Would you rather for middle school
Would you rather for middle school works best when the dilemma comes from a day students already know. These cover lockers, lunch, group projects, homework, gym class, the bus ride and clubs, with a few silly options mixed in so nobody feels talked down to. Both choices are meant to tempt, which gives students something to defend. Read one aloud, ask for a show of hands, then call on one student from each side. If a question falls flat, skip it and keep moving. For younger students, try the questions for kids.
- Would you rather have a locker that jams every single morning or have a locker at the far end of the building from all your classes?
- Would you rather have a locker that pops open when you give it a high five or have a locker that hands you the right book for your next class?
- Would you rather have lunch period last a full hour or get a ten-minute snack break between every class?
- Would you rather have a different food truck park outside the cafeteria every day or have lunch moved to picnic tables outside whenever it is sunny?
- Would you rather be in a group where everyone wants to be in charge or be in a group where nobody wants to be in charge?
- Would you rather present the whole group project out loud by yourself or make every slide yourself but never say a word?
- Would you rather be the one who keeps your group on schedule or be the one who comes up with all the big ideas?
- Would you rather do one big homework assignment every Sunday night or do fifteen minutes of homework every school night?
- Would you rather turn in every assignment as a short video or turn in every assignment as a comic strip?
- Would you rather have a homework robot that explains everything in rhyme or have a homework robot that explains everything with doodles?
- Would you rather go on a field trip to a TV news studio or go on a field trip to an airport control tower?
- Would you rather spend the night at a science museum on an overnight field trip or camp under the stars at a state park on an overnight field trip?
- Would you rather spend a month of gym class learning to rock climb or spend a month of gym class learning to ride a unicycle?
- Would you rather run the timed mile in gym every week or square dance with the whole class every week?
- Would you rather be the first stop on the bus route every morning or be the last stop on the bus route every afternoon?
- Would you rather have an hour-long bus ride with fast Wi-Fi or have a ten-minute bus ride with no Wi-Fi?
- Would you rather run the school store at lunch or run the lost-and-found table for a semester?
- Would you rather write a weekly advice column for the school newspaper or run the greenhouse for the school garden club?
- Would you rather build a robot for the robotics club competition or design and paint the set for the school play?
- Would you rather switch classrooms every period or stay in one classroom while the teachers come to you?
- Would you rather have a free period every day to work on anything you want or have every Friday afternoon set aside for clubs?
- Would you rather take every test with your notes open or take every test with a partner you pick?
- Would you rather have a teacher who starts every class with a riddle or have a teacher who ends every class with a one-minute dance break?
Would you rather for high school students
Would you rather for high school students leans on choices they are starting to make for real: class schedules, study habits, presentations, clubs, part-time jobs, college, trades and careers. Most of these are trade-offs rather than silly extremes, so expect real arguments and a few changed minds. They are short enough for a warm-up and open enough to carry a longer discussion. Pick the ones that fit your group, and see the questions for teens for more about friends, phones and life outside school.
- Would you rather have four long classes a day that change every semester or have seven short classes a day that last all year?
- Would you rather take your hardest class first period while you are still half asleep or take your hardest class last period when your brain is already worn out?
- Would you rather take an easy class you know you will ace or take a hard class in a subject you actually care about?
- Would you rather study alone in a silent library or study with a noisy group that quizzes each other?
- Would you rather take open-book tests that are twice as hard or take closed-book tests that only cover the basics?
- Would you rather have one big final exam decide your whole grade or have a short quiz at the start of every single class?
- Would you rather present with slides but no notes or present with notes but no slides?
- Would you rather give a five-minute speech to the whole school or give a half-hour presentation to just your class?
- Would you rather present a group project you did all the work on or present a group project you barely helped with and have to wing it?
- Would you rather go straight to a four-year college after graduation or learn a skilled trade and start earning at 18?
- Would you rather take a year to work and figure out what you want to study or pick your major on day one and stick with it?
- Would you rather shadow someone in your dream job for a full week or get a paid summer internship in a field you are only curious about?
- Would you rather be captain of a team that rarely wins or be a backup on a team that wins the state title?
- Would you rather start a brand-new club around something you love or lead a big club that has been around for years?
- Would you rather stick with one activity all four years and get really good at it or try a new activity every season and meet new people each time?
- Would you rather take a part-time job that pays well but has nothing to do with your goals or take a lower-paying job in the field you hope to work in someday?
- Would you rather have a planner that schedules your whole week for you or have complete freedom over your time with no reminders at all?
- Would you rather get an extra hour of sleep every school night or get an extra free period every school day?
- Would you rather finish every assignment the day you get it or do every assignment the night before because that is when you focus best?
- Would you rather graduate a semester early and get a head start on what comes next or stay through senior spring for prom, senior trips and goodbyes?
- Would you rather read a letter your freshman self wrote to you on graduation day or have your favorite teacher write you a letter to open in ten years?
