In the educational arena, Bump It Up walls have become a popular visual and interactive tool for helping students assess their work against a success criteria and aim for improvement. But what if we take this concept and infuse it with a bit of martial arts mystique? Here’s how you can create a Bump It Up Wall with a ninja twist, fostering students’ skills and motivation to advance in their learning journey.
Step 1: Define the Success Criteria
Firstly, you need clear, concise, and attainable success criteria. This might be based on curriculum standards or specific skills you want the students to develop.
Step 2: Prepare the Levels
Traditionally, Bump It Up Walls have different levels (typically 1-4). For a ninja twist, assign each level a different ninja belt color – white for beginners, yellow for novices, green for intermediates, blue for advanced learners, and black for experts.
Step 3: Create Student Avatars
Have your students create ninja avatars of themselves. They might draw these by hand or use online tools to make avatars that fit the ninja theme.
Step 4: Display Work Examples
For each belt level (or learning stage), display anonymous work samples that show what is expected at that particular level. Teachers should provide feedback on why an example is at a certain level and what could be done to improve it.
Step 5: Make the Wall Interactive
Each student’s avatar starts at the white belt level. After assessing where their current work falls on the wall, they’ll set goals on how to advance to the next belt level. Provide them with sticky notes so they can write down their goals or strategies and stick them next to their avatar on the wall.
Step 6: Reflection and Goal Setting
Encourage regular reflection and goal setting. Hold discussions on what ninja moves (skills) might help them progress to each new stage of their learning journey.
Step 7: Celebrate Progress
As students reach new levels of proficiency, celebrate! A fun way might be learning an actual ninja move – like a stealthy roll or safe throwing techniques using soft objects – that adds kinesthetic learning and fun.
Step 8: Continuous Update
Keep updating the wall with new examples as students provide higher quality work. This keeps the wall fresh and challenging.
Remember that the primary aim is continuous improvement through self-assessment – turning each student into a motivated ‘learning ninja’ who knows what quality work looks like and how to strive towards producing it. With this creative “Ninja Style” Bump It Up Wall, your classroom will not only foster academic growth but also keep engagement high with its novel theme.
