Grouping and Engaging Students With Popsicle Sticks [Episode 246]

Rebecca Joyner [00:00:01]:
This summer, I had the opportunity to speak with 12 different full-time science teachers about their classroom experiences, and so far I’ve shared 4 of those over the last few weeks. So if you missed any of those episodes in July, you need to go back and listen. They are so, so excellent. Now, I will admit, the other 8 interviews I am saving, and I’m gonna sprinkle them throughout this school year, usually about one a month. Just to help like break up the monotony of my voice in your headphones or speakers every week. But this back-to-school season, you are officially stuck with just me because honestly, I’m just too excited about all the things I want to share with you for this new school year. And so I’m just going to be dominating the mic over the next few weeks. Now here’s what we’re starting with this back-to-school season.

Rebecca Joyner [00:00:51]:
I asked just about every teacher I interviewed what their favorite classroom management hack was. And I realized in doing that, that I have never done a full podcast episode on one of mine. I’ve mentioned this one back in episode 143, which is like my top 5 classroom management hacks, which I’ll link in the show notes. If you haven’t listened, that’s a must-listen. But I’ve never just done like an exclusive on this one. So that is what I’m going to do today. I’m going to dedicate this entire episode to popsicle sticks. Now you may be thinking, how could she possibly have enough to talk about just about a popsicle stick? But I shockingly do.

Rebecca Joyner [00:01:30]:
So we’re going to cover what they are, when I make them, and how I use them, how I make sure I run through them all in one class period. And also we’re going to end the episode with an alternative idea that I got from one of you who listens to the podcast, who emailed me something that you do that’s slightly different from popsicle sticks, but gets the same idea and goal across. So I’m excited to share that with you. In particular, sharing with you how I use them for grouping as well as engaging and creating a classroom culture of discussion, because that is so important to me. So let’s dive in. This is Secondary Science Simplified, a podcast for secondary science teachers who want to engage their students and simplify their lives. I’m Rebecca Joyner from It’s Not Rocket Science. As a high school science teacher turned curriculum writer, I am passionate about helping other science teachers Love their jobs, serve their students, and do it all in only 40 hours a week.

Rebecca Joyner [00:02:28]:
Are you ready to rock the time you spend in your classroom and actually have a life outside of it? You are in the right place, teacher friend. Let’s get to today’s episode. So when I say popsicle sticks, what am I talking about? I am literally talking about popsicle sticks, or you might see them called craft sticks. You can find these at Walmart at like a Michaels or other craft store on Amazon. You can get a 200-pack on Amazon right now for $5. That’s 25 cents each. Or you can go big and get a 1,000-pack for $11, which is just 11 cents each. I had a 1,000-pack and I never even got through all of them before my maternity leave and when I left the classroom to do this full-time.

Rebecca Joyner [00:03:12]:
So it’s worth the investment. I think you’re gonna get your money back in turn with them. But literally it’s just a popsicle or craft stick And what I do is I use a permanent marker and I write students’ names on them on both ends. So if your name is Casey, I’m writing Casey on one end and Casey on the other end. And then I store these one of two ways, either in plastic bags that are just labeled by class, and then I Velcro them to the side of my demo table, or in the past I’ve stored them in beakers when I had a slightly larger class space to store them. I personally love the noise of like Mixing them up with my hand and the popsicle sticks mixing in the glass beaker. It’s an extremely satisfying sound. And I loved it because my students would hear that sound and like settle down because they knew either they were going to get called on or they were going to know who their lab group was going to be or who their partner was going to be.

Rebecca Joyner [00:04:02]:
And so they just listened in. But it’s not quite as convenient to have them stored in beakers. It takes up more room. You know, you just may not have the ability to do that. So the plastic bags are just like a really easy and simple way to do it. And then I could just rip them off the side of my demo table, stick them back on. As needed. So that is what they are.

