A FOUR-DAY VIRTUAL EVENT · OCTOBER 15 TO 18
Four days of engagement strategies from teachers who actually teach middle school. How to grab attention and how to keep it. Watch the sessions, vote for your Victor, and enter to win the grand prize basket.
Day 1 · Oct 15
Opening Ceremonies
Day 2 · Oct 16
Voting continues
Day 3 · Oct 17
Voting continues
Day 4 · Oct 18
Closing Ceremonies + Victor
FROM THE GAMES HOST
Six quick sessions, released across the four days.
Each runs about 15 minutes and gives you something to try in your classroom this week. New ones drop each morning, so check back daily.
Ceremony
Welcome to the arena. How the Games work, how voting works, and how to get the most out of the next four days.
Watch nowSession · 15 min
Costumes, props, and themed lessons that get students leaning in before you say a word.
Watch nowSession · 15 min
Active note-taking that works as a thinking scaffold, not decoration. Built around the Grammar Doodle Notes.
Watch nowSession · 15 min
Review games for grammar, vocabulary, and reading that keep the whole room in it.
Watch nowSession · 15 min
Warm-ups and Daily Language Review that get every student talking in the first five minutes.
Watch nowSession · 15 min
Turn ordinary tasks into challenges, mysteries, and missions students want to finish.
Watch nowSession · 15 min
Student choice that keeps the standards in focus and the room under control.
Watch nowCeremony
The votes are in. Meet this year's Victor and find out who won the grand prize basket.
Watch nowIn the Arena
Every tribute session is open all four days. Watch them in any order and vote for every tribute you'd steal from, once per tribute, every day. Each vote is also an entry in the giveaway.
TRIBUTE 01
Natayle Brown
Students groan at the packet but beg for the escape room, even though the questions are exactly the same. See how to turn a short story assessment into a low-prep, paper-and-pencil escape room.
Watch + voteTRIBUTE 02
Jen Zarlino
Move students past “Yeah, I agree” with a discussion routine that takes them from first observations, to building on each other’s thinking, to exploring bigger ideas.
Watch + voteTRIBUTE 03
Allison McManus
Two quick, low-prep routines for teaching new vocabulary while reinforcing the decoding skills students need for tough multisyllabic words.
Watch + voteTRIBUTE 04
Melissa Burch
A timed, role-based peer feedback protocol that works with any genre. Students rotate through Detective, Coach, and Fan roles to practice three kinds of useful feedback.
Watch + voteTRIBUTE 05
Missy Davis
A no-prep lesson that uses the kid-friendly podcast Whose Amazing Life to get every student listening, guessing, and talking about craft, with no decoding barrier.
Watch + voteTRIBUTE 06
Laura Kebart
A no-prep, fast-paced activity where students hunt through books for real lines that fit funny prompts, then share, vote, and laugh their way into new texts.
Watch + voteTRIBUTE 07
Amanda Zieba
Students study a hand of visual clues, bet Confidence Chips on their predictions, then hunt for evidence as they read and decide whether to HOLD, FOLD, or RAISE.
Watch + voteLive from the Arena
Standings update live as votes come in.
Arena Pass Holders
The Index tells you what to do. The Emergency Kit tells you which problem you're actually solving. Together they're a system, not a stack of PDFs.
Bonus 1
100 engagement strategies for middle school ELA, tagged so you can find the right one in 20 seconds. Filter by prep time, runtime, materials, volume, grouping, and whether it works with the text you're already teaching.
Open the IndexBonus 2
A one-page diagnostic for the days a lesson comes apart, plus the exact words to say when it does. Print page two, laminate it, and tape it inside a cabinet door.
Download the KitIncluded with your pass
Turn the time you spent in the arena into professional development hours. Watch the sessions, then grab your certificate to turn in to your school.
Claim my certificateOn every tribute page
One page of key takeaways for each tribute session, with plenty of room for your own notes. Download each one from that tribute's session page, right under the video.
The Engagement Games
One basket, packed for the teacher who wins it. Here's what's inside:
How to stack up entries
Winner announced at Closing Ceremonies on October 18.
Get started today before this once in a lifetime opportunity expires.
