On education and quiz bowl--

Yesterday, my quiz bowl team hosted 8 other schools in the state for a round-robin tournament, at which we had 14 teams. Academic and current events questions were asked in ten minute rounds. This sort of competition relies heavily on quick recall of subject-matter information and on collaborative skills. My students are great kids, but they are not really good at the quick recall part of things. 

This is not their fault at all. Education depends on building schema, and we tend to focus more on the metacognition these days: why are we doing this, how are we doing this, and then, what do we do with the information? This is the process for solid learning. That said, we rarely expect rapid-fire recall, unlike how I went through school. We used to have the spelling bee, the mad-minute math, etc. You either knew your stuff or not. That is the general format of quiz bowl, just like Jeopardy and a host of other quiz shows. If you have been watching those quiz shows, it seems like the questions are getting a little easier. This is probably due to the fact that we don't require rote answering in schools. That said, we tend to lionize those who can, in fact, spit facts like automatons. It's a really weird situation, to be sure. I have smart students, but they are not machines. 

One of the skills we can work on is close listening skills. Oftentimes, there is a hint embedded in the question asked. Or there is a specific piece of information asked for: author, not title, for example. Or setting of a novel, not characters. This is extremely helpful as a skill when it comes to some of the math or the science computation questions. The information is presented verbally, so the players must listen and transcribe quickly, and then solve the equation in a slow count of five seconds. 

This asks the players to employ active listening skills, inductive and deductive reasoning skills, some collaboration skills (when a question is incorrectly answered, the other team can discuss it), and yes, the quick recall of facts and information. They must be able to assess what is asked and respond quickly--this is a real-life skill, too. 

We have team tee shirts this year which, jokingly, have the phrase "Wait...it'll come to me!" on the front. The conundrum is, we can't wait.

All in all, it has been a lot of fun this year with my quirky quiz-bowlers. I've been coaching this club for about 34 years. My current principal is a team alum who has fond memories of our goofy road trips. He is a huge supporter, and has vowed to get me what we need to be even more competitive, and to get us to more tournaments. I think the kids will appreciate it. Now, I just have to get them to be a little more confident and a whole lot quicker on the buzzer. 

Challenge accepted.

C