Want to write a guest post on Classcraft or another topic in education? Contact stephanie@classcraft.com.

Guest post contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Laura Trauth

Read our interview with Laura about using Classcraft in college and online classes here and here.

I have been teaching full-time at my Maryland community college for almost 18 years now. Because of our role as a two-year college, the majority of our students are taking survey courses to fulfill General Education requirements and transfer. As a result, I have taught History 101 well over 100 times.

As you can imagine, I was getting burned out. I still enjoyed those occasions when I got to teach an elective class, but I otherwise dreaded the start of the new semester. I could literally recite my lectures without looking at my notes or even my PowerPoint. I have no doubt that I could do it blindfolded! And I didn’t feel inspired enough to change any of that. The path of least resistance was to down a big cup of coffee, drag myself to work, teach the way I always had, and count the days until finals.

The consequences were telling in more than my reticence to get going in the morning. My students were less engaged, and my student evaluations were slipping. There were still good moments—those times where a student asked a great question or the class got a good discussion going on one of the topics—but they were few and far between. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I wasn’t happy.

I did know, however, that public school teachers were often more creative in their classrooms than the typical college lecturer. And I knew that there were increasing numbers of websites discussing their ideas and tools. I thought about looking for some sort of simulation as I had run a simulation game in my History 102 courses in the past. So I fired up my Google Fu and hit the web.

Discovering Classcraft

What did I find? Classcraft. At first, I wasn’t sure the tool would be a good fit for my classroom. It seemed too whimsical. Would my adult students connect with gear and pets and silly random events? Would they be willing to speak Pig Latin or do a dance in front of their classmates? Would I?

After exploring the website and teaching myself the rules, I thought about the game for a long time. Eventually, I decided to implement it in History 101. After all, why should we be afraid of whimsy? Why shouldn’t learning be fun? We all love school as small children, but many of us come to resent it as the fun and play are drained away so that we can get “serious.” Maybe “serious,” as I had conceived of it, wasn’t a good thing.

That first semester over a year ago was a little scary for both my students and me. None of us knew what to expect from Classcraft. Yet very few students decided not to play. We were in this journey together. And almost before I knew it, I began to see results.

Class transformation

No longer did my students just sit still in the classroom. Hands shot up all over the room every time I asked a question. The students wanted the Experience Points (XP), and they enjoyed participating. I began to implement more group work and watched as students helped each other master the material. When one of the shyest students in the class was randomly chosen to dance in front of the class, he did it to the genuine cheers and applause of every student in the room. And at the end of the semester, when students would normally scatter to the four winds, many of them stood out in the hallway talking to each other—some for almost an hour after the exam was over.

There were longer-term consequences, too. I found I was looking forward to the start of the next semester. And almost a third of those students in the first Classcraft course came back and took my History 102 course that spring. I am still in touch with many of them. They stop by my office to say hello and chat about life. They send me jokes, ask for recommendations, and send me friend requests on Facebook. I resolved to implement Classcraft in all my courses, and I haven’t looked back once.

Looking ahead

Are my classes perfect now that I’m using Classcraft? Of course not. There are still students who come to class unprepared or skip assignments. A few of my older adult students are still uncomfortable with the game and with the idea of letting themselves have fun in the classroom. But I feel a passion for my subject again. And I know I am conveying that to my students in ways I wasn’t before.

More than that, I have gotten out of my rut and am again looking for ways to continually improve my teaching. I’ve been reading about gamification and implementing other aspects of it, such as conceiving of assignments as challenges or quests and allowing students “retries” when the quest defeats them. I’ve reshaped my History 101 class (and some assignments in my other classes) to focus on heroes. I’m talking to students more about grit and being epic in the face of their challenges. I award badges, and I am looking at integrating an augmented reality game into the course as well.

So for anyone who is feeling burned out or stuck in a rut, if you’re dreading the start of the school year or it takes more coffee for you to get out the door than it used to, I encourage you to take the leap as well. Let some fun into your classroom. And some whimsy. Yes, you will face some resistance, especially at the college level. We’ve been told for too long that we must be rigorous and serious at the expense of fun and play. But your passion will convince your students, and before long, you may find that you are ALL looking forward to class each day! To quote Stan Lee, “Excelsior!”

Laura Trauth has been a total geek since childhood, from watching seeing the The Empire Strikes Back 10 times in the theater to playing Dungeons & Dragons during lunch in high school. She has a PhD in modern European history and Master’s degrees in humanities and geospatial information sciences. In her spare time she reads comic books, hikes, gardens, and plans out more ways to gamify her classes.

Photo credit: www.BillionPhotos.com / Shutterstock.com

The following testimonial was submitted by teacher Heidi Hisrich as part of Classcraft’s series on promoting physical activity in the classroom.

My PLTW Biomedical Science students love to get physical in their Classcraft random events!  

From building pyramids to doing wall sits, to competing in push-up contests and thumb wars, the students love to compete in physical challenges. It wakes us up and gets us ready to learn, too.  

We started out with me coming up with some of the events, such as Dance or Die and Thumb Wars. Then kids started suggesting their own ideas, and I began giving out XP to those who come up with creative random events, which is how the Pyramid Challenge and Wall Sits came to be.

