Making Drill Practice Fun!

Last week in class was our first week of peer presentations. These presentations will last for the next few weeks and I will be commenting on presentations that I enjoy or presenting ideas that I think could work well in my classroom in the future. 

          There were a variety of presentations that focused on the intermediate grades 7 and 8. We played the game of life, the game of battleship, and explored real life problems of the movie Holes. It was interesting to see the same grades approached with such a wide variety of teaching styles. All teachers met the curriculum document expectations and taught us something new, while ensuring we were engaged and enjoying the learning experience. 

http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/2015/12/
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The presentation that I am going to explore more deeply focused on the balancing method of solving equations. The teacher gave us a brief but successful lesson on balancing equations and following the proper steps in order to find the value of ‘x’. She then distributed a variety of materials that allowed us to participate in a game of ‘battleship’. The rules stated that if you guessed your opponents ship location you would then have to solve a problem on the worksheet before a ‘hit’ was declared. This is where the drill practice aspect came in. The worksheet was a simple problem set that could have been handed out and completed during the time at the end of the period, or for homework. Instead this game of battleship brought fun to practice. We quickly became competitive in the game and did not even think twice about having to complete the practice problems, as long as we got a ‘hit’ after completing it successfully. If we were not successful we were required to complete another problem until we got it right. This also ensures that the students who need the most practice will be given the chance to get it right. The students that often answer questions incorrectly will be given the most opportunity to practice, without feeling like the center of attention as they are only answering in front of their partner.

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I strive to use games like this in my classroom as it brings out a theory called Flow theory that stresses the importance of providing the right amount of challenge for your students and allowing them to lose track of time. As mentioned above, students who need more of a challenge will work their way to the bottom of the sheet more quickly, while students who are not successful in answering their first question will be provided with another similar question to practice with. This allows students level of difficulty to be met and individualizes the game. Similarly, I lost track of time while playing. I was focused on winning and forgot about the mathematics that I was engaged in.

          Overall, games will allow students to become engaged in education, and as long as the game fosters interest, communication, and enjoyment it will be successful in the classroom.  

Mr. Moore