Guest post contributed by Katie Eastin

Students are often hesitant about change, and mine are no exception.

My students have been dealing with change all year. They have new teachers, a new principal, new rules, and a new curriculum. All of these changes have created annoyance and short fuses within my classroom. So you can imagine my students’ reactions when I told them there was going to be yet another change for them: Classcraft.

I teach middle school and high school science for a small non-public school in Southeast Iowa. I first heard about Classcraft from a Facebook ad. It looked intriguing, so I researched and read about it for a good month before proposing this new idea to my classes.

When I decided to roll out Classcraft, I was met with frustration and defiance. It was not the reaction I was expecting. Since many of my students play games, I assumed it was going to be an easy addition. The kids were angry and annoyed that I wanted to change yet another aspect of their learning experience, and the majority of them were dead-set against playing.

As I pondered this dilemma, I tried to think of ways to get the students excited about the game. I knew if they would just give it a chance, they would most likely love it. Then it dawned on me—all I had to do was give them a chance.

I added in the students at the beginning of each of my seven classes and gave them 20 minutes to play around with the characters. I awarded each of them random amounts of Experience Points (XP) so they could see the pets, gear, and powers they could obtain. As I walked around answering questions and watching the kids play, I started to see excitement and encouragement among the students.

At the end of each class, I took an anonymous vote through a Google form on whether or not the students would like to try Classcraft. It was unanimous with all 117 students that I teach—a resounding YES! I gave up 20 minutes of one day and gained a new tool to use in my class, and so far it has been a blast.

Since starting Classcraft, I have seen a change in the dynamics of my classes. Students who normally don’t turn in assignments have started to excel. The chitter-chatter has stopped during class time. Kids are following directions better, listening better, and cooperating to a higher extent than I have seen before.

In two of my classes, I have surpassed other years in the amount of content we have covered, and it’s only the third quarter! The 20 minutes I gave up back in November has been well worth it. I have seen huge growths in my students’ knowledge and attention, and I’ve gained more time to go over more material to boot!

Classcraft changed my classroom in a few short months. Although I was met with frustration at first, all my students love Classcraft now to the point that they will log on and train pets over breaks and weekends. It is an engaging and exciting addition to any class, and I am very glad that I chose to take the time to figure out a way to get my students onboard. My classes wouldn’t be as organized and engaging as they are without Classcraft.

Katherine Eastin is a science teacher for Notre Dame Jr/Sr High School in Burlington, Iowa. She teaches 8th grade Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Astronomy, and Honor’s Physics. From personal creations to student additions of Classcraft pets and shields, her colorful classroom with painted walls and windows is centered on science but shows her African upbringing in every corner, mixing culture with education.

Photo credit: Syda Productions / Shutterstock.com

Definitely! :) We have lots of ideas for new game content. Stay tuned!

Assessment is about to get a whole lot more fun. 

We’re almost ready to release Classcraft Boss Battles! The team can hardly contain our excitement, so we wanted to give everyone a sneak peek of what’s in store.

Ready? Voila!

What are Boss Battles, exactly? They’re review games designed to make quizzes so exciting that students will ace your next test or exam.

Boss Battles are another way for teachers to add their own content in Classcraft. Every time students, teams, or the whole class answers one of your questions correctly, they’ll knock Health Points (HP) off a boss monster and gain Experience Points (XP) as a reward. Cool, huh?

What happens if students aren’t prepared? For every question they get wrong, the boss attacks and takes away some of their HP. Yikes!

If students demonstrate their mastery of your lesson, they’ll defeat the boss and be victorious!

We hope you’re as excited as we are! :)

Stephanie, Community Manager
stephanie@classcraft.com

Want to share your insights on education with us? Email stephanie@classcraft.com to get started!

Jeroen Heremans teaches Dutch, English as ESL, and history in the 3rd and 4th year of secondary school. He’s been teaching for 10 years and started his blog last year with geeky suggestions and lesson ideas. In addition to teaching, he’s an improv actor and gives workshops on “Improvisation and class management’” and “Improv Class for Teachers.” Jeroen is the main contributor to Classcraft’s Dutch translation.

Thanks for talking with us today, Jeroen! To start, tell us a little about yourself as an educator and what classes and grade levels you teach.

I’ve been teaching for 11 years now. I teach history, Dutch, and English as a second language. I don’t know how the American system works, but we have six years of elementary school and six years of secondary school, and I teach in the third and fourth years of the secondary school. So most of my students are between 14 and 17 years old.

