Team Challenge – Task 1: on-going competition at the start of
a lesson
2pts for each correctly answered general knowledge question
• Blue Team:
• Yellow Team:
• Red Team:
• Green Team:
Using Competition to Improve Learning
• Task 2: (5 pts) In your teams, decide what you
think the answer to the question below is and
write it on your white board:
• Question: I asked 15 students if competition
was used in their other lessons. How many of
those 15 do you think answered ‘yes’ to this
question?
Answer: 5
Why don’t more people use competition in the
classroom?
• Task 3: (5 points) In your teams, write down one
thing you think the staff felt made them reluctant
to use competition more regularly:
‘Takes a lot of time to organise to
make it work well’
‘Students don’t necessarily take it
seriously’
‘students may end up working to
win rather than putting effort in all
of the time’
‘providing prizes can be expensive’
‘competition can become
demotivating to those who don’t
win but put their effort it’
‘Competition can be difficult to
incorporate into some subjects (e.g.
lit)’
With what frequency are people already using
competition?
•
•
•
•
•
‘off the cuff’
‘once a week’
‘at the end of the lesson’
‘as a starter’
‘only for fun’
* Two exceptions: Maths and P.E
Competition: The Pitfalls:
According to research by John Shindler
(‘Transformative Classroom
management’ 2009), there are more
consequences than benefits to using
competition in the classroom.
Shindler’s findings seems to match the staff
members’ concerns about competition:
• ‘A shift from the process to the product’
• ‘Weakens intrinsic motivation’
• ‘Heightens anxiety or threat’
[in groups]
• ‘Shifts emphasis from quality relationships to effective
ones’
• ‘Decreases ability to think reflectively or divergently’
• ‘Accentuates effects of existing social hierarchy & ability
levels’
• ‘Only the bond among the winning group is increased’
Challenging Shindler: My Project Aims
• To raise achievement in Lang/Lit classes.
• To improve ethos and motivation in Lang/lit
classes.
• To make competition into an integral part of the
course instead of it being relegated to the end of
term or brief parts of the lesson.
Making competition integral: The Team Challenge Model
• I’ve summarised the key aspects of the ‘Team Challenge’ model on the handout
provided (see handout 1), so please read it at your leisure. Some aspects are
absolutely key to addressing some of those issues people felt competition raised:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Competition time is kept short and teams are mixed up and refreshed at the
end of each half term; the teams must be changed REGULARLY.
Teams must be mixed ability and mixed gender.
Score up-dates must be given REGULARLY & score boards are clearly visible in
the classroom.
1st place and 2nd place should be rewarded at the end of the competition block.
The focus of each activity should be specific to exam/coursework skills – NEVER
‘just for fun’ – think outside of the box to make what seems ‘mundane’
competitive.
Team work during a task should be evaluated, meaning teams cannot just win
on final product; teams are evaluated and marked on team work & quality of
discussion.
It must be pointed out on the score update slide when a team member has not
handed in a piece of work which should have contributed to the team score (see
handout 2).
Ensure you set a mixture of individual, paired and whole team Team Challenge
tasks so that weaker students cannot hide behind the group.
Ensure scoring is absolutely fair and not at all arbitrary: explain your scores.
Team Challenge: task 4 ( 2pts per correct answer)
The class were asked to rank the top 4 benefits they felt Team Challenge gave
them. What do you think the top 4 were from the following list? Decide as a team
and write your answers on your white board:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Learning terminology
Building confidence
Developing relationships with other students
Meeting deadlines
Encouraging to do extra work
Essay writing/ improving essay structure
Increasing motivation
Increasing effort
Generating ideas
Improving analysis
Improving presentation skills
Finding quotations to support ideas
Learning how to express ideas about a text
Answer: according to the students, the top 4
learning benefits of team Challenge are:
1) Learning terminology: 9
2) Building & developing relationships: 7
3) Increasing Motivation: 6
(4) Improving analytical skills: 5
Improving ability to meet deadlines: 5
Making the ‘Ordinary’ Competitive in a way that doesn’t detract from
quality: analytical paragraphs & symbols (see handout 3)
• Team Challenge: task 5: as a group, write an analytical paragraph
explaining what you believe the symbol of ‘ the jail under the
house’ might represent in the extract from ‘All My Sons’. Time: 15
mins.
Background: The play is a tragedy. The play is set in 1940s post-war
America. Joe Keller is a successful business man whose business has
done extremely well due to the war, during which he manufactured
aircraft engines. During the war, Keller and his partner, Steve, went to
court for supplying cracked cylinder heads which resulted in pilots
being killed. Keller got away without a conviction, but Steve was sent
to prison. It is revealed that Joe pretended to be sick on the day the
cylinders were sent out of the factory and denied a phone call he
made to Steve giving him permission to ‘cover over the cracks’ and
send the cylinders out. Steve goes to jail. Joe goes free.
Making the mundane competitive in Literature:
‘The John Clare Optional Essay Competition’: competition
doesn’t have to be anything creative or ‘fun’ –
This was a cross-class competition: 3 classes competed against
one another to produce optional practice essays for Section
B of their summer exam for two prizes:
1. The class which, collectively, gave in the most would be
treated to a cake lesson.
