Teaching statistics this past year has thankfully given me ample opportunities to introduce games into my classroom. In fact, the section on probability may be my favorite for that simple reason alone. The most common games that are played in my statistics classroom typically fall into one of two categories. They are either games where students can use their newly learned abilities to play more optimally or they are games where students are guided towards discovering new techniques.
The first type of game works best in a competitive format. My students have a higher maturity level than many other classes and find the competitive edge of the game to be motivational as opposed to distracting. I have not had great success with competitive games in my Algebra classes. They often become too distracted by “winning” that they miss the point of the game entirely.
These games are typically done over 2-3 class periods. We will play an initial round of the game, with students feeling out the rules and strategy. We will discuss how students made the decisions they did and then lead that into a new topic that will aid them in playing the game. After learning the topic, we will play again, now allowing students to put their newly learned skills to good work.
The second type of game works best in a cooperative format. Students are working together to achieve a singular goal. For example, a few students may have to work together to maximize their score. This drives students to discuss their different options in order to make the best possible moves. These games are often accompanied with guiding questions that will help students either discover a new topic or make connections to a previously learned topic.
Games are a great tool and can be immensely helpful as long as they are designed to be appropriate for the level of course.
After reading, Managing In-class Game Play, I thought of many games I play with my first graders and ways that I implement classroom management with my students. Game play in first grade is very important for their attention span, age, engagement and understanding of the material being presented. Just like it stated in the article, it gives students unique opportunities to learn, practice and demonstrate their understanding of ideas in engaging ways. There are many games I play with my students. On Fridays, my students have Math Game Day in our classroom with parent volunteers. The students play games from our Everyday Math Curriculum from throughout the week and games that reinforce skills that they are studying. From September to June the students learn the procedures and expectations of Math Game Day. The students have a game day buddy they work with on the different games for the day. Throughout the week the students will play an enrichment game to go with the lesson with their game day buddy. I review the rules and model the procedures of the game. The students are able observe and recognize the expectations that should be illustrated during games. Everyday the students rotate with their buddy depending if it is an A or B day with the roles of the game. There are days when the students will rotate material manager (person in charge of making sure all of the materials are arranged correctly for the game), clean up manager (person in charge of making sure all materials are returned to their proper place, record keeper (person in charge of keeping track of scores and recording) and time keeper (person who keeps an eye on the time to make sure their group is keeping up the game and getting their work complete in a timely manner). After the students have their role for the week, each day the students practice their role. I walk around and monitor their good decisions and expected behaviors. I also will assess their understanding and stop if I see confusion or noise volume increasing. I will then review the expectations and goals. Like the article stated, you need to make changes. I tell my first graders that it is a "commercial message." I will stop the students and clear up any confusion or will share something I saw that was done really well. For example, if a buddy helped their partner with figuring out an addition fact by using their number grid, I will stop and explain the good behavior I saw. By Friday, the students are aware of the rules and expectations of the games. I have parents who come in on Fridays to facilitate each game, where I am then able to work with students on strategies and skills in Math. The students do a wonderful job being independent thinkers and modeling expected behaviors for game day. Math Game Day is very successful for the students both socially and academically in first grade. Socially, the students are able to work on good decision making as well as sportsmanship. Academically, the students have support on math skills they are working on and are able to have a clear understanding of the skills and apply them to different problems. I receive great feedback from parents regarding the students Math skills by the end of the year due to Math Game Day as well as how well behaved and independent the students are due to teaching the students the rules and procedures everyday.
My first grade students and I also have games during Word Study. We play Go Fish, Memory, ABC War and Spelling Word Hunt. All of the games allow the students to be engaged while practicing their word sort with their partner. For example, on Mondays the students will play ABC War with the words they are studying for the week. Alphabetical order is an important skill to develop in first grade. The students learn the procedures of having a rotation of jobs each week during the game. The material manager will get a sentence strip of the alphabet for their group. The word study leader will get all of the word cards for their group. The time keeper will keep track of the time while playing the game. The students learn in September while watching the teacher how to play the game and locate the letters on the alphabet to see who keeps the card depending on which letter comes first in the alphabet. In first grade, I take a great deal of time modeling to the students how to help their buddy if they have trouble, praising their buddy for doing a good job and keeping with a three inch voice while playing the game to allow every group to have fun and learn. It is amazing to see the success of the students' spelling at the end of the week. The students are assessed on Fridays. They are able to master their spelling during assessments as well as in in their independent writing. The engagement of the Word Study games helps students transfer their spelling skills into their independent writing. The students also become independent thinkers playing the games all year. I feel very confident with the social and academic success of my students due to the games I establish and model in my classroom everyday. My students develop skills that become habits and transfer into their independent work. Classroom games are fun and exciting for students and help with the success of the child!