Noodle Battle is a favorite random event that combines vocabulary review with physical competition. We learn lots of medical terms in class, so I put the roots on a wall, and I’ll call out a meaning like “sugar.” The kids have to race to hit the root and call out a vocabulary word that uses it (like hitting the root "gluc” and calling out “glucose”).

Thanks for sharing, Heidi! Stay tuned for more entries in our series on promoting physical activity with Classcraft!

Watch the video shown above here!

The following testimonial was submitted by teacher Emily Huff as part of Classcraft’s series on promoting physical activity in the classroom.

Except for physically moving classroom to classroom, I feel like my high school students don’t often get the chance to be active and moving in class throughout the day. I love when we get a random daily event that encourages the students to do something completely different and get out of their desks. And they love that rare opportunity, too!

Random events including physical activity always give my class period a boost of energy and excitement, and that directly carries over into learning. Some of my most dynamic classes this year, where I have had engaged students asking questions and demonstrating learning, have been class periods where we also had a physical daily event. My favorite is the five-minute yoga session at the beginning of class, but the kids like physical challenges like Wall Sit, Book Balancing, or Keeping Their Feet off the Floor.

Thanks for sharing, Emily! Stay tuned for more entries in our series on promoting physical activity with Classcraft.

The following testimonial was submitted by teacher Nick Baskwill as part of Classcraft’s series on promoting physical activity in the classroom.

We are a pretty active class as a whole. We use alternative seating, so many students are on the go all day, switching seats and making new partners and groups on the fly. We use Classcraft to help manage behavior in the room, and the kids love it. They especially love random events that get them up and moving! We have added custom ones that include GoNoodle brain breaks, stretch breaks, and fun physical challenges.

We also add Classcraft “bounties” that work as bonuses and allow students to add AP, HP, XP, or Gold Pieces. We have been expanding our list of bounties to get us moving more in the room. We have ones for designing and dancing our own brain breaks, and, as the girls in the photo are demonstrating, for some stretching and relaxing. They were searching for calmness and peace of mind (and of course, enough AP to use Favor of the Gods — a reward of listening to music for us), and so some stretching and meditating was just the way to do it.

Thanks for sharing, Nick! Stay tuned for more entries in our series on promoting physical activity with Classcraft.

Watch the video shown above here!

The following testimonial was submitted by teacher Dan Koch as part of Classcraft’s series on promoting physical activity in the classroom.

Classcraft has transformed how students view the classroom. I think the power of it is that I’m on the same playing field as they are when it comes to random events — even though I’m the Gamemaster, I can be afflicted with the same turn of events as the class! That really creates a sense of comradery between myself and the students.

The fact that I can be comfortable enough to dance the “Whip n’ Dab” in front of them assures them that we are a team; we bring each other up and prevent each other from being knocked down. Classcraft has really helped foster this type of attitude in all things. While we have fun in class in the midst of our film projects (I currently teach the Intro to Technology/Audiovisual Arts class at Citrus Springs Middle School), Classcraft’s other features, such as the student selector, countdown timer, and class messaging help in everyday tasks as well.

Our greatest class memory came from Periscoping one of our random events (me dancing the “Whip & Nae Nae” with three random students), and Classcraft tweeting back at my class that they’d stopped their company meeting to watch it!

Thanks for sharing, Dan! Stay tuned for more entries in our series on promoting physical activity with Classcraft.

The following testimonial was submitted by teacher Mark Grundel as part of Classcraft’s series on promoting physical activity in the classroom.

At the start of the school year, I began grouping the children into their “clans.” Since I am a bit of a Star Wars nut, the four clans in my classroom are Rebel Alliance, Galactic Empire, Jedi Masters, and Sith Lords. In order to build cohesion between the group members in the clans, we participated in a variety of team-building activities. Some of the activities involved academics while others involved puzzles, riddles, and physical activities.

For physical activities, I decided to take the students outside and compete in a few different challenges. Students worked cooperatively with their clans to complete physical assignments, such as relay races, ball tosses, and group juggles. These activities helped build unity among the students in their clans. To this day, I have not changed up the clans and students continue to enjoy working in them.

Thanks for sharing, Mark!

When your favorite classroom tools come together, amazing things happen.

Classcraft is proud to announce we’ve integrated with Google to help you and your students achieve even more together. Managing assignments and awarding points has never been easier!

If you’re creating a new class, you can import your students from Google Classroom in a snap. No need to remember new usernames or passwords. You can also upload Google Drive files to all your gamified lessons in Classcraft.

“We’re really excited to be integrating with Google,” said Shawn Young, the co-founder and CEO of Classcraft. “This initial release is only the beginning. Keep an eye out for more new features to come as we leverage the strengths of the two platforms to create an unforgettable classroom experience.”

New to Classcraft? Experience it firsthand for free by clicking here and make the rest of the school year unforgettable! 

For existing teachers using Classcraft, sign in with Google or link your accounts from your profile page today to get started.

Want to write a guest post on Classcraft or another topic in education? Contact stephanie@classcraft.com.

