Game-Based Learning & the Classroom

Recently, I have learned a little about Game-Based Learning and how it can be implemented in the classroom. An article from the Huffington Post provided an excellent introduction to the theory of GBL and the positive impact it can have in the classroom. Basically GBL is the idea of how games can be used for the purpose of teaching and learning, and therefore how the use of games in the classroom can be beneficial to students and teachers alike. There is no doubt in my mind about the wonderful impact games can have in the classroom, I have witnessed the level of engagement, competition, collaboration, and focus of students during  a jeopardy game review lesson that I gave.
    This semester I have been volunteering the the kindergarten classroom of my nephew about twice a week for a couple of hours. Most of the time, I help with one of the groups, and each group session begins with a review of several index cards. One set of cards has the sight words that the students are working on, and another set has the letters on it. The letter index cards usually fly by, the students say the letter and then the sound the letter makes. But by the time I get to the sight words, most of the students are zoning out. After reading GBL article, I decided that I would consider how I could make the students in the group say the sight words, into a type of game. Without explaining any special instructions, I began showing the group the sight words, one at a time. Then, whoever the first student to read the sight word was, I would proceed to give that student the index card. Soon enough, the entire group was completely engaged because it had become a "game" without me explaining it was a game, or saying any special rules. The students were actively trying to sound-out and read the sight words. I then more or less gave out an even amount of index cards to all the students to keep them from becoming too competitive with one another. I didn't want to single-out one student simply because they took a second longer to read the word. Yet, I found this method to have been very successful. Even when I continued to play this "game" on different days with the same group, the game format kept them 100% more engaged than the traditional index card reading.