Background
![]() ![]() ![]() | When we read Casey Cebulski’s Cave Monster strategy, we were blown away by the thought behind it. Several weeks ago, one of Casey’s students suggested that they play Hangman. Harmless, right? Well, maybe not. What does Hangman represent? “Basically,” Casey writes, “Hangman is a game that by losing, you portray a person hanging from a noose. That's how criminals [used to be] disposed of, as well as a way to end one's life.” Do children, especially children growing up around violence, need to reinforce their learning with games that communicate hanging? Now, whether or not you or your students have ever associated Hangman with any form of violence really isn’t the point here. What we absolutely LOVE is that Casey models a process of asking, “What could be the unintended consequences of playing this game?” It’s about really looking through various lenses (from students’ academic goals, to the types of activities that engage one’s students, to students’ neighborhood environments), to determine what’s best for one’s students. Once Casey has that answer, he acts. In this case, Casey acted by creating an awesome Hangman adaptation called Cave Monster. We hope you’ll have fun playing the game with your own students; but, even more, we hope you’ll bring some of Casey’s lesson planning prowess to your own tutoring or mentoring practice. |
Additional Notes About Casey Before You Read “Cave Monster”
Casey’s thoughts about his AmeriCorps experience:
|
The Strategy
Cave Monster
- - - - - - - - - - - -
|
Thoughts?
Please share your own thoughts with us and with Casey by entering a comment below.