March Madness Mania

I'm attempting to write every day in March as part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers. Stop by! 

I’m not into sports. It’s not that I hate it, I just don’t love it. I don’t breathlessly anticipate the “big games”. I don’t know all the intricate little rules, the dances that the refs or umps need to play to keep a game moving.

I’ve got the basics down. Baseball. They hit the ball and run around the bases for points- check. Football. Toss the ball to someone else, try not to get knocked down, and run for the other side of the field – check. Basketball. Toss the round ball into the hoop – check.

So it was with great amusement that I introduced a March Madness challenge to my math group last week. Yes, I had some help. A colleague from another building has done this with her class before, and created all the rules and guidelines. Whew.

This week, the students paired up and created their draft list on Monday and Tuesday. I partnered them up randomly – one student who feels like they know a lot about basketball with one student who feels like they don’t. Heads together, they checked individual statistics, checked team statistics, and whispered to one another to avoid giving any of their strategy away.

Draft day arrived, and they were so excited. Part of the fun, I think, was the fact that I outright admitted knowing almost nothing about the sport. I talked about how I was working with my friend, and that I’d be checking in with her if we had any questions I couldn’t figure out. Sometimes my class seems to act like I’m the font of all knowledge, and I like making sure they know that’s just not true.

So on Thursday our teams were all selected. Yes, I have a team, too. Each member of our fantasy team earns us points. Friday arrived, and every single student was chomping at the bit to grab a computer and check out how their players are doing.

Believe it or not, I’m pretty psyched, too. Shhhh… don’t tell.