Rebecca Joyner [00:04:20]:
Now, when do I make them? This is a first day of school activity for me. Okay, this is so important to me. Now you may be saying, why don’t you just do it before school even starts when you have time, you know, during those meetings? It’d be a very easy thing to do during your back-to-school PD and meetings that you’re having. But I personally like to wait till the afternoon of the first day of school, and here’s why. On the first day, I always put students in a seating chart. By their last name so it can help me learn their names. I try to learn every student’s name by the end of the 3rd day of school. So putting them in alphabetical order by last name, for some reason to me it’s easier to memorize first and last name together.

Rebecca Joyner [00:04:57]:
So if I do that, that just kind of helps me start to learn the pattern. But one thing I do on the first day is I walk around to every single student and introduce myself while they’re working on something for me, which if you’re like, what else are you doing on the first day of school? You need to listen to episode 141. It’s all about how I run my first day of school, and I’ll link that in the show notes as well. But I’m walking around while they’re working independently, and I’m meeting every student like, hey Casey, it’s nice to meet you. Do you go by Casey or do you prefer to go by another name? And when I do that, I write down their preferred name because oftentimes, especially nowadays, students go by their middle name. They go by some sort of nickname. Even if your LMS has something in it, where it has like a student profile where it says like, for instance, my oldest son, his name is Thomas after his father, but he goes by Tee. T-E-E.

Rebecca Joyner [00:05:47]:
So we put on all paperwork Thomas, and then we put preferred name Tee. But even still, sometimes that just like doesn’t translate to the teacher. Or, you know, I’m Rebecca. I grew up going by Becca or Rebecca, but like maybe it just said Rebecca in the, in the profile, but I want to go by Becca. Maybe a student is going by a new nickname. I don’t know. I just like to always double check on the first day, and I just like that face-to-face time with each student just to look each student in the eyes. Welcome to my class.

Rebecca Joyner [00:06:15]:
Find out their preferred name. So that is something I’m doing. 9 times out of 10, there’s at least 4 to 5 students whose names are different from what I thought they were going to be or what they’re going to go by. And so that’s an opportunity for me. I change it on my seating chart because that’s what I’m memorizing their names from. And then I make the popsicle sticks from there because I want their preferred name on that popsicle stick, not their, you know, given name on their birth certificate. I don’t care what that is if they don’t go by it. Yeah.

Rebecca Joyner [00:06:40]:
So I’m making them the first day of school, and even in making them, it’s an opportunity for me to start learning names as I’m doing it. And again, my goal is to know all of them by the end of the third day. So the practice of making them is nice. Also, it’s just like a very mindless task to do after a long day, and it just feels really simple. So I’m making those popsicle sticks then. Now here is how I’m using them for the rest of the year. So it’s totally worth the time in my opinion. First and foremost, I’m always using them to do partners and making groups.

Rebecca Joyner [00:07:11]:
The only time I am not picking partners and groups is when we’re doing a simple 10 minutes work on this with your next-door neighbor. That’s what I call the person who they sit next to, because in every classroom I’ve been in, I’ve always had either 2 desks paired up or I’ve had a lab table where 2 students sit at it together. And so oftentimes it’ll just be a simple like, okay, Here’s a practice handout. We’re working on balancing reactions. You’re gonna have 7 minutes to work on this on your own. Timer goes off, and then I’m saying, okay, now you’re gonna have 5 minutes. Consult with your next door neighbor on any that you didn’t get to or any you’re concerned about. See if your answers match.

Rebecca Joyner [00:07:48]:
You can help each other kind of work together, that kind of thing. That is the only time I am not picking partners and groups. And technically I’m kind of picking those too because I make the seating charts and I’m a big fan of seating charts. So I am always in control of who’s working together. I think that’s really, really important in terms of managing classroom relationships and managing kind of drama there. Now here’s the other reason why I absolutely love using these for making groups, because it is random. And so there are times where, I mean, there was one time, y’all, where I had a class of 11 students. So when we’re making lab groups of like 3 or 4, there’s only so many derivations of groups you’re gonna get.

