GCSE English Lit 6-by-6 Revision Game

Revision Game for GCSE English Lit.

Introduction
The six-by-six grid can be used as an activity for creating challenge in the classroom, in addition to being a useful way of differentiation. The concept is a six-by-six grid with 36 boxes. In each box is either an image, a key idea, piece of information, or theory (subject dependent).
In English this is a good way to revise a whole subject or draw out similarities between ideas/texts/authors. The two attached grids are related to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and The Poetry Anthology: Relationships Cluster, respectively. Each box is filled with either a character, theme, key image, poem title, or contextual point. There are a number of ways the activity can be used, but in English it generates discussion, helping students to generate ideas and start thinking about the texts on a deeper level. For example, students will be given dice. They are to roll it four times to find the coordinates of two boxes on the grid (e.g. Student A rolls a 4 and a 3 so their first box is 4 across and 3 down; the student rolls the dice again and get a 6 and a 1. Therefore, they need to compare the two boxes indicated by the coordinates). Students then record their comparisons on a piece of paper and cross off the two boxes on the grid. They repeat the process until all the boxes are crossed off the grid. The first group to finish the grid wins.
Obviously, the written aspect of this task can be quite arduous and could be considered clunky. It could equally work as a whole class activity where the teacher has the grid on the board and rolls the dice as a class. Students would be given time to create a comparison in pairs/groups and the teacher would decide who made the best comparison. Alternatively, the teacher could present an open-ended question to the class and they could use the grid as an ideas map to prompt their ideas. Students could also use the table as a prompt for finding quotes related to the box (e.g. the image of chains could prompt a student to recall of the quote, “I wear the chains I forged in life”.

Adapting to other subjects

On way it could be adapted is in history where different leader, historical events, key dates, or historical periods could be put onto the table. In biology, the boxes could have key processes, organisms, terms, or images.

How does it create challenge or scaffold learning?

Firstly, it creates challenge as it juxtaposes images students may not previously have considered, producing unconventional comparisons. It encourages more critical, and less lateral, thinking. On the other hand, it can also act as a scaffold as it gives students images which are far more accessible. To compliment this resource you could use sentence starters which aid students in making comparisons.

Other equipment or resources needed

• Guiding questions
• Dice
• Way of recording talk/discussion on paper
• Sentence starters for written tasks afterwards