Can you give us a snapshot view of what education is like in Belgium?

There are three areas in Belgium: a Flemish-speaking part, where I teach; a French-speaking part; and a small German-speaking part. Each community has its own focus and system, and we have four different education levels. The biggest one is ASO, or General Secondary Education. Then we have TSO, that’s Technical Secondary Education, and then we have BSO, or Professional Secondary Education. The last is KSO, which is “art school” — dance, music, drawing, architecture.

So in the General stream, we teach languages, economics, mathematics, science, et cetera. In the Technical stream, we also have those subjects, but science is more like industrial or biomedical science, or computer science. So it’s more practical than the general stream. And then you have the Professional stream, where they have a lot of practical [career] lessons, for technicians, factory workers and even nurses.

What made you decide to use Classcraft? How does it work with your goals as a teacher?

The way I learned about it was while doing research for my blog. I was looking for geeky stuff on the Internet that teachers could use. I actually can’t remember where I found Classcraft, but it was when it was just starting and they were looking for teachers who wanted to test the beta version.

I started by testing it out for four weeks. I was already into role-playing games, and I liked how students could level up and the powers they could unlock. I really wanted to give it a try, so I did. And My students were very enthusiastic [when we started playing].

I’m still enjoying Classcraft. I had my last lesson with my English class today, so I ended by asking my students, “What did you think of Classcraft? Did you like it, and do I need to do it again this year?” There was only one thing they didn’t like, and it was the power to open or close a window. [Editor’s Note - Powers like these are customizable by the teacher!]

… They said, “Yeah, you should definitely keep doing this. The random events are fun; sometimes they’re a bit strange, but it’s OK because it’s you who’s teaching us.” It definitely meets my goals because it keeps my students motivated.

What kind of customizations did you make to the game? What did you like?

I’m thinking of changing the “Hunting” power … Students can’t eat in [our] school, in classes or in the hallways. So it was a big, big privilege, and it was only a Level 1 power. So if I would use it again I would move it down the ladder or give it something extra.

Other modifications were the events of the day. Not every event appealed to me, and I also wanted to do something different. … I definitely used the online classroom, the LMS [learning management system]. I really, really liked it. There are some updates coming, so I’m very interested in that.

It’s so manageable. You can reward them with Experience Points (XP), with Gold Pieces (GP). You can set a clear deadline. There’s a time stamp, so you can say, “Hey, you’re too late, or you’re too early.” There’s this thing where they can respond to each other [in the comments], and I can respond to them. They can ask me something when they are not in my classroom. And it worked. They liked it. They thought it was clear what they had to do — there was the assignment, their homework, they could upload their homework and didn’t have to print it because their dog always ate it. … It did the trick for them.

Would you give any advice to any other international teachers interested in using Classcraft?

The very short answer is just try it, because it’s worth it. It’s a very interesting system. It works in a world that students are familiar with. It looks great; the artwork is fantastic. It seems like a lot to manage, but once you’ve tried it or had a small introduction from someone who knows it, it’s really not that difficult.

… You have to remind yourself that when starting, [the students are] only Level 1. They only have one power. It’s very manageable. And they don’t use their powers every minute; they use their powers maybe three times in a lesson. And the first powers they have, you can only use them once every lesson or two. So it is manageable.

You [learn how to use] Classcraft together with your students, so that should comfort some teachers who want to try it. It’s a very, very interesting system that I really love.

Photo credit: Dmitry Kaminsky / Shutterstock.com

Teachers, we’ve got a great new feature for you that will help you get the most of out your Classcraft experience.

It’s called the Settings Wizard, and it’s a tool designed to balance the game settings for your class based on two important factors: your class duration and how many hours per week you see your students.

By entering in this data, our Settings Wizard will automatically determine how much Experience Points your students need to level up and how many Action Points they should regenerate each day.

You can access the Settings Wizard each time you create a new class, but you can also check your class settings (Classroom Manager -> Settings) if you need to make any changes.

We hope you like the feature! Let us know what you think by writing to us at wecare@classcraft.com.

Until next time!

For over a year, we’ve been helping to transform the classroom experience for thousands of teachers and students around the world. Now, we’re proud to announce that we’re bringing parents into Classcraft, too!