Rebecca Joyner [00:08:26]:
When you’re doing partners of 2 in a class of 11, there’s only so many partnerships that can form. And so there was one time where 2 students got paired together 4 times in a row, and they were kind of getting exasperated by it because they, you know, they didn’t necessarily get along very well. But it was a beautiful thing to use the popsicle sticks because I could always just say, oh, fate of the bag. And that became one of those refrains that everyone in my class would say. Like, if you ended up in a lab group you didn’t like, or With a partner you didn’t want to work with, it was like, oh, well, it’s the fate of the bag. You saw me draw these in front of you. You see that it’s not rigged. I’m just doing it as the fate of the bag.

Rebecca Joyner [00:09:02]:
Now, I know there’s something to say for strategic lab groups where maybe you’re grouping them by ability or something like that, and you can always use your discretion as to when you want to do that. I just found personally that the randomness of the popsicle sticks for all partnerships and group formations worked really well in my favor. With the students. So highly, highly recommend using your popsicle sticks for that and even adopting the phrase fate of the bag this school year. It kind of helps take the pressure off you and puts it more in the hands of destiny, if you will, in terms of who they end up working with. Another way I’m primarily using popsicle sticks other than grouping is engaging my students in discussion. Having a classroom culture of discussion Where we are in constant conversation, students with me and students with each other, is like a non-negotiable for me and for my students. I think especially in these most recent years where students are so glued to devices, they are so bad at talking to people face-to-face.

Rebecca Joyner [00:10:06]:
Even now, I’m like, they’re not making customer service calls and talking to a human being. When they make a customer service call or schedule an appointment, they’re doing it with, you know, an automated program with an AI chatbot. Like, it is so rare that they are getting face-to-face communication time, and that is a lifelong skill that is going to serve them and also differentiate them from all the other people that they’re competing with for jobs. Being able to speak face-to-face, I genuinely believe it’s a dying art. I’m going to share more about life skills I think it’s important to intentionally teach students In episode 251. So that’s coming in a few weeks, but I just, I, this is a hill I will die on. And that is, we are going to be in discussion. You are going to talk to me.

Rebecca Joyner [00:10:50]:
Now, if you’re thinking my students won’t talk to me, I can’t get high schoolers to talk to me. You need to listen to episode 225. I will link it in the show notes, but I go into a lot of detail on that. But this is one of the ways that I’m engaging them and kind of forcing the discussion is with popsicle sticks. My students know at the beginning of the year, I tell them, I’m going to go through this bag of popsicle sticks twice every class period. That’s my goal. Obviously we’re not perfect. There’s grace there.

Rebecca Joyner [00:11:19]:
But I am trying to do that because I want to ensure y’all that I’m talking to every student twice in a class period. This is something I’ve always really prioritized, but especially now that one of my children, which I will not identify on here, but one of my children Is extremely middle of the road. Okay. The most average of average in terms of academics. This child though is also extremely obedient and is just not going to make a fuss. So this is the ideal student to fall through the cracks in your classroom. This child/student is not going to be the best and they’re not going to be the worst. So they’re not going to be getting a lot of attention from an academic standpoint that way.

Rebecca Joyner [00:12:00]:
And then from a behavioral standpoint, they’re going to be really, really obedient, so they’re never going to be causing a fuss there too. They’re also not wanting to draw attention to themselves. They’re not necessarily shy, but they’re not going to like volunteer information and raise their hand. I remember asking this child once what their least favorite part of school was, and they said, raising my hand to talk. I’d rather just not even talk the whole class period if I have to raise my hand. And so I’m just really conscientious of that kind of personality in a classroom, and I don’t want to miss them. Especially when you have these classes of 25, 30, 35 kids. Heaven forbid you have more than that in a science classroom.