Guest post contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Luke Henke

You are in the final stretch toward summer. Spring break seems like a distant memory, and summer break seems a faraway dream. It’s easy to let teacher burnout settle in and start coasting to the end of the year.

Teacher burnout comes easily at this point. Stay strong! You are one of the primary models of integrity, persistence, and endurance in your students’ lives. I love how Classcraft helps hold students accountable (and in turn, they help me to never forget a random event!).

Whether you are just now finding Classcraft or winding down a year with it, here are a few tips to reset your teaching life.

Tip #1: Review expectations and reinforce consequences. 

Review the Hero Pact and the purpose of Classcraft in your classroom so students recall the expectations for the class. Consistency is key in keeping gaming momentum going.

The Book of Laments is a great record keeper for owed consequences, but I may forget to check the Laments as students try to avoid paying their dues. So make a laminated board/poster or section off part of a whiteboard with the “Recently Deceased,” so you know which students have uncompleted sentences in the Book of Laments. This helps teammates remember who’s responsible for their missing Health Points (HP). Not only will students see the names, but more importantly, they will see continued justice as names are added and erased.

Tip #2: Increase the number of random events done per day, and not just at the beginning of class. 

If another event occurs that the students perceive as negative, I allow a Mage to use “Invisibility” so I don’t see that event and a new one is chosen.

Take a few minutes and brainstorm new events with students and add those in. This is tons easier in the newer interface thanks to the “edit events” button in the lower righthand corner.

Tip #3: If you haven’t yet, delegate record-keeping responsibilities to a student. 

I recommend having a rotation set up for students to take control. I hand that student my iPad, and they become the “Hand of the Gamemaster” for the day. They get a nice bonus of Gold Pieces (GP) and Experience Points (XP). I also like how it opens their eyes to the responsibility that teachers bear in keeping track of everything that goes on.

Tip #4: Grab some new ideas from the official community forums. 

Go introduce yourself and check out some tips! There are some great ideas on sentence consequences and XP rewards as well. It’s where I got the idea for “Hand of the Gamemaster” and my “Bounty Board”:

Visit some of the idea pools, such as the forums conversations about Powers, Power Names, Events, and Sentences.

Tip #5: Design a random boss battle that students won’t expect (aka a pop quiz), but throw in humor. 

This helps build some rapport with students. I have a student inventory that includes favorite foods and unique talents, so I would add in this question: “Which student likes Chinese and has double-jointed toes?”

Remember, Classcraft transforms your class into a game, and games are supposed to be fun (and challenging). Make it so for your students. Your attitude and perception of students will be reflected onto each learner who sits in those chairs. They will respond in kind.

Dr. Tim Elmore shares the 101% principle — find the 1% that is good (much searching may be required) and focus 100% of your attention there. I know a few students I will have to practice this on, and I’m sure you do too. Watch a few educational TED.com talks, or re-read some motivational books that inspired you as a teacher. Stay positive, and let your dreams grow with your students.

Luke Henke is passionate about growing students into young mathematicians and leaders. He teaches algebra through calculus in high school and also for a local community college. Coaching math team, cross country, and track allows him to stay below the obese level according to his Wii Balance Board. He is starting his doctorate in educational leadership while also enjoying spending time with his wife and newborn son.

Photo credit: JoHo / Shutterstock.com

Testimonial submitted by teacher Debbie Hall

Let’s face it — everyone has to manage a classroom. So it’s fair to say that precious minutes are used every day on getting a class started or making sure you have given students important information. I think we can all agree that there are some amazing strategies to help us manage our students, and some work for a little while or I (just sayin’) become less consistent with using them.

Classcraft has stepped up the management for me without me having to put in any more time (maybe less) than other procedures. It’s was super easy to start up; as soon as I said “game,” I had buy-in from the kids, and I didn’t have to know everything about it in order to get started. The students were more than willing to help.

I’ve had one sub day since I started using Classcraft, and I only had to offer 100 XP to everyone if a good report was left by the substitute. YES! I was able to reward all students 100 XP.

It’s fair to say that not all students are interested in the gaming concept in general, but that hasn’t prevented the class from using it and enjoying it, either.

A super piece of Classcraft is the use of posting class messages. Just by checking in and looking to see if there is a message can lead to a reward of XP and GP in my class. What a great way to make sure they follow up at home and that they are prepared for the next day.

I am excited to begin the year this fall with Classcraft already in place. I’m sure it will help my incoming 6th graders transition into middle school faster and more completely.

Thanks for the amazing feedback, Debbie! :) We’re so glad that Classcraft has made a positive difference in your classroom!

Photo credit: Syda Productions / Shutterstock.com

Vous voulez publier comme blogueur invité à propos de Classcraft ou du milieu de l’éducation? Envoyez un courriel à: simon@classcraft.com

Publication de Chantal Nantel, blogueuse invitée

La réalité du spécialiste

Comme spécialiste en musique, nul besoin de vous dire que je me fais souvent demander: qu’est-ce que ça va me donner la musique dans ma vie? Lorsque les élèves arrivent dans mon local, ils ne prennent pas le cours au sérieux et ça devient une vraie période de récréation. Comme je les vois seulement 2 fois en 9 jours, il m’est très difficile d’instaurer une discipline dans ma salle de classe.

