First Week Over Friday Follies

The first week.. one of the hardest is over. It is difficult to start with a full week . Next week, Monday, my students will meet their first substitute. We will have our fourth day of negotiations. An all day session is planned.
My students felt that Friday should be a kickback day. I told them that that was not the plan. We will, however, do our first game situation. No movies until October.
I taught them how to play Texas three second hold em. It mainly designed to slow down those students that do not filter what they say. I ask them a question that they know the answer. They must wait three seconds before they answer. If they don't wait 3 seconds or if another student in the class answers for the student, then I get the point. If they wait the required three seconds and then state the answer, the class gets the point. The teacher, being only one person, needs only 5 points to win the round. The class needs 10 points to win the round.
My lively classes "let me win" two rounds before they caught on. In the more reserved classes the tally of rounds won was very close to equal.
The purpose of the game is to increase latency and processing time.This gives those trigger responders a chance to think out their answers and rewards them for their delay. This is critical for the student responders that want to please the teacher.
We had fun and they enjoyed the game. One of my enthusiastic students in 2nd period has remarked to me on the way out of the door how fast the school day goes. Thats what it is like when you are engaged. The day goes by quickly.