I like that the Blanchowitz and Fisher article had a picture of a crossword puzzle at the top.
The article talked about developing word awareness and love of words through word play. To do this, it says you should use activities, materials, and resources that allows students to play with words using crossword activities and such.
Another activity that the article discusses is a word wall, which we are all familiar with since we have one in class. All of my classes at the intermediate school where I'm placed for my practicum have word walls. Not even for just reading, but every subject. I think thats awesome. They put all of their vocab words on the word wall and discuss the words over and over in different ways so that the students really know what these words mean and the students understand them. The article also discusses that when students think words are fun, they see them as objects they can use and examine. How true is that? I commented something about this on Holly's blog I believe. If a student sees a word that looks fun, no matter the definition, the child is going to think that word is cool. The definition will just stick because the student will like that word. Playing word games with students is crucial to building vocabulary! I'm all about games as you can figure out in my other blogs, but really, they're so effective.
In Education 100 for my service learning project I created a game for my students. The game was kind of like bingo mixed with suffixes and root words. The kids learned to use the correct ending of words attached to root words and it was reinforced through playing a game, and they loved it! Games are powerful, as long as they are educational when played in the classroom. Do you agree or disagree? Will they be something you incorporate in your own classroom? Anyone had classes where they played games that were not educational in the classroom and just a waste of time? I have.
I think educational games are very helpful in the classroom as long as they are done in moderation. For me, educational games helped me to remember many things going through grade school. I also feel like some students may see them as a time to slack off or not be serious. I will use education games but be sure that I let students know it is a learning opportunity.
ReplyDeleteI think that using games in the classroom can be extremely effective. Teachers just have to make sure that the games are structured and have a clear purpose. If a game is too much fun, students may get distracted and forget that they are supposed to be learning. When I was in elementary school I enjoyed playing educational games. Sometimes we played games that weren't relevant to the course material at all, like "Heads up 7 up" but that was not very often.
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