Une grande découverte

Le printemps passé, à la radio, j’entends un enseignant de la région de Québec parler d’une gestion de classe en jeu de rôle et comme j’étais en voiture je n’ai pas noté le nom du site. Mais comme ce système m’intriguait, j’ai fait mes recherches et puis j’ai fini par trouver Classcraft. Au mois de juin, je m’inscris pour le webinaire et je découvre un jeu de rôle où je ne suis plus  un prof, mais un maître du jeu. Enfin, je peux entrer dans le monde de mes élèves: les jeux de rôle  et l’informatique. Transformer ma classe en jeu de rôle où mes jeunes peuvent continuer de jouer et même d’avoir accès à mes explications à partir de la maison comme si j’étais avec en classe.

Ce que Classcraft apporte de plus à mon travail

Lors de la rentrée en septembre, je décide de commencer le jeu avec mes plus vieux. OK, je suis au primaire alors mes plus vieux sont des élèves de la 4e à la 6e année. Toutefois, mes élèves “embarquent” sans hésiter avec moi et là, notre aventure commence. Enfin, mon cours n’est plus vu comme une période où l’on vient perdre son temps, mais bien où l’on va pour travailler et gagner des points! Désormais, mes élèves travaillent en classe et me demandent même des activités à faire à la maison! Oui oui, mes élèves font de la musique à la maison! J’ai même des parents qui sont venus me voir me disant: “Je ne sais pas ce que vous avez fait à mon enfant. J’ai dû épousseter la vieille guitare, l’accorder, puis me voilà chantant avec mon enfant!” Suite à ce succès, j’ai décidé d’aller plus loin et d’essayer autre chose: pousser l’audace jusqu’à donner des devoirs de musique à la maison. C’est une chose impensable que de faire des devoirs de musique à la maison. Jamais je n’aurais même songé faire ça. Eh bien moi, je l’ai fait! Depuis, mes élèves adorent faire des travaux à la maison. Résultat: je dispose de bien plus de temps pour voir autre chose en classe.

Qu’est-ce que Classcraft m’a apporté? J’ai retrouvé le plaisir, la passion d’enseigner.  À présent, je peux enseigner d’une autre manière et permettre à mes élèves d’aimer venir dans ma classe. Oui, ils ont tellement hâte de venir en musique et moi … et bien, moi … j’ai très hâte de les voir.

Chantal Nolet est spécialiste en musique au primaire pour la Commission scolaire de la Beauce-Etchemin . Elle enseigne la musique dans 3 écoles donc elle a plus de 300 élèves. Passionnée de l’informatique et en recherche de nouvelle technique d’apprentissage elle a adopté Classcraft depuis le mois de septembre 2015 pour ses classes de musique primaire.

Photo: wavebreakmedia / Shutterstock.com

You’re reading Part 1 in our guest series contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Sam Schneider. Read our interview with Sam here.

As a teacher, one of my personal goals has always been getting students to engage with material that would otherwise bore them. It seems like every day there is a new technique to get students involved in their own learning process, but even those methods don’t always grab the student’s interest. Using Classcraft revolutionized my classroom management, and then I realized it could change the way I presented my lessons, too.

Suddenly, I was taking each unit and transforming it into an adventure, or story. By incorporating simple elements you can find in standard video games and board games, you can easily add excitement and suspense to researching topics, completing assignments, and even taking assessments.

Here are some easy ways to sneak popular teaching strategies into your class.

Tip #1: Understanding by Design (UbD) – The concept of building a lesson backward with the goal in sight is quintessential for most dungeons/adventures. Lay out a task and make it the boss or the reward. Then start mapping out the steps leading to the end of the lesson.

An example from my music class: “Attack of the Dust Bunnies,” where students were being swarmed by dust bunnies sent by the Dust Bunny King. In reality, they were completing worksheets and exercises working towards an assessment of their Music Theory knowledge. The concept of “seeing the boss” off in the distance gave purpose to fighting off the swarms and gave a visual sequence to the concepts they were doing to reach the final assessment/goal.

Stay tuned on Monday for tip #2!

Photo credit: wavebreakmedia / Shutterstock.com

You’re reading Part 2 in our guest series contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Sam Schneider. Read Part 1 here.

As a teacher, one of my personal goals has always been getting students to engage with material that would otherwise bore them. Using Classcraft revolutionized my classroom management, and then I realized it could change the way I presented my lessons, too.

By incorporating simple elements you can find in standard video games and board games, you can easily add excitement and suspense to researching topics, completing assignments, and even taking assessments.

Tip #2: Scaffolding – While UbD focuses on creating a lesson with the end goal in sight, scaffolding is about breaking a lesson down into smaller steps to complete it. 

This is very popular among the administrators who have done my observations. In a gameplay scenario, you tell the students they are gathering supplies or training to take down the boss. Only when they’ve accomplished each individual task will they be able to complete the mission. 

An example from my music class: “The Training” was the first mission of the year where students understood the process of critiquing a piece of music. The first assignment was finding and identifying the example. Then they analyzed what they liked (and didn’t like) from the example by breaking it down in short thoughts. Afterwards, they took their writing and expanded upon it to form a paragraph of solid critique. All throughout the process, they were also being trained in proper procedures for completing assignments and being introduced to Classcraft.

