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| | | Forum Guru
 
Group: Girlfriends Moderators
Last Login: 7/9/2008 8:47:51 PM
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| | This post is designed for us to learn from each other. If your kids LOVE (or maybe they just really like it) MyGrapple.com, please take time to share on this topic so those of us who may be struggling with getting kids online can learn from your success. 1. Are you successfully getting kids online? Tell us how! a. What do your kids love the most about MyGrapple.com?? b. Why are they coming back? c. What was your biggest challenge to getting kids online, and how did you resolve it?
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| | | Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 7/11/2008 6:50:53 PM
Posts: 1, Visits: 20 |
| | Quite frankly, there are only a handful of the 31 kids signed up that are actually going online. BUT the ones that are are praying for one another and dialoging with one another. One kid even posted an idea and asked for feedback. I think they like the games and they are reading the replies, but they are not posting anything. I wish there was a counter so I could see the number of kids who have actually gone online. There is no way to track the kids who are using it unless they leave a prayer request or comment. Bribery comes to mind. At first I thought the kids would be really excited to go online but now the newness has worn off maybe?
Loving His Kids,
Dale |
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| | | Junior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 5/12/2008 11:49:23 AM
Posts: 23, Visits: 77 |
| Ok. I have a class of about 20 students. At the end of this first quarter, so far 3 have logged in. One of those is my son.
a. What do your kids love the most about MyGrapple.com??
They seem to like voting.
b. Why are they coming back?
One student has finally figured out that he can communicate with the forum. Just this week he added a new post to ask me a question! To me, this is big - that's what I'm looking for.
c. What was your biggest challenge to getting kids online, and how did you resolve it?[/quote]
Biggest challenges:
#1 - They don't know what it is or how to use it, or why they want to!
#2 - I don't have a good way to show them - no computer at church available, no time outside of class, parents not involved.
#3 - Students with no internet. Some really low income families, foster care students. Some had internet, but mom or dad lost job, went to jail etc, so they lost internet. Or parents split, had to move, so several weeks in that process. A lot of upheaval in my student's lives.
Methods of solving above ...
#1 - Offered candy bar for posting - this is how I got the three that have posted - they really wanted the candy bar! But after a few weeks had to put an end to that because my son caught on and posted every week and got a candy bar every week, while it didn't continue to draw in others. So it worked for a few.
#2 - Invited one of the students to stay overnight with my son - they got together on our computer and worked on it together.
#3 - I'm still using the game voting and set up a class snack vote - I make it known that the ones using the web site are the ones getting to choose the game and snack. I'm not sure that's impacting class use at all, but the two boys like this and log in just to vote. They really like voting on class snack.
#4 - I'm having a sleepover for the class, and posting announcements about it. I also post birthdays - but I'm not sure they are paying attention to that at all.
#5 - I'm hoping at the sleepover to spend a little time looking at the site. I don't know yet if I can get a computer with internet access to do it, so I'll let you all know how that goes.
iBeleave ... in Jesus!
www.webmissionllc.com |
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| | | Forum Expert
Group: Moderators
Last Login: Yesterday @ 6:36:56 PM
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| | Thanks for the great ideas for getting the children familiar with the Grapple website. I'm definitely going to plead with our church leaders to allow wi-fi at church. Then I can take a laptop into our meetings and show the children how to use the site. Anyone out there.....do the kids like playing the online games? Lisa B from NC
Lisa B from NC |
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| | | Moderater
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 12/8/2007 4:59:57 PM
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| | I have a class of 20, I have one child that gets on line for the clues. In our class we have boy & girl teams. I have a grapple bucket the the teams try to win. It usually contains assorted snack stuff. Since the one child(a boy) gets all the answers,the rest of the boys depend on him every week. Plus this makes the girls lose all the time. SOOO! I changed the rules & this works better. I email the clues page to the secretary at church each week, for the next week. I hand these out in class. If they bring the clues page back & it is filled out, each person gets 100 pts for there team. I have some who say I forgot mine, I Say I'm sorry! Then we go over the clues & for each one that is right, they receive the pts. set for that question. I do have some behavior problems. If I have to call anybody down on the teams, boy or girl, their team loses 100 pts. This has been a big help. I have a few that don't want to do the clues & just depend on the others & still reaped the snacks in the grapple bucket. So Now if you didn't bring the clue sheet filled out. then your off the team that week,so if their team wins. They're left out! That has encouraged all to bring them. To get them to participate in the lesson I give points for that to. Its taking a little while to get it all lined out, but were getting there! My kids are not using the internet site. Group need to offer with or without grapple site.
Remember, Love Like Jesus!  Miss Vicki |
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| | | Forum Guru
Group: Girlfriends Moderators
Last Login: 7/9/2008 8:47:51 PM
Posts: 51, Visits: 93 |
| | See the forum topic "Fall 2008 Grapple Preteen enhancements." We are adding a lot of new enhancements that I think you and your kids will LOVE! Melissa |
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| | | Forum Guru
Group: Girlfriends Moderators
Last Login: 7/9/2008 8:47:51 PM
Posts: 51, Visits: 93 |
| | Now that Grapple is almost through the first three quarters, we are hearing lots about how students are embracing the MyGrapple.com website. Below I have taken the time to list a few suggestions for getting kids excited, as well as a few of the posts that have been posted by some of the churches using Grapple. 1. Send a note home to parents, or meet with the parents separately to show them the web site, and encourage them to go online with their kids. Help the parents to understand the value of the weekly interaction online, and ask them to help get their kids excited and stay involved. 2. Take some class time to get online with the kids (if you have a computer around that the kids could gather around), and show them the fun things they can do. When we were testing this with preteens, we found that once the kids caught on that they could send each other messages back and forth, we couldn't get them to stop. This is especially useful if you have a group of kids that isn't used to being online. They need to be coached on how to be safe, of course, and they need to have an idea of why being online is fun for them. 3. Use the polls to get them on. Announce in class that they get to vote on the snack you have next week, or a place to go on an outing. Tell them that to vote on where they want to go, to get online on MyGrapple.com and vote. 4. Make posting a message to the message board a contest. Tell them that the first person to go on and post a care card, or prayer request, or general message, etc. each week will get something of value to them. 5. Make sure the understand what the choices they can help make that will shape their Sunday school experience on Sundays. Such as voting for the games they will play in-class. Preteens LOVE to make choices! Posted by KellyDWood: Grapple has been wonderful! The most beuatiful thing about the web portion is that these kids are talking to each other - asking for prayer, talking about struggles at home, etc. We have one child (6th grader) who recently came to our church. Her father passed away about a year ago and she is painfully shy...won't talk to anyone. And obviously she is hurting over the loss of her father and the struggles faced with her older brother's current state of rebellion. She was at our church for a year before we started using Grapple. Remember - she never speaks to anyone - and I mean NEVER. When we started Grapple last fall she was the FIRST ONE to get her name and password and was the FIRST ONE to post online! It was a simple - "Hey! Anyone out there want to chat?" Several girls in the class responded and they got to know each other in a place that for this young girl wasn't so scary and intimidating. After a month or so she even asked online for prayer for her brother and spoke about her dad's death. She is still very quiet at church but her mother loves that she has a very safe and Christian environment online where she can talk, be heard and be prayed for. Posted by LisaB We love the curriculum and use of the website is growing. In our community, the children do not spend a lot of time online so it is all very new to them. I have 15 children who have turned in the required permission form and now have website privileges. I've found that the children who have parents willing to assist them with logging in and exploring the website the first few visits are the children who visit the site often.
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