Grammar Mafia

I have been dedicating a great deal of my free time to preparing for the six classes I'll be teaching in the fall. To better prepare myself for the English classes, I'm taking some CEUs (Continuing Education Units) from the University of Fresno Pacific, which is very reasonably priced (only $100 per credit hour). I wish there were a bit more instruction to the course I'm taking (it's a course on young adult novels), but other than that, I'm pretty satisfied. In addition, I have come up with a marvelous idea that I thought I'd share for the benefit of other teachers.

I have been scouring garage sales looking for cheap, broken down board games (any age level). I take the board games apart, and use the pieces to create new games for use in the classroom. For instance, I found an ancient monopoly game in a dirty, broken-down box for only twenty-five cents. I cleaned the game and the box thoroughly, mended the box, and then glued paper over the game board to create my own new game. I decoupaged the box so that it now looks as good as new, and matches my game board. My new game is entitled "Grammar Mafia." It's a Mafia-themed game (with no violence, by the way) designed to help teach grammar to students in grades seven to nine. It took a bit of work to create, but I think the kids will really like it.

I'm also planning to create themed games for use in my history classes, and I want to make at least two more English games. I have found from experience that the more fun kids have in class, the more information you can cram into their fertile young minds. I am hoping to have a nice stack of brand new games by the time school starts. By creating them myself rather than buying existing games, I can make my classes more unique and hold the interest of my students better.

I'll try to post some pictures of my game creations later.