FACS Knowledge Bowl: Motivating Students

This week's entry is from Tricia DiGioia-Laird, State Adviser, New Jersey.

My members gravitate to competitions.  I think of the sports journalist who anchored ABC’s Wide World of Sports.  During the introduction to the program, Jim McCay would say the following:

"Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport… the thrill of victory… and the agony of defeat… the human drama of athletic competition… This is ABC's Wide World of Sports!”

I think competition is also part of the “wide world of FCCLA”; the excitement of competition motivates students to reach beyond what they thought was possible and achieve the impossible.  My students achieve what we thought was the impossible and became the 2010 National Knowledge Bowl Champions. 

Knowledge Bowl is part of the constant variety of competitive opportunities in FCCLA.  If your students like game shows and enjoy facts, then this is the competition for them.  My students think they are “in it to win it” but I want them involved because it stimulates learning and teamwork.  Knowledge Bowl motivates students to become “experts” in the diverse areas of Family and Consumer Sciences.  They see the scope and sequence of the subject matter and develop respect for the discipline.  One of the students commented to me, “FCS teachers need to know so much about so much.”   The team members also tell me that the information they are learning is extremely relevant to all aspects of their life.

Knowledge Bowl team members need to be willing to knuckle down and study the material.  Reading and research are important in preparing for the competition.  Members need to be quick at the buzzer and tenacious.  Most importantly, they must be will to blow off the “agony of defeat” when they miss a question and keep their head in the game.   The competition is fast paced and exciting.   

This year I have another Knowledge Bowl team who is excited about this competitive opportunity.  We traveled to St. Louis, Missouri, to participate.  They are all excited that they made it through the third level of competition.  They all plan to move on and face their fellow competitors in Anaheim, California.