SMART Board Games for Language Arts for Secondary School
SMART Boards are touch sensitive screens that work in conjunction with computers. They allow teachers full access to the Worldwide Web while providing opportunities for student interaction, versatility in concept presentation, instant data driven feedback and support of different learning styles. Secondary language arts teachers may utilize a variety of SMART games to provide introductions to new concepts and materials, prepare students for end of course standardized tests, review classroom concepts and key texts, and sharpen skills.
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New Concepts
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SMART Board games complement the instructional process by summarizing activities after the presentation of new material in language arts classrooms. A teacher may, for example, use the SMART Board to teach an interactive lesson on the use of figurative language in a short story. She may then review the concept with several rounds of "My Bad," a spinoff of the board game "Sorry," in which teams of students compete to see who best understands the material. Teachers may create their own templates for summarizer games or find and download them from a variety of easily accessible free websites including SMART Exchange.
Test Preparation
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SMART Board games also serve as preparation tools for yearly end of grade standardized testing. They provide an engaging alternative to paper and pencil or computerized benchmark testing, and provide data that teachers may use to group students for further instruction or review according to their weaknesses in different standards and objectives. Many game templates are available for students to practice working with question stems and multiple-choice answer formats. Using the electronic marking feature, these resources allow students to manipulate language arts texts, highlight, and underline just as they would on state tests. Games such as "Jeopardy" and "Olympic Games" are appropriate for students at the secondary level, available online, and can be modified to fit individual grade levels, concepts and standards.
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Concept Review
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One of the most valuable aspects of SMART Board games is their ability to provide immediate feedback, and serve as quick and easy formative assessment tools. Rather than grading a stack of quizzes, which may take several days, a secondary language arts teacher is able to see instant evidence of student learning during interactive games. He is immediately able to gauge student readiness for a major test or exam, as well as to pinpoint specific gaps in student understanding. Customizable and interactive and games such as "Koosh Ball" or "Connect Four," allow teachers to determine the need to reteach, repeat lessons or proceed with content material.
Daily Practice
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Good teaching practice dictates that daily lessons should begin with brief warm-up or introductory activities that engage students and encourage them to begin thinking about lesson content. Bellringers, as these activities are sometimes called, can easily accommodate SMART Board games that are designed to review skills that students will need on a particular day or larger concepts that are specific to language arts. Grammar, spelling and high-frequency vocabulary words can be quickly highlighted using spelling practice SMART games such as "Scrabble," or grammar-focused games such as "Talking Trash."
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