The Why and How of Quiz Teams
by Curtis McCullers
1.0 Introduction
2.0 The Why of Quiz Teams
2.1 For
what they will learn
2.2 For where they will use what they
learn
2.3 For the effect it will have on
their lives
3.0 The How of Quiz Teams
3.1 How to
form a quiz team
3.2 How often to
meet
3.3 How to
study verses
3.4 How to
study the manual
3.5 How to
write questions
3.6 How
to coach during a match
3.7 How to jump
1.0
Introduction
Quizzing is an exciting and rewarding aspect of Teens
Involved, both for the quizzers and the coaches. Although it is hard work, it is a
learning experience that will stay with all those involved through most, if not all, of
their lives. Knowing how to study and how to prepare quizzers can make it a fun
experience too. Although this page will discuss the why of
quizzing, it's emphasis will be on the how of quizzing.
The methods and opinions expressed on this page are from my
personal experience gained over the past 9+ years of quizzing. The methods described
are not the only methods nor do I insist that they are the best methods, but methods that
can be evaluated by each person and used as seen fit for your team. Your team or
church may have a distinct personality that these methods may not be suited, but I hope
they can be of help in some way for everyone who reads through this page.
2.0
The Why of Quiz Teams
Why should you consider having a quiz team? That is
what this section will try to answer. Over the years, I have have many comments from
past quizzers and parents on how the experience gained in quizzing has helped them later
on in life. Some of these comments and ideas will be developed in this section.
2.1
For what they will learn
Studying for quizzing isn't just something that is useful
in Teens Involved, although each quizzer will be studing the manual, they will actually be
learning many other things besides the manual.
2.1.1 How to study
I have had many a quizzer tell me that their experience in
quizzing has helped them learn to study. This has helped both in high school and in
college. Most comments about this aspect of quizzing have been from those in college
since it is harder and the student is required to do more on their own. When
studying for quizzing, many teens have developed excellent study habits and have learned
how to determine what is important and what is not important in the material they are
reading. They learn how to set time aside and how to memorize. For some
youths, high school has been real easy and it isn't until college that they discover that
they don't know how to study! The quizzer has the advantage here.
2.1.2 Memory verses they will be
able to bring to recall when needed
The Word of Life memory verses that we learn over the six
year program cover many subjects. These subjects include but are not limited to the
following: salvation and the assurance of salvation; angels; God's love; God's wrath; our
future as believers; Satan and his angels; witnessing, God the Father; and etc.
Since the six years of verses have 30 verse cards each year, and each verse card has one
or more verses, that means we learn over 180 verses over the six years. These verses
cover many subjects and doctrine that not only help us in times of temptation, but I have
myself used them for witnessing and in my teaching. I have even surprised myself
when I have been talking about a specific subject and a memory verse pops into my mind
that helps explain what I am trying to say. A number of the quizzers have also made
this comment, and a couple of teens have told me that the verses have helped them
tremendously in witnessing.
We are told in God's Word (Psalm 119:11) that we are to
memorize God's Word.
2.1.3 Doctrine
To be added at a later date.
2.1.4 Teamwork
Being on a quiz team teaches teamwork! One person
can't carry the team and they must work together to win the match. The captain (and
coach) learns how to get them to work together and pass questions when needed.
Discussions are held on questions with lists and on questions where the answer
isn't known. When a team loses, it isn't one person that causes the loss since there
are at least fifteen questions and more than enough opportunity for every person to
contribute. Some contribute by helping through the year and encouraging others and
when the team wins, they win too, even if they haven't answered a question. Some
members help other members to learn the lessons or verses even when they have trouble
learning. I continually stress that they are a team and will win or lose as a team.
Over the year, you will see them begin to work together and get to know each other
better than they every would through any other activity.
2.2 For where
they will use what they learn
To be added at a later date.
2.2.1 Witnessing
To be added at a later date.
2.2.2 Teaching
To be added at a later date.
2.2.3 In life situations
To be added at a later date.
2.2.4 College
To be added at a later date.
2.3 For the
affect it will have on their lives
What
can I say here that won’t be obvious and just plain common sense?
When you think about it, having a teen memorize Bible verses and
study Bible doctrine has to have an affect on their lives!
The Bible tells us that God’s Word will not return void.
Therefore trust God to allow the things they learn to help them
to grow and help them want to know even more.
There is no guarantee that your quizzer have a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ. For
those that don’t, the study material will be giving them the Good News
of Jesus Christ so that they can make a decision.