Rebecca Joyner [00:12:34]:
But I think anything more than 20, it’s really easy to miss a student like that in your classroom because they’re not going to make a lot of noise. They’re going to be doing pretty good academically. They’re fine. They’re a B student, maybe a high C. And so they’re just going to kind of float by. We do not want any child— I mean, I hate to say any child left behind and like quote that whole movement, but like Essentially, we don’t want any student falling through the cracks and not being connected with every day. And that’s why I think it’s such an important goal to connect with each student twice in a class period. And the popsicle sticks hold me accountable to doing that, because if I go through them, as I pull a popsicle stick and I use that person’s name to answer a question or call on them, then I set it to the side and I go through all of them once, and then I put them all back in the bag or in the beaker, and then we run through them again.

Rebecca Joyner [00:13:22]:
That’s how I try to make sure I’m getting through each student and talking to them twice in a class period. Now, hopefully sometimes I’m talking to them more than that if I’m able to get to the door to greet them as they walk in, if I’m walking around and helping them as they work independently on things. But this at least ensures a bare minimum of 2 touchpoints in a class period. If you have 90-minute or longer class periods, hopefully you can get through them even more. But in a 50-minute class period, like honestly, 2 times felt like a good goal for me. And so here is what I’m doing when I’m drawing their sticks. Obviously I’m using them for partners and groups, but here are other ways that I’m using them. So I’m using them to answer questions I ask.

Rebecca Joyner [00:13:59]:
You know, sometimes you get those students that are going to just shout out answers and naturally want to chat with you and discuss. That is great, but oftentimes no one’s going to answer your questions. And so I’m asking questions constantly. That’s one of the ways that I create a classroom culture of discussion. Again, I talked all about this in episode 225, so go back and listen to that, but I’m constantly asking questions and they are answering them. Or I’m asking them to come up to the whiteboard and work out a problem. I love to have students work independently on like 3 to 5 practice problems, and then while they’re working on them, I’ll go ahead, like I’ll send them off to work on some practice problems, and then I’ll go ahead and say, I’ll draw 5 names and assign numbers. Like, hey, Jay, when you finish number 2, you’re gonna come up and do it on the whiteboard.

Rebecca Joyner [00:14:42]:
Hey, Stefan, when you finish number 5, you’re gonna do number 5 on the whiteboard. And I’ll divide my whiteboard up, and then while their peers are working, they can come up and work out the problem on the whiteboard. It takes like a lot of the pressure off of them too, cuz it’s not like everyone’s just watching them write it, cuz everyone’s working either at their desk or on a whiteboard. And then we kind of go over it as a class while they’re seated back down. So I’m talking about this while I’m up front, but they’ve already done their work and they’re not up there like getting scrutinized. I don’t even make them write their name up there. Like, I don’t need to know that Stefan did number 5, okay? I’ll just go over this and say, okay, one of our friends did number 5. Let’s walk through, let’s grade their work.

Rebecca Joyner [00:15:18]:
Let’s see if we need to correct anything. So they’re answering questions, they’re coming up to the whiteboard to work out problems. They are doing simple things for me too. One of the ways you make sure you’re going through them all at least twice in one class period is you’re doing a lot of drawing names for low-lift things. This also helps your students with anxiety or your really shy and introverted students not dread your class by making sure you’re mixing in low-lift requests like, hey, I’m going to draw a name and say, hey, Janae, will you read the directions out loud? Or, hey, Carlos, go grab me 3 beakers from that cabinet. Like, that is a way I’ll draw a stick and that checks your box for like 2 times I’m going to call on you. That’s one of the times I’m going to call on you. So I’m mixing in a lot of these things.

Rebecca Joyner [00:16:04]:
Other ways that I kind of take the pressure off to make it less stressful for students, one is it’s just an expectation that’s set so they just come to know it and they do adjust. Students are so resilient if we give them the chance, y’all. But also I give them some freebies. I say, hey, if I ask you a question and you can’t answer it, I’ll put your name back in the bag once. I’ll say, okay, you can phone a friend. They can say, I want to phone a friend. I’d say, okay, that’s fine. I’ll put their name back.