My Kindergarten students love games! I make game boards and memory for them to complete after they finish their centers. Their favorite game is a sight word memory game that I got from my Scholastic News. I made two sets of every sight word on a snowman. They have to hide a carrot under one word and they keep trying to find matches until they find the carrot. Sounds boring but they really love it! I have another one that is also memory and it involves birds and nests. I try to make a few new games every year so I can reuse them. The key for me is color coding everything so when they mix up the pieces I can quickly organize them. I try to make all games no bigger than a ziplock bag so they are easily to store.
Our math series also starts each unit with a game. I always play it with a few students while the others watch. They love when they get to play it with each other. Every student gets a copy of the game to take home. I always asked if they played it and only a few answer yes. I love any kind of game so I think I would have played with my own children. Some of the games are great and others are confusing.
Games teach many important life lessons! I think one of the most important ones is you are not always going to win. I always say- if you have fun you won! My own children groan every time I say it but I really believe it. Taking turns and waiting patiently are other valuable lessons for students. The students practice their academics through games we play in school also but I feel it's these life lessons that make playing games very important!
In preschool, games are a great way for students to learn without even realizing they are learning a lesson. We use games for learning the alphabet, practicing our numbers, and many other great skills that we learn during preschool. One game we play often in preschool is “Simon Says” which is a great listening game. The students do not even realize that as we play that game, they are learning to be excellent listeners. Another game we play in preschool is “bingo”, where we both need to identify the correct letter or number depending on which “bingo” game we are playing. This reinforces letters without the students even realizing we are learning our letters by playing a game. During centers, the students have several games to choose from to work in small groups. We usually have a game that relates to the letter of the week or holiday coming up, like “Race to 100”, where students hop their way to 100 by counting out loud for the 100th day of school. Playing games is a great way to get children learning, especially at such a young age.
Being that I am mostly phys ed, we do not have the opportunity to play the type of games discussed. But recently my 3rd grade son came home excited from school, telling us his homework was to play a math game which he learned that day. They had been working on multiplication and the name of the game was General. All you needed was a deck of cards and three players. The player who was the General had the job of handing the two other remaining players the cards. The 2 players would than put the cards up to their foreheads without looking at their own card. The General would say out loud the product of the two numbers. The player who could determine their own factor first won that round. The winner would then put the two cards in their pile. There are two things I found interesting, one my sons interest level and two how activities like this can help students who don't see it as easy on paper. My son was so excited to play a round of General with each one of us in the house. Typically there are lots of tears but this made it FUN! My son struggles with the multiplication timed activities, but he was soaring through these problems. He did better with the more complex thinking, I believe partly due to the competitive nature of the activity but also allowing him to see the problem in a different manner.
I think this was a great opportunity for me to see, with a little creativity, I can change this game into a health game. I look forward to using it in the future. Ultimately gaming makes learning fun and gives the students new thinking paths while developing cooperation. I consider this a complete success.
I work in a secure, behavioral care unit of a prison. So teaching daily is like juggling sharp swords. For example, a pencil can be used as a weapon. So, games are restricted because the "students" may use them inappropriately. Everything is controlled by the Correctional Officers. So, where I work, the restrictions are greater.
We do use two games which are available, Jenga and Scrabble. It was interesting to see students playing Scrabble because it really showed me how little students know about spelling. We have no dictionaries, so I became the "portable dictionary". It was almost funny to see how the students spelled words; there was no phonics whatsoever. Some words they were convinced were "real" words, but weren't even colloquialisms- just everyday slang.
I've also used Jenga. This was educational for me because one particular ESL had an amazing gift to see how things would topple and usually won at Jenga. I spoke with him after everyone left and asked if he wanted to become an architect. He's great at math and very spatially gifted. He explained that he actually drew diagrams but didn't think he could make it in college but wanted to go if he could afford it.
I've also noticed that the students love chess. We have games in the school; however, I believe the officers don't want chess to be used because the pieces could be made into weapons.
