Is your school off for a couple days in observance of Thanksgiving? Consider creating a challenge or competition for students to engage in over the holiday break to keep them academically engaged!
Here's How:
1. Start by identifying (and ranking) 2 - 3 low performing standards where students would benefit from additional review or practice. Standards could include those from previous grade levels or current academic year. Review most recent formative assessment results.
2. After identifying up to 3 of the lowest performing standards, log into Penda Learning to browse/search for Penda activities. Search by standard, concept, or topic.
3. Click on an activity icon or activity name to open and preview a specific Penda activity.
4. To assign a Penda activity as part of the challenge/competition, tick the checkbox located to the left of the activity icon, then click "Assign Work" found at the top left corner of the search results page.
5. The Set Assignment wizard will open. Click "Next >" found in the bottom right corner of the window to proceed to step #2 (Name).
6. On screen #2 of 5, type a unique "Task Name" in the text box. Since the "Task Name" is visible to students on their My Assignments screen, it can be used to call student's attention to those Penda activities that are part of the challenge/competition. Suggestions include "Thanksgiving Break Challenge" or "Turkey Competition." Once a unique task name has been entered, click "Next >" in the bottom right corner of the window to proceed through the remaining 3 steps.
7. Once you have successfully assigned Penda activities to students, give consideration to the following:
How will the challenge/competition be measured?
- Number of activity attempts
- Best score
- Total number of Penda activities mastered (green)
-Student leaderboard points (calculate: student points per leaderboard after holiday break - student points per leaderboard before holiday break = student points earned during holiday break)
How many students will be recognized at the end of the challenge/competition?
- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place per class period
- Top 5 students per class period
- Top 10 students per grade-level
What incentive(s) will be offered as part of the challenge/competition?
- Free homework pass
- Voucher for extra 10 points on a quiz
- "Skip to the front of the line" pass
- $10.00 Amazon or iTune gift card sponsored by school PTA
- Free McDonalds ice cream voucher
- Pizza party
8. With the above items identified, advertise and announce the challenge/competition to students. Kick-off the challenge on the last day of school before the holiday break begins!