Rebecca Joyner [00:16:27]:
I’ll draw someone else’s name. But they know that they’re gonna get called on again, ’cause I’m not gonna let this go. It’s not like you can just deflect the question and know you’re not gonna get called on the rest of class. I’m gonna get through the bag. So they can do this about once before I’m gonna make them answer the question. If they truly are like, I can’t think of one thing to say to you in response to this question, I encourage them to ask me a question. If you can’t answer a question, you can ask a question. So, okay, you’re confused, you don’t know, let’s identify a question that you can ask to get more clarity.

Rebecca Joyner [00:16:57]:
That is another skill in life that I think they’re not very good at, asking questions. I think in their brains they’ve learned like, if I don’t know the answer, I’m just gonna shut down and wait for someone to tell it to me, or I’m just gonna say, I don’t know, and hope they move on from me. But we are gonna press in and help them ask questions. That is like an NGSS science and engineering practice. They need to be able to ask and answer questions. So that’s something they can do too. That helps avoid students shutting down or just saying, I don’t know, every time you draw their name. Now again, some ideas for how to make sure I get through all of them.

Rebecca Joyner [00:17:29]:
We’re doing low-lift asks, like read directions out loud, do something for me. Like I said, they’re answering questions, they’re coming up to the whiteboard, that kind of thing. Oh, and for the coming up to the whiteboard, let’s say you’re doing a quantitative problem, like they’re, they’re solving for kinetic energy. Okay. And they’re like, well, I have no idea. I have a problem-solving technique called RADAR that I teach my students in order to help them walk through quantitative problems in particular that we have signs for on the whiteboard, which I’ll link in the show notes. I’ve got a blog post about it, but there’s no reason a student would ever leave anything blank. So I will even tell them, okay, you don’t have to even solve the whole thing, but you can at least start RADAR.

Rebecca Joyner [00:18:10]:
RADAR is reading, and then they are going to basically analyze and they’re going to label knowns and unknowns. And then they’re going to diagnose and try to come up with what’s the equation we would use. So even if we’re solving for kinetic energy and all they do on my whiteboard is write KE equals question mark and mass equals, and they label the mass, and velocity equals, they label velocity, and then KE equals 1/2 mv squared, and they write down the equation, I’m fine with that. Like, I’m not drawing their name and expecting them to always be able to come up and do the whole problem. That’s fine. Even if they do something. And I think when you communicate that early on, like, hey, just do your best. You’re not signing your name up here.

Rebecca Joyner [00:18:48]:
No one’s going to remember that you did number 3 because no one’s paying attention to you right now. I think that really helps take the pressure off too. So these are ways we’re making sure that we’re getting students up there and we’re getting through them all. 2 other things that I think are great. One is at the start of class, if you want to take 1 minute, my chemistry teacher always did this. And ask for any news of interests. So after going over your bell ringer, before you transition to what you’re doing that class period, you can say, hey, are there any news of interests before we get started? Anything you need to get off your chest before we dive into science content? Sometimes I would even joke and like my really chatty students, like this one student I’m thinking of, Jacob, I’d be like, Jacob, you got anything you want to share? Anything you need to say before we start class? Okay. He was just, you know, I don’t want to say class clown because that feels like such a negative term because he was a delightful student.

Rebecca Joyner [00:19:35]:
He just had a lot of personality and a lot of things he wanted to share. And so I could start off class and saying, any news of interest? And that was the way I knew that I checked in with Jacob at least once. You can do news of interest and draw sticks and get some in there, like draw 3 people and say, hey, do y’all 3 have any news of interest type thing? That’s an opportunity too to check in with students. But my favorite to really make sure you’re getting through the popsicle sticks is at the end of class. And that’s what those last few minutes of class, you can say, Tell me something good. This is the tell me something good time. I love that it cultivates optimism. It ends on a high note, and they can literally tell you anything.

Rebecca Joyner [00:20:11]:
It could be something good in their life. It could be what they’re having for lunch. It could be something good in a friend’s life. It could be that Taylor Swift has a new album coming out. I mean, it could truly be anything they want. They just need to tell you something good. If they can’t think of anything good, or if they’re shrugging you off or saying, there’s nothing good in my life, you know, You can ask them to say, hey, okay, well, when’s our next test? And they can look on your whiteboard and see and shout it out. Or when is that lab due that we did today? Or hey, when are my tutoring hours again if someone needs more help from Mrs.

