their lives. Thank you both for making my AVID experience memorable.
#MuchLove to all . . . Marilyn ❤
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