How to Maintain Novelty in the Classroom [VIDEO]

Gallagher’s Top 10 Lists.

I started every class by reading something to my students. One day I was reading from a series of books called The Top 10 of Everything (e.g., the top ten biggest sharks; the top ten fastest roller coasters). My students were intrigued by the lists, so the next day, without giving them a heads-up, I started to post a daily Gallagher Top 10 List on a whiteboard in the back of my classroom. Students entering the classroom discovered listings like Top 10 Los Angeles Lakers® of All Time or Top 10 Best Halloween Candy. Sometimes I created a list they knew nothing about (Top 10 Steely Dan® Songs). Before I knew it, the first thing students looked for when they entered the class was the daily list. It became a thing— so much so that I morphed it into an assignment: Each student had to select one day in which they would come in before school and post a top ten list. Here is my favorite student posting:

My Top 10 Numbers Between 1–10

1. 4
2. 7
3. 5
4. 3
5. 9
6. 1
7. 2
8. 6
9. 10
10. 8

The Crappy Prize Box

I bought a cheesy plastic treasure chest that came with a lid, and I filled it up with the cheesiest, crappiest prizes I could find (the local Dollar Tree® store was a rich source). I also dropped some good prizes into the box, like gift certificates to In-Nout Burger® (if you know you know) or to one of the local coffee joints.

Here is how the crappy prize box worked: If a student said or did something remarkable, I would exclaim, “Congrats! You have just earned a trip to the crappy prize box!” The student would then walk to the front of the class, where I would open the box and place one prize in each hand—one crappy and one good. But here is the fun part: Because I held my hands behind the upraised lid of the box, the student could not tell which of my hands held the crappy prize and which of my hands held the good prize. They had to blindly select one of them, and whatever prize they picked, they had to walk out of the classroom with it. My class would laugh when a student unwittingly picked SpongeBob SquarePants® kiddie swimming goggles (or a rubber duck bath toy, or an unripe banana—sorry, Timmy T.). The students never knew when the crappy prize box would come into play, as I only did it—unannounced—once a month or so.

Our brains are novelty seekers.