Technology Pursuit

Blending Technology Into the Language Arts Classroom

Tag: gamify

My Gamification Elevator Pitch

May 11, 2015 / / 0 Comments

The past weeks I’ve talked about my desire to gamify with my students.  My principal.  Even my mom.  None of them shot me down…yet I never felt that I won them over. I’m so excited about the prospect and have so many reasons and ideas buzzing around my head, but ask me to explain my reasons why–and I start to ramble.

 Thus, the need for an elevator pitch.

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Kevin Brookhouser writes about it in his book The 20Time Project, and essentially, my study of gamification has been my 20Time project this semester, albeit an informal one.  And since I also want to start my students to create 20Time projects next year in lieu of their traditional research papers, including an elevator pitch as Brookhouser describes, then I need to do it myself.

 (In parenthesis are Brookhouser’s outlined steps.)

 (Problem Statement) Over the past twenty years, technology has transformed communication and education, yet the traditional high school curricula has not.  Even with this brand new world of technology, students aren’t any more motivated than some of my classmates and education isn’t taking advantage of the full potential our current technology provides.

 (It Gets Worse) I still see highly intelligent students not engaged, other students who aren’t receiving the extra attention they need, and still other students stalling out rather than accelerating ahead because I’m trying to keep everyone “in the same place” in my instruction.

 (Glimmer of Hope) By gamifying my classroom with both game mechanics and project-based learning, I believe more students will be motivated.

 (Novel Solution) Gamification, or Dr. Chris Haskell’s term of “quest-based learning,” provides students with autonomy, purpose, and mastery. Students feel they have ownership and choice over their learning.  With more project-based learning, students feel more purpose to their work. And with focusing on mastery and standards-based grading rather than traditional bell-curve grading, students can move at their own pace and not feel that a failure is going into the gradebook.

 (Credible Authority) As a blended learning teacher who’s spent dozens of hours researching gamification, I can transform my curriculum into a gamified format that will be more motivating to a wider span of students.

 (The Vision) I know it won’t be easy and perfect, but I envision my classroom as a place of independent learning; where students are working on different tasks that fit their speed and abilities; where they have choice and purpose with their work; and where I can work with students or small groups rather than standing in the front of the room lecturing.

 Going Up...Creative Commons License Jamie via Compfight

It’s a little long.  It may take a couple elevator rides.

The most important words that stand out to me are these:

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Ultimately, this is why I want to gamify my room.  Not for the badges, though I see some benefits to those.  Not for my students to earn currency to buy pencils or erasers or assignment passes–I plan on being way too busy working with students or providing feedback to run a classroom store.  And not because I’m a gamer–because I’m the biggest rookie player out there.


I truly believe that providing students with autonomy, purpose, and keeping the focus on mastery, my students will be more engaged, resulting in them progressing further and learning more.

Teaching Question Forming…with Dice!

March 12, 2015 / / 0 Comments

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Last week we finished Act II of Macbeth, and I wanted to do something different for our discussion.  We tried Socratic Smackdown for Act 1, which worked pretty well for its debut in my classroom, but I wasn’t ready to repeat that right away.  So I did a little combining of good ol’ fashioned dice throwing and Today’s Meet.

I started with “The Question Game” from @TeachThought.  Using the diagram provided, I created dice with question starters on each face.  I can’t say the dice were too fancy–paper, glue stick, packing tape for lamination, and a couple paper clips thrown in the middle for a some low-budget sound effects.

I also adjusted the questions a bit.  Here’s a photo of my template below:

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After that, I split the class into groups, and they played three rounds of “The Question Game.”  No fancy rules.  You roll the die, then create a question using that question starter.  Someone in the group serves as the recorder and writes the questions down.  Group members are allowed to help provide ideas.  At the end, the group circled their 2-3 favorite questions to discuss in the “Today’s Meet” chat the next day.

The game is just that simple.  The students had much more fun, though, than if I’d given them a sheet of paper and said, “Write down at least 12-15 deep questions about the play Macbeth through Act II.”

Why?

It’s all about the game.  Not much of a game, you say?  I’d agree.  But that slight anticipation of what question starter you’ll roll–that makes all the difference.  Plus, students started thinking of questions ahead of time, then hoping they’d roll that question starter.  That made the stakes higher.  Since members were allowed to help, students had to decide whether to give up their prize question to another student so that it would be on the list (and hopefully chosen for the chat), or whether to keep it in case the next time they rolled that question starter.

