This case-study explores the effects of a school-wide writing competition and the implementation of a poetry-writing unit across all junior English classes in a rural New Zealand school. Teacher interview data were thematically analysed using a social constructionist lens. Results highlight the varied strategies adopted by teachers, while indicating commonalities of approach. The competition proved a spur to teachers, challenging them to address matters of activity sequencing and design, and their classroom roles. Somewhat unexpectedly, the competition was found to be an extrinsic motivator that worked synergistically with teachers’ choices of learning activities and approaches to motivate students, and helped produce whole-class, collective efficacy effects.