The Winners of the “Think or Swim” Contest

Announcing the Winners of the Think or Swim Contest

To celebrate the launch of our new classroom game Think or Swim, we had a contest! Educators were asked to share how they use this game in their classrooms. Dozens of educators across the country entered, and our team picked 3 grand prize winners. They received Progress Learning swag and a pizza party for their classroom! We also picked 10 additional honorable mentions who won Progress Learning swag for their students.

What Is Think or Swim?

Before we announce our winners, we wanted to give a quick summary of our new classroom game. Think or Swim is a quiz-show-style game for all grade levels that is played on the projector. Students split into teams and take turns selecting a shell to reveal a question. Then, they write their answers on their whiteboards and hold them up when the host calls time. The team or teams with the most correct answers win! Think or Swim is a great way to add some variety to students’ normal routines, review standards, and enhance collaboration and engagement in the classroom.

Congrats to Our 3 Grand Prize Winners! 

These 3 educators are making a splash with Think or Swim, using it in fun and creative ways to engage their students. Let’s dive in and see how they use it! 

Brooke Neal — 8th Grade Science, Orange Beach Middle School, Alabama

Brooke uses Think or Swim in her 8th grade science class to review various standards before tests. She structures the game like Family Feud or Jeopardy. Each student has a whiteboard to write their answers, and if everyone on the team answers correctly, that team gets the point and they get to choose the next question. Brooke and her students really get into it — she even dresses up as Steve Harvey!

When it comes to setting up the game, Brooke enjoys how easy it is to generate questions from the Progress Learning question bank and mix and match standards from different units. She also loves that she can save the game for later or duplicate it for her classes.

In addition, Brooke appreciates the quality and rigor of the questions and how they prepare her students for Alabama state testing. “It impacts my students’ learning because they see higher DOK level questioning and can see the style of questioning they will see on their Progress Learning test and ACAP state testing,” says Brooke.

Naomi Ramsey — 3rd Grade ELA/Social Studies, Hollywood Academy of Arts and Science, Florida

Naomi uses Think or Swim to cover literary devices with her 3rd grade class. Her students play in teams and write their answers on whiteboards, “swimming” closer to victory with each correct response.

What does Naomi love about the game? “What I loved most about the game was how it made learning literary devices engaging and interactive. The students were highly motivated to participate and demonstrated a strong understanding of metaphors, hyperbole, and personification by the end of the game. It was wonderful to see their excitement and enthusiasm as they competed and learned.”

Loreto Canales — 3rd Grade, Hebbronville Elementary School, Texas

Loreto uses the game to cover math TEKS with his 3rd graders. He enjoys the collaborative nature of the game, which encourages his students to work together to solve math problems.

Here’s how he played the game most recently: “The class was split into two teams covering the 3rd grade math TEKS and discussed the problem as a group. I asked the team captains what they thought of the game and liked how working as a team is very effective.”

Honorable Mentions

We also want to recognize these 10 amazing educators who use the game in creative and impactful ways with their students.

Tina Wolfe — 11th and 12th Grade, Picayune Memorial High School, Mississippi

Tina uses Think or Swim to cover standards with her high schoolers. She says that the game boosts morale and makes them more willing to learn. “It helped motivate each student to try harder and to learn the material in a new, fun way,” she shares.

Jocelyn Videtto — 5th Grade, Imagine Schools South Lake, Florida

Jocelyn uses the game to review 4th grade ELA standards with her 5th grade class. This helps her students review standards from the previous year and prepare for the FAST. “I like how each question is similar to a question they would see on the FAST test. Both format and rigor meet the requirements I would like to see them use for practice.” Her students are fans of the game, too. “The students always love playing this game. They love the fun team names and that every team gets an opportunity to gain points for every round,” she says.

Julie Guidry, Christy Byerly, and Kirstey Fraychineaud — 5th Grade RLA, Helena Park Elementary, Nederland ISD, Texas

Julie, Christy, and Kirstey are a joint 4th grade RLA team. They use Think or Swim to do a six-week review before their benchmark test. After their most recent game, they asked their students if they felt prepared for their benchmark test. The students said that it was “just a really fun way to remember what we’ve learned!” The students also loved the fun team names. “They really got a kick out of the aquatic team names.” Their students love the game so much that they decided to play again for their 2nd six-week review.

Ashley Root — 3rd Grade ELA/Social Studies, Longhorn Elementary, Texas

Ashley uses the game in her 3rd grade class as a daily warm-up. “My classes love playing this game! I love how it gets them excited about learning… I try to incorporate this game as much as possible simply because it gets my students excited!” she says.

Viviana Garcia — 5th Grade, Fox Trail Elementary School, Broward County Public Schools, Florida

Viviana says that her 5th graders “have a blast” playing Think or Swim. They use the game to review science standards. She says that it fosters a friendly sense of competition. “The students really enjoyed competing against each other and loved that every team that answered correctly got points, instead of only the first team to answer.” Her students also enjoy Reef Recess, which are short brain breaks during the game where students perform actions to earn additional points. They “provided a lot of chuckles.” Her students are excited to play again in the future.

Jakara Carter — 4th Grade, Renaissance Charter School at West Palm Beach, Florida

“OMG!!!” exclaims Jakara. “This is such a cool, interactive way to reinforce skills, review for a test, or simply give students some additional practice!” She uses Think or Swim to review math standards with her class. Her students have 45 seconds to solve math problems with their team. “The students enjoyed it and did not want to stop playing!” she says.

Patricia Armendariz — 1st Grade, Eagle Point Elementary, Broward County Public Schools, Florida

As Patricia points out, Think or Swim is a great tool for dual language classes since questions are available in Spanish. Patricia shares that she “was able to play it in Spanish for my dual language class” and that her students “had a blast playing this game.”

Brandi Bass — 4th Grade Math, Willow Wood Elementary, Melissa ISD, Texas

Brandi uses the game in her 4th grade class to review profit and adding/subtracting with whole numbers and decimals. Her students look forward to playing every time. “My students look forward to what team they are on and enjoy the competition.” As for Brandi, she “loves how it selects the teams that will be chosen and that it is so easy to set up and play.”

Mayra Dimas Silva — 3rd Grade Bilingual Teacher, Decker Elementary, Manor ISD, Texas

Mayra uses the game to review before their unit assessments. As a bilingual teacher, she loves that the questions are available in Spanish. “The best part was that the questions were also available in Spanish, making it ideal for our dual language classroom. My students really enjoyed the game!” she says.

Brandy Mitchell — 3rd Grade, Strickland Elementary, Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, Texas

Brandy uses the game to review for math and science end-of-unit assessments. “They had a great time playing!” she says. The last time they played, they actually ran out of time to make it through all the questions. But Brandy isn’t worried. “I think as we become more accustomed to the platform that we will make it farther along. I really look forward to this new way to review and appreciate the STAAR-like questions to practice with!” she says.

Thank you to all the educators who entered our Think or Swim contest, and congrats again to our winners and honorable mentions! We love seeing how you’re using Think or Swim, and we can’t wait to see how you use the game in the future.

If you’re interested in playing Think or Swim in your classroom, request a demo of Progress Learning today!