Will I do this again?  Absolutely.  I may make new dice with different question starters to change it up, but it was a great way to encourage deep question forming.

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What I’m Reading: Gamify Your Classroom by Matthew Farber

February 8, 2015 / / 0 Comments

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A few days ago, Matthew Farber’s Gamify Your Classroom showed up in my mailbox, and I’ve found myself absorbed in it twice-over.  The first time, I skimmed through it, bouncing around through different chapter, unable to repress my patience and my desire to absorb the entire text at once.

Now that the initial thrill is over, I’m taking my time on my second read through the book, and in the opening chapters, where Farber presents an overview of games, I highlighted several key statements that surprised me or resounded with my current thoughts.  Here’s one of them:

  • “Older–not younger–teachers” are actually more receptive to using games because “more experienced teachers saw the need to further engage students.” (23)

The lack of student engagement has been a frequent topic among teachers in my school.  A common complaint is that the current generation of students expect entertainment.  The cause?  Some say television, even going back as far as Sesame Street‘s origins, while others blame cell phones, ipods, and whatever form of handheld entertainment is hitting the shelves this year.  (Ah, cell phones–that’s a whole ‘nother issue I’m not about to tackle here.)

But the cause is a moot point, as far as I’m concerned.  Our task as teachers isn’t to solve the problem of students’ shortened attention spans.  Our task is to teach the students who land in our classroom on the first day of school and each day after that.  Somehow, we have to meet them, or at least do our best to meet them where they are.

While Farber’s statement surprised me, it makes sense.  Even in my 14 years of teaching, I’ve seen students working less outside the classroom and the importance of connecting what we’re doing in the classroom to the outside world.  Just expecting my students to read and comprehend Macbeth isn’t enough anymore.  I need to do more to connect it to the outside world.

What do games have to do with this connection?  It’s a method, a channel to get students there.  Games are like technology–they’re not a destination but rather a vehicle for teaching students, getting them interested in the subject matter, and once they’re interested and have gained a basic understanding of the subject matter, they can start making connections to the outside world.

As I continue on, I’ll share more of Farber’s writing that resounded with me.  However, I’d also suggest getting the book for yourself–http://www.amazon.com/Gamify-Your-Classroom-Game-Based-Epistemologies/dp/1433126702/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423418163&sr=1-1&keywords=gamify+your+classroom

Reflection After Day Six of Gamification

February 6, 2015 / / 0 Comments

3D GameLabI’ve put so much work into my gamification strategy in my Applied Comm class this week.  I’ve learned a lot, too, mainly on the logistics side of setting it up, ironing out the technology wrinkles, and working with the 3D GameLab portal.

Here are some things I’ve figured out (or wish I would’ve done):

1)  Use my same “lingo.”  I tried to use some fun “gamish” language for the quests, but it was too much change for my students.  Some of my students have been in my classroom for 3-4 years, and at this point in the year, I should have kept with my same phrases.  For example, I changed Vocab Notes to “Learning the Lingo.”  I should have kept it simple and kept it the same.

2) Number the assignments.  I learned this from one of Alice Keeler’s posts.  Numbering quests 001, 002, 003 helps students keep track of where they are, but it also helped with communication.  I didn’t make this change until midweek, and I wish I would have done it earlier.  Then we could simply talk about #4 or #6 and immediately understand each other.  Does this seem minor?  Perhaps?  But I assure you, it makes  a huge difference.

Ch 12 Game Chart draw.io

3.  Make a game map.  After I made one in Draw.io pro, I used Block Posters to print it on PDFs and pieced it together on our bulletin board.  Then I created a caradstock tag with each student’s gamer tag, so they could move it along as they finished each quest.  That gave them and me a visual of how they were progressing.

4.  Indicate requirements/options.  I included assignments that were required, but I also added optional vocabulary reviews that would earn students points and give me time to look through student assignments and make sure they met my expectations before I allowed them to move on in the game.  Some students spent a lot of time on these reviews and not enough time on the other assignments, even though the other assignments clearly were worth more points.  Today I clearly marked “required” and “optional” on assignments.  Will I always have to do this?  I don’t think so.  This early on in the experience, however, I think my students need it until they’re used to this process more.

I’m sure I have hundreds, perhaps thousands more lessons to learn.  But the lessons got easier through the week.  Students adjusted.  Several commented how much they liked it.  Some commented they didn’t.  However, we’re only a week in, and it’s too soon to make a judgment.

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