Letting go...post AP Test

The AP Government test has come and gone!  Whew!  As any AP teachers knows, the post-test AP classroom is much less stressful!  However,  since I teach mostly juniors, this means I have a month to "fill" with economics (this course counts as their government/economics credit).

I use google presentations that are shared with all of the students to give an outline of what I want to cover including links to any resources that are necessary.  To be honest, this is usually a tough time to really get kids to engage.  They have worked hard for the last 24 weeks to prepare for the AP test and now they are basically ready to ease into summer break.

However, as we were covering cost benefits analysis yesterday (doesn't it just sound thrilling??), I asked students if they had any questions.  One young lady asked, "What is the stock market?"  Before I could answer, several students were chiming in with what they knew about the stock market.  We had a great class discussion including concepts such as stock, corporations, board of directors, NASDAQ, retirement accounts, etc.  The kids were tuned in and using their iPads to research questions that came up.  One of the kids suggested an App called Stock Wars, which as it turns out, many of them have played on their iPads.

Since it was near the end of the block, I asked the students to download the app (and downloaded it myself) to start the block with the next day.  I had good intentions to play with it last night and get it all figured out so that I could plan out a great lesson with it, but that didn't quite happen.  So, I went into class without a plan or an understanding of how to use this app.

I started the block by telling the kids to play with the app for ten minutes and asking those who have already used the app to raise their hands.  I had a little trouble getting logged in and so couldn't really monitor the room to help kids who were struggling.  But, a funny thing happened.  The kids who had used this app turned into the facilitators.  They were excited to help anyone (myself included) who was struggling with the app.  By the time I got logged in and ready, the kids were engaged in the app. The kids were shouting out what stock they were buying and how it was doing (the app operates in real time right with the various stock markets).

I am not a fly by the seat of my pants type of teacher, but this block really helped me see exactly what happened when I let go of control for a little bit and gave that control to the kids.  Since I told them I didn't know how to use the app, the kids took complete ownership of the room.  I hope to incorporate parts of this into my freshmen algebra class as well as next year's AP government class!