2. The individual in each class who gave in the most essays
would get a prize.
The winning class gave in 29 practice essays before study leave
started. The winning individual in the organge group gave
in 8 practice essays.
Team Challenge Success Stories
Student Type
Before Team Challenge was Launched
After Team Challenge had Run for 2
Terms
The ‘CynicalRebel’
o Morose & depressive
o Doodled & took no notes
o Missed all deadlines
o Started sending me essays
oAsked how many points ahead the
leaders were every lesson
o Asked about how he could improve his
work
o Went from a U to a C
The ‘Deadline
Evader’
o Did work in class and enthusiastically
answered questions, but didn’t hand in
homework tasks
o Started to hand in pieces
o Excelled at the terminology tests
o Went from an E to a C
The ‘I Really
Don’t Think I’m
All That – so
I’m Gonna
Hide’
o Never volunteered answers in
discussions & didn’t ask if unsure of
anything
o Missed deadlines
o Started to ask people what the terms
were so she could answer the ‘on the
spot’ questions
o Started giving in essays on time and
achieved B grades for this
The Lads
o Difficult to motivate fully
o Reluctant to be heard or to offer ideas
o Reluctant to take notes
o Caught the competition bug
oRevealed themselves to be great
leaders
o Improved focus & output
o Improved quality of their work: they
actively sought advice on improving
The students’ responses to Team Challenge:
Activities Bank
• The following slides contain examples of other
Team Challenge activities I used that might
interest you. You will also find examples in
your hand out of terminology test layouts I
used.
‘Othello’ – Act 2 Scene 1: the arrival at Cyprus
• In terms of Shakespeare’s use of dramatic techniques,
the change of setting from Venice to Cyprus is symbolic.
• In terms of Elizabethan stage craft, we have to remember
that Shakespeare had no lighting, no sound and no
scenery to produce the impression of a storm. He only
had the power of language to create mood and
atmosphere.
• Team Challenge
• In your teams, you have 20 minutes to rehearse the
opening of Act 2 Scene 1 in order to ‘bring the scene to
life’. 10 bonus points will go to the team who best
captures the mood and atmosphere of the scene.
Act 3 Scenes 2 into 3 – ‘Reading
Through’ Quiz (Team Challenge)
• As we read through Act 3 scenes 2 & 3, I will
ask you questions. The first person to answer
correctly will be thrown a Starburst sweet.
Each Starburst is worth 2 pts for your team.
The total Starburst count for each team will be
added up at the end of the read through to
give you a team score (so do not eat them
until then!!)
Quiz Questions: p111
Q1. P 111 L 38-39: why is it ironic that Iago says he’ll ‘devise a mean to draw the Moor/ Out of
the way, that your converse and business/ May be more free’?
Q2. P 111 L40-41: What technique is used by Shakespeare when Cassio says of Iago: ‘I never
knew a Florentine more kind and honest’?
Q3. P 111 L45 – what does the adverb ‘stoutly’ indicate about Desdemona’s efforts on Cassio’s
behalf when Emilia says that ‘she speaks for you stoutly’?
Quiz Questions: p113
Q4. P113: Give 2 reasons why a director should NOT cut Act 3 Scene 2 from the action of the
play. Make reference to theme and plot.
Q5.P113 Identify a simile Emilia uses which shows the extent to which Iago has gone to
present himself as loyal to Cassio.
Q6. p113 Identify a declarative which demonstrates Desdemona’s willingness to help Cassio get
his job back and repair his relationship with Othello.
Quiz Questions: p115
Q7. p115 what is the significance of the adjective ‘politic’ in the noun phrase ‘politic distance’ –
L13
Q8. p115 Between lines 14-19, what is Cassio anxious about ?
Q9. p115 Identify one example of hyperbole Desdemona uses to reassure Cassio that she will
do everything she can to help him.
Q10. p115 Why does Shakespeare show the audience the conversation between Cassio and
Desdemona at all?
Q11. p 115 Identify one way in which Iago casts doubt upon Cassio and Desdemona the minute
he and Othello enter
Quiz Questions: p117
Q12. p117 Why does Desdemona use the noun ‘suitor’ to describe Cassio (line 42)?
Q13. p117 Identify a line in which Desdemona display sympathy for Cassio.
Q14 p117. What effect do the three interrogative sentences between lines 50 and 60 have?
How do they help to define Desdemona’s character?
Q15. Identify an imperative Desdemona uses when talking to Othello about Cassio. Again,
what does this show about her character?
Quiz Questions: p119
Q 16. p119. What does Desdemona remind Othello of in lines 70 – 74 to make him feel guilty
about his treatment of Cassio?
Q17. p119. Othello replies to Desdemona: ‘I will deny thee nothing’. What is this an example of
and what does it reveal about Othello’s relationship with Desdemona?
Q18. p119. Identify a simile (from L77 onwards) Desdemona uses in which she explains that
getting Othello to talk Cassio is not a special favour but something for his own good: a
necessity.
Q20. p119. Identify a declarative othello uses to express the extent to which he loves
Desdemona and what the fatal effects of losing her would be.