The Prodigy Teacher
It was the first day of school and Mrs. Cannon already knew she would have a diverse group of students in her class. She was struggling with what she could do to differentiate for her students.
So Mrs. Cannon decided she was going to talk to other teachers and get their input.
First, she went to Mr. Daniels.
She asked Mr. Daniels, "What can I do to differentiate for all of my students?"
He replied, "Well, I differentiate by making my students copies of different levels of work."
Mrs. Cannon thought to herself, "Maybe that could work, but it sure does seem like a lot of copying and there is no guarantee that it is beneficial for the students."
All Mrs. Cannon could think of was the countless amounts of copying she would need to do.
So, Mrs. Cannon decided she would go ask Mrs. Wells what her thoughts were on differentiating material for students.
Mrs. Wells excitedly replied, "You should try Prodigy!"
Mrs. Cannon said, "Prodigy? What is Prodigy?"
"Prodigy is an online math game. Not only is it fun and engaging for students, teachers can use it to optimize learning experiences for their students," replied Mrs. Wells.
Mrs. Cannon loved incorporating technology in the classroom. She could hardly wait to hear more about Prodigy.
"This sounds amazing! Please tell me more, Mrs. Wells," Mrs. Cannon responded curiously.
"Prodigy is aligned to standards, at the beginning of the years students are given a placement test. Based off of this placement test students are given questions based on their current levels. As students master content, they are given more difficult content to work on. If they are struggling with something, students will be given questions to master it before they move on" said Mrs. Wells.
"Really!?" Mrs. Cannon said in awe.
"Yes! This is why it is so great for differentiation" said Mrs. Wells.
Mrs. Cannon was intrigued. She had to know more about Prodigy and how to differentiate, "So tell me more about how I can differentiate in Prodigy."
Mrs Wells replied, "Well after your students take the placement test, you can manually adjust their grade level."
Mrs. Cannon replied, "Adjust their grade level? Why would I need that?"
Mrs. Well responded, "Well your students who are more advanced would benefit from content of higher grade levels. While your other students who struggle may benefit with reviewing material from lower grade levels."
"Wow! You are right! I can see how beneficial that could be" said Mrs. Cannon, "How can I adjust their grade level in Prodigy"
"If you go into their student profile, you will click on 'Grade Override' and select the preferred grade level" Mrs. Wells answered.
"That sounds easy," said Mrs. Cannon.
"But wait! That's not all!" exclaimed Mrs. Wells.
"There's more!?" said Mrs. Cannon.
"Yes! You can create individual assignments for your students, too!" said Mrs. Wells.
"How does that work" asked Mrs. Cannon.
"Let's say you have students who are right at grade level, they don't need grade level differentiation. Maybe you have a few students who are struggling with the long division standard you worked on last week." said Mrs. Wells.
"Okay, tell me more..." pondered Mrs. Cannon.
"So what you can do is assign these particular students an assignment that hones in on the skill of long division. While the other students can continue to work on an assignment that focuses on the skill that you are teaching this week" said Mrs. Wells.
"No way! That would really benefit so many students in my class" Mrs. Cannon said excitedly, "How do I set that up in Prodigy?"
"So, what you need to do in Prodigy is 'Create an Assignment,' select the content you want to assign, then choose the students who you are assigning it too, and viola! you just created an assignment for a small group of students" explained Mrs. Wells.
"Wow! This is great! I can't wait to use Prodigy in my classroom" said Mrs. Cannon.
"You are going to love it!" agreed Mrs. Wells.
Mrs. Cannon left Mrs. Wells classroom and began working on creating accounts for her students in Prodigy.
It was only a matter of time before she was creating assignments and adjusting grade levels for the students in her class. She knew that this was going to save her a lot of time in the copy room and also provide her students with a lot of opportunity to access the content in her class.