Spicing Up Your Classroom With Games

Right off the bat I really like one of the lines in the article which is "Species, of course, do not make a meal, but they make the meal more enjoyable." This is essentially saying that gam... See More

Right off the bat I really like one of the lines in the article which is "Species, of course, do not make a meal, but they make the meal more enjoyable." This is essentially saying that games can be good for providing some type of fun in the classroom sometimes, but too many games (or spices) can lead to a bad classroom environment. I agree with this article in the sense that games are a good way to challenge students and make learning a little bit competitive. I also like that the author is speaking from experience with her kids, so she has some proof that using games to guide learning can be very beneficial. Review games, in my opinion, should be done before every exam. Most high school students will not go home and study by themselves and a review game makes studying much more fun. I also think that games in the classroom can build stronger friendships throughout the class. If students are on a team, they will all want to win (because no one likes to lose) so they will have to talk to each other and work together to come up with the correct answers, usually in the quickest amount of time, to win the game. One more good point that this article states is that you have to plays these games with a purpose. They should not be used just for time killers and I think that the students need to be told that. If the students are taking advantage of the game, there should be a backup activity, that will usually be a lot less fun, that the students should complete instead. Overall I think this article was a good read that contains many good points about improving a classroom with the use of material-related games.