Stay tuned on Tuesday for tip #3!

Photo credit: Sunny studio / Shutterstock.com

You’re reading Part 3 in our guest series contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Sam Schneider. Read Part 2 here, or start at Part 1 here.

As a teacher, one of my personal goals has always been getting students to engage with material that would otherwise bore them. Using Classcraft revolutionized my classroom management, and then I realized it could change the way I presented my lessons, too.

By incorporating simple elements you can find in standard video games and board games, you can easily add excitement and suspense to researching topics, completing assignments, and even taking assessments.

Tip #3: Differentiating Instruction (with a menu) – One of my favorite methods for differentiating instruction and giving students control of their learning experience is using a “menu.” Lay out several options for assignments for your lesson (worksheets, creating questions, drawing diagrams, etc.) and let the students pick what they want to work on. 

There is some additional creative effort needed on your part, but the end result is students picking what learning method appeals to them. Disguising it in a story is just like the scaffolding idea, but this method gives it a “Choose Your Own Adventure” appeal.

An example from my music class: When my students were approaching the end of the Jazz unit, they had to hunt down the “Jazzasaurus.” Their hunt could either have them “track it” by making a timeline of Jazz history; study some “Hidden Eggs,” which were worksheets about key artists; “lure it in” by creating questions for an assessment (later used in a Boss Battle in Classcraft); and several other options. They had to use at least two of these hunting strategies to be successful.

Stay tuned on Wednesday for tip #4!

Photo credit: Tom Wang / Shutterstock.com

You’re reading Part 4 in our guest series contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Sam Schneider. Read Part 3 here, or start at Part 1 here.

As a teacher, one of my personal goals has always been getting students to engage with material that would otherwise bore them. Using Classcraft revolutionized my classroom management, and then I realized it could change the way I presented my lessons, too.

By incorporating simple elements you can find in standard video games and board games, you can easily add excitement and suspense to researching topics, completing assignments, and even taking assessments.

Tip #4: Jigsaw Groups – In this strategy, you take a large assignment and assign different tasks to different group members. In Classcraft, you already have groups (teams), the students have already selected roles (Warrior, Mage, or Healer), and so all you have left is to give each character type a different approach to completing your story’s goal. 

If that doesn’t appeal to you, then just give the students the options to complete the task and let them divide up the responsibilities themselves. An example from my music class: When I am teaching guitar, maintenance of the instrument is one of our first topics. I have students select topics such as tuning the instrument, replacing a string, identifying parts, and proper posture. Each team has to cover each topic, but it becomes up to decide who diagrams the guitar, who demonstrates replacing a string, and who gets to research different methods for tuning. Then to wrap it up, there’s a quickfire event judged by “Six String Sally,” where teams compete against each other (and the White Mountain Trek timer) to accurately complete each task.

Stay tuned on Thursday for the last tip!

Photo credit: Halfpoint / Shutterstock.com

You’re reading Part 5 in our guest series contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Sam Schneider. Read Part 4 here, or start at Part 1 here.

As a teacher, one of my personal goals has always been getting students to engage with material that would otherwise bore them. Using Classcraft revolutionized my classroom management, and then I realized it could change the way I presented my lessons, too.

By incorporating simple elements you can find in standard video games and board games, you can easily add excitement and suspense to researching topics, completing assignments, and even taking assessments.

Tip #5: Cubing – What’s more “classic” in gaming than the random outcome of a dice roll? In cubing, you assign simple tasks/assignments from your lesson to different sides of the cube. The outcome of a student’s die roll equals the work they need to do. If the results start becoming repetitive, make tiers for each task so it gets progressively harder the more they roll the same result. You can set rewards for completing one whole set of activities (each tier for a certain roll), a tier from each result (diversity award), and so on. 

An example from my music class — “Captain Ivory”: Learning an instrument like piano involves a lot of practice and repetition. To row away from the grasp of the octopus-pirate boss, students need to demonstrate a knowledge of the keys and scales. As they roll the die, it selects a scale or exercise for them to work on. If they accomplish it, they’re in the right direction and another step closer to shore and away from the fearsome Captain Ivory. The added benefit is the more they roll that same number, the more practice they have on those specific exercises.

These are only a few examples, but disguising strategies like these as game features will add intrigue for your students and impress your administration by showing off your skills for creating diverse and exciting lesson plans.

Sam Schneider is a middle school music teacher in Central New Jersey, where he instructs General Music, Guitar, Piano, and Music Technology. He attended Vanderbilt University, where he earned his Bachelor’s in Musical Arts (Blair School of Music) and Master’s in Secondary Education (Peabody College of Education).

Photo credit: Zurijeta / Shutterstock.com

Vous voulez publier comme blogueur invité à propos de Classcraft ou du milieu de l’éducation? Envoyez un courriel à: simon@classcraft.com

Publication de Philippe Vaillant, blogueuse invitée

Vive la motivation

Je suis un enseignant de 6e année et j'utilise Classcraft depuis maintenant deux ans. Cette année, ma classe est principalement composée de garçons alors je devais trouver une façon d'aller chercher leur intérêt. Sans tomber dans certains stéréotypes, je trouve qu'il est souvent plus facile de motiver les filles dans les différents projets que je propose. Classcraft m'a donc permis de captiver mes élèves masculins, mais également mes filles.