- Would you rather have one career you love for your whole working life or switch to a completely new career every ten years?
- Would you rather have a job where you build things with your hands or have a job where you solve problems at a computer all day?
Would you rather questions for the classroom
Would you rather questions for the classroom tie the game to what students are learning. There are what-ifs for math, science, reading, history, art and music, plus field trips, classroom jobs and inventions. None of them needs background knowledge, so any grade can answer without a lesson first. Use one to open a unit, or let students pick and then say what they would want to learn more about. For the youngest class, the this or that questions for kids are quicker to read.
- Would you rather learn fractions by baking pies in the school kitchen or learn budgeting by planning a class party with real money?
- Would you rather live in a town where every street is laid out like a giant number line or live in a town where every house is a different shape from geometry class?
- Would you rather grow a crystal as big as your hand in science class or launch a homemade rocket higher than the school roof in science class?
- Would you rather shrink down small enough to walk around inside a green leaf or float up high enough to watch a thunderstorm from above the clouds?
- Would you rather read stories where you choose what happens at the end of every chapter or read stories that have a brand-new ending every time you open them?
- Would you rather have a library card that works at any library in the world or have a bookshelf that adds the perfect next book each time you finish one?
- Would you rather spend a day as a student in ancient Egypt learning to write in hieroglyphs or spend a day as a student in a one-room prairie schoolhouse writing on a slate?
- Would you rather help archaeologists uncover the streets of an ancient city or help divers map an old shipwreck on the ocean floor?
- Would you rather dig up a time capsule that kids buried under your school long ago or bury a time capsule that kids will open a hundred years from now?
- Would you rather paint a giant mural on the wall of your school hallway or build a sculpture that stands outside your school's front doors?
- Would you rather have your drawing hung in a real art museum for a month or have your drawing printed on the cover of the school yearbook?
- Would you rather learn to play the drums in a marching band or learn to play the violin in an orchestra?
- Would you rather write a song that your whole school sings at every assembly or learn an instrument that nobody else at your school has ever heard of?
- Would you rather learn about the human body by building a life-size model of it or learn about the human body by touring the inside of it with a virtual reality headset?
- Would you rather study for every test by making up a song about it or study for every test by turning it into a board game?
- Would you rather be the class weather reporter who gives the forecast every morning or be the class librarian who picks the read-aloud book every week?
- Would you rather be the class reporter who writes a weekly news sheet for families or be the class photographer who snaps every big moment of the year?
- Would you rather go behind the scenes at an aquarium at feeding time or go behind the scenes at a zoo nursery where baby animals are raised?
- Would you rather take a field trip to a factory where crayons are made or take a field trip to a recycling plant where trash becomes new things?
- Would you rather invent something that makes chores disappear or invent something that makes waiting in line actually fun?
- Would you rather invent a new sport that every school plays at recess or invent a rainy-day game that every classroom keeps on its shelf?
- Would you rather know the name of every plant you walk past or know the name of every bird you hear singing?
- Would you rather spend a night in the desert counting shooting stars or spend a morning on a mountaintop watching clouds drift below you?
How teachers use would you rather in class
Would you rather questions for students take about a minute each and need no setup, so they fit in the gaps of a class period.
Bell-ringer. Put one question on the board as students walk in and have them pick silently.
Brain break. Between activities, run three or four cards fast. Students stand for 1 and stay seated for 2.
Pair-share. Partners pick, then each gets thirty seconds to explain.
Four corners. Label the left and right walls 1 and 2 and have students walk to their pick. Turn on Pause after picks so the room can talk it over before the next card.
Opinion writing. Ask for a sentence that starts with the pick and keeps going after "because."
Projector or smartboard. Press Party mode to fill the screen with large type that reads from the back row.
Print. Print turns the lists into cards to cut apart for stations or a sub folder.
Frequently asked questions
What are good would you rather questions for middle school?
Good would you rather questions for middle school put two tempting options inside a day students already know: lockers, lunch, group projects, gym class, the bus and clubs. Add a silly twist, keep both sides balanced, and avoid anything that singles out a student. Start with the middle school list above.
What are good would you rather questions for high school students?
Good would you rather questions for high school students are about choices they really face, such as class schedules, studying, presentations, clubs, jobs, college and careers. Each side should have a real argument, so students have to explain a pick instead of shrugging. The high school list above is a good place to start.
Would you rather questions for 12 year olds?
For 12 year olds, start with the middle school deck: school days, friends, food, sports and silly superpowers, all clean and written for sixth and seventh graders. Each question is quick to read aloud, and the choices are easy to argue about, which makes them good warm-ups or brain breaks.
Can I show the game on a projector or smartboard?
Yes, on any projector or smartboard that can open a web page. Open this page, press Party mode, and the question fills the screen in large type. Pick with a tap or the 1 and 2 keys, press Esc to leave, and nothing needs to be installed or signed into.