Prodigy in my Classroom!

 As we are getting close to the beginning of the school year, I often find myself at the school. In addition to getting my classroom ready and painting the elementary school, I am also involved with the high school. My boyfriend is the band director at the high school that is on-campus with my elementary school and I help out with the flutes and color guard.

The band started their rehearsals this week and it’s shaping up to be a good season! Being in a different teaching environment is very eye-opening at times. Not only is the band a different subject area completely, but it also has more, higher grades than what I am used to teaching. Further, the technology he uses in his classroom is much different than what we use at the elementary school. He focuses on tools such as metronomes and tuners for the students while keeping everything organized on his MacBook. He admits that he does not utilize resources online like he should, but he says that he will try harder this year to keep the kids well-round musically and while using technology.

This leads me to talk about what I like to use in the classroom for my fourth graders. Beyond using PowerSchool to put grades in for the school, I and a lot of teachers like to use Prodigy in our classrooms. Prodigy can be used via the web or through its app. It has assessment tools that help teachers collect information to build lessons and guide instruction for students. I use this resource in my classroom all the time, and the students love getting the opportunity to be on it since it uses gamification as an incentive.

Prodigy can be used in the classroom at any time of the day. I implement this tool when there is an upcoming test the students need to practice for. Prodigy allows teachers to assign skills for the students to practice. After the students complete the assignment, data is collected on the students' work and displayed to the teacher. The data explicitly tells the teacher what the students are excelling in and what they need help on. Prodigy is set up like a game, so the students do not get bored easily and have begged me to use it in their free time! They go head-to-head with an opponent and must work fast to solve a problem. When a skill is mastered, they can get achievements, customize their characters, and purchase pets. 

Prodigy has been used just for mathematics in the past but recently has added English Language Arts. Close to the end of the school year, they offer ACAP reviews! There are not many disadvantages, in my opinion, for Prodigy. The students can get distracted when playing with their classmates, exploring different worlds instead of answering questions in battle. I combat the distraction by allowing a certain amount of time to just explore.

As I move forward, I hope to incorporate more than just Prodigy for my students. I know they enjoy the gaming aspect of it, but I think they could benefit from utilizing different platforms for their technological learning.

Until next time!

-Allie