Have You Joined the Wordle Craze?
Are you playing Wordle? This game was created by Josh Wardle for his crossword-loving partner. I’m obsessed! It’s the best digit game to come out since this type of entertainment became popular. It demands strategic thinking as you guess the word in six (or fewer) tries. You have to utilize your knowledge of how words work. There’s no way to binge the game, as there is only one posted game per day. It is just enough to help you exercise the gray matter and then move on. Best of all, when you guess the word you have a reason to celebrate. We need more celebration in our life!
As an educator, I always try to evaluate game based on how they can benefit students. Games are a tool for building fluency. Fluency is defined as automaticity and/or controlled processing. When first learning a skill, our brains must make sense of the skill. When should I use the skill? What are the steps of this skill? The more feedback we get as we learn the skill, the quicker our efforts can improve. This feedback is really just good coaching!
After using the skill a few times, we develop some level of proficiency. However, it will take more practice in order to become 100% proficient, or fluent in the skill.
Games are a wonderful tools for helping students develop their skill fluency. Wordle helps students utilize their knowledge of letter sounds and patterns to guess the mystery word. Further, critical executive skills are enhanced as the player plans, organizes, and eliminates letters in their guesses.
Here’s the great news news. We can play Wordle with our students without being digital. The structure of Wordle is easy to mimic on an interactive whiteboard or wipe off boards.
First, think of a five letter word that students will have in their vocabulary. You can adapt the game by using three or four letter words. Then give students six chances to guess the word. Each time they guess, use a green highlighter to highlight correct letters in the correct place in the word. Highlight other correct letters that are not in the correct place in yellow. Keep an alphabet chart below the game board and cross out any letter guesses that are not in the mystery word. Encourage students to look at the alphabet and think about possible letter patterns and placement of letters as they make their next guess. When a student guesses the word, celebrate!! Give a high five or victory cheer that make the player want to play again.
You will be amazed how your students will use critical thinking to make decisions about word guesses! Of course, you will need to model the thinking during the first few days of play. Wordle won’t take a huge chunk of instruction time to play, but it will prime your students’ brains for analytic thinking they need to continue using as engage in reading and writing tasks. I can’t think of a better way to start a small group or whole group lesson!
I have adapted the Wordle for the classroom. I created game boards for 3, 4, and 5 letter boards, as well as an alphabet chart you can print and laminate when you play the game with your students. Click here to get the resource.