Games
Overview
Games help students practice their literacy skills in a fun, applied context. By engaging student Attention, games motivate students to develop meaningful connections with content and can lead to positive memories of learning.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Watch how this middle school teacher provides example reading games for small groups. By providing options, students have multiple opportunities to practice their Syntax skills.
Design It into Your Product
Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.
Learn how Flocabulary fosters Disciplinary Literacy by helping students learn Vocabulary across different disciplines using rap. Through videos and engaging lessons, students learn content-specific Vocabulary and can also create their own creative compositions. Teachers can also add discussions to use this game in the classroom as a group activity.
Additional Resources
Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
Factors Supported by this Strategy
More Active Learning Strategies
Physically acting out a text or enacting major themes from texts enhances reading comprehension, particularly as texts become more complex.
For adolescent learners, the Composition process can become more robust, as learners begin to express ideas through multiple media, which includes visual, audio, and digital production.
When students express information visually, they are activating more cognitive processes while problem solving and increasing their experience with alternate texts.
When preparing for and debating with peers, students analyze, form, and express verbal arguments, fostering their critical thinking and literacy skills.
During reading, giving students the opportunity to explain their thinking process aloud allows them to recognize the strategies they use, solidify their comprehension, and move knowledge into their Long-term Memory.
Visiting places connected to classroom learning provides opportunities to deepen understanding through firsthand experiences.
When students write from a non-dominant or marginalized perspective, they consider and give voice to points of view that are often missing.
Project-based learning (PBL) actively engages learners in authentic tasks designed to create products that answer a given question or solve a problem.
Response devices boost engagement by encouraging all students to answer every question.
