Starter/ Plenary - Pass The Buck!

This is an excellent starter activity that adds pace and competition to a lesson. It’s also excellent for whole class involvement and differentiation. Its very simple and can be carried out in two main ways. One way to play pass the buck is to split the class down the middle into two teams. Then, give 1 student a blank sheet of paper. The teacher then tells the class that they want them to write down one thing about the topic on the piece of paper, and then pass it to the next person in the team. The next person then has to write something else about the topic. The further this gets round the room, the harder it gets, forcing the students to think.Another way of doing this is to ask the students to simply write one thing about the topic on the paper, then fold over what they have written and then pass it to the next person to write something else. I tell the teams that the group with the most different issues considered wins. This is less taxing than the previous method but the kids like hearing what the other students have written at the end and it is also less threatening for those who have the ‘buck passed last’.An engaging activity that takes no preparation