Those that already know Christ as their personal Saviour, they
will be drawn even closer with the new knowledge they will gain through
quizzing and allow them to use it in their everyday lives.
2.3.1 Helps when in college
Have
you considered what is being taught in college in today’s world?
It is even affecting the Christian colleges!
They hear the world views or politically correct views on
evolution, tolerance, abortion, absolutes, and many other subjects.
We need to be preparing our teens to be able to stand up for the
absolute authority of God’s Word and the Truth of His Word!
Quizzing helps in providing personal study for the teens to allow
them to know how to deal with some of these issues or at least to know
how and were to go to get the answers.
2.3.2 Grounds them with a good
Biblical basis that has a lasting affect
If
a teen were to quiz all six years, he or she would be exposed to most if
not all of the major doctrines taught in the Bible. These will not be in-depth studies, but will be enough that
they will have an understanding of what these doctrines are about and
where to go to get further information.
2.3.3 Allows them to have a
closer relationship with the leaders and other team members
Studying
together and spending as much time together that is required to prepare
for competition helps form closer relationships.
I have noticed that I know the quizzers better than most of the
other teens in the club and that I know better where they are in their
spiritual growth.
Since our quizzing competition is on a different day than the
other Teens Involved competition, we go as a small group and spend the
whole day together.
This in itself helps for closer relationships.
Since quizzing takes up so much of our time, we try to also have
other activities that are separate from the other teens in the club.
The quizzers are quite often the spiritual leaders in the club
and they can help set the standards in the club.
3.0
The How of Quiz Teams
This section will discuss the how of quiz teams. I
will attempt to detail the work necessary, tools to use, and give general information to
use in conducting your own quiz practices.
3.1
How to form a quiz team
This is an area that has caused us many problems in the
early years of our quizzing. We as leaders were very enthusiastic about quizzing and
were constantly talking to the teens about joining the quiz team. We encouraged
teens to join even though they were not as enthusiastic as we were and this is where the
problems started. Throughout the year at practices and in general conversations a
small group of teens who were "talked" into joining the team threatened to quit
the team. We ended up having many talks with them even to the day of quizzing.
With these teens threatening to quit, it constantly took our attention away from
the others who really wanted to be on the team. Since learning what can happen by
"recruiting" teens that really didn't want to be on the team, or talking those
into joining who were the type who wanted attention and got it by threatening to quit all
the time, we changed our tactics about how to recruit. Now we tell about quizzing at
the beginning of the year, we announce it at the parent teen meeting we have to start each
year, and we put out signup sheets. We do not "pursue" or cajole teens to
join, we look for those who want to be on the quiz team even if we only have four
teens. It was fun when we had two or three teams, but it is a lot more fun for
everyone when everyone involved really want to be on the team. Therefore, some dos
and don'ts are as follows:
- Don't "force" teens to join the team. Be
happy with a small team that really wants to quiz if that is all you get.
- If any teens threatens to quiz, tell them they can.
Don't talk them into not quitting because they may use this as an attention getting
mechanism and constantly threaten to quit. This is a decision the teen must make.
Quizzing takes a lot of time and effort and if the teen doen't want to do this,
they are not going to get much out of it. Teens that don't really want to be there
cause problems with the other team mates. Handle this carefully so that if a teen
stays or quits it is their decision.
- If a teen wants to be on the team, even if he or she is a
really poor quizzer, let them. Quizzing isn't just about winning matches, it builds
character and teaches every teen something even if they don't quiz well.
- Use signup sheets. Let everyone know up front that it
takes a lot of work and effort. Announce it at the beginning of the year and let the
signup sheets out for a number of weeks.
- Allow teens to join even if they haven't started right with
everyone else on the first lessons. Although I state to allow teens to join later,
it may be necessary to set a cutoff point such as a time limit to join or a cutoff number
of quizzers. After area quizzing, you can't add more teams. Also, I have had
requirements such as they learn so many verses of lessons before they can join.
- Make quizzing an exciting activity.
- Be flexible. Some methods may work well one year an
not another. This applies to churches as well. Some things other churches do
in quizzing we have found don't work well at our church.
3.2
How often to meet
This is a subject I end up changing my mind on year to
year. I think it depends on the teens you have each year. I have found out
that you can't force them to make all the practices due to "other" commitments
nor can you schedule overly long practices. I often have to remind myself that they
are quizzing because they want to and that they can quit anytime if they find it to hard
or it interferes with their other activities at school. As a compromise, I have
found that meeting regularly once a week for 1 hour and 15 minutes seems to be best for
us. Along with this, every once in a while we will schedule a three hour
practice
with pop, chips and other food. Due to other church TI practices such as tone
chimes, drama practices, and puppets, the only time we have to meet is Sunday evening
after church. I have talked to other churches that meet on Saturdays for quiz
practice and some that actually have practice as Sunday School time. We have a hard
time trying to meet on Saturdays and I believe that quizzing should be separate from
Sunday School. The time I liked best was on Sundays right before evening church.
