A Game That Students Love + Growth Mindset = Win Win

Gimkit was one of my kids' favorite things to do last year. I loved how engaged and excited they were.  You can check out this blog post if you want to know more about all the reasons that I love Gimkit.  As much as I loved it, there was definitely a learning curve for me.

At first, I thought I would use Gimkit similar to how I use Kahoot.  However, I quickly figured out that it didn't work the same way for me as a teacher. In a Kahoot, I would immediately know what questions the kids were getting right and what questions they were missing.  We could talk as we played about misunderstandings that needed to be addressed.

When playing Gimkit you don't know what students are getting right and wrong until the game is over.  In order to be effective, I needed to use Gimkit in a different way.  With Gimkit, you can control the amount of time that the game lasts. This was the key to how I like to use Gimkit.

How to use Gimkit effectively in my math classroom:

• Make sure to use Gimkit when students are ready for independent practice because you won't get to see results as students are working.
• Consider having two versions of your Gimkit that test the same skill.
• Play the first version of the Gimkit for a short amount of time.  This will vary based on the skill, but I often only let the Gimkit go for 2-3 minutes.
• After you play the Gimkit, show the class statistics to your students (there is a report you can download). I focus in particular on the number of questions answered correctly as well as the accuracy percentage. I emphasize to students that this is our baseline percentage.  I also have students notice on their own screens how many questions they got correct and incorrect.
• In the report from your first Gimkit, show the class the list of questions. Identify the questions that caused your students the most problems.  Talk with students about what patterns you see in what kinds of questions they are missing, and do some quick reteaching related to the problems that you identified.
• Get ready to run the Gimkit a second time. Sometimes I run the exact same Gimkit again, or sometimes I use the second version. The second time through the Gimkit, I usually give more time.  After you have chosen a time amount, set some goals with students for the Gimkit.  I usually talk about improving our accuracy percentage and improving the number of correct questions per minute.  Then, let your students have another go!
• After the Gimkit, look one more time at the report.  Reflect on the class goals, focusing on the number of correct questions and the accuracy percentage.  Usually, the accuracy percentage sees a significant increase. I love using this as a chance to really build up my class with growth mindset.  We talk about the amount of growth that we had, and I point out that we only spent a few minutes in between the rounds to get that amount of growth.  This is one of my favorite parts of doing this because I really get to celebrate with my class!

• If the statistics don't improve (or even if they do), take a look at the questions on the report and see if there were any particular questions that caused the class problems.  Continue reteaching as needed for your class.

Next time your class is ready for some independent practice, consider letting them do a Gimkit and see how this works for you!  For more teaching ideas delivered to your inbox once a month, sign up for my email list!