Handout for Snowball TGT Placemat

Instructional Tactics

Teams Games Tournament Preparation

• Compile a series of questions and answers on a topic to be revised (c 24-40).
• Divide questions and answers into 4 sets and label them hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs.
• Each team will need their own copy of the questions and answers.
• Teams need 2 sheets of paper and 2 pens to record scores.
• Give a deck of cards to each team. If there are 6 questions per round, have students sort the cards – keep ace to six of each suit. (If 7,8,9,10 questions add the relevant cards.) The Jack and Queen can be added for variation.
• Divide your class into groups/teams of 4 (if there’s an odd number have some groups of 3). In a group of 3 the teacher should select the student to work alone – a student with a strong grasp of the subject.

Playing the Game

• Teams in groups. Ask 2 students from each team to go to another table (or where there are 3 students, the teacher selects the student to move).
• Tell students they have 15 minutes to ask and answer as many questions as possible.
• One pair of students has the question sheets. The second pair has the answer sheets.
• The pair with the question sheets draw the top card from the deck. They try to answer the question for the card they have drawn – eg ace of clubs = question 1 on the clubs question sheet.
• They give their answer and the opposing pair say whether it is right or wrong. If correct the mark is recorded.
• Should a queen be drawn, the players pick the next card and stand to win double marks. If they are lucky enough to draw a second queen they quadruple the marks and so on! If a Jack is drawn then you miss a turn.
• Then the pairs swop question and answer sheets and draw again.
• The aim is to ask and answer as many questions as possible within the time allowed.
• When the teacher indicated that time is up the students thank the others at their table and then return to their original group, carrying with them the points they have earned.
• Once back to the home table the scores of the 2 pairs are added.
• The winning team is the team that scored the highest mark.
• A prize might be in order.

Snowball

Each student is asked to write their answer to a question on a sheet of paper. After a short period of time (teacher decides depending on difficulty of task) each student rolls up their piece of paper into a ball and places it into the bin. When all “snowballs” have been added, the bin is passed around for the students to take a snowball, they then have to correct the information on the sheet and add to it if possible. Keep repeating until the question is correct.
This technique can be useful for recalling information, example: formulae, lines of a poem/play, sequence of events etc.

Placemat

Placemat requires using a large sheet of paper, preferably A2, divide the sheet into sections as shown in the images below.

The placemat is placed in the centre of the workspace. The outside sections are for individual work, these can be labelled a, b, c, etc and roles can be assigned accordingly. Students will have an individual task to complete, such as trying to complete a problem or brainstorming. The placemat has an advantage over think-pair-share because individual accountability can be seen from the level of work in each student’s section of the placemat. Once the time set for individual work has elapsed, students share their work by using round robin, starting at a person (letter) allocated by the teacher. Students take alternate turns sharing and listening. Then students must use their combined efforts to agree on a solution to the problem, or the most common points from the brainstorm, etc, which are then written in the centre of the placemat.