I know that whenever I use a game, it is a wild success. My students are primarily 17 years old, but they act like 7 year olds when it comes to games.
I would love to see more games available, and I truly believe that that would make classroom management almost easy, but I don't think it will ever happen where I work. The internet has become almost useless. I can't download images from Google and most of my sites are blocked due to security reasons.
Teaching different Business classes over the past few years has lent itself to different games for each class. Most of my students love the games but, my middle school students really enjoyed them! In my Computer Applications class at the middle school level, I gave my students the option of completing extra work when they finished early or playing keyboarding games to sharpen their skills. Most of them opted for the latter of the two and really enjoyed NitroType and FunToType, where there were various popular apps made into games such a Fruit Ninja. In my Personal Finance class this year, students were about to play Financial Football as a form of extra credit and they really enjoyed it. We also used a Jeopardy PowerPoint template I created to utilize for review game purposes. Jeopardy seems to work really well as it gives the students a chance to collaborate in a group (their team) and also gives them an extra review before the test the following day. The winning team is always awarded 3 extra credit points on their test so it creates an extra competitive environment for the game!
Why is it that every time I post here, I type my post and hit the preview button, my post disappears and then I have to retype it? Anyway...
I teach middle school: reading/writing strategies, math, and instructional study halls. I do use game play in my classroom, but not at this point as a formal instruction or assessment strategy. I often use games as review or reinforcement of a skill or concept. My students each have accounts on "Study Island," which is an individualized skill interactive program, driven by the Common Core objectives that includes skill practice and game play. A chance at the game is a reward for answering a question correctly. I often create "Jeopardy-like" games that we use as whole-class review activities. We do, at times, play more traditional boardgames in my study hall during down times, like Apples to Apples, etc...
The articles(s) discussed using games as an assessment tool. This idea interests me. I, and my students, are going to have to change our perceptions of playing a game in order to make this work, but I definitely feel that is worth exploring!
As the High School Technology Support Teacher, I like to incorporate various games into my workshops or training sessions with staff and/or students whenever possible. I think that sharing games provides a great opportunity for me to introduce and demo new technology that can be integrated into the classroom. Including games into a session introduces a competitive element and motivation for performing better than a colleague or a previous individual performance. A great example is my use of Kahoot! during the beginning or end of a workshop. Kahoot is a free, engaging, and collaborative web-based platform I sometimes use as a game is a way for me to motivate the audience through fun competition, assess prior or post knowledge, and connect differentiated learning with technology to key ideas I want to share.
I am a Pre-K thru grade 3 media specialist. I enjoy incorporating games in my lessons and find that they are successful because it helps to reinforce material I have already taught, but it a fun way. During a reference material unit, one of the materials we learn about are dictionaries. It is really fun to play Pictionary with the students. I split them into 2 teams, and using a dictionary, one team member and I randomly select a word from the dictionary and they have 45 seconds to draw it and their teammates have 45 seconds to try and guess what it is. When time is up, they need to identify the part of speech and use it in a sentence. I also like to do a QR code scavenger hunt, where I will place a QR code with a clue and the students have to figure out where I want them to go in the library and if they find the correct location, there is another QR code with an additional clue. Games are a great way to infuse some more fun into my library lessons.
In 2nd grade we use several games for learning, teambuilding, sportsmanship, and repetition. Such games as around the world, Bingo, Mad minute, and Math Centers. While playing games, students develop a variety of connections with the content and can form positive memories of learning. Any game that requires a student to count and move a game piece at the same time is good for developing one-to-one correspondence while counting. We push young children to think strategically and plan ahead, and to attach abstract thoughts to concrete objects, many games can help develop more-sophisticated thinking skills, educators said. One game that comes to mind is the Math centers games that are all different. They come in a plastic baggie with the game pieces, instructions, etc. The games focus on several critical math areas such as understanding of base-ten notation and place value, building fluency with addition and subtraction, using simple concepts of multiplication, measuring length with appropriate units, finding the perimeter, classifying and analyzing shapes, telling time, and counting back change in coins and bills. In addition, we use several online sites such as ABCya and Cool Math games. Both are educational game websites that organizes games by grade level (K-5) and subject categories, including letters, numbers, holiday games, and more. Games include arcade-style games that kids use arrow keys to play, word find games that can be played on screen or printed, racing games that can be played virtually against other players, typing games, and more. Some of the games may require a parent or teacher to read brief instructions, but most -- even for kids in younger grades -- are self-explanatory. I enjoy rewarding my students by giving them a few minutes of game-based learning. We don’t need more time in the classroom to learn how to think and perform in the face of real-world challenges. We need effective, interactive experiences that motivate and actively engage us in the learning process. This is where game-based learning comes in.
