Interest Igniters - Awaken your classroom!
What are Interest Igniters?
In simplest terms, Interest Igniters are a motivational tool. They are quirky, light-hearted challenges the class plays as a unified classroom team to try to win a class incentive. The more students that give you the answer, thinking, or behaviors you are looking for, the better their chance to win! They are motivated and focused to help the team, which means they are motivated and focused on what you value! All interest igniters are designed to take little to no prep so they are incredibly easy to implement.​​​​​​​​​​​​​
​​Interest igniters consist of three pages:
Title Page: Shows the focus area and prep time/materials for each Igniter
Teacher Page: Lays out straightforward implementation steps for teacher use
Student Page: Designed to visually show the students the rules of the challenge in order to drum up excitement BEFORE they begin working. They are completely editable!
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How can I use Interest Igniters?
The possibilities are only limited by your imagination. Any teacher, in any subject, with any curriculum can use Interest Igniters to motivate kids to focus on academics or behaviors, or both (click here for ideas). You can use Interest Igniters for academic purposes - think along the lines of accurate completion of worksheet problems, diving into rigorous problems, internalizing a rubric, etc. You can also use them to modify behaviors such as turning in homework, not disrupting class, participating in class, or any behavior you want kids to focus on. The possibilities truly are endless. Our favorite use in our math classes is to get kids to work on a single rigorous problem they often are reluctant to try! We are routinely blown-away by the thinking that surfaces from students you would least expect :)​
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How does this differ from a typical classroom?
What is the optional Magic Window?
The Magic Window is 5-7 minutes of time where you have kids undivided attention and the classroom can transform into a mind-blowing learning environment! Utilize Bonus Points to really Power up the Impact. These are so great they deserves their own videos!
What are some ideas of class incentives?
You have complete flexibility to find an incentive that works for your students. We suggest:
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Free time (2-8 mins)- this is what we use 95% of the time because it's universally appreciated by students and it allows us to spend light-hearted time hanging out and building connections with our students.
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Homework Erasers - reduce homework if the class wins the incentive.
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Device time - if your school approves it, students could earn time on their phones, computers, etc.
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Points toward class incentive - if students conquer the interest igniter challenge for the day, they earn points that are accumulating for a larger reward.
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No assigned seats - students get to choose their seat the next day or week.
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Raffle small prizes - the better they do on the Interest Igniter, the more prizes (Jolly Ranchers, etc) you will raffle.
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