You’ve just seen all your students present at your school’s First Give Final. You’re feeling so proud of your students and all they’ve achieved! It’s come to the tense moment of truth while the Judges deliberate… but now you’re thinking… now what?! You’re aware there’s 100+ students in one room, very excited, just waiting for the result.
A lot of our schools simply let students talk amongst themselves, however, we understand it can feel a bit hectic without an alternative plan. First Give is here to provide you with some suggestions of how you can fill the ‘interval’ time while the Judge deliberate. This is often about 10-15 minutes.
- You could organise for last year’s winners (or a group who really enjoyed First Give, but didn’t necessarily win – e.g. – have any students kept up social action?) to come and present, either a repetition of their old presentation, or a new one about how they enjoyed First Give, what they’ve learned, who they supported etc.
- Have you found that there students who deserve recognition but didn’t present at the Final? For example, was any social action particularly clever or meaningful? Did any groups work particularly well? Did any students come on leaps and bounds? Why not organise your own special awards for students you think deserve to be celebrated.
- You could play a relevant TEDtalk or video. These talks could be on themes such as the power of volunteering, the importance of how we give back to others, social justice and activism or having purpose in your career.
- We have seen schools successfully organise interval entertainment. For example, this could be a performance from a school band.
- Some of the students who didn’t present could host a social action stall for their class’ charity (this works particularly well if you’ve got parents or the Final is after school), for example, a food or drink stand.
- You could amalgamate creative elements from some of the groups’ presentations that didn’t present at the Final like videos they made or raps they had written. Also, for example, if there’s a class member that writes poetry, you could ask them to write a poem about a social issue/charity they care about, or their groups’ or class’ charity. This then also engages some students who weren’t on stage but perhaps have really enjoyed First Give.
We hope this provides some useful suggestions of how to keep your year group audience engaged during the deliberation!
