In my quest for finding enticing games for my 6th graders while teaching remote last year, I came across Dreamscape. I wanted to get my students to play a game that would benefit their educational skills, yet be fun. In actuality, I thought about Prodigy the math game that all the students in the elementary school play. I searched just that, "Prodigy for ELA". I read all the reviews and teachers were giving it a good score. I decided to try it. First of all, I check the teacher dashboard because I wanted to be sure it was data-driven. I was impressed because it never had a live teacher dashboard, where you could see student progress in real-time. This was useful when students said they were done with eh online assignment and I asked them to play, I could see who was signed in and completing the task.
When I played the game, it moved a little too slow for me. However, I remember my students saying it reminded them of other games they had played in the past and they enjoyed it. The gist of the gamer is that in order to advance in-game progress you must answer a reading comprehension question. The questions are based on the standards for the grade level. The students must read a passage and then answer one question to unlock the next move in winning a battle. This is a sample passage I came across.
Then you answer the question to go along with the passage. I love that the questions and passages have the options for a read-aloud, which is great for my accommodations and ELLs. The students even have the option to return to the passage to read it over. This is one of the strategies we use in class to close read. The game reinforced this strategy which keeps consistency with my instruction and leads to structure and less confusion.
Once you answer the question correctly, you are able to use your fighters and train your fighters. You gain points and perks to continue fighting. The is also a streak bonus. If you have a question answering streak, you get additional points and opportunities to train and attack. After 10 correct questions, you advance to the next level.
The game also allows for multiply player mode. Students in your class can play together defeat each other or team up for certain battles. For them to be able to advance together in the game they must continue answering questions. For bigger events, such as playing with friends, the passages and questions appear more often. It shows to the opponent whether or not you got it correct. However, the questions are different because the questions are catered to the student. The more the student plays, the better the game is at detecting their reading level and poses appropriate questions. This is a great feature because all students can play and participate and are victorious as they learned and get exposed to questions. You can have students join the game by having them enter your class code. This helps keep the game safe and avoids the need to play with strangers in-game.
Students can also monitor each other progress on the class leaderboard. They can see who is ahead with obtaining the most shards. This helps create friendly competition, yet keeps the student motivated to continue playing more to rise to the top or stay at the top.
As a final reflection, I would say this game would be more liked at the lower to mid-elementary levels. For my 6th graders, it was hard to get them to enjoy it because they had access to the internet, various popular video games, and they did not have to answer questions and read passages to progress. However, it makes a great tool to use in an RTI class as an incentive or for a group that is struggling with comprehension. This also makes a great station for a center, this way when students rotate they have to get to play and you get student data to help you drive your instruction.
Please let me know your experience with ELA games. Have you tried Dreamscape? Is there another online game you play for ELA skills?
Hey Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this game! I do not teach elementary but I always find it interesting to see what is being implemented in elementary classrooms and how it can help them build the skills necessary for upper levels. I really appreciated your screenshots and step by step directions so I can see how the game works. I also really liked that you mentioned it is standard based. I think that because a student needs to answer the question correctly to move on, you are able to measure whether the student is proficient in the standard without having to do a formal assessment! Awesome resource I hope that it is helpful in your classroom!