In my last post I showed you the treasure chest that I use with my students for extrinsic motivation.  This time I’m letting you in on an experiment that I’m implementing in September.  After the Summer Olympics and all of the excitement that comes with it, I decided to commence Lesson Olympics.

• Daily Practicing
• Completing theory worksheets
• Progress on the App Tenuto (in lessons on my iPad)
• Memorizing songs
• Memorizing chords

Click on the image to download a FREE PDF book to use in your own studio for Lesson Olympics!

I am having all age groups compete against each other but will be putting together two separate theory worksheet packs; one for beginner students and one for intermediate students.

In addition to the medals, I’m offering a $100 Grand Prize the Gold Medal winner and will be awarding some smaller awards too (like Practicing King/Queen, Master Memorizer, etc).  Since the contest is so long, I figured a needed a really appealing prize to keep the kids motivated.  When I ran some ideas past the kids (tickets to Six Flags, Concert Tickets, an iTouch) they seem most enthusiastic about money… so money wins.

The contest will end and awards will be given at our 1st Annual Christmas Bash.

I’ll be sure keep you posted about Lesson Olympics… what’s working, what’s not, etc.

What contests have you tried with your students?  What works?  What doesn’t?  What prizes did you offer?