Classroom Games to Spruce Up Your Educational Environment

With all of the distractions students face today, it's a wonder that the classroom setting hasn't been phased out. Today's preteens and teens are into the latest technology and the newest trends. So, the average teacher is probably loosing the battle of the attention wars. Although it's pretty hard to prevent the constant classroom text messaging or IMing, there are ways to hold their attention for a little longer. Here are a few games that should help you spice up your regular curriculum.

The Teacher's Court is a great game for science, history, or literature. Choose a topic. Allow the students to pick a side, but make sure your classroom is broken into two fairly even sides. Next pick two representatives from each side to be your lead and co attorneys. Finally select 5 students from each side to make up your jury. Depending on how big you would like to this game you can allow a few minutes or a couple of days for the teams and their attorneys to prepare for their case. Just like an actual courtroom setting, both sides would get to present the arguments, examine witnesses, and provide evidence. The beauty of this game is you that can tailor the scale and scope to make it appropriate for the age of your students. For example, if they were high school seniors, you should give them at least a week to prepare and require that they inform the other team of any evidence or witness. You can opt to be the judge or select another student or a former student.

Teacher Talk is another good game. Although it can be used for the same three subjects, it's best used for literature. The idea behind this is game is to have a students assume the identity of the characters from a book you are reading or a group of people you are studying. Then posing as the talk show host you along with your studio audience get to ask questions and make observations based on the book. Although you can choose another student to be the talk show host, you may want to hold this position in order to make sure certain points are made and the students stay on topic. This is another game where you can tailor the scale and scope to your particular classroom. You may even ask the students to dress up as their characters. It would also be a good idea to have a one or two students act as surprise guests that the main characters may not know about. This would offer a different point of view and give insight to meaningful but obscure aspects of the book or period in time.

The Soundtrack of Life is creative and fun game. Yet, you must set clear guidelines and ensure that they are followed. The premise of this game is to have students compile a CD, cassette, or just a list of songs that represent a person, literary character, or point in history. Students should compile 15 songs and give a brief summary as to why these songs were chosen. The winner (as to be voted on by you for being the best fit) will get to have their composition played for the entire class. Important ground rules to keep in mind include; stressing that there should be no inappropriate language or lyrics, and stating that the composition should be of songs that the students or their parents own. This is a great game because it allows for two-dimensional characters and concepts to become real from them. Students are basically putting in themselves in the place of that character or that setting.

Although these games are not may not work for all subjects or topics, they are great tools for keeping students interested. They even demand that they give a little bit more attention to the material without being overly assertive like tests and quizzes. The material is being taught by students sharing and exchanging ideas; so, you are freed from some of the more tedious details. As long as you can keep your students on topic they will have a great learning experience. Although you may not want to try these ideas with elementary aged children, these games can be tailored to fit a variety of topics for both junior high and high school classrooms. It is important to remember that all classrooms are different and what may work for a colleague may not work for you. Yet, put yourself in your student's shoes, would you want to be lectured to everyday all day?