The Old Dog Can Learn a New Trick but Not Always When He Should

This week I tried something new with the 7th grade. I made a study guide on the disasters that they have been studying. I, also, made a matching PowerPoint with the answers to questions on the study guide on different pages in the PowerPoint. I have 5 computers in my room, so I loaded the PowerPoint on to all of the computers. The 7th graders are in 5 teams. I arranged a relay race to find the answers to the questions. One person would go to the computer assigned to their team and get an answer and then come back and another student would go to find the answer to the next question. While one student was searching the PowerPoint the other members of the team were copying the answers that had been brought back. One of my sections of 7th graders usually do not handle well any sort of "less structured" acitivity, but after a few kids lost points for running and had to go back and start over walking, they enjoyed it and did it very well. One problem they quickly sorted was when the second person left to get an answer to a question on the PowerPoint, he or she hadn't written down the answer to the question the first person had just brought back, so they would answer the same question.
Eigth graders are visiting classrooms to prepare the classes for the upcoming "Shoe Box Sale" to support an environmental foundation which will happen during the school's Earth Week (April 11-14). The 8th graders are to present a PowerPoint on an environmental problem, a foundation that attempts to solve the problem, and a persuasive statement on why a class should pick this foundation as worthy of the money they raise with their "Shoe Box Sale". It amazes me how shy these usually loud, seemingly confident, 8th graders become once they stand in front of a class with whom they are not familiar, even if it is a class of kindergareners.
I have to present and practice their first trip to the class. What they are to do is introduce themselves to the teacher and class, ask if there are any questions, and get the teacher's email. This takes a visual listing of the 3 things they are to do, modelling, and a guided practice. I still had a teacher today saying, "The kids  were nice, but they didn't seem to have a clue why they were in my room; although, they did ask for my email." I suppose that is something. You would think I would have figured out how much time and practice this would take by now.