I have a quick teacher tip for you that is a fun way to keep students engaged in a whole/small group activity – Teacher vs. Students! Groups ask to play this daily, making any activity much more fun. Spoiler Alert: the teacher never wins, and that’s how the kids like it!
This activity is as low prep as ever – all it takes is a post-it note and some tally marks. Here are some ways that I use it with my groups
NO-PREP SETUP
The Teacher vs. Students game is a great option for teachers who are looking for a no-prep activity that can be easily adapted to any lesson. You won’t need much prep time for this game—grab a post-it note and a pen to keep track of the scores with some tally marks. It is really that simple!
Here are some ways that I incorporate this game into my group activities to increase student engagement.
THE RULES
- If the student gets the correct answer – they get 1 point
- If the student gets it wrong – the teacher gets 1 point (sometimes 2 or 10)
Everyone will say “That’s not fair” when you announce that you get 2 or more points, but they will soon find out that you never win!
PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS WARM-UP:
Teacher vs Student is a great way to get your students’ brains warmed up and ready to learn. We always start with 1-minute activities from David Kilpatrick’s Equipped for Reading Success.
I’m always generous with the points, especially if the skill is new or the target for our intervention. Sometimes I will dramatically move my hand very slowly to the post-it note giving them time to say their answer.
WORD READING CHALLENGES
Same concept as #1 – if they get the word right, they get the point, and if they don’t, I get it. Depending on the student, I often offer a hint or give them another chance to read the word. I’m sure you are beginning to see why I never win, but that’s ok because the smiles on their faces when they get the point and I don’t are worth it!
We also use this with letter sounds and tricky words.
ENCOURAGING SELF-MONITORING
I’m sure we have all encountered a reader who just blows through the text and butchers sentences without stopping if something doesn’t sound right or makes sense. For this use of Teacher vs. Student, each student in the reading group gets their own scorecard. When I take turns listening to them read, I give them a point if they stop when something doesn’t make sense and another point if they use a strategy to decode the word. If I have to prevent them from saying they skipped a comment/missed a word/misread it, I get the point. The score is often much closer when we play this way, but it is an excellent way for kids to slow down and think about what they are reading.
GAME OVER
When the game ends, the students are always happy with the win; sometimes, that is enough! Other times I let them get an extra sticker or let one of the students take the scorecard home. Once in a while, I rip it up into hundreds of tiny pieces and throw it in the trash, declaring that we will never play this silly game again because I never win!
Thank you so much for reading about how you can help engage and motivate your students with this simple game. Can you think of another way to use this game? Let me know in the comments!
OTHER IDEAS?
Do you have any other ideas for how to use the Teacher vs. Students game? Share them in the comments below!
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