The clash of swords, cheers and jeers of seventh-graders, and the clapped percussion of the 1977 Queen song “We Will Rock You” filled the social studies classroom during the recent Lowell Middle School-style Gladiator Games. Minutes earlier, teacher Drew Struckmeyer had entered the arena, or, to be literal, the space inside a circle of tables at which students sat. 

“Welcome, everybody, to the Gladiator Gaaaaames!” he shouted, hoisting his own sword high and launching the fifth annual competition in which students faux-fight each other and are eliminated until the last gladiator is standing in the bracket-style tournament.