competition makes everything better

if there was a contest to find the least competitive person in the world, i would do anything to win...

it's going to be hard for me to keep this post short.

i spent a great deal of time over Christmas Break thinking about how i can improve as a teacher.  the night before school started up again, Jon Gregg gave me a suggestion that trumped everything else i had thought up.  i am starting the section on Greece, and he mentioned that his mother (a teacher in MN) breaks her classes up into competing city-states.

i loved the idea.  it's perfect to learn about Greece, and it fits into my belief that competition improves quality.  so, i put together a point system, and divided each of my seventh grade sections into four teams.  twelve total, and each team has its own name: Corinth, Ilion, Thebes, etc.

basically, teams get five free points per day.  there's a few ways they can lose points, and a few ways they can gain extra points.  negative points for late/missing homework, forgetting class materials, using a bathroom pass...positive points for the team with the best quiz average, the winner of the speed-drawing contest, and so on.  one special trick is that i don't just give two points to the team with the best average, i take away a point from the team with the lowest average.  there's motivation to be first AND to not be last.  i add up the points each weekend, and the winning team in the section gets special privileges throughout the week.  at the end of the quarter, the one team with the most points will get a bigger reward (to be decided).  i even made a big poster to put on the wall to keep track of the points.

each team has 6 students.  i spend a long time making each team balanced in every possible category (not just GPA and gender, but also competitiveness and leadership, and so on).

think about the effects this system might have.  any predictions?

first of all, it adds a self-policing element to doing homework.  if one of the team members doesn't have their notes, he or she gets yelled at by the other teammates.  some kids who aren't motivated by grades are certainly motivated by peers.

it makes the class more interesting for those who aren't interested in history.  they can get into the competition and learn Greek history almost by accident.

it allows a consistent small-group aspect to the classroom.  whereas some students might not feel comfortable speaking up and taking charge in front of everyone, those same students can start talking in their own group and gain confidence there.

i was having trouble with my restroom pass policy towards the end of last semester.  i had a two passes per class rule, and some sections were maxing out daily.  this semester? i've given maybe two passes in two weeks.

any negative effects you can imagine?

none? think harder.

well, for starters, i did have one 7th-grade boy start crying after forgetting his homework.  i glossed over the situation nicely though, and he hasn't missed an assignment since.

the downside of competition?  well.  it took them over two weeks, but i finally had one student start trying to give incorrect information to a classmate on a different team.  he was doing it to show everyone how clever he was, not to actually mislead them, thankfully.

and, going back to my last post, you can't really blame him for arriving at that conclusion.  in fact, i was rather proud.  you form your strategy based on the rules of the game.  thinking outside the box (e.g. bringing the other team down in addition to your own team up) is how you gain an advantage.

i need to come up with a rule to discourage deception.  No. 9?