So many great games out there teach about art! The two most popular games in my classroom are Pictionary and “My Collection”. Pictionary is a wonderful tool that helps students loosen-up when learning how to draw and pushes them to think creatively. I noticed in the article named “Managing In-Class Gameplay” that the author mentioned that the rules of the classroom should apply to the rules of the game as well. When students play Pictionary in my class, they follow the rules of classroom respect and they do not call-out. I am able to enforce these rules with the students by stating that calling-out will cause the group to lose points in the game. We practice this in the beginning of the year and students are able to maintain a respectful behavior during in-class gameplay throughout the rest of the year. Another wonderful game is “My Collection”. It is a game similar to “go fish”, where the students will try to collect cards with artworks on them to create a collection of four artworks created by the same artist. This amazing game helps students become familiar with artists and their famous artworks. Students practice pronouncing artist’s names and gain an understanding of people’s interest in the collection of famous art. Since this is a game for a smaller group of students, I usually use it with smaller classes or during an art room centers lesson. I love being able to sit with my students and help them with artist name pronunciation, talk to the students about the artworks and help remind students to play the game in a respectful manner. Playing games helps students use their creativity and motivates students to learn in my class. I love using gameplay in the classroom and believe that it is beneficial for every classroom environment. I believe that through games, we are able to give students a break from everyday lessons, change things a little and help students learn through gameplay without even noticing!
In my HS Math classes, we don't usually have the luxury of time to play games for a whole period. I love games, playing them and designing them, but they've only really been used during lunch or on a day when half the class is missing for whatever reason. I like using games that involve strategy such as Hex on Nim based games to see how students try different tactics and adjust their plans and learn from other students' attempts. I also tend to play against them as the boss level... they want so badly to beat me and when it happens there is a real joy for them. The games themselves don't directly correlate to my math lessons but I want them to find value in the perseverance, adjusting strategies and realizing that I may not be that much better at Math than them, I just put a lot of thinking into it and have a lot of experience. It takes away the mystique and impossibility of learning a difficult subject, in a way. I used to spend the last few minutes of every class in first month playing the "Stories with Holes" games where I tell them a short part of a mystery ("A man lies dead in a field holding a straw. What happened?") and they ask yes/no questions trying to figure out the complex story. Once again, not math curriculum related. I used it for teamwork (the whole class working together) and building strong questioning techniques.
As a World Language teacher of Italian and Spanish I know that learning languages is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating. I often incorporate games in my lessons to help students to learn and retain new words more easily. Games usually involve friendly competition and they keep learners interested. Well-chosen games are invaluable as they give students a break and at the same time allow students to practice language skills. Furthermore, vocabulary games bring real world context into the classroom, and enhance students' use of Italian or Spanish in a flexible, communicative way. Therefore, the role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied. However, in order to achieve the most from vocabulary games, it is essential that suitable games are chosen. Whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of students, proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and the classroom settings are factors that should be taken into account. In conclusion, learning vocabulary through games is one effective and interesting way that can be applied in any classrooms.
In my high school chemistry classes, one of the favorites of my students is Element Bingo. The bingo card has element symbols and the caller calls out the elements. Students must know the name and symbol of the elements in order to properly play the game. At first, students are allowed to use a periodic table with the names and symbols. Then as the year progresses, the periodic table will only have the symbols. Towards the end of the year, students are not given a periodic table and must be able to recognize the correct symbols on the bingo cards. There is also a version for chemistry ion bingo.
Students like to help each other out during the game which helps other students to learn the element names and symbols as well as reinforce their own knowledge. In the beginning of the year I will ask students to find the atomic number for the element on the periodic table. It is then easy for all students to find the element name and symbol in a timely fashion. Games are a good way to change the class pace. Also, if you can build in incentives, students really get into the atmosphere and competition that comes with playing games with their peers.
Teaching statistics this past year has thankfully given me ample opportunities to introduce games into my classroom. In fact, the section on probability may be my favorite for that simple reason alone. The most common games that are played in my statistics classroom typically fall into one of two categories. They are either games where students can use their newly learned abilities to play more optimally or they are games where students are guided towards discovering new techniques.
