Need a quick, engaging idea to get your students writing? Have zombies attack the classroom and school, and allow the students to choose how they will survive!
To set the mood, I turned off the lights, played The Walking Dead theme song, and had my first PowerPoint slide displaying when they walked in.
I explained that they would be completing a writing assignment so that they were not surprised after the “fun” part. The first part of surviving a zombie attack is getting resources together. I gave them a list of seven items to choose from, and I told them that they can only take four. They had to decide as a group which four to take. This is where the team-building part comes into play.
After they picked their items, we went over each item, discussing the benefits and drawbacks of each, and why each group picked the four items. You can continue to narrow this down to three, two, and even one item.
After they agreed on their resources, they had to pick their weapon of choice to defend themselves in the zombie attack. You can either have the group decide on one weapon for the entire group, or have each person pick just one item. It’s always funny to see who gets stuck with the stick! 🙂
After they are well-equipped with survival necessities and a defense, they had to escape the school. The problem is that the nearest exit is locked, and everyone in the hallway had become a zombie. For this, I projected a map of the school, and they had to create an escape route. This is a neat opportunity to discuss the school building as well.
Finally, after they escaped the school and everyone lived (yay!), they had to complete their pre-assessment. You can choose one for everyone to respond to, or you can present a few options. You can see two options below:
You now have a piece of writing from students, and they had a chance to have some fun! Be aware that this lesson is SUPER engaging and therefore, the students will want to talk A LOT. Just set the expectation beforehand that they need to be quiet when people are presenting their choices.
To use this in your classroom, simply click on the pictures that you want, right-click, save the image, and add right into your presentation software.
Happy surviving!
okay… using this Tuesday. THANKS!
Awesome!! Let me know how it goes 😊
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