3 Gamification Principles for a Gamified Learning Environment

Source : Matthew Lynch , www.thetechedvocate.org

While students’ energy levels naturally decrease as they get older, most learners will have a naturally high energy level. However, when it comes time to do any serious homework or studying, their attention spans will drop. They give in to their more primordial psychological needs, and they become creative with how they avoid working.

That’s why it is essential to bring an element of fun into your classroom, whether you’re teaching kindergartners or grade 12 students. Gamification is an excellent way to hold your learners’ attention spans and make them actually want to do the activity they were previously dreading.

Let’s have a look at three of the most critical gamification principles for a gamified learning environment.

Teaching Children Grammar Through Games

Source : Shelley Vernon , www.eslbase.com

One of the questions ESL and TEFL teachers are asking on forums the world over is: how can you teach grammar through games?

If you don’t want your class to glaze over with dictation, writing exercises and “Jimmy, would you please read paragraph 1,” then take heart! You’ll find you can teach everything you want with games, and the children remember it better to boot.

9 New Ways to Use Flipgrid in the Classroom

Source : Kathryn Nieves , www.edutopia.org

The popular tool has features that teachers in any subject can use to help students connect with each other and share their learning.

The video-sharing tool Flipgrid, as we all know, is popular in schools—so popular, in so many countries, that its rapid rise been attributed to “Flipgrid Fever.” The tool has been free for educators to use for over a year now after being acquired by Microsoft.

One of the main things going for Flipgrid is its ease of use. Teachers set up an account and create grids, which act as communities for students to work in. Within each grid the teacher creates prompts called topics, and students post video responses to the prompts and replies to each other’s videos. Most of the videos are quite short, just a minute or two long, and the tool is simple enough that kindergartners use it.

6 Ways to Jam on Jamboard: Using the Digital Whiteboard in a Hybrid Classroom

Source : Linnea Lyding , www.edutopia.org

The popular Google app facilitates meaningful collaboration for both remote and in-class students.


Student email: “Yesterday’s Zoom class was the most interactive and engaging Zoom class that I have been a part of, so thank you!”

Me: (Mental fist pump)

My excitement came not because I wanted accolades but because I had worked hard to make my hybrid class as interactive as my in-person class. This gave me hope that I was achieving my goal. I was able to accomplish this through activities designed using Jamboard, an app as well as a Google Suite tool that functions as a digital whiteboard.

As an education professor, I teach my college courses using strategies that I used with my K–12 students, and Jamboard is an excellent tool to use when some of your students are learning at home and some are in class.

How to Bring Traditional Games to World Language Classes

Source : John Paul Obillos Dela Rosa , www.edutopia.org

Play is a popular student engagement strategy, and traditional games boost world language learning via an authentic cultural experience.

I’m always gratified by just how much interactive and culturally relevant activities change the dynamic in my world language classes, and in my experience nothing beats traditional games from the target culture.

I teach Tagalog, one of the major languages of the Philippines, and over and over again I’ve seen how playing street games, in particular, can prompt authentic communicative tasks that are great for assessment and student practice—and hold students’ attention because they’re so engaging.

Classroom Management tools

Source : www.teachwithict.com

Classroom Management Tools
There is a wealth of free resources available online which can be used to manage the classroom. Here are just a few of my favorites.

1st Grade Digital PBL: Does It Work?

Source : Matthew Lynch , www.thetechedvocate.org

Project-based learning is becoming an increasingly popular method of education and for many reasons. Even the youngest students are being taught using this innovative and modern approach.

However, many teachers often wonder whether or not project-based learning works and is made out to. This article will discuss exactly what this approach involves and why you should incorporate it into your grade one classroom.