ReplyDeleteThe first type of game works best in a competitive format. My students have a higher maturity level than many other classes and find the competitive edge of the game to be motivational as opposed to distracting. I have not had great success with competitive games in my Algebra classes. They often become too distracted by “winning” that they miss the point of the game entirely.
These games are typically done over 2-3 class periods. We will play an initial round of the game, with students feeling out the rules and strategy. We will discuss how students made the decisions they did and then lead that into a new topic that will aid them in playing the game. After learning the topic, we will play again, now allowing students to put their newly learned skills to good work.
The second type of game works best in a cooperative format. Students are working together to achieve a singular goal. For example, a few students may have to work together to maximize their score. This drives students to discuss their different options in order to make the best possible moves. These games are often accompanied with guiding questions that will help students either discover a new topic or make connections to a previously learned topic.
Games are a great tool and can be immensely helpful as long as they are designed to be appropriate for the level of course.
After reading, Managing In-class Game Play, I thought of many games I play with my first graders and ways that I implement classroom management with my students. Game play in first grade is very important for their attention span, age, engagement and understanding of the material being presented. Just like it stated in the article, it gives students unique opportunities to learn, practice and demonstrate their understanding of ideas in engaging ways.
ReplyDeleteThere are many games I play with my students. On Fridays, my students have Math Game Day in our classroom with parent volunteers. The students play games from our Everyday Math Curriculum from throughout the week and games that reinforce skills that they are studying. From September to June the students learn the procedures and expectations of Math Game Day. The students have a game day buddy they work with on the different games for the day. Throughout the week the students will play an enrichment game to go with the lesson with their game day buddy. I review the rules and model the procedures of the game. The students are able observe and recognize the expectations that should be illustrated during games. Everyday the students rotate with their buddy depending if it is an A or B day with the roles of the game. There are days when the students will rotate material manager (person in charge of making sure all of the materials are arranged correctly for the game), clean up manager (person in charge of making sure all materials are returned to their proper place, record keeper (person in charge of keeping track of scores and recording) and time keeper (person who keeps an eye on the time to make sure their group is keeping up the game and getting their work complete in a timely manner). After the students have their role for the week, each day the students practice their role. I walk around and monitor their good decisions and expected behaviors. I also will assess their understanding and stop if I see confusion or noise volume increasing. I will then review the expectations and goals. Like the article stated, you need to make changes. I tell my first graders that it is a "commercial message." I will stop the students and clear up any confusion or will share something I saw that was done really well. For example, if a buddy helped their partner with figuring out an addition fact by using their number grid, I will stop and explain the good behavior I saw. By Friday, the students are aware of the rules and expectations of the games. I have parents who come in on Fridays to facilitate each game, where I am then able to work with students on strategies and skills in Math. The students do a wonderful job being independent thinkers and modeling expected behaviors for game day. Math Game Day is very successful for the students both socially and academically in first grade. Socially, the students are able to work on good decision making as well as sportsmanship. Academically, the students have support on math skills they are working on and are able to have a clear understanding of the skills and apply them to different problems. I receive great feedback from parents regarding the students Math skills by the end of the year due to Math Game Day as well as how well behaved and independent the students are due to teaching the students the rules and procedures everyday.
My first grade students and I also have games during Word Study. We play Go Fish, Memory, ABC War and Spelling Word Hunt. All of the games allow the students to be engaged while practicing their word sort with their partner. For example, on Mondays the students will play ABC War with the words they are studying for the week. Alphabetical order is an important skill to develop in first grade. The students learn the procedures of having a rotation of jobs each week during the game. The material manager will get a sentence strip of the alphabet for their group. The word study leader will get all of the word cards for their group. The time keeper will keep track of the time while playing the game. The students learn in September while watching the teacher how to play the game and locate the letters on the alphabet to see who keeps the card depending on which letter comes first in the alphabet. In first grade, I take a great deal of time modeling to the students how to help their buddy if they have trouble, praising their buddy for doing a good job and keeping with a three inch voice while playing the game to allow every group to have fun and learn. It is amazing to see the success of the students' spelling at the end of the week. The students are assessed on Fridays. They are able to master their spelling during assessments as well as in in their independent writing. The engagement of the Word Study games helps students transfer their spelling skills into their independent writing. The students also become independent thinkers playing the games all year.
