Helping A Blooming Quiz Bowler

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tksaleija
Wakka
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Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2017 8:27 pm

Helping A Blooming Quiz Bowler

Post by tksaleija »

My brother is in 4th grade and has expressed an interest in trying out for his school's (Triumph Academy) quiz bowl team. I started reading him some questions from the MS section off of QuizDB (awesome resource from Raynor Kuang) but realized that I'm sure there's other people with more experience and resources for this. I'd love to take any of your suggestions. The more ideas, the more I can help him out, the better he'll be come next year :)
Aleija Rodriguez
University of Michigan 202x
MCMC/MCCC 2019
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dwd500
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Re: Helping A Blooming Quiz Bowler

Post by dwd500 »

That's a fine place to start. Just remember Rule #1 - It has to be fun.

That's fun in the sense that watching TV is fun. Not fun in the sense that "you get that feeling of satisfaction after working at a goal" kind of fun. He won't be there, not at that age. As long as he's in the mindset that "learning new stuff and knowing new stuff is really fun," he'll get a lot out of it.

Also, watch Jeopardy together. Do Sporcle games, stuff like that. No need to be a purist at this point. Any way you can structure stuff as a challenge or a competition, the better. The world is a big place, even more so for a 4th grader, and man, is this game a great way to introduce kids to it.

The longer I work in schools, the more it's obvious: people are rarely just like their older brothers and sisters. Be prepared for the possibility that he'll find something else - a sport, game, etc., to latch onto for a period of time later on down the road, and maybe leave quiz bowl behind. Also, be prepared for the chance that he won't take it nearly as seriously as you do. If those things happen, it won't be because you did something wrong, it's because he's a kid.
David Dennis
Middle School Choir Director
District Scholar Bowl Coach
Washington, MO

Murray State University, 2001
Breckinridge County High School, KY 1996
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