You know you are a great teacher when you see life through the lens of your subject.

I see everything through the lens of a health teacher. I see food commercials and wonder why that food is being advertised to a specific audience at a specific time. I see promotional health resources in the community and ask whether they are accessible to all, or are the images in the materials representative of the greater community. I see classroom spaces that are cramped with small desks and immediately think of the difficulties regarding movement in a learning space and the effects of a sedentary lifestyle.

When you see life through the lens of your subject you immediately see ways in which you can bring your teaching to life with every day, community specific examples. [Read more here]

This summer my family and friends played a number of new board and card games and Game of Phones was one such game that not only proved to be a fun evening, but also inspired me to think about ways in which I could tweak it and use it in the classroom. After all, my students carry their phone with them at all times, so why not embrace this in a way that is educational, and promotes discussion about #HealthEd topics.

The original game poses a series of questions and challenges on cards that participants complete within 60 seconds before a judge tenuously decides who wins and keeps the card. It’s silly, and not all of the challenges are school appropriate but it’s a fun game and inspired me to create my own version in Canva [Read more about my love of Canva]

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

So, how might I choose to incorporate this game into my #HealthEd class….

1 – The cards could be used as icebreakers. Put students in pairs and draw a card. The two students react to the question/challenge and a healthy conversation ensues.

2 – Do you ever have that awkward few minutes at the end of the lesson when you’ve completed your instruction and students are packing their schoolbags hoping to leave class a few minutes early? Students get into small groups based on where they are sitting, draw a card and watch them compete against each other. Before they know it, the last few minutes of class will have flown by.

3 – Print out multiple sets and play the game in it’s original format. I have included a card with the rules in my set of 30 cards. I would recommend putting students in groups with others whom they don’t know well. The questions posed, with the follow up questions will allow a conversation to ensue that will allow students to get to know their peers a little better.

If a student doesn’t have a phone/device with them, you could ask students to compete in small teams. Team members react to the card before choosing the best answer to represent their team.

You can download the full set of 30 cards here. The cards are created as 3×5 images so you can print multiple images on a sheet of card and chop them up into playing card sized cards.

Don’t forget to check out the original version of the game but if you play my version and can think of additional questions, please send suggestions to me and we can make an expansion pack!

This isn’t the first time that I’ve adapted a game for the classroom. Check out how I adapted Rory’s Story Cubes into a review game for the classroom.