ReplyDeleteI feel very confident with the social and academic success of my students due to the games I establish and model in my classroom everyday. My students develop skills that become habits and transfer into their independent work. Classroom games are fun and exciting for students and help with the success of the child!
~Heather Catrambone
My Kindergarten students love games! I make game boards and memory for them to complete after they finish their centers. Their favorite game is a sight word memory game that I got from my Scholastic News. I made two sets of every sight word on a snowman. They have to hide a carrot under one word and they keep trying to find matches until they find the carrot. Sounds boring but they really love it! I have another one that is also memory and it involves birds and nests. I try to make a few new games every year so I can reuse them. The key for me is color coding everything so when they mix up the pieces I can quickly organize them. I try to make all games no bigger than a ziplock bag so they are easily to store.
ReplyDeleteOur math series also starts each unit with a game. I always play it with a few students while the others watch. They love when they get to play it with each other. Every student gets a copy of the game to take home. I always asked if they played it and only a few answer yes. I love any kind of game so I think I would have played with my own children. Some of the games are great and others are confusing.
Games teach many important life lessons! I think one of the most important ones is you are not always going to win. I always say- if you have fun you won! My own children groan every time I say it but I really believe it. Taking turns and waiting patiently are other valuable lessons for students. The students practice their academics through games we play in school also but I feel it's these life lessons that make playing games very important!
In preschool, games are a great way for students to learn without even realizing they are learning a lesson. We use games for learning the alphabet, practicing our numbers, and many other great skills that we learn during preschool. One game we play often in preschool is “Simon Says” which is a great listening game. The students do not even realize that as we play that game, they are learning to be excellent listeners. Another game we play in preschool is “bingo”, where we both need to identify the correct letter or number depending on which “bingo” game we are playing. This reinforces letters without the students even realizing we are learning our letters by playing a game. During centers, the students have several games to choose from to work in small groups. We usually have a game that relates to the letter of the week or holiday coming up, like “Race to 100”, where students hop their way to 100 by counting out loud for the 100th day of school. Playing games is a great way to get children learning, especially at such a young age.
ReplyDeleteBeing that I am mostly phys ed, we do not have the opportunity to play the type of games discussed. But recently my 3rd grade son came home excited from school, telling us his homework was to play a math game which he learned that day. They had been working on multiplication and the name of the game was General. All you needed was a deck of cards and three players. The player who was the General had the job of handing the two other remaining players the cards. The 2 players would than put the cards up to their foreheads without looking at their own card. The General would say out loud the product of the two numbers. The player who could determine their own factor first won that round. The winner would then put the two cards in their pile. There are two things I found interesting, one my sons interest level and two how activities like this can help students who don't see it as easy on paper. My son was so excited to play a round of General with each one of us in the house. Typically there are lots of tears but this made it FUN! My son struggles with the multiplication timed activities, but he was soaring through these problems. He did better with the more complex thinking, I believe partly due to the competitive nature of the activity but also allowing him to see the problem in a different manner.
ReplyDeleteI think this was a great opportunity for me to see, with a little creativity, I can change this game into a health game. I look forward to using it in the future. Ultimately gaming makes learning fun and gives the students new thinking paths while developing cooperation. I consider this a complete success.
I work in a secure, behavioral care unit of a prison. So teaching daily is like juggling sharp swords. For example, a pencil can be used as a weapon. So, games are restricted because the "students" may use them inappropriately. Everything is controlled by the Correctional Officers. So, where I work, the restrictions are greater.
ReplyDeleteWe do use two games which are available, Jenga and Scrabble. It was interesting to see students playing Scrabble because it really showed me how little students know about spelling. We have no dictionaries, so I became the "portable dictionary". It was almost funny to see how the students spelled words; there was no phonics whatsoever. Some words they were convinced were "real" words, but weren't even colloquialisms- just everyday slang.
I've also used Jenga. This was educational for me because one particular ESL had an amazing gift to see how things would topple and usually won at Jenga. I spoke with him after everyone left and asked if he wanted to become an architect. He's great at math and very spatially gifted. He explained that he actually drew diagrams but didn't think he could make it in college but wanted to go if he could afford it.
I've also noticed that the students love chess. We have games in the school; however, I believe the officers don't want chess to be used because the pieces could be made into weapons.
I know that whenever I use a game, it is a wild success. My students are primarily 17 years old, but they act like 7 year olds when it comes to games.
