Some educators are nervous about using games in the classroom or fully implementing all aspects of game-based learning (GBL). However, there are a few small, safe steps that all educators can and should consider to leverage the power of engagement that games can bring. Finding games isn’t as difficult as it used to be. Sites like Educade provide game ideas, links, resources, and even lesson ideas. This is a great start, but educators should take some of the following next steps to feel even more confident and safe about using games in the classroom.

Play the Games

When educators want to know if a game is appropriate for the classroom, they shouldn’t just rely on someone telling them it’s great, whether that someone is a company or even a colleague. To truly understand if the game will work with your curriculum or your intended goals for learning, you need to sit down and actually play the game. Spend the time to explore this software, app, or board game to your satisfaction. As you play, you can experience what students will experience and learn how to support them when they play. You’ll develop an understanding of what can be learned from this game, whether it’s content, thinking skills, or both. One of the best professional development experiences on games and GBL is to play a digital game like Civilization solo or a board game like Settlers of Catan with a group of friends.

A Game Is Voluntary

You want to know what makes games the most effective? They are voluntary. If you make students play the game, you are missing the entire point of games and GBL. Jane McGonigal, author of Reality is Broken, states:

When you strip away the genre differences and the technological complexities, all games share four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation.

Voluntary participation means that players actively agree to the rules and procedures of the game, rather than having those forced upon them. When we are forced to do something, the work we do in games actually becomes less safe and less enjoyable. Consider offering games as a voluntary activity for true engagement.

Games as Differentiation

Not every student in your class needs to be playing the same game at the same time. In fact, games can be used as just another tool to differentiate. As teachers formatively assess their students, they may find that some students didn’t quite get either the content knowledge or 21st century skill they were focusing on. Also, educators might find that some students are ready for a greater challenge. Educators can use games as a tool to support either revisiting the material or pushing students farther on new material. Not only do games help differentiate for students, but they also free up the teacher to meet the needs of more students.

Team Games

Even though many games are played individually, playing games together can be a great way to build classroom culture. When paired with other culture-building activities, games can provide low-stakes, competitive ways to build collaboration skills. In fact, games that involve teams can help support the principles of “helping each other out” and sharing. Some games, like Pandemic, require that all players work together toward the same goal instead of working competitively. Collaboration is key in that game, so consider games like it for building classroom culture, and pair them with reflections and discussion to assess the learning.

Remember, depending on the access to technology, teachers can pick both high-tech and low-tech games, or offer both. Educators can try all or some of these steps to use games in the classroom. It’s important that we start small with implementation, and that we continually reflect on the learning and push ourselves to try new things for the sake of our students, their engagement, and their achievement.

What games have you introduced in your classroom, and how did you make it happen? Please share in the comments below.

The first day of school will be here before you know it. Most teachers face the big day with enthusiasm, but they dread the inevitable challenge: what to do on the first day of school.

Every teacher’s approach is different. Whatever your goal, here are a few things to try to get the school year off to a great start!

Goal: Getting to Know Your Students

How well will your incoming students know you? How well do you know them? How well do they know each other? How well do they know the school? These are important questions to consider as you start planning the first day.

If you’re teaching kindergarteners (or high school freshmen, who often seem like kindergarteners), you may need to spend the first day – or the first several days –getting everyone comfortable. There are tons of icebreakers out there, but here are a few different techniques to try:

[tabs type=”vertical”][tabs_head][tab_title]Plan a Scavenger Hunt[/tab_title][tab_title]Assess Learning Styles[/tab_title][tab_title]Do a Self-Portrait[/tab_title][tab_title]Create a Time Capsule[/tab_title][tab_title]Get Them Guessing[/tab_title][tab_title]Start with a Challenge[/tab_title][tab_title]Begin with a Book[/tab_title][/tabs_head][tab]This could involve students searching the classroom to find things like the pencil sharpener or the hall pass, or it could ask them to discover which of their classmates took a long trip over the summer or who has a younger brother.[/tab][tab]For older students, the first day of school can be a great chance to find out more about how they learn.
There are many different learning style inventories available online. Find out the many different ways your students are smart by having them complete a multiple intelligences assessment. Have students share these results.
It can encourage students who have typically struggled if they know you are aware of the things they are good at, and it provides an opportunity to address some of those “I’m dumb/she’s dumb” issues that inevitably crop up in a classroom.[/tab][tab]Whether it’s done with words or pictures, collage or drawn by hand, having students describe themselves can be fun, informative, and occasionally surprising. Of course, the self-portrait will be most effective if you do one of yourself, too.[/tab][tab]Have students create a sample of their current work — for example, have students take a pre-test, write a paragraph or even video tape them reading aloud or speaking in a foreign language. Bring the examples out in June and let students recognize how much they’ve grown. [/tab][tab]Prediction activities can be a great way to activate students’ prior knowledge on a topic and get them excited about what lies ahead in the course.
Guessing Game 1:
Give them a series of true and false statements about the content of the course and have them guess the right answers.
Guessing Game 2:
Or do a demonstration experiment and have students guess about the results. If you teach English, try this trick: get a movie of the first novel students will read and show one brief, suspenseful or exciting scene. Make sure to stop the film so that students are “left hanging” and tell them they’ll have to read the book to find out what happens. You may get kids begging to start the book![/tab][tab]This is especially effective for older students or for classes in which you want to set a specific tone. Since most teachers spend the first day of school distributing syllabi and lecturing about class rules, you will really get the students’ attention if you make them work the first day and get around to that “business” stuff on the second or third day of class. Give students an assignment that will really challenge them. One drama teacher actually starts her beginning drama class by making students do an audition where they read a speech aloud in front of the class. It’s not graded, but it gives her valuable information about the students and it helps them get past their initial “I can’t act” attitude. If you teach an AP class, why not start the first day by giving the students part of a practice AP exam? The students will see them soon enough – just jump right in![/tab][tab]This approach is especially effective for non-language arts teachers. Find a book that puts a different spin on your subject and share it (or part of it) on the first day. Ways to Use Books to Introduce Subjects Outside Language Arts – Maybe a children’s book on animals is a fun way to begin studying biology. – A coffee table photo book might provide striking images for students to think about as they begin studying history. – For older history students, consider taking an excerpt from a book like Guns, Germs, and Steel; Founding Brothers; or Citizen Soldiers. These books describe history in a different way and may grab the attention of students inclined to “tune out” their textbook. Whatever method you choose, the first day of school offers a great opportunity to learn about your students and set the tone for a terrific school year![/tab][/tabs]

[button color=”blue” size=”small” link=”http://www.teachhub.com/first-day-school-activities-students-love” target=”blank” ]Source[/button]

Throwing or bouncing balls to drill language

The simplest use of a ball is for students to throw and catch it while drilling something like months of the year or pairs of infinitive and irregular past forms of verbs. This can be done with all three of the ways mentioned in the introduction above – one student on their own, two or more students cooperating, or a more competitive version with more challenging throws or things said to catch the other people out. You could also have one or two people throwing and catching while everyone else chants, perhaps as teams. Other sequences which students can drill include Days of the week, Numbers, Times and Dates, Adjectives and adverbs, I me my mine, you you your yours, etc.

Going beyond drilling with throwing and bouncing balls

Another obvious activity that could be considered one step above drilling is brainstorming as a ball goes back and forth, e.g. “banana”, “apple”, “grape” etc if the topic is fruit. The same thing can be done for grammar by brainstorming things like past participles (“been”, “seen”, “watched” etc) and uncountable nouns. You can also do the same thing for pronunciation, brainstorming words with “iz” ending (“passes”, “churches” etc), words with long vowel sounds (“arch” etc), single syllable words (“fan”, “bar” etc), words stressed on the first syllable (“power”, “waterfall”, etc), and so on.

Target practice games for practicing English

Target practice in the classroom can be played with students aiming balls at the places that the teacher or a student says or writes up on the whiteboard. If you don’t have enough balls for one per student or don’t want lots of things flying around the classroom at the same time, students can use paper (screwed up into balls or made into paper aeroplanes) or one person from each team can throw, with their teammates helping them work out where to do so. To add extra language, you can let students try again if they can describe where their ball actually ended up (“It’s in front of the box” “That’s right. Try to throw it behind the box again then.”). You can also play the opposite game of one person throwing and the other students competing to be first to correctly shout out where the ball has ended up.

Ball actions

As well as listening for where the ball has gone, students can listen for what someone is doing with the ball, e.g. “You are bouncing it on the door” and “You are kicking it”. Students can also race to do the action that is shouted out or written up (“Balance the ball on your shoulder”, “Hold the ball between your knees”, etc), challenge each other to do tricky things (“Can you head it four times?” etc), or think of and do actions that no one else has (“We are holding it with our little fingers”). One person or group can also do a whole sequence of actions that the other people must try to remember, as practice of Past Simple and/ or sequencing language (“after that” etc).

TEFL dodge ball

This is kind of the opposite of the throw and catch games at the start of this article. People try to avoid the thrown ball, and if it hits them they have to answer the question, come up with the next word, guess the next missing letter, etc. If they are wrong, they lose a point or are out of the game. If they are right, they can throw the ball next, perhaps also setting the next challenge. If you and the students can stand the chaos, this works best with everyone running around freely, rather than gathered at opposite walls as in the normal rules of dodge ball.

Article written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com
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