The Puzzle Project

     Many of the teachers I have worked with over the years have games and things like coloring sheets for their students. Some people finish their work early, sometimes there is a day when there is not enough time to plan a full lesson (like early release days) and it is good to have things for the kids to do. Especially if you are trying to keep them off their cell phones. Which is very hard. 

     When I took over the teaching this year I got some things to make the class look less like a prison cell, and I picked up some games and other things. One was this puppy puzzle. This was the one that started it all. 

     Several people tried out the puppy puzzle, and one student in particular used it often. So I decided to get a couple more puzzles so there would be some variety. One of them was this somewhat challenging Jurassic Park puzzle. There is a lot of green on it, which makes it kind of challenging to do. I also got an Alice in Wonderland puzzle, that I don't seem to have a photo of. Sadly, that puzzle is missing one piece. It was bound to happen. 

    So then, all of a sudden, those 3 puzzles became very popular with the students. Even though one was missing a piece and it kind of makes everyone a little crazy. Since the puzzles are so cool, we borrowed another one...

    And then, because of what I was seeing with the classes, I had to get more puzzles. I grabbed a bunch from the Dollar Tree, including this cool herd of horses, which has been completed several times. 

     I got this awesome Van Gogh puzzle, which I think has only been done once (it's a bit big). This is the most expensive puzzle in the classroom, but my favorite Van Gogh painting, so it was worth it to me (and from Amazon if anyone is interested). 

     Another Amazon puzzle is this very popular unicorn puzzle. It has glitter in it! This one was been done several times now. 

     The last Amazon puzzle was the cool shark one. This one was attempted only once and was deemed "too blue" which made it kind of challenging. And yes, it is very blue and it is sort of challenging. But over the past 2 days I stole a bit of time (it was in fact my time, lol) to work on this puzzle a little bit at a time. A few minutes before school here, the 5 minutes of cell phone time I give the kids at the beginning of class, whenever I could take a few minutes to put in another couple of piece. It's a really cool puzzle. 

     And it glows in the dark! I conveniently have a closet in my room so was able to get this fantastic photo! I also am again impressed at what the iPhone camera can do. 

     So what is the point in an entire post about some of the puzzles we have in my classroom? Well, it started with one and a small bit of interest. And it has turned into so much more than that. Kids that have not looked up from their phones are now choosing to work on puzzles (yes, sometimes even during the 5 minutes of phone time!). Kids are working together on puzzles, which takes team work to some extent and some problem solving skills. Kids who have never interacted are choosing to work on puzzles together (their idea, not mine!). These kids are talking to each other. With words. 

     There is a lot of talk about how damaging the pandemic and quarantine has been to people socially and emotionally. We all suffered, though the kids who have gone through this did not possess adult coping skills (not all adults did either), for some it happened during a critical developmental stage. For many others it happened during an important transitional phase. Many of my students fall into all of these categories. Anyone who is a freshman this year has not been in a regular classroom setting since they were in the 6th grade. 6th grade and 9th grade are very different worlds. The kids missed out on slightly easing into being semi-adults. They went from being pretty young kids... to high school. It's not really surprising that a lot of them are not adjusting well, are much less mature than kids of the same age were just a few years ago, and so on. 

      My point in all this is parts of the kids are broken, though some have been dealing with it much better than others. And somehow, forcing them to get off their phones and do puzzles has resulted in some healing. REAL social interaction, not sending a Snap (is Snapchat capitalized? I am apparently too old to know this stuff), or just following someone's stories. But actually sitting together and sharing stories. Just like the olden days, lol. 

     Things are still not perfect, and I don't know how long the puzzle obsession will last in my classes, but I am working hard to keep it going. My BFF, Crystal, is going to give me some 3D puzzles she has hanging out in the house. I picked up a few more from the Dollar Tree yesterday (I need an intervention!) and I have been spreading the word to other teachers about what I am seeing with the puzzles in my classes. It sounds like a couple others might try getting a puzzle or two. And that will be perfect. Then we can do a puzzle swap and keep things fresh!