Qu’est-ce que les batailles de boss ?

Les batailles de boss permettent à l’enseignant de créer une série de questions qui sera proposée aux élèves. Celui-ci choisit l’image du boss à affronter, choisit la quantité de vie qu’il possédera, ainsi que le nombre de points de vie qu’infligera une bonne réponse à ce monstre. Si les élèves réussissent, ils gagnent un nombre de points d’expérience et de pièces d’or déterminés par l’enseignant. Lors d’une mauvaise réponse, les élèves perdent des points de vie et peuvent utiliser leurs pouvoirs afin de se défendre.

Créer un entrain

L'ajout des combats de boss apporte une nouvelle facette à mon enseignement. En effet, j'ai tenté une première bataille en début d’année et mes élèves étaient tout simplement captivés. J'ai donc décidé d'utiliser cette nouveauté en révision vers les fins d'étape ou lorsque je veux m'assurer de la bonne compréhension de mes élèves. Ceux-ci me demandent sans cesse de nouveaux boss à combattre et ils sont même déjà énervés quand ils me voient en train d'en créer un. Je peux utiliser ces combats comme des récompenses.

Créer des liens

Jusqu'à maintenant, je leur demande de tenter de répondre à la question dans un cahier en même temps que l'élève désigné afin que tous participent et prennent à coeur leur révision. Les élèves s'encouragent entre eux constamment, s'énervent un peu sur leur chaise quand le monstre commence à perdre de l'énergie, applaudissent pour un coup double, mais surtout participent énormément. Voilà une belle façon de créer une chimie entre les élèves, de les faire réviser les notions et leur rendre l'école dynamique.

De nouvelles possibilités ?

Une idée que j'aimerais soumettre à l'ensemble de l'équipe est d’avoir l’option de pouvoir affronter les boss de façon individuelle. J'aime l'idée du travail collectif afin de faire un combat, mais je crois que cela pourrait être génial de leur envoyer un boss à combattre lorsqu'ils ont terminé un travail ou tout simplement pour le plaisir.

Super simple

Je trouve que ces batailles sont un immense atout de Classcraft puisque la plate-forme de création de boss est très facile à utiliser. Elle prend peu de temps et, surtout, mes créations resteront dans mon compte pour les années à suivre. Un grand bravo à toute l'équipe pour cette innovation et cela me donne juste le goût de poursuivre avec Classcraft pour plusieurs autres années.

Philippe Vaillant est un enseignant à l’Académie François-Labelle à Repentigny utilisant les nouvelles technologies dans sa classe. En plus du iPad, ses élèves travaillent également en robotique avec les ensembles Lego Mindstorms EV3.

Photo: Brian A Jackson / Shutterstock.com

Guest blog contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Paul Cancellieri

Anyone who has ever watched kids at a swimming pool is familiar with the stages that a child moves through as they become more confident in the water. Younger children often stay in the shallow end, where they can reach the bottom, while more experienced kids venture out to the deeper parts of the pool to explore and learn to keep their heads above water. In a lot of ways, I see the teachers around me behave in the same way.

Novice educators frequently (and wisely) focus on learning the ropes of classroom management and lesson planning early on. During those first few years, every teacher needs the safety of the shallow end of the pool. We stick to what we know and what we are comfortable with, and that’s as it should be. Learning to do the hundreds of things that good teachers do — often without thinking about them — takes time and repetition. Teaching is never more stressful and exhausting than in those first few years.

But, for too many teachers, that is where the journey ends. 

They spend the rest of their years in the profession with their feet touching the bottom of the pool. They recycle lesson plans over and over again, despite constant change in their students and their curriculum. They spent little time on “planning” because they use the same lesson plan book that they did last year. They assume that they have mastered the process of educating, and they just keep doing it the same way. They stand firmly behind the bobbing rope next to the sign that reads “two feet,” and they relish the comfort and safety of solid ground beneath them.

Learning how to swim in the ‘deep end’

Yet I regularly come across quite a few teachers who prefer the uncertainty and excitement of the deep end of the pool. These teachers — no matter how much experience they have — enjoy exploring new techniques and tools. They may not be the first to experiment with a new technology, but they seek ways to use it to make their instruction better. They see the need to constantly improve, and they push themselves to do more every day. I have a lot of respect for these teachers, and I count myself among them because I know that they are the only way that our education system will move forward to adapt to the changes in our students and our society.

I wasn’t always a deep-end teacher. When I first joined the profession, I thought I would eventually master the art of teaching and then I could relax and coast through my career. But, in my third year, I met another teacher who pushed my thinking about what is best for kids. He invited me to follow him and some other teachers on Twitter, and my personal learning network was born.

From the ranks of these educators — seasoned and novice teachers, professors, and researchers from all over the world — came some of the insights that made me realize that what I knew about teaching and learning was just the tip of the iceberg. For me, there was no going back to the shallow end of the pool.