I would love to see more games available, and I truly believe that that would make classroom management almost easy, but I don't think it will ever happen where I work. The internet has become almost useless. I can't download images from Google and most of my sites are blocked due to security reasons.
Hopefully things will change for your students. Nice post.
DeleteTeaching different Business classes over the past few years has lent itself to different games for each class. Most of my students love the games but, my middle school students really enjoyed them! In my Computer Applications class at the middle school level, I gave my students the option of completing extra work when they finished early or playing keyboarding games to sharpen their skills. Most of them opted for the latter of the two and really enjoyed NitroType and FunToType, where there were various popular apps made into games such a Fruit Ninja. In my Personal Finance class this year, students were about to play Financial Football as a form of extra credit and they really enjoyed it. We also used a Jeopardy PowerPoint template I created to utilize for review game purposes. Jeopardy seems to work really well as it gives the students a chance to collaborate in a group (their team) and also gives them an extra review before the test the following day. The winning team is always awarded 3 extra credit points on their test so it creates an extra competitive environment for the game!
ReplyDeleteKara McNish
Why is it that every time I post here, I type my post and hit the preview button, my post disappears and then I have to retype it? Anyway...
ReplyDeleteI teach middle school: reading/writing strategies, math, and instructional study halls. I do use game play in my classroom, but not at this point as a formal instruction or assessment strategy. I often use games as review or reinforcement of a skill or concept. My students each have accounts on "Study Island," which is an individualized skill interactive program, driven by the Common Core objectives that includes skill practice and game play. A chance at the game is a reward for answering a question correctly. I often create "Jeopardy-like" games that we use as whole-class review activities. We do, at times, play more traditional boardgames in my study hall during down times, like Apples to Apples, etc...
The articles(s) discussed using games as an assessment tool. This idea interests me. I, and my students, are going to have to change our perceptions of playing a game in order to make this work, but I definitely feel that is worth exploring!
Tracy Freitag
As the High School Technology Support Teacher, I like to incorporate various games into my workshops or training sessions with staff and/or students whenever possible. I think that sharing games provides a great opportunity for me to introduce and demo new technology that can be integrated into the classroom. Including games into a session introduces a competitive element and motivation for performing better than a colleague or a previous individual performance. A great example is my use of Kahoot! during the beginning or end of a workshop. Kahoot is a free, engaging, and collaborative web-based platform I sometimes use as a game is a way for me to motivate the audience through fun competition, assess prior or post knowledge, and connect differentiated learning with technology to key ideas I want to share.
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ReplyDeleteI am a Pre-K thru grade 3 media specialist. I enjoy incorporating games in my lessons and find that they are successful because it helps to reinforce material I have already taught, but it a fun way.
ReplyDeleteDuring a reference material unit, one of the materials we learn about are dictionaries. It is really fun to play Pictionary with the students. I split them into 2 teams, and using a dictionary, one team member and I randomly select a word from the dictionary and they have 45 seconds to draw it and their teammates have 45 seconds to try and guess what it is. When time is up, they need to identify the part of speech and use it in a sentence.
I also like to do a QR code scavenger hunt, where I will place a QR code with a clue and the students have to figure out where I want them to go in the library and if they find the correct location, there is another QR code with an additional clue. Games are a great way to infuse some more fun into my library lessons.
In 2nd grade we use several games for learning, teambuilding, sportsmanship, and repetition. Such games as around the world, Bingo, Mad minute, and Math Centers. While playing games, students develop a variety of connections with the content and can form positive memories of learning. Any game that requires a student to count and move a game piece at the same time is good for developing one-to-one correspondence while counting.
ReplyDeleteWe push young children to think strategically and plan ahead, and to attach abstract thoughts to concrete objects, many games can help develop more-sophisticated thinking skills, educators said.
One game that comes to mind is the Math centers games that are all different. They come in a plastic baggie with the game pieces, instructions, etc. The games focus on several critical math areas such as understanding of base-ten notation and place value, building fluency with addition and subtraction, using simple concepts of multiplication, measuring length with appropriate units, finding the perimeter, classifying and analyzing shapes, telling time, and counting back change in coins and bills.
In addition, we use several online sites such as ABCya and Cool Math games. Both are educational game websites that organizes games by grade level (K-5) and subject categories, including letters, numbers, holiday games, and more. Games include arcade-style games that kids use arrow keys to play, word find games that can be played on screen or printed, racing games that can be played virtually against other players, typing games, and more. Some of the games may require a parent or teacher to read brief instructions, but most -- even for kids in younger grades -- are self-explanatory.