I lost this time because other TI practices take precedent over quizzing.
Bottom line is that once a week works for us, but it depends on your church and the
excitement of the quizzers. Some may like meeting as separate groups every so often
like just one team if you have more than one or just the girls or just boys. When it
gets close to competition time, we will have an extra practice or two. Our schedule
is actually as follows:
- We start practice in October after the Leaders Conference,
usually the second week.
- Until December 31, we meet once a week for 45 minutes mainly
because of cantata practice.
- An extra practice is usually scheduled for Christmas
vacation that is about 3 hours long.
- Starting in January, we meet once a week for 1 hour and 15
minutes.
- Close to Area Competition we have an extra practice.
- After Area Competition, we usually skip a practice an go to
Pizza Hut or some other place with the whole team.
- Close to Regional Competition we have an extra practice.
- Between Regional and International, we spend a couple of
practices learning verses for the verse test and International Competition.
- Close to International Competition, we have a couple extra
practices.
3.3
How to study verses
I
have determined that almost everyone has a different way of memorizing
verses. What I have found
works for me is to break each verse down phrase by phrase and then
starting at the beginning of a verse, to repeat over and over again the
phrase until I know it and then adding another phrase.
I do this until I have all phrases of a verse included and
therefore know the verse in its entirety.
Repetition is the key for me.
Also after learning the verse, I start on the next verse the same
way until I know it and then I say each of the verses memorized as
review. Before adding each
verse, I make sure I can say each of the previously memorized verses
word perfect. In checking
previously memorized verses, I do not do them in order.
I also make use of the software I created to help me learn
verses. (This is offered on
another page in this web site, but I am not guaranteeing that it is up
to date at any specific time. I
try, but time limitations keep me from updating something that I am
giving away free.)
Also
in memorizing, learning the question is real important as well as how
you memorize the questions. If
a quizzer waits for the complete question on a verse, they will most
likely NOT have the opportunity to answer.
This is because verse questions are memorized up to key words in
the question. For instance,
if the question “Does God
love us?” is the only question that begins with the word “Does”,
then it is unnecessary to wait to hear the remainder of the question.
A good quizzer knowing it is a verse question will immediately
jump on the word “does” not caring what the remainder of the
question is. Each of the verse questions need to be analyzed in this
manner to determine how much of the question must be asked before it is
unique and study for this uniqueness.
Use
the verses for jumping drills. For
instance, tell the team that each practice will start with warm-up
questions using the verse questions and asking for the references.
This means some of the teens who have trouble learning the verses
word perfect will be hearing the questions and references over and over
again so that they learn at least the questions and their reference just
by the repeat questions. Repetition
is the key for memorization. Word
of Life also has a good plan for how to memorize verses in one of their
lessons. It discusses each
day of the week as how to review each week of the year. This is also an excellent method to use.
In
studying verses, I study the King James Version only. This is because this is the version I started with when I was
a child and I also believe it is easier to memorize because it is more
poetic. I also suggest that
no matter what version is used, you should have your team all learn the
same version. This will be
much easier on the coach and the teen doesn’t have to remember to
state the version when he or she begins to quote the verse.
Keep
in mind that in a single match, the same verse question will not be
asked twice. Therefore, if
two verses are in 1 Corinthians, and the first verse has already been
asked and if the quiz master starts a question “According to the
current year verse pak, quote word perfectly 1 Corinthians…”, as
soon as you know it is in 1 Corinthians you are able to jump and give
the verse that hasn’t been asked.
This is the same for the questions.
If two verses start out with “What…” and one has already
been asked, as soon as you hear the new “what” question you should
be able to jump even though it hasn’t gotten far enough to be unique.
3.4
How to study the manual
I
believe the methods of how to study the manual have changed in the last couple
of years. This is because Word of
Life has changed the format of the manual as well as its look and feel.
We use to have to determine what was “fluff” and what was
“meat”. This has been changed
since the new format has removed much of what I call “fluff”.
(I consider fluff being things in the manual that have no importance to
anything godly and are just extraneous filler in a lesson.