Rebecca Joyner [00:20:40]:
Joyner? Literally just anything simple like that that they can read off the whiteboard. That’s an easy way to, again, low lift, get everyone speaking, everyone engaging. You’re getting face time and eyeball contact, like you’re making direct eye contact with these students twice a day. But they’re able to answer something that’s not like a heavy-hitting question that’s going to stress them out if they don’t know the answer. So those are popsicle sticks. That’s what they are, when I make them, and how I use them and make sure I get through them all in one class period. Again, my goal is twice. I don’t always do that perfectly, but I do it enough that students come to expect to be called on at least twice.

Rebecca Joyner [00:21:16]:
I want to end this episode with an alternative idea from a listener that was sent in to me. I’m going to take a second. I’m just going to read what she sent directly. So this teacher said, I love all of your resources and use both the chemistry and anatomy curricula in my own classroom. I know you are all about saving time for teachers, and I want to share a quick idea that I use. I too have used popsicle sticks to randomly call on students and for quick checks. However, I didn’t love having to rewrite student names each year or even each semester for block classes. Nor did I want to worry about removing students who moved or dropped the class.

Rebecca Joyner [00:21:50]:
Or adding students who came mid-semester. Side note, this doesn’t bother me at all, but I totally understand what this teacher is saying. So here was her solution. I purchased a used Scrabble game at my local thrift store for 75 cents and numbered the desks and table spots in my classroom. I then wrote the corresponding desk numbers on the back blank side of the Scrabble tile, and I keep them in the handy little drawstring bag that comes with the game. When I want to call on a student, I draw a tile from the bag and ask the student who is sitting in the corresponding seat number to answer the question. A single set of popsicle sticks labeled this way would be great too, if you don’t want to buy a Scrabble game. This system works for every class, every year.

Rebecca Joyner [00:22:31]:
No more multiple sets of popsicle sticks for multiple classes. No need for multiple bags. I thought this was a great idea if this is something you would like to do, and if you don’t want to take the time to write your students’ names on the popsicle sticks. Totally fine. The only thing I will say is one thing I like to do when I make lab groups, especially for a lab that’s going to stretch over several class periods, which most of mine did with 50-minute class periods, is I would draw the lab groups and announce them, and then I would lay out the clumps of the lab group popsicle sticks, and then I would take a picture of them and just have that so I would remember if a student’s absent or something like that, or when I go back to grade. So that would be a little bit harder with the numbers because I wouldn’t remember who was sitting where, but Again, to each their own. I love to share alternative ideas, and I thought that was a great suggestion. So here’s your take-home challenge today.

Rebecca Joyner [00:23:20]:
If you don’t have popsicle sticks, go buy some. I linked some in the show notes and the 1,000-pack for $11. You could also go get the Scrabble set if you want and label your lab tables if you’d prefer that method, but go ahead and take that first step so this is an easier way to implement once the school year starts. If you already own popsicle sticks and want other classroom management hacks, check out episode 143, which are my top 5 favorite classroom management hacks for a new school year. I mentioned a few things like the popsicle sticks and some other podcast episodes that are really relevant. So if you want to find those links, you can find those in the show notes at itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com/episode246. Or if you just want to go to itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com and search popsicle sticks, this episode will come up and you’ll find those show notes. Now, if you have not left a review for the podcast, it’s your turn, especially if you are a popsicle stick veteran.

Rebecca Joyner [00:24:14]:
If you’ve heard me talk about this for years, And you’re like, I got the popsicle sticks down pat, I would love it if you left a review for the pod. All right, teacher friends, that wraps up today’s episode. If you’re looking for an easy way to start simplifying your life as a secondary science teacher, head to itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com/challenge to grab your Classroom Reset Challenge. And guess what? It’s totally free. Thanks so much for tuning in, and I’ll see you here next week. Until then, I’ll be rooting for you, teacher friend.