I enjoy rewarding my students by giving them a few minutes of game-based learning. We don’t need more time in the classroom to learn how to think and perform in the face of real-world challenges. We need effective, interactive experiences that motivate and actively engage us in the learning process. This is where game-based learning comes in.
So many great games out there teach about art! The two most popular games in my classroom are Pictionary and “My Collection”.
ReplyDeletePictionary is a wonderful tool that helps students loosen-up when learning how to draw and pushes them to think creatively. I noticed in the article named “Managing In-Class Gameplay” that the author mentioned that the rules of the classroom should apply to the rules of the game as well. When students play Pictionary in my class, they follow the rules of classroom respect and they do not call-out. I am able to enforce these rules with the students by stating that calling-out will cause the group to lose points in the game. We practice this in the beginning of the year and students are able to maintain a respectful behavior during in-class gameplay throughout the rest of the year.
Another wonderful game is “My Collection”. It is a game similar to “go fish”, where the students will try to collect cards with artworks on them to create a collection of four artworks created by the same artist. This amazing game helps students become familiar with artists and their famous artworks. Students practice pronouncing artist’s names and gain an understanding of people’s interest in the collection of famous art. Since this is a game for a smaller group of students, I usually use it with smaller classes or during an art room centers lesson. I love being able to sit with my students and help them with artist name pronunciation, talk to the students about the artworks and help remind students to play the game in a respectful manner.
Playing games helps students use their creativity and motivates students to learn in my class. I love using gameplay in the classroom and believe that it is beneficial for every classroom environment. I believe that through games, we are able to give students a break from everyday lessons, change things a little and help students learn through gameplay without even noticing!
Shiran Leibowitz
In my HS Math classes, we don't usually have the luxury of time to play games for a whole period. I love games, playing them and designing them, but they've only really been used during lunch or on a day when half the class is missing for whatever reason. I like using games that involve strategy such as Hex on Nim based games to see how students try different tactics and adjust their plans and learn from other students' attempts. I also tend to play against them as the boss level... they want so badly to beat me and when it happens there is a real joy for them. The games themselves don't directly correlate to my math lessons but I want them to find value in the perseverance, adjusting strategies and realizing that I may not be that much better at Math than them, I just put a lot of thinking into it and have a lot of experience. It takes away the mystique and impossibility of learning a difficult subject, in a way.
ReplyDeleteI used to spend the last few minutes of every class in first month playing the "Stories with Holes" games where I tell them a short part of a mystery ("A man lies dead in a field holding a straw. What happened?") and they ask yes/no questions trying to figure out the complex story. Once again, not math curriculum related. I used it for teamwork (the whole class working together) and building strong questioning techniques.
-- JOE
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ReplyDeleteAs a World Language teacher of Italian and Spanish I know that learning languages is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating. I often incorporate games in my lessons to help students to learn and retain new words more easily. Games usually involve friendly competition and they keep learners interested.
ReplyDeleteWell-chosen games are invaluable as they give students a break and at the same time allow students to practice language skills.
Furthermore, vocabulary games bring real world context into the classroom, and enhance students' use of Italian or Spanish in a flexible, communicative way.
Therefore, the role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied. However, in order to achieve the most from vocabulary games, it is essential that suitable games are chosen. Whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of students, proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and the classroom settings are factors that should be taken into account.
In conclusion, learning vocabulary through games is one effective and interesting way that can be applied in any classrooms.
In my high school chemistry classes, one of the favorites of my students is Element Bingo. The bingo card has element symbols and the caller calls out the elements. Students must know the name and symbol of the elements in order to properly play the game. At first, students are allowed to use a periodic table with the names and symbols. Then as the year progresses, the periodic table will only have the symbols. Towards the end of the year, students are not given a periodic table and must be able to recognize the correct symbols on the bingo cards. There is also a version for chemistry ion bingo.
ReplyDeleteStudents like to help each other out during the game which helps other students to learn the element names and symbols as well as reinforce their own knowledge. In the beginning of the year I will ask students to find the atomic number for the element on the periodic table. It is then easy for all students to find the element name and symbol in a timely fashion.
Games are a good way to change the class pace. Also, if you can build in incentives, students really get into the atmosphere and competition that comes with playing games with their peers.
-Mark Falcon