Last night's festivities at ONE. midtown kitchen in Atlanta proved one thing: that Vocabulary.com is more than a website; it is a community of dedicated educators who know how to have fun with words. At the second stop on Vocabulary.com's Road Trip, Media specialists, English teachers, science teachers, and tech integration specialists united for an evening of learning, collaboration, and competition.
The competition began virtually before the actual event even kicked off. As this custom leaderboard shows, Atlanta area schools have been duking it out for quite some time, and last night gave their teachers a chance to join in the fun. The first winner was Shane Packard of River Trail Middle School who reached the 100% mark on the Magical Mystery List, and then Jennifer Hall of Atlanta Public Schools earned her crown for recognizing the source of the Magical Mystery List: Shakespeare's Macbeth.
As the night wore on, educators abandoned their school colleagues and joined forces with team members from outside of their respective schools and districts. Teams like "All 4 One" went up against "The Variety Band," "Technically, the Best," "Lady Liberators," and (aptly named last) "The Leftovers."
At the end of ten rounds of tough questions, "All 4 One" and "Lady Liberators" were tied for the lead. To break the tie, a creative challenge was posed: write and dramatically present a haiku or limerick to impress the Vocabulary.com judges. Both teams gave it their all, but only Lady Liberators dared to compose BOTH a haiku AND a limerick. It was a done deal.
The culminating event of the evening was the much anticipated drawing for an Apple Watch. When Vocabulary.com CEO Michael Freedman plucked Lynn Freeman's name from the Apple bag, the APS crowd went wild.
A big thank you to all of the Atlanta area educators who fought traffic to spend an evening of word play with the Vocabulary.com crew! One thing we know for sure: teachers in Atlanta understand the importance of combining word learning with a little fun. We had a great time, and were truly humbled to hear how these educators have inspired their students to think critically through improving their vocabulary.
While we hate to say goodbye to our friends in Atlanta, we are looking forward to heading to the Lone Star State to celebrate with Houston area educators on March 23. Here we come, Houston! Giddy up!
And rememeber, if you can't make it to one of our Road Trip stops, follow along on Twitter with our hashtag #VocabRoadTrip