Creative competition lessens dependency on teachers

"May I throw this away?"

"Do we have homework?"

"May we use pen?"

As a classroom teacher, does this sound familiar? My five sections of eighth graders were draining me with the number of questions asked on a daily basis. No matter how clear my directives were, five minutes later, students were asking questions concerning what they should do next.

High Maintenance

During sixth period at the end of November, I counted 19 questions in nine minutes. I realized that I needed to change their behavior. I told my students the truth. They are one of my favorite groups of students whom I have taught during my 21 years of teaching. I love their personalities, their work ethic, their behavior, but I had one complaint. They were high maintenance. At that moment, I took the opportunity to define a high maintenance question.

High Maintenance Questions

I explained the three categories of high maintenance questions.

1. Non-listening type questions: "What do we do when we are done?"
2. Functioning-type questions: "Can we use pen?" "Can I use your stapler?"
3. Future-type questions: These are questions that I am eventually going to answer if you are patient. "Are we getting our tests back today?"

The Competition

After explaining to the class what high maintenance questions are, I had an idea. Sensing a fierce competitive nature in my eighth graders, I said, "Let's have a contest and see which class can ask the least number of high maintenance questions in 12 weeks. The class who wins the contest will get a two-day holiday from social studies class. We will watch a movie and have snacks." I was correct; my students were competitive, and they were eager to start the competition and win. The following day I explained the competition to my other four sections, and the next day the contest officially began.

For 12 weeks, I kept track of high maintenance questions by class periods on the chalkboard. Most of the time, I said nothing but turned around and made a mark under the appropriate class period. Within a few days of initiating the contest, the number of high maintenance questions dropped dramatically

Benefits of the Competition

Although my 8^th period class won the competition by having the least number of high maintenance marks, all classes made tremendous improvement in reducing the number of high maintenance questions. In addition, there were many other benefits of this competition such as increased listening skills and peer helpfulness.

Use of Peer Pressure, Listening Skills, and Peer Help

The positive use of peer pressure was incredible with this competition. Students thought before they asked a question because they did not want to be responsible for getting their class a high maintenance mark. As a result of peer pressure, listening skills were enhanced. I only had to give directions once. Besides the positive use of peer-pressure and increased listening skills, students relied on one another to answer questions. Early in the competition we established the rule, "Ask three before you ask me." With this rule, students could ask other students a question as long as it caused little disruption.

What I Learned

Not only did this high maintenance competition change my students' behavior, it also changed mine. It caused me to reflect on the directives that I give at the beginning of the year.

Tracy McCalla, Ed.D, taught middle level students for 21 years in the Neshannock School District in New Castle, Pa. She recently was promoted to junior high principal.