Prodigy Game - Engagement & Data Goldmine!

Hi Everyone!


My first official blogpost was about the five tech things I use in my classroom regularly. One of the programs I use daily is Prodigy Game. This game is a great way to assess how students are doing in skills and standards and it shows the data in a clear and concise way. It's not your typical math online assessment - it's disguised as a Role Playing Game where students have a character, collect gems, and battle each other. My students are always so excited when it's their turn to use Prodigy on the computers during center time. 

First, when students login or create an account, they take a placement test. The test is the game, so they are still battling each other as they are answering questions, but it's the placement test in disguise. When this is done you'll get a report emailed to you. This is a great way to get a baseline to help you group your students based on the skills they are strong in and skills they need to work on. The placement test is given a few times throughout year - The skills are broken down by standard strand and the baseline report will look like this:

This is a good way to get a general overview of the class. When you scroll over the bubbles you will see the list of students who were that grade level in the domain row, or overall placement. From this page, you can go into the individual student reports to determine the skills they need to work on. 

From this, if you click on the "Reports" tab on the left side, you will see the various reports from the data and it will look like this:

The reports that I use most often are the progress and student usage reports. I have a "Prodigy Player of the Week" in each of my classes and choose a student who uses it the most at home and answers the most questions. This gives students an incentive to play at home and make proper use of the time they have to play in class. 

The best part about this game is that it's completely free! Parents can buy a membership for their child for added bonuses such as a membership box, but there is no extra cost for the teacher! Several of my students have memberships, but it doesn't effect the questions they answer and how many battles they see. Members receive a membership box monthly in the game that gives students gems and various items for the game.

Enjoy the game!

-Alexandra

5 Tech Go To's in My Classroom

Hello!
I’m going to start the first post by saying this: I’m no tech expert by any means, and I don’t claim to know more than what I know about technology. I am forever learning and thinking of new ways to incorporate technology into my classroom and come across many obstacles when implementing new technologies and ideas. I’m creating this blog to help alleviate the challenges I have when using new technology in the classroom and to help educators enable students to become innovators with the technology that is evolving. The following is a short list of some of the technologies I use in my Math classroom everyday.

The first piece of tech that I use on a regular basis is Google. I created a G Suite domain for my school and use Google Classroom daily with my students. I love it because I can create digital assignments that are self-correcting and keep the kids engaged when working independently. 

The second piece of tech is a game called prodigy. Students choose a character and complete battles, answering math questions to win the battle. I can select assign types of questions by standard or by skill. There is also a baseline assessment (that still looks like a game) to help me determine students starting level.

The third piece of tech that I use daily is classdojo. Students can earn or lose points based on behaviors I create. I try to use it in a more positive way and give more points than I take away. Parents are linked to the students dojo account and can view portfolios and work that you post of the child.

The fourth tech that I use is Google Forms (part of the G Suit). I use this app for everything! I created conferencing checklists, behavior checklists, small group checklists, as well as student centered activities (like a digital escape room I’ll share in a later post!) and self-correcting quizzes. There are plenty of extensions to add that will even grade the assignments for you! This falls under the Google Classroom umbrella, but definitely deserves its own list because it’s such a versatile tool to use in the classroom.

Last but not least, I am starting to use code.org in my classroom. This is the PD that I attended that indirectly inspired me to follow through with this blog that I’ve been thinking about since the beginning of my teaching career (a whole five years ago!). The workshop was very informative, and I brainstormed ways I can incorporate coding in my Math classroom. More information on code.org to follow!

Hope these are helpful! If you have any questions, drop a comment!

Enjoy!

-Alexandra