An example of this would be a story of someone on the beach with their
dog Spot. Who cares that the person has a dog named Spot and therefore
there shouldn’t be a question about the dog’s name!) Now studying the manual consists of learning most of what is
written there. Keep in mind, that
anything that is in a lesson is fair game for a question.
Therefore, don’t skip the Got2 Know section, the Answers for Life
section, the Liven It Up sections, the Live It section, the Love It section,
or the Learn It section. All of
these sections can be used for competition questions!
I
ask the teens to read each lesson or a couple of lessons each night.
This means spending maybe 15 minutes each day to read from the manual.
If they really did this, they would come to know the material in the
lessons quite well. Alas, teens
being teens, tend to procrastinate and not study as they should.
This means that when we have our practice times as a group, many of the
practices are spent studying the lessons that they should have already studied
before practice. I won’t use
the quizzing device until they know enough to be quizzed.
Some
times at a practice I have them write 5 or 10 questions from a lesson and turn
them in to me. We then use these
questions to quiz. Writing
questions helps them to think about what would be asked from a lesson.
I
also ask them to know a specific answer to a lesson that has a high chance to
be asked. This might be something
in the lesson that is being stressed as a major point. They need to do this in case they by accident cause their
light to light in a match and only the lesson title has been given.
They are to give an answer and not say I don’t know.
You would be surprised how many times we have gotten correct answers
even when the light went off too early by mistake and we don’t know the
question yet. So in our practices I will sometimes only give a lesson title
and they are to give an answer that would be appropriate for that lesson.
A
lesson study might consist of the following:
a)
Read a lesson by having a teen read out loud.
b)
As a coach, I will stress points from each paragraph that I feel are
important or I may ask a specific teen to tell me what is important in a
paragraph.
c)
Sometimes I will go further than the lesson in discussing the material
since I believe quizzing is also about learning.
d)
I may have the teens write questions at this point.
e)
I will ask to close the manual and ask some questions.
I may go around the group in order or just ask questions and anyone
that knows the answer to speak up.
f)
Sometimes, since I have questions prepared in advance, I might have one
of the teens ask the questions. Asking
questions is also a method of studying the lesson since they have to determine
the correctness of the answer and they become familiar with the questions
themselves.
Once
I feel confident about a lesson, I may use the quizzing device and have them
quiz against each other. There
are many ways to do this rather than exactly as a quiz match.
Use your imagination and make it fun.
3.5
How to write questions
Knowing
how questions are written is an important aspect of quizzing.
If you don’t know how a question is written, you won’t be
prepared to answer quickly in a match or even how to answer a question.
To illustrate question writing, I will include a paragraph from
the lesson “The Answer Is…” and show how questions could be
written from that paragraph.
“Who
is good? Man says he is basically good, but God says… No one is good,
Romans 3:10. Most people want to be good, and they are good some of the
time. However, being good is not enough to take you to Heaven since we
were all born with a sin nature, Romans 5:12”
First
point is that all questions from the manual will begin using the lesson
title: According to the
lesson “The Answer Is…” This
is how all of our questions will start.
Then remember that each question should be asked in a manner that
it try to end in a what, who, whom.
An example is:
According
to the lesson “The Answer Is…,” man says he is what? (Answer is “basically good.”)
Also note that each question should be written to give a specific
answer and not a “yes/no” or “true/false” type of answer. If asking for a list or more that one answer, be sure to
include how many things you are looking for in the answer.
If
there is a reference associated with the statement in the lesson, be
sure to use that reference in the question (or even as the answer to the
question.) An example is:
According to the lesson “The Answer Is…” and Romans 3:10,
God says what? (Answer is
“No one is good.) This
question can be turned around to be asked in the following way also: According to the lesson “The Answer Is…,” the reference
to the verse that tells us that no one is good is what? (Answer is “Romans 3:10.)
Rather
than reading on, why don’t you try to see how many questions you can
make from the paragraph listed above and then see what I have written
below. Be aware that
although I have written a number of questions, I am sure these are not
exhaustive. Your questions
may differ or include some I didn’t.
I have found that even when you have written all the questions
you can think of, there will be some that you just don’t see even if
they are obvious.
Question:
According to the lesson “The Answer Is…,” man says he is
what?
Answer:
Basically good.
Question:
According to the lesson “The Answer Is…” and Romans 3:10, God says
what?
Answer:
No one is good.
Question:
According to the lesson “The Answer Is…,” the reference to the
verse that tells us that no one is good is what?
Answer:
Romans 3:10
Question:
According
to the lesson "The Answer Is…" and Romans 5:12, being good
is not enough to take you to Heaven for what reason?
