The following is a testimonial from a student in teacher Michele Haiken’s class.
Classcraft positively impacted my learning and understanding in Language Arts class this year. Classcraft is an online gaming site created for education that rewards good behavior and provides consequences for bad behavior. The rewards, or punishments, are given in gained or lost Classcraft points. These points motivated me to do extra work in and out class, and that is why Classcraft has a positive impact on my learning.
Within Classcraft, there are many types of points that do different things. For good behavior and completing assignments, a student can receive Experience Points (XP) or Gold Pieces (GP), but can lose Health Points (HP) for unruly behavior and late assignments. In class, games can also be played in “Classcraft groups,” each containing five students. If the students complete a task or answer questions correctly in the Boss Battle, they can get points. It is up to the teacher to decide what can be done with the points, but for our class the main goal is to earn 10,000 XP, and if a student succeeds at this, they may see the final exam early.
My personal experience with Classcraft was essential to my learning. I wasn’t very motivated by customizing an avatar, but when I found out about viewing the final early, I made sure to take every opportunity to gain Classcraft points. This has led me to practice my writing more often and read new books. I practiced my writing almost every week with the Article of the Week. This would require me to read and annotate an article, which was sometimes very interesting, although sometimes not anything I was interested in, and then write about it. I could either reflect on it or answer a question pertaining to what my teacher chose.
My opportunity to read new books came with our Twitter book chats. About once a month, there would be a book chat on Twitter about a predetermined book. My first book chat was about Red Queen, which I probably wouldn’t have read otherwise and is now one of my favorite books. I found talking with my peers about the books really fun, and everyone had insightful opinions. There were other books I was glad to read, such as Ready Player One, but there were also some books that I did not enjoy. Even as I complained my way through books and cursed at them for making me cry, it was still an important experience to try out new genres. Without Classcraft, I would not have practiced my writing every week or read books outside my comfort zone.
Classcraft was a very important part of my learning this year. Many kids did not get the full benefit due to pessimism about the game or lack of effort, but the kids who did care learned a lot and reaped the benefits. Sometimes putting kids, and maybe even teachers, outside their comfort zones with games like Classcraft turns out to be an essential part of the year.
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