Hello Engagement!!

After seeing Rachel's post on Facebook, I decided to write a quick description of one of my all-time favorite activities that works well for any subject at any part of the day.

Whenever you feel like the kids need a break, you need to transition, or you just need a breather, it's time to bust out the quiz-quiz-trade cards!

Quiz-Quiz-Trade is a strategy that was created by Kagan Cooperative Learning. You can check out their website here. They have written several grade specific and content specific books with loads of ideas on how to use cooperative learning in the classroom- and LOTS of resources already made! They are AMAZING!!! Every strategy is created with engagement AND social skills in mind.

Here's how it works:

Every kid in the class gets a card. One one side of the card is a question of some sort. You can really make this in any form. I have used elaborate cards with typed up questions with answer choices and I have also used cards with just a single vocabulary word - the choice is yours. On the other side of the card is the answer the the question or the definition if you choose to go the vocabulary route.

On your call, students stand up and hold their hands in the air. They find a partner and high-five them. They greet their partner by saying "Hi, partner." Did I mention this a great way to incorporate social skills??! Give students a cue about which person will quiz first- longer hair, taller partner, etc.

The partner who goes first holds the question side of their card out to their partner. The partner reads the question (or whatever information is included on the card) out loud and answers the question. If they answer the question incorrectly, I tell my students they must tip before they tell the answer. They must use phrases like, "Good try, try again, " or, "that was a good try, try again." When the partner gets the answer correct, the partner asking the question provides a praise. We made a poster of "Ways to Praise" that lists different ideas the students can choose from to praise their partner. The next partner then repeats the process by holding up their card, tipping if needed, and praising after an answer is provided.

After both partners have quizzed each other (hence the "quiz-quiz" part of the title), they trade cards. They then high-five their partner again, tell them "Bye, partner," put their hand in the air and move to find a new partner, taking their new card with them and repeating the process over and over until the signal is given to stop.

I cannot tell you how amazing this strategy is. The kids are 100% engaged and they can go at it for several minutes at a time. It is PERFECT for those pesky transition periods where you need to pass out materials, take up papers, or just take a second to breathe! You can do this with any content. It is so versatile!

I wish I had more pictures to share- I will try to take some tomorrow and share more resources!