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.
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 Nolet, 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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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!
