Poetic Literary Jeopardy

In this jeopardy-inspired activity, students work together in groups to answer questions related to poetic and literary elements. The group with the most ‘money’ at the end wins.

In the weeks leading up to this class, students learn and study literary and poetic elements that will be part of their fundamental ‘toolbox’ for the rest of the course.

At the beginning of the jeopardy class, students form their own groups at a table with a smart board. Group size depends on class size and number of smart boards available. Instructor brings up the jeopardy game rubric screen (with categories and dollar values) on their smart board at the front of the class and projects this screen to all smartboards. One group is chosen to start the game. This group picks a category and dollar value. At this point, all groups use their smartboard computer to try to answer the question. Answers are timed, and this depends on the difficulty of the question (e.g., 30 seconds for a definition, 2-3 minutes for –identify and interpret” or similar categories). Once time is up, the teacher stops projecting their home screen and students responses show up. The class together discusses right and wrong answers.

This process continues until either students have picked all the categories/dollar values or the class ends. The last round can be Final Jeopardy (‘all or nothing’) – the instructor chooses a category and students decide how much of their prize money they would like to wager before trying to answer the question.

For students to consolidate the literary elements and devices they have been learning and to apply them to a variety of contexts.