Just after 9:00 in the morning, quiet cheers rang out, and students hurried to get the materials they needed for the lesson.  No, it was not time for science.  It was time for math!  What happened to make them so excited to begin?  I simply gave them one direction:

"Take out your devices.  We are going to have a little quiz before we begin math today."

Were they excited to take a quiz?  Yes, in a sense.

The main reason my students were so excited was because I said, "Take out your devices."  My students all have an Interactive Response Device.  We call them "devices" for short.  They are used to gather data from my students (in the form of little quiz questions), and I use the immediate feedback to drive my instruction throughout the lesson.  They love using the devices.  Here are some of the ways I use the devices to keep students engaged EVERYDAY.  

Expectations
As with any routine classroom procedure, my students know the expectations for using the devices.  They know I have the ability check to see exactly how they are voting.  This keeps students from just pressing any old answer. I also set a timer on the "vote" so students have to respond in a timely fashion.  They know they cannot get "points" if 100% of people do not vote within the specified time.  See below in "Team Work" for more information about the points.  They also know that these "quizzes" are not graded, so the stress level is kept to a minimum.

Team Work
My class works as a team to help each other understand the questions.  It is not unlikely to hear students asking each other for help, or to overhear a student explaining a good strategy to his/her group.  This part of my math lesson plays an integral role in the daily instruction.  Just listening to the dialogue between students allows me to understand so much about where they are in the learning process.  What does this have to do with the devices?  For every question where 100% of my students get the right answer, the class (as a whole) earns points towards a classroom reward.  
There are times when 90% get the right answer.  Students beg me to give them another try.  I do, only if a student volunteers to explain what the 10% incorrect probably did wrong.  The computer never shows the class who answered incorrectly, but I say, "Listen carefully to [so-and-so] if you missed this!"  After a student passionately explains HOW and WHY the correct answer makes sense, there are usually a few more students ready to chime in with more tips.  I also use this as a time to remind students to use math vocabulary in their explanations, but oftentimes, students will beat me to it.  They REALLY work hard to make sure all students understand so they can get points!  On days when the class is especially engaged, I award extra class points!  

Step-by-Step Check
We use devices to answer questions throughout the entire lesson.  Not only do I see what students need to learn, but individuals realize it immediately if they are missing something.  It gives us all immediate feedback.

Each day begins with a review of old material.  Usually students have already completed the questions for morning work, so it is a quick review.  It is easy to see what needs clarification before moving on.  

Before the new lesson begins, I ask a few questions that will be used to check for understanding at the end of the lesson. I also pose them at the beginning to see where my instruction needs to begin.  Students respond with devices, and we keep track of which answers have the most votes. I do not tell the students what the correct answer is.  They know they will have those questions again at the end, and the right answers will be revealed then.

As the lesson progresses, I ask various questions.  My favorite type of question does not require students to complete a whole problem, but rather they are to answer a thinking question.   I may just ask something like, "Do we need to regroup?"  Throughout the lesson, I often ask many yes/no/? questions.  The ? allows for students to show they just do not understand without guessing.  I slow down or speed up depending on the immediate data.  As students show more understanding, I demand more independent work.  

If I get to a part of the lesson where about eight students are consistently missing answers, I give the whole class independent problems to work on as I privately check to see who the struggling students are.  As everyone works quietly, I walk around to check on those specific struggling students.  I do not make it obvious with overwhelming attention on them, but this really helps me with my instruction. 

At the end of the lesson, we go back to those questions from the beginning.  I give students the chance to clarify anything or give tips to the whole class.  Then the students vote on the answers again.  Oftentimes, 100% of students get the correct answer on at least one of them.  When we can, we take time to reflect on why they were able to get the correct answer at the end.  I say, "What did you learn that made the big difference?"  If a student does miss the final questions, sometimes he/she will come to me quietly and ask for a little more help, but if they do not, I can go to them.  I can always privately see how each individual voted, or answered.    

If we do not use the devices, my students are really disappointed (and so am I).  They feel like using them makes lessons more interactive and fun.  I know that using them makes me a more effective teacher, and the learning process is much more efficient.  The devices are... bah ha ha ha ha ha... my secret weapon!

