Tiling Competition

As we tiled and tiled and tiled, my students in the other two classes grew restless. I could understand – we were at that point of the project when the daily work seems endless, one day blurs into another, the process is the same even if the tile square is not. We had one day each week when we did something different: viewing slides of murals and mosaics in different parts of the world; reading about murals, mosaics, artists; drawing borders for certificates for our donors; even viewing slides of my travels, when we talked about art and architecture and murals I had seen.

But I decided a little competition would spice up the last month or two of tiling. I talked to Mr. Principal, who agreed that we could hold a competition, that the school could provide pizza for the winners, and then he said “But everyone will win, right?” I said that students would be competing both for time and quality, so that I thought one class would average better quality, while the other class would “probably” take fewer days on the average. He laughed and said that was the way to encourage students – everyone is a winner!

So I set up a spreadsheet rubric, where I could track each student in my two morning classes. I would write in the day they began a new mural square; I would then write in the day their square was completed, and calculate how many days they worked on this square. Then I’d grade the square, based on accuracy, technique, quality of work, etc. At the end, I would average days per square for a class average, as well as average the grading of the quality of the mural square.

Students worked with renew vigor and interest. Okay, MOST students were rejuvenated and motivated by the competition. Most students only took two or three days to complete a square. Students worked hard to produce their best squares, and I graded them.

Other students – middle school is a talkative age. A social age. A few students spent most of their time talking. (My jaw would get tired if I talked that much.) No matter what I said or did, they’d talk nonstop. Other students would shake their heads and tell the talking students to work – to no avail. The students would continue to talk, despite saying how much fun this competition was. And take 14 workdays to complete one square. So that number would be averaged in. And, well, both classes had students who took forever. They are well-matched that way. The second class, however, had two perfectionists, who would cut a tile to fit, not be satisfied, remove the tile, cut a new tile – and take as long as my talkers. Time and quality, I’m grading for time and quality – and I think the perfectionists, despite their slowness, produce better quality.

Finally, all the squares are in. One class averaged 5.3 days per square, the other class averaged 6.95 days. However, the slightly slower class averaged a grade of 94.17, while the slightly faster class averaged 94.05.

So yes, both classes win - one for speed, the other for quality.

Isn't it nice when things work out like that?