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students to only work on the first few slides. Then I pause and bring everyone to a specific slide to begin class discussion or address a common mis conception at one time. After, I unpause and allow students to continue working at their own pace. We found that switching programs and using multiple platforms in one class is very time - consuming, therefore it is nice that the program allows for whole group instruction and independent practice time within one assignment. One of my go - to instructional strategies is white board practice. Traditionally, during a normal school year, I use whiteboards as quick checks for understanding. For instance, I would put a problem on the board and students would work to solve it independently and everyone holds up their boards for a quick check. In the virtual classroom, this was not possible until a colleague shared a website called whiteboard.fi. This is a virtual whiteboard application that allows the teacher to share prob lems or questions with students for them to answer. One thing I like about this program is that students do not have to wait until everyone is done with a question before going to the next. The teacher can send new questions to students when they are ready. Similar to Nearpod and Desmos, this plat form allows the teacher to see students working in real - time and provide feedback in real - time. Imagine having ten minutes left in class and you are finished with your lesson for the day, what do you do? Why not play a game? There are several instructional gaming platforms that became availa ble over the last few years. Some of these include Kahoot, Quizizz, and Blooket. These websites have students practice material in a fun and com petitive way. These games take a boring worksheet and turn it into a fun and interactive game while re viewing mathematical concepts or procedures. Kahoot and Quizizz are designed for multiple choice and technology - enhanced questioning an swer responses, multiple selections, ordering, fill in the blank, open - ended, and polling. Kahoot al lows teachers to see results after every question. Quizizz produces a report at the end that highlights Gamifying Practice

each question with partial credit. Both formats al low the teacher the opportunity to review the an swer and address any misconceptions immediately after each game. Both games allow for a real - life gaming time or a code that can be used for students to work independently. I like to use student - paced games as review for tests and quizzes. I found more students complete a game - based review ver sus a paper worksheet. Blooket is another fun interactive and competitive way for students to practice answering test - like questions. The teacher sets a timer and picks a game theme from a wide number of options. I chose the gold quest theme. Students are given a set of cards with questions they are to answer with in a given time frame. This game requires accuracy and a little bit of luck. For the gold quest theme, students answer questions that come from one of three treasure chests. Students choose the chest to receive their question. A chest may be labeled to swap gold with someone, gain your gold, or lose a percentage of your gold. Teachers can set this as a solo game or as a class game in real - time. Students enjoy swapping or stealing gold from their class mates. These games do not require extensive preparation. Many games already exist and can be edited to align with your students knowledge and/or skills. Gaming is a great way to break up hours of sitting in front of a computer screen during instructional time. It allows students to enjoy their time through competition in the virtual classroom. Not all stu dents will be in one room, but they challenge each other to advance to the top three.

Final Thoughts

Virginia Mathematics Teacher vol. 47, no. 2

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