Teaching outside your comfort zone

Being a deep-ender can be challenging. Sometimes new technology doesn’t work like it is supposed to. Sometimes exciting new lessons fail. And there are times when we all must return to the shallow end for a time. But pushing ourselves to constantly improve brings its own reward. Students recognize the effort and can learn as much from a failed lesson as you do. There is joy in working hard to do something new and then sharing that with your peers. You can bring others into the deep end with you, moving the entire profession forward one swimmer at a time. Best of all, we know from research and our own experiences that the “deep-end lessons” are the ones that students remember long after they leave our class.

So, how do you take those first steps? How do you learn to swim away from the safety of the shallow end of the pool? First, know that it’s okay to start small. Find a promising lesson, try it out, and blog about the results. Join the Facebook groups for the tools that you care about (like Classcraft!) and contribute to the conversation.

Safety in the deep end of the pool comes from the people you surround yourself with. Don’t go it alone, but don’t watch from the two-feet-deep zone. Don’t settle for the status quo or last year’s lessons. Push yourself to learn to swim. Trust me, you won’t look back.

Paul has taught middle school science in North Carolina for 12 years, after starting his professional life as a marine biologist. He earned National Board certification in 2006 and was selected as one of the Outstanding Science Educators in North Carolina in 2009. He writes about education reform and grading practices on his blog, ScriptedSpontaneity.com. Paul is a Classcraft ambassador.
Twitter: @mrscienceteach

Photo credit: Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock.com

Guest post contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Lukas Gohl

This year, my school began its implementation of the International Baccalaureate’s (IB) Middle Years Programme. While many of the instructional approaches of the IB dovetail with our school’s current practice, my main challenge has been how to bring its cross-curricular models, the Learner Profile (LP) and Approaches to Learning (ATL), into my classroom in a way that’s both concrete and meaningful for students.

Classcraft’s customizable Experience Points (XP) and Gold Pieces (GP) settings have been extremely helpful to this end. For any teacher in a school, IB or otherwise, Classcraft is an excellent tool to help inculcate these types of social and executive functioning skills.

The IB’s LP consists of a series of attributes for well-rounded students, such as “caring, open-minded, inquirer, courageous,” and so forth. At the beginning of the year, my students and I discussed both the Learner Profile as well as our essential agreements, eventually creating Classcraft descriptors that positively exemplify the LP in our classroom:

While the LP focuses more on affective attributes, the ATLs are general academic skills that every learner should possess and develop across the curriculum. Along with our preset Learner Profile settings, I also invite students to create criteria for demonstrating ATLs throughout a unit or a formative activity.

For example, prior to a peer feedback session on a writing project, I show students relevant target ATLs, such as “give and receive meaningful feedback.” I then ask them to work in small groups to generate criteria by prompting, “What does it look like to give and receive meaningful feedback?” Through a little discussion and teacher guidance, we create a set of “power moves” that will unlock XP or GP for that student. Some power moves we’ve used in the past for this ATL are 1) provide both a positive comment and a constructive comment, and 2) use language from our rubric in your feedback.

During class, as students are giving each other feedback, I can either walk around the room to give coaching and award XP/GP — or, if I don’t want to interrupt, I can monitor student’s Google Docs. Conversely, this activity can also serve as formative feedback if the ATLs are being explicitly taught as part of a lesson. While these types of activities can be done without Classcraft, what it provides is a platform for making student progress toward these outcomes clear and visible. This is crucial for self-monitoring and helping students “own” these skills and dispositions independently

In the end, my goal with Classcraft is always to emphasize opportunities for autonomy, mastery, and purpose — not XP grubbing. This is why I focus on Classcraft as a tool for success in learning, not the other way around. As one of my students aptly puts it, “Classcraft is like a cast. It gives us the support we need to do something until we can eventually do it on our own.”

Lukas Gohl is a Secondary English teacher at Oberoi International School in Mumbai, India. He is currently piloting Classcraft with his two sections of 6th grade students. In his free time, he enjoys writing, the outdoors, and sampling India’s street food.
Twitter: @lukasgohl

Photo credit: altanaka / Shutterstock.com

You’re reading Part 1 of our guest post contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Joshua Ducharme. Read his previous post, “Memoirs of the Oregon Trail,” here.

Twenty years ago, teachers used to stand in front of a class lecture and write on the blackboard, with CHALK! Today, the classroom looks drastically different. The chalkboard is now a smartboard, chalk an ancient relic of the past. Though technology is now prevalent, many things have yet to change. The teacher is still dictating learning.

There is a paradigm shift taking place in education, and teachers need to see the value in what it offers. Now, I’m not talking about MOOCs; rather, I am talking about a complete pedagogical transformation of how teaching is actually done—with more of a focus on personalization, collaboration, innovation, and creativity.

So how can we “reinvent” the classroom experience?

Give students some control over their learning

While teachers should have the majority of control of their classroom with behavior and academics, the question to ponder is, what if teachers gave some of it up and gave students more control over their learning? Control in this sense is referring to students having a voice in how they are learning. Examples could be, out of a whole page of math, students choose 10 problems they want to complete. Or having three different essay choices on a test and letting them choose one to write about. A way that I allow students to have a voice and sense of control in my classroom is to have them create their own learning goals and maintain a system for tracking to see if they meet them.