Our new parent app (available in both Free and Premium versions) is a great way to further empower students’ learning. By inviting parents to Classcraft, teachers can give parents a window into how their child is doing in class and in the game.

Parents can view their child’s avatar and award them up to 15 Gold Pieces (GP) a day for doing their homework or other positive behaviors at home. They can also use our new Messaging feature to communicate with their child’s teacher. (Read more on Messaging here.)

If you have a Premium teacher account, parents can also view posts in the Interactive Classroom Content to follow along with your class lessons.

When parents sign up for the parent app, students in Free and Premium classes alike will receive three promotional baby griffon pets! So cute!

For more information on how the parent app works, email us at wecare@classcraft.com or visit our Help Section.

New this fall is an exciting way for you to communicate directly with parents and your students, all at once or individually. Introducing Classcraft Messaging!

Through our Messaging system, you can post broadcast announcements to all parents or to your whole class. (Read more about inviting parents to Classcraft here.)

You can also talk with individual parents or students in private conversations. Our handy notifications will let you know whenever a new message is awaiting you, and you can receive email reminders as well. (Toggle these on/off in your user profile.)

Attach files or disable or enable replies on conversations at your convenience.

When we communicate smarter, everyone has a chance to grow — especially your students!

We hope you enjoy our new Messaging feature! Share your feedback with us by writing to wecare@classcraft.com.

Classcraft ambassador and teacher Larah Buffington shared her story of how the new Classcraft parent app has better connected parents with their child’s school life:

“So many parents are using the app now. Many of them love having access, and knowing what the random event is through me gives them a chance to broach school conversations in a much more lighthearted way. Instead of, ‘What did you do at school today?’, which gets the pat answer of "nothing,” the conversation has become, “Seriously, dude, you had to jump up and down on one foot while reciting the characteristics of living things!” and the answer being a 30-minute conversation about everything that happened at school. Parents love having ways to get their kids to open up, and this hits the spot. Love it!!! Keep up the great work!“

Have you seen Classcraft make a positive difference for your students? Share your stories with the hashtag #MyClassMyCraft or email stephanie@classcraft.com.

Want to share your insights on education with us? Email stephanie@classcraft.com to get started!

Laura Smith is a Technology Instructor and Facilitator at Trinity Lutheran Christian School in Joppa, MD.  She is a mom of three, a member of the Discovery Educator Network, and loves sharing and learning with other technology using educators. She blogs about education and tweets about trending education topics at @agentlaurasmith.

Thanks for talking with us today, Laura! To start, tell us a little about yourself as an educator and what classes and grade levels you teach.

My degree is in early childhood education. I taught for two years in Harford County Public Schools before leaving to pursue my goal of becoming a computer teacher. I’ve been teaching technology skills at my current school, Trinity Lutheran School, for 15 years, and I teach students in kindergarten through eighth grade. I also help the faculty with professional development and any other technology needs that they have.

How do you use Classcraft throughout the day?

I piloted Classcraft with just my sixth grade computer classes here. Usually when they would come in, I would have the random events screen up on the projector. They would all get excited and sit down. I would give them a few minutes to log in and check on their pets, and check their points, and compare points with each other to see where they all were. Then I would start the class with the random event. That was a good way to get us all on the same page, and it’s something fun and engaging.

I mainly used it as a motivation tool for the students. I would keep the teacher’s screen up on my computer as the students were working, so I could very easily come over and have my entire class list in front  of me and either assign or detract points for them based on their behavior and how they were doing in class.

As the year progressed, I started to add in a few other components, such as the discussion forums. Students could ask questions on work that they had, talk to each other, or ask me, and I could answer them even from home.

What kinds of things did you post in the student forums?

We mainly used the discussion area, where I could post a question for them and have them log on at home, answer the question, and discuss the topic so that we could be prepared for what the next lesson was. It was kind of like a flipped classroom idea, where I would give them the topic and give them a little heads-up on what was coming up the next day or the next class period.

It gives them a chance to look at what the upcoming topic is, and sometimes I might give them some research to do — “find out about this topic X, Y, and Z, and then when we come to class next time, be prepared to discuss it. So, “Find five Internet safety tips, and then the next time we come to class, you can share the tips that you found with the class.”

It gave them a positive place to talk to each other outside of class, and it could be monitored as well. So I could watch and make sure that the discussion was staying on track and that everyone was staying appropriate. It was nice to have that feature.