 Vocabulary. Definitions. Examples. Sentences.  Does this sound exciting? 

 When the clock hits 2:15, my class comes to life.  It is time for science!  The students have their notebooks out and are ready to move to their science seats before I even finish explaining the upcoming experiment.  They hang on every single word I say.  How do I know they are listening?  There are no questions about what to do.  Not one.  The experiments are being executed perfectly.  Even my student with the shortest attention span is caught telling her lab partner EXACTLY how many drops of liquid need to be applied to make a chemical change visible! So why do they listen SO well in science class, but have such trouble remembering vocabulary from reading class after days and days of review?

 Science matters to them-- right now!  They are in charge of the science experiment's success, and they want to see results! They care!

 How do I get students to care about vocabulary in reading class? 

 I can think like an adult, and lecture students about how knowing more vocabulary will make them understand more about what they read in the future. I could also remind students that they will be better writers in the future if they understand more vocabulary. Those involve "the future" reasoning, and as a kid, that kind of reasoning just is not enough. 

 How do I make students understand the importance of vocabulary "right now" in their lives?  Grades! That's it. No.  While it is true that learning vocabulary will help grades, does it make the students want to REALLY LEARN the words?  My students do care about their grades.  They do their sentences, participate in class, and get excellent grades.  However, I can tell my students really do not care.  They figure out the system, use those test taking strategies (I taught them) and they ace their tests. Parents are happy, students have As, but I know they still just went through the motions. A few students write really nice sentences, and they seem to enjoy the process, but this is a small portion of the class population.  HOW CAN VOCABULARY COMPETE WITH CHEMICAL REACTIONS?

 PLAY!  We easily lose track of the fact that our students are KIDS!  Let's play a game!  Make students WANT to CARE.

 This morning, we played a game I made up called, "Draw, Sculpt, or Act!"  I need a better name, but this one includes directions in the name, so it works quite efficiently in my jam-packed days.  Students work in groups to get their teams to guess the most vocabulary terms in a given amount of time.  They can draw, sculpt with play-doh, or act out words charades-style. This gets students out of their seats.  If they use one strategy, and the team is not guessing, they are forced to get the point across in other ways.  This is far from regurgitating definitions and forcing words into lackluster sentences.

 During today's game, ALL students were engaged.  They quickly found out that if they had recently studied the words, it was easier to guess.  Students worked together.  If one student could not think of the word, but they knew what the person was trying to show, they would describe it.  For example, "Oh, that is a planet going around and around!  It is that little invisible thing that goes through the planet!"  Another team member heard this and was able to guess, "Axis!" The students all seemed to have a rush of adrenaline (fun).  The winning prize was small-- a simple sticker.  The winning team was proud, but other teams did not feel deflated.

 The most important part of the game came afterwards. We reflected on the words that were easier to guess versus the ones that were challenging.  They were fairly common across groups.  For the most challenging words, we brainstormed ideas to help people guess them better.  I told the students, "You will see these words again when we review, so remember these tips!"

 After the game, I gave students the vocabulary assessment.  Compared to other weeks, the students finished in about half the time!  It is hard to prove if the game gets all the credit.  It just seemed that students really knew the words, and took less time relying on test-taking strategies!  As a teacher, I prefer standardized-style assessments to take LESS of my class time. 

This could be good news for students:

 More Time Playing Games = Less Time Taking Tests

 Is it too good to be true?

Games do make it matter "right now" for students.  We just need to be sure that the games we choose:

• Engage all students,
• Challenge students to think,
• Create opportunities for students to make connections,
• Are as effective, or more effective, than another learning opportunities,
• Allow for opportunities to reflect or "debrief" about the content,
• "Trick" students into caring about that content,
• Make it memorable-- make it matter.

When forced to think about whether or not we have "time" to play games in the classroom, we need to think about what will matter most to our students now.  It may even make their futures brighter!
 
We play a lot of games.  Jeopardy, math card games, and computer games are some of our favorites.  What are yours?