How to Pre-teach and Boost Student Achievement with Prodigy

Every student has varied strengths and learns at a different pace. So how do you make sure they each have the support they need, while also providing multiple points of entry into the lesson?

Pre-teaching helps teachers support students on a new concept before the lesson starts. Students have the chance to brush up on prerequisite skills or get a “sneak peek” of a new lesson.

Teachers can use pre-teaching strategies to:

• Activate prior knowledge
• Provide multiple points of entry into a lesson
• Identify knowledge gaps and differentiate student learning
• Give every student the tools needed to maximize their learning potential

Pre-teaching with Prodigy: 2 ways

There are two ways Prodigy can help you pre-teach important concepts to your students:

1. Target students who might need more practice with a given concept
2. Pre-teach a new concept to the whole class

But no matter which option you choose, there’s an important first step: check your Topic Coverage report!

Your Topic Coverage report gives you an in-depth look at which skills your students have completed and areas where they may need more support. 

Let’s say you’re about to start a unit on four-digit subtraction and can see that some students previously struggled with two-digit subtraction. You can give students opportunities to master two-digit subtraction and scaffold their learning before they move on to the new concept.

To view your Topic Coverage report, log in to your teacher dashboard, select your classroom and click Reports. Select the Topic Coverage report to view: 

• Overview of topic completion
• A full breakdown of skills by grade level
• A sample question similar to what students encountered in-game

Hover over a student’s name to see how many questions they answered correctly or incorrectly and their percentage grade. Then, use this information to identify gaps in student learning!

Method 1: Target students who might need more practice

Now that you’ve looked at your data, do you have students who need more practice with an important prerequisite? Send them an Assignment to help them brush up on their skills or give them a sneak peek of the new concept ahead of the rest of the class. Here’s how:

1. Log in at prodigygame.com and enter your username and password.

2. Select the classroom you want to set a pre-teaching Assignment for.3. At the top of your screen, click the green Create button. You’ll see three alignment options. SelectAssignment.

4. Choose the curriculum-aligned domains and standards you want your students to practice.

5. Click Next to set the number of questions in your Assignment. Click Next again to send the Assignment to students that need more practice on important prerequisites.

6. Click Next a final time to set the dates when the Assignment will appear in-game for students. Choose dates that fall before you want to teach the new concept.

7. Get students playing!

8. To view the results of the Assignment, go to your Assessments tool and click on the Assignment. SelectView Report to see student results and inform your lesson planning.

Method 2: Pre-teaching for the whole classroom

Create a Plan to expose the entire classroom to key concepts before you teach them. Plans align students to an expectation and allow them to go through the material at their own pace, working on pre-requisites as needed to scaffold their learning.

Here’s how:

1. Log in at www.prodigygame.com and enter your username and password.

2. Select the classroom you want to make a Plan for.

3. At the top of your screen, click the green Create button and select Plans. 

4. Select a grade, domain and expectation for your Plan that aligns to your upcoming unit.

5. Choose the days your Plan will run. Plans can run from one to 30 days, so assign it to match your schedule. 

6. Have students play Prodigy! Schedule game time as part of your regular math class, for free time or as a station rotation activity.

7. To see how students performed on your Plan, go to your Assessments tool and click on the Plan. Select View Report to see student results, determine trouble spots and make teaching decisions!

Final thoughts: Using Prodigy to pre-teach

There’s more than one way to pre-teach, but the benefits are undeniable. When every student is equipped with the chance to succeed, they’ll be able to master key math skills, be confident in their knowledge and feel a sense of achievement!

Prodigy Math is a game-based learning platform for students in 1st to 8th grade. Loved by teachers, parents and students around the world, Prodigy transforms math learning into an epic adventure. Ready to find out how Prodigy can help level up math learning in your classroom?