What customizations did you make for using Classcraft in this setting?

With the Health Points (HP), I took my classroom rules and made those the things that I would either take HP or give Experience Points (XP) for. One of my rules is, “You don’t touch someone else’s computer.” The minute I saw someone messing around with someone else’s keyboard, I would just walk to the front of the room and start taking away HP. As soon as they saw me walking toward my screen, they all froze.

What are some things you might give XP for?

I would give XP for students who went out of their way to help other students. Sometimes I would just do it for motivation. If I saw one student doing a good job paying attention while a few other students were talking, I would go over and give them some XP and say, “You are really paying attention and you’re closing out all those other distractions, and I appreciate the attention you’re giving me.” So then the other students would suddenly get quiet, and they would want to get that praise as well. So it became a motivational tool.

If they completed their class work successfully, I would also award XP for that.

What advice do you have for teachers thinking of using Classcraft in a computer lab or class setting with online components?

I spent some time at the beginning of the year, and I gave them an entire class period just to log on and explore, and ask questions of me and each other. Since it was new for all of us, we took that class period to learn together. So giving them the time upfront to make sure they understand how it works, it saves some of those troubles further on in the school year. And once they’ve had that chance to get to know how it works, then it can really run smoothly and in the background for the rest of the school year.

Another piece of advice would be for teachers to really try out the learning management system (LMS). I really want to use the class content more next year because I think having all of that in one place just makes things so streamlined and easy for the teacher. You can have your lessons all in one place; the students know where to go. They can find their lesson activities for the day. You can even give them points for the grades they receive. Everything is built in.

It takes a little time at the beginning to learn everything, but once you do, it can really make lesson planning and execution so much easier for the rest of the school year.

Photo credit: luminaimages / Shutterstock.com

You can level up by earning Experience Points (XP), which your teacher can give you for doing good things in class! You can earn XP for doing behaviors like completing your homework on time, helping fellow students, and participating in discussions.

Classcraft was made in Canada but can be used anywhere in the world via browsers and our mobile app! :)

Happy Halloween, boys and ghouls!

We at Classcraft wanted to brew up something special this Halloween. What better way to spread a little spooky fun than with limited-time Halloween gear for students?

Our special Halloween headgear is available now for all students, in both Free and Premium classes. Students can choose from four ghastly gear pieces per character class and equip them right away, so every Mage, Warrior, and Healer can look their absolute scariest.

Halloween gear is only available for the next two weeks, so enjoy them while the full moon lasts!

Students can also customize their avatars’ looks year-round with a large number of regular gear sets — boots, clothing, pets, and more — in our Premium version.

From the pumpkin patch,
The Classcraft Team

Great question! Definitely emphasize the benefits of using Classcraft in the classroom so that you can make a strong case for why it will help students. We’ve seen Classcraft make a huge difference in increasing motivation, participation, and even grade performance, and it’s fostered excellent skills like collaboration, leadership, and digital citizenship.

Let your administrators know that you can run Classcraft with as little as one computer and a projector, so you can ensure that students only update their avatars outside of class time. As a whole, Classcraft is designed to take only 5-6 minutes per class hour. (Some teachers give students an extra 5-10 minutes at the beginning or end of the week to spend just on their avatars, but that’s completely up to you!)

Support from your administrators can make a huge difference in successfully introducing a new program in your classroom. We’d be happy to help by providing presentation materials that highlight the many strengths and advantages of Classcraft. Email us at wecare@classcraft.com if you’re interested in these materials!

Definitely! Since Classcraft is an online platform, you can use it anywhere in the world. We have teachers using the game in over 75 countries. That’s pretty amazing!

We’ve designed Classcraft so that it’s very customizable, so you can adjust many facets of the game so they best fit your classroom and school setting.

You can turn off email notifications in your profile, and you can unsubscribe from post discussions by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the top of a post. :)

We recently held a contest on Facebook and Twitter asking teachers to share a moment playing Classcraft where their students absolutely amazed them. 

We received some fantastic responses. Here are a few of our favorites!

Winning Entry: Kelly Fitchpatrick of Palm Desert Charter Middle School in Palm Desert, California

“There have already been a few, but one that I thought was special was when the random event for the day asked each team to decide who on their team would gain bonus XP. I loved hearing the conversations the students were having with each other. One might think the students were trying to lobby for themselves, yet not a single one was. Each group independently came to the same conclusion to give the points to the person on the their team with the fewest XP. I thought it was such a nice moment of teamwork, discussion, and good sportsmanship.”

