Scrabble

I love to play Scrabble. My parents, brother and I play often when we're together. The games are cutthroat and I win rarely enough that I've saved a scorecard from December, 2005, that was the record of a particularly sweet win (axe and xi played in a triple word space).

My study skills kids here at school don't always have enough work to keep them busy for an entire period, so I've been teaching them to play Scrabble. I know that there are more important, "testable" things to do in school, but I'm not sure that students should leave high school without knowing how to play Scrabble. It's a great chance to talk about vocabulary, there's some math involved and it's a social event. The games with my students aren't difficult the way games with my family are--with my family I'm trying to play a "J" on a double letter space or play the "Q" in the triple word space. With my students, I'm trying to teach them strategy as we go (the fastest way to earn points is to make words going in both directions and you can do that with good two letter words; always try to make a play at the triple word space) and I'm also trying to keep the points even enough that they still find the game fun. That helped me pass on the great play I could have made at a triple word space today. I really wanted one of the students to get the thrill and the points from playing there.

After a few more games of Scrabble, my students may appreciate one of my best Scrabble stories....I'm a Scrabble cheater. The "Q" in my parents' set is very lined and recognizable even when it is face down. Needless to say, my family was not pleased to learn that I've been using this extra information for years. The spare Scrabble set has been pulled out and now I have to take my chances with that darn Q.