Movement, Engagement, and Competitiveness All in One

Ever heard of being in the hot seat? Do you remember what that felt like to you? Can you picture what that would feel like to your students? When I think of being in the “hot seat” I feel a sense of urgency, a sense of wanting to be correct, and a sense of beating out others to be first. The hot seat game brings out those feelings but in a healthy competitive nature and includes movement as well as collaboration with formative assessment sprinkled in.

Before I get into the details of the game itself, lets discuss the ways in which this can be used. I have used this game as an engaging review activity that encourages all students to participate. It serves well as a prior knowledge check to determine a good entry point for your class. It also is a great practice with new material since it is easy to formatively assess students’ level of understanding and immediately address common misconceptions you see.

The game is very low maintenance in preparation and supplies. You can choose a set of problems to display in advance or take a worksheet you planned to use and turn it into hot seat.

What you will need for the game:

A set of problems that are leveled or can be scaffolded up in difficulty

White boards (sheet protectors) or paper

Dry erase markers

Smartboard/whiteboard for you to display or write the problems

How to play: Students should be grouped into three or four. Each group becomes a column facing the board. Each student should have their own white board and marker and is responsible to answer every question. The student in the front row is in the “hot seat” since they can earn the most points for their team but every student can earn points as well. The number of points the hot seat can earn is the number of students on the team. I time each question for a minute or two and all students are expected to work during this time. When time is up the “hot seat” students show me their board. If correct they earn those points, if incorrect the next row shows their boards and they earn the points and so on. After each question the students rotate backwards and the last student moves to the front.

This game allows me to see every students’ answer, all misconceptions and errors, and a quick percentage of overall class understanding. I then decide to go over the problem addressing the errors or move on to the next question. What a great way to formatively assess your class and students understanding with the material. Not only did the hot seat give me opportunities to immediately intervene, it allowed me to extend thinking and learning for my students as well. I prepared problems in level groups of difficulty and would scaffold up to the more intensive set. I could intervene with individual students and groups as well as provide challenges to the whole class. Instead of doing a worksheet, why not give your students the opportunity to work together as a team and showcase their knowledge. I always loved watching my students encourage one another, give each other hints to solving, share references and resources with each other, and work towards a goal.

There are also several variations you can put on this game to fit your classroom culture. Setting a class goal of points is a way to build whole group collaboration and competitiveness without singling out groups of students. I have also allowed team huddles in between problems or when a new concept is about to begin. This encourages students to talk mathematically about problems and concepts, share their ideas and thinking, and discuss their problem-solving approaches. Another variation is to give points for every correct answer in the team just decreasing in value the further they are from the “hot seat” which validates every students contribution to the team.

I hope this game inspires you to try it out in your classroom and put your own spin on it. I love hearing how it was used and successes/failures you have had with it.