What is Boddle?
Boddle is an educational math game that targets students in kindergarten through sixth grade. It is tailored to meet student needs individually, providing practice and assessments that target specific areas while integrating gaming into math instruction. Boddle is a great supplemental tool to use during math instruction to provide differentiated instruction, assist in small group work, help in closing learning gaps, and enhance student engagement.
Why is Boddle Effective for Math Instruction?
As educators are in a current battle with the learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial to identify gaps in learning and provide supports to fill them. Math has taken a significant hit throughout the pandemic, in part due to the lack of in-person instruction and the ability for teachers to check and provide feedback in real time for students.
Boddle provides a Learning Gaps Report that helps identify skills that teachers need to focus on in their lessons which, in turn, makes the lessons more effective. This report can also assist teachers in forming small groups and targeting students that need more support. The report can also help teachers prepare for conferences and have data to show parents about students and their strengths and weaknesses.
Boddle is aligned to state standards, so it is a great tool to supplement in the math classroom. The main concern I hear teachers speak about is time: time to plan, teach, assess, differentiate, provide interventions, etc. With a program that can simplify the differentiation process, it is more likely that teachers will use it, and continue to use it, consistently. This will increase results and have a more positive impact on student achievement.
Ways to Enhance Math Instruction Using Boddle
Small-Group Rotations
Boddle is a great way to enhance small group work in your math classroom. It can be used as a reinforcement tool that will level the work for your students. With all the demands being placed on teachers, it is hard to find work each day that will meet each student’s individual needs, but with a program such as this one, it does the work for you and can target students’ specific learning needs. Boddle is also fun for the students, so it can be the math center they are looking forward to most when doing classroom activities.
Homework
Though homework is being somewhat phased out in different school districts, this can be effective if you keep students motivated about using the program. Students get out what they put into something, so keep your motivated students moving and challenged. This is a great way to keep pushing your students to be the best they can be and provide an effective means to keep the learning going on in any environment.
Remote Learning
As we have students working through quarantine and being sick with the COVID-19 virus, Boddle is a great way to keep students working at home engaged in math. As a teacher, you can give students assignments that provide targeted practice with customized questions. This allows teachers to take into account various situations students face and will help not overwhelm (or underwhelm) them with work which can help to address gaps in learning remotely.
Another great feature of Boddle is the ability to monitor students as they work in remote locations. It shows the students working, the skills being practiced, and the length of time students have worked on each question.
Increase Student Engagement
Many students enjoy video games, so Boddle is a great way to incorporate this into your math lessons. Not only is it a game, but it is also an assessment tool, collecting data as the students use the program. Finding ways to make learning fun can be challenging, and using gaming can be one way to meet that challenge. Keeping students actively interested in learning is a great way to meet their needs better. Students can relate games to real life, so it can feel like less of a chore completing the “fun” math assignments.
Technology Factor
Boddle is a great way to incorporate technology into your classroom. Although we have had quite an experience over the past year and a half with learning using technology, as we transition back into a more traditional learning model, and more “paper and pencil” in math students can look forward to learning through gaming using Boddle.
While the traditional methods can be used to teach whole group and guided instruction, Boddle can supplement and provide interventions, re-teach, and even enrich students on a Chromebook, iPad, etc. Students in grades kindergarten through sixth grade have grown up learning while using technology. As it is used actively in day-to-day activities, jobs, learning, etc., it is a great way to have students focus on being more prepared for the real world.
In all, it has been a wild ride since March 2020 for students, educators, and parents alike. The common goal pre-pandemic and during the pandemic is always to keep students learning, engaged, and motivated. Boddle is a great math program that is appealing to students, but it provides much information to the teachers about how to best meet students’ individual needs. Using it as a supplement to your math instruction can give students an extra push to be their best!
