Teacher Success Story: Using Prodigy Assignments for Targeted Skill-Buidling

Role: 7th Grade Math Teacher
School: Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools
Questions Answered: 594 per student, on average

David Keech has to deliver a unique blend of content throughout the year.

Largely stemming from disinterest and lack of independent study, he says most students have distinct skill deficits and knowledge gaps. That’s why he turned to customizable game-based learning.

“I heard about how engaged students were when playing Prodigy. Early on, I saw how excited they were to play it at school and at home … They’ve done far more practice of math skills than I could have foreseen.”

David dedicates time at the end of three to four classes per week for students to complete Assignments in Prodigy.

He says he loves that “differentiating with Prodigy is easy” with this feature, as it helps each student build specific skills. In a few clicks, he delivers different content to everyone by choosing which topics and subtopics appear as their in-game problems.

“I’m able to assign skills to students individually so that they get the appropriate practice,” David says. “This includes creating assignments for both remedial and reteaching purposes. Plus, I can make assignments for practicing supplementary content and frontloading skills for future units and lessons.”

Addressing each student’s unique issues is David’s main goal, but doing so has led to other benefits that bolster in-class instruction.

“Students are more confident with key skills that Prodigy has helped reinforce. Along with a greater confidence comes a renewed sense of effort to work hard in math class.”

They now seldom shy away from tackling tough questions or asking their own, he explains. This opens the door to smoother assessment preparation, as well as extensive content review and practice in class.

A more rewarding and engaging teaching experience is the result for him, as students are “focused on working hard and doing their best.”

At-home math practice has grown contagious among David’s students.

“Students encourage others to participate. And then they work outside of school so they can compete (with each other’s in-game progress), all the while reviewing more and more math skills and concepts,” he says.

Two-thirds of his students have surpassed level 20 in the game. This meant, at minimum, correctly answering 100 questions to build prerequisite skills.

This level of engagement is also apparent in class, David says.

Now, many of his students can’t wait to practice and show off their math skills.

>> Log into your teacher account on Prodigy — a free, adaptive math game that differentiates content to accommodate player trouble spots and learning speeds. Aligned with US, UK, Australian and Canadian curricula, it’s loved by more than 500,000 teachers and 16 million students. To learn about the results Prodigy can bring to special needs students, read Jennifer Harder’s teacher success story.