You
can also use this resource on an iPad as the Microsoft PowerPoint app does have a pen tool that you can access
by tapping the very top of the page while in presentation mode. You do have to ‘toggle
back and forth’ between ‘pen’ and ‘no pen’ settings so vigilant coordination is
required.
The
game is initiated by first delineating
the number of letters in a mystery
word. The letter count is denoted as a series of horizontal lines at the
bottom of the mystery word box. Students take turns (round robin) guessing a
letter that they think might be in the mystery word.
An alphabet chart is provided on the
Powerpoint slide to assist students with letter recall. Some teachers also give
each student their own alphabet chart to manage as the game is played. The
vowels on the chart are displayed in red; the
consonants are blue to heighten this important
distinction.
If
the guessed letter is correct, it is
written on its corresponding line in the mystery word.
If
the guessed letter is incorrect,
(Tick tock, no it’s not!) the next pie-shaped section of the clock is tapped to
reveal the ongoing number count. Students have 12 chances to guess the mystery word before Boom! the clock runs out and the clock wins that game.
After
each guess, correct or incorrect, the pen tool is used to mark a slash across the letter to keep an ongoing record of what
letters have already been guessed.
Although
there are a variety of ways to conduct this literacy activity, a paradigm of ‘the class’ against ‘the clock’ is a great way to encourage team spirit and lots of peer-peer
interaction (“You already guessed that one.
Yay team! Guess a vowel. ) A chart is provided to keep score over time.
In many classrooms this activity was conducted just about every day. Teachers usually print out ‘hard copy’ of the
score chart page and display it next to the interactive whiteboard. The chart
then becomes a math activity!
Students
who are functionally non-speaking should have access to a system that allows
them to participate in the Beat the Clock game.
In this picture a little boy is using
his head switch to scan key phrase-based messages and an encoded eye-pointing
system to guess letters. To select a letter, he eye-points to the target letter,
presented on the frame as a pair. To further delineate which of the paired letters
he desires, he looks up/down or left/right, depending on whether the pair is
horizontal or vertically presented on the frame.
For further information check out the
resource, Constructing an Eye-Gaze Frame on the Teachers Pay Teachers site. http://bit.ly/2g37RON
…’til the
next post … (new posts every Monday)
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©2016 Carol
Goossens’, Ph.D.
Augmentative
Communication Consultant
Speech-Language
Pathologist
Special
Educator
