CHAIN PARAGRAPHS

1. Enter your team name on the board.

2. One member of the team should write the first sentence of a paragraph and pass the paragraph to the right. The

next member will write the next sentence and again pass the paragraph to the right. This process should continue

until the paragraph is 10 sentences long.

a. The first sentence should be a commitment sentence; it must make a promise that the rest of the paragraph

will develop.

b. Narrative paragraphs are very easy to write and thus they are prohibited in this game. Paragraphs that

tell a story will receive no points.

3. The first team to complete the paragraph should award itself two (2) points on the board.

4. The next team to complete a paragraph should award itself one (1) point and announce that the other teams must

stop writing.

5. Scoring. Teams should exchange paragraphs, and the scoring team will score the paragraph, reading it aloud and

awarding it one (1) point for each coherent sentence (after the commitment sentence). Enter the total points

earned at the top of the paragraph and circle the number.

a. Coherence can be judged by following the promise of the commitment sentence; if a sentence does not

develop the promise, the paragraph does not develop the promise and has lost coherence. It will sound as if

the writer has started a new paragraph.

b. Once the paragraph has lost coherence, it cannot be regained, so no more points can be awarded. For

example, perhaps the first three sentences develop the commitment sentence, but the fourth one does

not. The team will only receive three points, even though sentences 5-10 develop the promise.

c. Give the scored paragraph back to the team that composed it and enter the score on the board.

6. Appealing scores: Composing teams may appeal scores awarded to their paragraphs. An appeal is filed by knocking

on the teacher’s desk/table.

a. Appeals are judged by members of teams not involved in composing or scoring the paragraph. Teams may

consult on issues, but each member of the judging teams must vote individually.

b. The appealing team will explain the number of points they think the paragraph should have been awarded

and why.

c. The scoring team will defend their scoring of the paragraph.

d. Rebuttals and questions are allowed.

e. If the appeal is denied, the appealing team suffers a three (3) point penalty.

f. If the appeal is granted, the appealing team is awarded the extra points earned plus one (1) point for a

successful appeal; the scoring team is penalized twice the number of extra points earned (for

unsportsmanlike behavior).

7. The winning team could potentially earn bonus points (and possibly a small candy bar). The second place team may

also earn bonus points, depending on how generous the instructor is feeling that day.

Copyright ©1993 Patrick Hartwell and Robert H. Bentley. Permission is granted for noncommercial educational use,

with acknowledgement of copyright. Patrick Hartwell-Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

THE GREAT PUNCTUATION GAME

1. Form teams of three or four.

2. Name your team name on the board (also known, for this game, as the scoreboard), and select a magazine

from those at the front of the classroom, etc.

3. Mark two sentences in the magazine:

a. The first sentence should have: one colon (:) OR one semi colon (;) OR one dash (--), plus associated

commas.

b. The second sentence should have: two or more colons, semi colons, and dashes (and parentheses may

also be used), plus associated commas.

4. Write these sentences on the board, omitting all punctuation.

a. In fairness, keep punctuation marks like apostrophes and hyphens (as in brother-in-law), and include

quotation marks and italics, since they aren't predictable.

b. Note the magazine and page numbers of your sentences so you won't lose your place.

5. Teams will then take on the sentences from other teams! Each team should have a certain marker color.

6. One member of the team will go to the board and enter the guesses of his/her team. They will do this to all

the teams’ sentences.

7. The members of the original team will quietly keep score, announcing the actual punctuation of the

sentences--and the scores awarded--only after all teams have guessed.

8. A team that matches exactly the punctuation of the sentence will be awarded two points; a team that

comes "close enough" will be awarded one point. If no team exactly guesses the punctuation of the

sentences, the team who found the sentence earns two points. So, pick hard ones! ☺

Sample Senario:

Let’s say there is a class of 20 students. They all form 5 teams of 4 students each.

Team 1 = Team Nimrod.

Team 2 = Team Superstar.

Team 3 = Team Crazy.

Team 4 = Team RockNRoll.

Team 5 = Team Cool Beans.

All five teams use a magazine to find their sentences (#3). They write them on the board under their Team Name (#4).

After #4 is complete, each team takes turns punctuating the sentences with different colored markers. While Nancy

from Team Nimrod writes in punctuation for her team, the other members of that team should score how other teams

are doing with their sentences – this way, everyone on the team has to do something while Nancy and the other writers

are busy.