In my opinion, giving students control is the key to engagement. This is a tough pill for many teachers to swallow. The worry of “losing control” in their class or that the test scores will show a dip is definitely cause for concern, but think of the impact it generates with students when some of the learning is within their control. One recent study has found that children given more “opportunity to participate in decisions about schoolwork” score higher on standardized tests (Boggiano, 1992). Other research shows that they are more likely than those deprived of autonomy to continue working even on relatively uninteresting tasks (as cited in John Condry, 1977). There is no question about it: Even if our only criterion is academic performance, choice works.

Train a generation of innovators

The traditional method of education trains students to obey orders, not challenge the authority in front of the room on their knowledge. The first years I taught were not collaborative at all. I talked 80 percent of the time and directly instructed the content to the students. Over the years, as I got more comfortable in my teaching ability, I began to shift my thinking. I realized that students relied too heavily on me to tell them what to do and how to learn. This is when I knew a change had to happen. In order for students to get the most out of school, teachers must give them an opportunity to be innovative.

For example, during one of my literature groups sessions with my fifth graders, instead of them doing a final book report or a presentation, I allowed them to re-create scenes and settings from the book through Minecraft. Students were given a general description of what was required, but the creativity was all on them. This project was so successful that other groups begged me to do this activity with them as well.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Joshua’s guest post on Monday!

Joshua Ducharme is a Technology Integration Specialist at the San Diego County Office of Education and has also been a 2nd grade teacher and a 5th grade teacher at Literacy First Charter School in El Cajon, California. He has been teaching for a total of 10 years and is always looking for new and innovative ways to bring the classroom to life. He also regularly consults schools and teachers in many areas including technology integration, divergent thinking, brain-based learning, and gamification.

Photo credit: Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock.com

References:

Boggiano, Ann. “Helplessness Deficits in Students: The Role of Motivational Orientation,” Motivation and Emotion, vol. 16, 1992, pp. 278-80.

Condry, John. “Enemies of Exploration: Self-Initiated Versus Other-Initiated Learning,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 35, 1977, p. 466.

You’re reading Part 2 of our guest post contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Joshua Ducharme. Read Part 1 here.

Twenty years ago, teachers used to stand in front of a class lecture and write on the blackboard, with CHALK! Today, the classroom looks drastically different.

There is a paradigm shift taking place in education, and teachers need to see the value in what it offers. I’m talking about a complete pedagogical transformation of how teaching is actually done—with more of a focus on personalization, collaboration, innovation, and creativity.

So how can we “reinvent” the classroom experience?

Allowing failures to become successes

Students live in an age where video games are a huge part of their daily lives. One of the key aspects in video games is that when you play the game, you usually get to continue to try to master the level, no matter how many times it takes. Each time you try, you learn what worked and what didn’t — what route to take now instead of the other one you took.

This mastery of learning is an important concept in how we need to approach learning. Children need the opportunity to redo assignments until they have mastered the material. So many times, teachers (I know I’ve done this before) just move on because they have to get to the other material. Teachers need to use these moments as opportunities for students to reflect on their failures, learn from them, and turn them into successes.

An example that comes to mind is the image of an Olympic runner. Imagine the pistol firing, and the runners are off. They are racing with all of their might, and one runner crosses the finish line in fourth place.

There is no medal for him. Does this runner get to try again? Not at this level. But think about how many dozens or even hundreds of times prior to today’s race that he did. The same goes with students. There are numerous times in my classroom where students may not do well on a math test and have opportunities to improve their score by fixing their mistakes with a thorough breakdown of their errors and a reflection. As a teacher, this provides a whole other layer of formative assessment to help me gauge mastery.

Give students time to work on a project of their choosing

Giving students choice in their learning is powerful. It was my mission to give students an opportunity to research something they were passionate about, develop a TED-style talk, and let them see the project to fruition. I originally adopted this particular idea from the Google Science Fair. The premise of the project was simple:  “What do you love? What are you good at? What do you want to change?”

Giving students 10-20 percent of their class time to work on a project of their choosing gets students more excited about learning because it becomes something they are passionate about. Students were given time every other Friday to pull out their “Project Innovation” journals and work on their projects. I met with various students along the way to provide mentoring and many times helped to facilitate discussion about how they could improve and enhance their project, and how it would change the community or the world for the better.

Are these all the ways to “reinvent” your classroom to better meet the needs of students? Heavens no! Reinventing your classroom really is a change in pedagogy. It does not happen overnight. Try these tips: Start small, create some guidelines and expectations, and be willing to relinquish complete control. Take lots of pictures of the engaged learning, and do not fear messy or boisterous noise. This is when true learning is taking place.

Joshua Ducharme is a Technology Integration Specialist at the San Diego County Office of Education and has also been a 2nd grade teacher and a 5th grade teacher at Literacy First Charter School in El Cajon, California. He has been teaching for a total of 10 years and is always looking for new and innovative ways to bring the classroom to life. He also regularly consults schools and teachers in many areas including technology integration, divergent thinking, brain-based learning, and gamification.

Photo credit: Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock.com