The Mysterious Benedict Society

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Design Your Own Team Task and Test”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of the theme of The Power of Cooperation by designing a task requiring a variety of abilities and a test designed to evaluate these varying abilities.

The children in The Mysterious Benedict Society can only succeed at their task if they cooperate, because they each possess abilities that are needed in their mission. Mr. Benedict uses his test to make sure that the team will have all of the necessary skills to succeed. Imagine that you have a task that only a group with diverse abilities can accomplish: How will you assemble your team?

For this activity, you will design two things: a test and a task.

Your Task:

• Write a one-paragraph description of the task—what mission do you need the team to accomplish?
• Write a second paragraph explaining why this task requires the same set of skills that the children in The Mysterious Benedict Society possess. (You will need a team member who can memorize large amounts of information, like Sticky, for example—not someone who can turn themselves invisible or move objects with their minds.)
• Your task can be as serious or as silly as you like. (Save the world from an evil genius, stop a plane from crashing, or retrieve your favorite socks from a very deep hole—it doesn’t matter, as long as the task requires teamwork!)

Your Test:

• Create a test that has at least three parts: These can be physical tasks, written tests, puzzles, tests of character and personality, or anything else you can imagine.
• Create a three-column chart. On the far left, list the parts of your test. In the middle, list the different ways to pass each part of the test. On the far right, explain which ability would be revealed by each method of passing.

Teaching Suggestion: Students may wonder if it is acceptable to borrow test or task ideas from other sources. Consider letting them know ahead of time how much originality you expect, keeping in mind that the more originality you ask for, the more time will be required for the activity. The key purpose of this activity is for students to identify how the children’s abilities differ and how their cooperation is required for their mission—as long as students are not simply rewording descriptions of the task and test that occur in the book itself, this key purpose can be fulfilled. If your teaching situation permits, students might enjoy challenging one another to actually take any portions of their tests that can realistically be carried out in a classroom.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students with attentional concerns and executive function differences may struggle to recall the specific abilities that each child brings to the team in The Mysterious Benedict Society. You might offer these students an opportunity to brainstorm with a partner or small group before they begin working on this activity. Because this activity offers a wide latitude for creative choices, students with anxiety and related emotional concerns may struggle to make decisions effectively. Consider offering students a time limit for decision making and offering a preset task for any who have not chosen a task by the end of the time limit. You might also allow these students to work with a partner who can facilitate decision-making.