Today we wanted to get boys writing competitively. For them to go at writing in the same way they go at sport. With adrenaline and urgency.
We blended three sports challenges with three writing challenges. Sport, writing, sport, writing, sport, writing. The idea was to get the children fired up about the sporting challenge and ride that competitiveness into writing too.
Five schools sent a team of five boys each.
They were awarded points for success in three sporting activities. Indoor versions of rugby penalty kicking, baseball and basketball. This involved a ball and classroom objects like boxes and chairs. whatever we could find.
They were also award points for three writing challenges.
One, creating a villain based on someone they hate. They chose Luis Suarez, Simon Cowell and the teachers chose Michael Gove. They defined two actual things they didn't like about their villain. Then they added an extra crime. Such as being a murderer, kidnapper, etc.
Two, making a story using their villain as a starting point. They asked the following questions about their villain. Who is he? What did he do? Where? When? Why? How? This list of six points gave them a basic story.
Three, they wrote and performed an opening paragraph.
A panel of teachers gave the children points. A scoreboard was updated every round. The winners were presented with a trophy.
It worked well. The sport sessions got them on their feet, moving around. And they went at the writing sessions with real passion.
Thanks to Haworth Primary for hosting a great day.
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