Obstacles to Learning for $400, please.

Answer: Boredom

Question: What problem rivals cell phones as the biggest distraction in the classroom? 

More and more, teachers are called up to be entertainers and motivators while still maintaining effective educational practices. In our instant-gratification fueled world, I don’t think that’s changing anytime soon. 

So what do we do? One solution is to include game play in lessons. You might think this seems like an elementary solution to a secondary problem. However, many educators would beg to differ. Scholastic.com praises the benefits of board games as effective learning tools. Depending on the activity, games can “boost language skills”, “improve focus”, and “teach the value of teamwork”. I love how games can also encourage both logical and creative problem solving. I also like to use them to help students make connections–academic and social. 

We all know games are fun, right? But coming up with our subject specific games takes time and energy. Teacher friends, we have enough on our proverbial plates. Let’s not spend more off-contract time inventing original games.The better answer is to leave the game making to the game makers, then tweak those games to fit our lessons. 

In fact, I have a pre-made downloadable game card gift for you at the end of this post!

Here are my favorite non-tech games for the ELA classroom. Two are well-loved classics, and one is fairly new. 

BINGO

BINGO is a simple game to use in the classroom. It’s a perfect review activity. Thanks to Google, finding a free Bingo Card maker is easy. There are many out there, but I prefer Canva. By the way, did you know that teachers can get a free Canva for Education account? It’s totally worth it, friends. 

To review with BINGO, you can create your own cards. Fill in the squares with concepts or terms that need to be studied. Call out definitions or examples for students to match with the words in the squares. For example, a square might show verbal irony. You would read the passage from Romeo and Juliet where Juliet cries to her mother that “it is Romeo, whom you know I hate”. 

Another option is to have students create their own Bingo Card answer sheets. They randomly write on their squares the literary terms, character names, grammar rules, or whatever you are currently studying. This  ensures that no two cards are alike. It saves you time and printing. Have fun challenging students to traditional five-in-a-row, four corners, or blackout. 

My absolute favorite way to use the BINGO in the ELA classroom, however, is to encourage class discussion engagement. Create a BINGO card filled with all the things that will encourage effective class discussion. 

The game board might include: 

• Support a peer’s claim with textual evidence
• Propose a counter claim
• Credit your source
• Risk making a claim you are unsure of
• Connect our discussion to a lesson from another class

The idea is not to earn a BINGO in one particular class period, but to mark off squares over time–maybe a unit, maybe a semester. Students should come to class having already decided which BINGO squares to work on. That way, they enter the discussion listening for ways to support another student’s claim or counter one. If you use this BINGO card enough, they will start recognizing when other students earn a square, sometimes unintentionally. Talk about engagement! (You can read about more class discussion engagement strategies here.) 

If you don’t have time to create your own class discussion Bingo card, no worries. I’ve linked a free downloadable game card gift for you at the end of this post. 

Tic Tac Toe

Tic Tac Toe is similar to Bingo but with fewer squares. You can absolutely use the Tic Tac Toe game in the ELA classroom in exactly the same ways you used the Bingo game. In fact, Class Discussion Tic Tac Toe might be less intimidating than 25 Bingo squares. Earning three-in-a-row is more achievable in one class period, amping up the excitement for students to engage in effective discussion.

My favorite way to use the Tic Tac Toe game in the ELA classroom is as a choice board. I usually fill the middle square with an anchor activity that everyone must complete. The top row plus the middle square on the left side will be more creative and “fun” activities. The bottom row and the middle square on the right are more academic activities. As long as students complete activities that form three-in-a-row when they mark through them, they have fulfilled all the academic and creative requirements of the assignment. 

It’s also fun to use the Tic Tac Toe game in the ELA classroom as a choice board for books. The middle square might include the genre, the essential question, or the classroom novel. The top row choice might include independent fiction reading choices like a novel, a short story collection, an audio book, and a graphic novel. The bottom row might include non-fiction options like poetry, non-fiction novel length books, podcasts, and essay collections. Earning a Tic-Tac-Toe means students have completed independent reading that connects to the anchor text. 

OuiSi

OuiSi is my new favorite boxed game for the ELA classroom. It comes with 210 cards depicting beautiful, intriguing images on one side and a QR code for more information on the other side. It also comes with a 36 page booklet listing all kinds of competitive and non-competitive ways to play. You can check out the OuiSi website for more classroom activities and to shop for your favorite version. 

The basic idea is to make connections with the cards. The connections can be made from the images alone by matching cards of similar colors or shapes. Connections can also be made between the card and something in your surroundings–textures, patterns,or color combinations. 

However, the connections can go so much deeper. Using the QR codes, students discover more about the images. They learn who the photographer is, where the picture was taken, and important background information. While I love that OuiSi provides you with a variety of education game strategies, I did come up with my own variation that practices observing connections and practicing argument strategies with the OuiSi Nature game because it offers ELA-Science cross-curricular learning.

Argument Skills Practice with OuiSi

Distribute twelve cards to small groups of students. Give them ten minutes to connect the cards, instructing them as to what the connections must be based on. The basis might be 

• Time
• problem/solution
• Cause and effect
• Plot points and plot twist
• Compare/contrast

I give students no additional instruction. At the end of ten minutes, the group’s spokesperson explains the connection to the class. I take notes and then give feedback on the elements of argument each group successfully used in presenting their connections. For example, one group usually uses the QR code information and cites the source. Sometimes one group uses emotional appeal effectively while another uniquely interprets time to mean length of time rather than chronological order. As always, feedback and reflection are key to the effectiveness of this activity.  

I cannot express the many, many ways OuiSi can help students of all ages. Here’s a bonus–it also offers a ton of family fun. The inherent educational possibilities of OuiSi make it worth purchasing for the classroom and the family room. Grab your OuiSi Nature or OuiSi Original game here. Or get one of each at a discounted price.

Prizes

So what about prizes? Yes, the inherent prize associated with using games in the classroom is always and forever the educational value–skills practice, engaging review, or making connections. However, students might want more. So, what do you do for prizes?

Your local dollar store offers fun prizes for students of all ages:

• Treats
• Drinks
• Trinkets
• Stickers
• Playdough
• Seasonal items 
• Glow sticks
• Insulated tumblers

Depending on your classroom management system, you can provide various free prizes. 

• Quiz passes
• Hall passes
• Preferential seating
• Control of background music
• Bragging rights (Don’t underestimate posting names of winning teams!)

Lastly, contact community business for passes or free drink coupons. You’ll be surprised how eager community businesses are to support schools. Don’t forget to send a thank you card. 

It’s been a hard few years in education. Anything teachers can do to make learning fun again and create engagement is worth a try. Using these games in the ELA classroom will help you create connections with content, skills, and each other. 

What are your favorite games for the ELA classroom? Leave your faves in the comments below. And don’t forget to download your free Keeping Classics Class Discussion Bingo game card.