Answer:
Since we were all born with a sin nature.
Question:
According
to the lesson "The Answer Is…" and Romans 3:10, who is good?
Answer:
No one.
Question:
According to the lesson "The Answer Is…," most people want
to be what?
Answer:
Good.
Question:
According to the lesson "The Answer Is…" and Romans 5:12,
since we are all born with a sin nature, being good is not enough to do
what?
Answer:
Take you to Heaven.
Question:
According to the lesson "The Answer Is…," the reference to
the verse that tells us that we are all born with a sin nature is what?
Answer:
Romans 5:12
Question:
According to the lesson "The Answer Is…" and Romans 5:12, we
are all born with a what?
Answer:
Sin nature.
As
you can see, there are a number of ways to write a question around a
specific statement made in a lesson.
Get your quizzers to know the material rather than memorizing
questions and they will be able to answer the questions no matter how
they are phrased.
If
there are to be a number of answers to a question such as in a list, the
question may be phrased as: According to the lesson "The Answer
Is…" list seven things that….
or the question can be ended stating how many things are to be in
the answer such as ending “…are what two things?”
An example is as follows:
Question:
According
to the lesson "The Answer Is…" God says you will be saved if
you do what three things?
Answer:
1) Admit you are a sinner.
2) Believe that Jesus died and rose again.
3) Call upon Him to save you from your sin.
Although
I give questions on this web site, you should be familiar with how to
write your own and do so. It
is also a good idea to share with others the questions you write 8-)
3.6
How to coach during a match
I have found that it is most effective if
there is a coach and an assistant coach. The assistant coach's
main duty during the match is to look up the answers to every question
so that if there is a call made that can be questioned, the coach is
quickly able to look at the lesson manual answer and has the page ready
to approach the quizmaster. The coach's job then becomes
watching the quizzers and tracking who has answered questions, how many
and what types of questions have been asked. Knowing this, he or
she is then able to make decisions as to what quizzers to substitute and
when. If you have a strong verse person and three verse questions
have been asked, it might be best to bring in someone that knows the
manual better.
Tracking the score keeping and knowing
the rules is a very important part for the coach also. I have had
to remind the quizmaster's of specific rules that have changed the
outcome of us loosing to actually winning the match.
Keeping a constant high integrity is
important for the coach. Your quizzers are watching you and the
way conduct yourself and they will most likely emulate you. Don't
argue with the quizmaster! State your case and sit down so they
can make a decision without pressure. Accept the answer even when
it isn't what you wanted. If you have stated your case well, most
of the time the quizmaster will either change his decision or at the
very least, throw out the question.
Know the manual yourself. If you
don't know what answers are being looked for, how can you state a case
for your quizzer when he/she believes they answered correctly.
Memorize the verses. Set an
example.
Make sure that all of your quizzers get a
chance to quiz through the day. Sometimes, in a specific match, I
won't be able to get all the quizzers in, but I try through the day to
make sure that everyone has been in as much as is practical. Even
when they aren't the best quizzer, they have practiced and studied and
need to get the experience. Also, they may not return the next
year if they feel they won't get a chance on the seats.
If there is an empty seat on the other
team due to only three quizzers, make sure you put the quizzer who is
most likely to give a wrong answer across from that seat. That way
you won't be penalized for their wrong answers.
Encourage your team!
3.7
How to jump
Jumping is more than just physical
ability, it is an art and a science. Physical ability definitely
helps, but there are a number of things that can be done to improve
jumping time and reactions. Some of the things I have seen and
learned over the years are described below:
- Position your feet correctly.
Having your feet flat on the floor and side by side slows the
reaction time. The feet should be positioned such that one
foot is slightly in front of the other with the back foot having the
heel slightly off the floor. This positioning will help most
quizzers jump faster. There are some variations I have seen,
but most quick quizzer position themselves this way.
- Be sure to jump off the seat (and
switch) and continue staying off the switch. Some of the quiz
boxes used do not have a lockout feature. This means if the
quizmaster sees a light flicker on, by the time he focuses on the
box to determine what light, if you have sat back down, the second
person off the switch will be the one call upon.
- Some quizzers have mastered
positioning themselves on the switch such that a very small movement
will cause the light to activate and you may not even see them
move. This is for the more advanced quizzers.
- Watch the quizmaster's lips! The
best quizzers are also good at lip reading. They look for the
formation of the next word and actually jump before it is audibly
voiced. This makes people in the audience wonder how the
quizzer knew what to answer since there might have been several
answers for the portion they heard. This works well for verse
questions where you know exactly what words can be said.
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