Are you looking for ways to motivate your students to learn vocabulary? Friendly competition and pizza could be the answer you’re looking for! For students at Alan B. Shephard High School in Palos Heights, Illinois it was a driving factor. They competed in their first annual “March Membean Madness” contest to win a class pizza party.

The school-wide vocabulary contest allowed all English classes enrolled with Membean to compete. The winner would be the class with the highest average minutes trained. The potential to earn pizza – and the option to make up missed minutes – motivated many students.

Nicole Sonne’s 10th grade classes especially benefited from the competition. “After the first time one of my classes won, my other class periods were then motivated to beat them and win their own pizza party. By the end, students were going for the glory! It really worked out for me because we won all three times—each time with a different class period!”

The Power of Pizza
Before the contest, students felt that 45-60 minutes of training on Membean was too much. Yet, during the competition, one student trained more than 350 minutes to make sure his class won. Students not only reached their training goals, but even improved their assessment scores. “Clearly, it’s increased our kids’ motivation” remarked teacher Jeff Vazzana.

Tangible Results
Tony Corsi, the district English and LRC Curriculum Director, recognized the students’ advancements. Tony explained,

Illinois is using the SAT for state testing, and we’re hearing from the kids already that they feel that Membean helped prepare them for the test.

Students recognized several words on their SAT tests from their Membean training. They felt confident that they knew the meaning of these words thanks to Membean.

The next time your students need a little motivation on Membean, try a friendly contest. Do something fun that encourages students to learn beyond what’s required. As Nicole said, “That’s the most important part—that they are trying; they are putting in the time to increase their vocabularies which in turn enriches their reading and writing skills.”

Want more ideas to propel your vocabulary training to the next level? Follow our blog for more success stories, or Contact us to get started on Membean today.