Paul Miller of Westminster Primary in Perth, Western Australia

“Students were given approximately 25 tasks to attempt for Australian History assessment, each task ranging in effort and difficulty. Classcraft experience points (ranging from 5-25) were assigned to each task. Children worked tirelessly, attempting to complete as many tasks as they could. My challenged students took on the easier 5-point tasks, and others tried for the harder 20-25-point tasks. It was great to see the motivation to get so much done in five lessons.”

Diana Sullivan of Krimmel Intermediate

“This was just as I was dabbling with ClassCraft: I had a student who was so clever, he created his very own game in PowerPoint (since they aren’t allowed to play games in school). I asked him to join a class and play with it. He was floored and just loved it. When he heard that I was considering presenting an introductory session at TCCA over Classcraft, he begged me to do it. He said, “Señora, you need to spread the word. This is a way to make kids come to school who probably would drop out otherwise.” He told me to share his story, and I did. I presented on behalf of him and students just like him! Thank you.”

Kathleen Edington of Clinton-Massie Middle School in Clarksville, Ohio

“Yesterday I was able to give XP for kindness. A special needs student was showing off her work to two boys. They said “way to go” and “good job” and were high five-ing her. She wasn’t on their team, but the culture of the room had changed. They are used to building each other up instead of tearing each other down.”

Mandy Pullin of West Creek Middle School

“I have been playing Classcraft with my students for two days and already see an incredible difference in my classroom! I am especially excited about the enthusiasm some of my struggling learners have shown. Teachers from all over the building are hearing about it from my students. A student in a study hall class finished his work for the first time ever just so he could login and start “working” on his avatar and learning powers. The teacher came to me and said “WHAT have you started?!! That was a different kid today. Keep it going!” We have tried everything we could think of to get this young man engaged, but Classcraft is doing it for him and so many others! Thank you.” 

Thanks to everyone who participated! Keep an eye on our social channels for more fun contests and giveaways! #MyClassMyCraft

Amazing! We’re thrilled to hear that Classcraft has been a success in your classroom.

Our Quests (the Timer and Stopwatch, and soon Boss Battles and Instant Polling) are Premium features. You can upgrade your account from the Class Manager.

So glad to hear Classcraft is working for you! :)

You can delete old classes that you don’t need anymore by going to the Classroom Setup screen and then clicking the pencil button next to the class name. The trashcan icon will appear so you can delete the class.

Students can use Gold Pieces (GP) to customize their avatars’ look and feel with cool gear and equipment.

Multi-Class is one of the most versatile new features of Classcraft. With it, you can transform your single classroom adventure into an experience that spans a student’s entire school day.

Let’s take a look!

Sharing Students

By setting up Multi-Class and connecting to other teachers at your school, students can use a single account and avatar across all classes in which they’re playing. This makes it easier for them to manage their Classcraft activity and makes it simpler for you to keep track of students.

You can set up Multi-Class from the Class Manager. See it in action by watching this video!

Adding a colleague’s students to your classes is as easy as pressing the green “Add a Player” button on the Classroom Setup screen and clicking on the “Student Database.” Then select the student you wish to add.

Classcraft automatically balances the game for students playing in more than one class, so you don’t have to worry about all the finer details. We’ve got you covered.

For example, if a student is playing in more than one class, the game will increase their level caps (the amount of XP students need to level up) by combining their total level caps across all of their classes. The game also adds up how much AP they regenerate each day using this same method, as well as other aspects.

Sharing Customizations

Once you’re connected to other teachers in Multi-Class, you can view and use the customizations that your colleagues have set for different game features.

For example, you can use their settings for the game powers, random events, sentences, and presets. You can do this by going to your Class Manager and clicking “Settings” for your class.

Watch this process in action in this video!

Moving Students Between Classes

Multi-Class is also beneficial even if no other teachers at your school are playing Classcraft.

For example, you can still import random events, presets, and so forth from your other classes (if you don’t wish to import all your settings at once).

You can also transfer students into multiple classes by using the “Student Database” feature as described in the “Sharing Students” section of this article.

Those are the amazing benefits of Multi-Class! We hope you’ve found this little guide useful. :) If you have any questions or don’t understand something explained here, feel free to email stephanie@classcraft.com.

Until next time!