Renaissance Rallies are academic pep rallies, and a great way to celebrate all of the positive behaviors you look for in your students. Celebrate great grades, improving grades, athletic achievement, community involvement, perfect attendance, and any other behavior that deserves praise. These steps are meant as a loose guide and as a jumping point for your own ideas and alterations for your students.

School type: K-12

Activity goal: Create a culture of excitement and celebration for positive behaviors in your school

Submitted by: Jostens Renaissance Education

HOW TO PLAN A RENAISSANCE RALLY:

1. Map out the Renaissance Rally.
   • A general guide for the format of a Renaissance Rally is as follows: Recognition-Entertainment-Recognition-Entertainment
2. Determine roles and responsibilities.
   • Having students as involved as possible in the planning and execution of a rally is a great strategy (depending on student age). Even if students are planning the rally, it is important to have an adult overseeing the committee to ensure all aspects of the rally are planned and ready for a full audience.
3. Select a Rally theme.
   • The theme sets the tone for the positive message that will be portrayed during the rally and can be the starting point for skits, games, competitions, and music that occurs throughout. (See other Renaissance Rally best practices for scripts with examples of different themes.)
4. Create a recognition list. Decide who will be recognized for this rally and remember that the purpose is to create energy and excitement around behaviors you want to see from all students.
   • Some examples of reasons for recognition are:
     • Top % of academics
     • Members of a club
     • x% increase in GPA
     • Perfect attendance for the semester
     • Volunteer of the semester
     • Anything you want to see more of at your school!
5. Based on how many people you plan to recognize, create a script/agenda.
   • This will include the fun activities you plan on doing, skits, music that you want to play, competitions between classes and the methods of recognition. Using audio-visual componants is a great way to keep things short. It’s a good idea to time out any speaking parts and games or other activities so that you don’t run out of time for recognition – see script examples in the Idea Exchange library.
6. Don’t be afraid to start small but with a big ‘WOW’ factor. The key is high energy and audience involvement. As you become rally pros, you and your students will add more elaborate skits and activities to your rally.
7. De-breif with your students, and start planning the next Renaissance Rally!

DOWNLOAD THIS STEP BY STEP GUIDE: Print version (PDF)

ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES:

• Be sure to include your Staffulty in the games and recognition.
• Submit your Renaissance Rally themes, tips, and scripts to the Idea Exchange so others can build on your successes and learn from any challenges that may have occurred.

WANT ACCESS TO MORE SCHOOL CULTURE IDEAS FROM JOSTENS RENAISSANCE?

Contact us for a registration code or by reaching out to your Jostens rep. All Jostens customers have free access to Jostens Renaissance resources, and we’re happy to help!

If you don’t currently partner with Jostens for yearbooks or graduation regalia or other celebratory products, you can learn more here.