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.

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Guest post contributed by Classcraft Ambassador 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.

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Publication de Julie Chamberland, blogueuse invitée

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

“A”est communément appelé le «p’tit blond» ou «ton p’tit blond ». Il est facile à reconnaître, à identifier et à entendre. Dès qu’il sort de la classe, son surplus d’énergie sort en même temps que lui. Toujours est-il que mon p’tit blond fonctionne plutôt bien et arrive généralement à réfréner ses ardeurs. Il respecte les routines et se reprend assez vite lorsqu’il a un avertissement. Il a bien sûr des défis à relever, mais on choisit nos batailles.

Parlant de bataille, mon petit blond est un guerrier. Pas un guerrier dans militaire, armée,  Rambo, non! Il est un guerrier dans le monde de Classcraft, où il est récompensé pour ses bons comportements et ses améliorations, où il peut aider les autres et recevoir à son tour du soutien.

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Guest post contributed by teacher Morgan de Polignac

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

For almost a decade, I have taught students with very different backgrounds and learning habits, with ages ranging from 10 to 20 years old. I have been sharing a lot of those experiences with colleagues, and it seems the core issue with teaching children is boredom.

Lots of children go to school because they have to, and some of them are bored even before they walk through the doors. Regardless of the teacher’s background, skills, or intelligence, they can be a real “brainiac” and still fail to pass on their knowledge to others.

Teaching, I believe, is about communicating — using one’s imagination to make learning lively and fun. Teaching is like a theatrical play. We assume a role, and we need to infuse originality in all that we do.

Teaching is not just about passing on knowledge. It’s also about how we pass it on. If we don’t deal with both, there is a higher risk of students shouting, crying, or exhibiting many other behavioral problems.

If children don’t listen, this means something isn’t working. At that moment, I know I need to adapt and do things differently — the same content as before, but with a different angle. Three things are essential to countering boredom: surprise, fun, and humor.

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Classcraft is a supporter of edcamps. If you’re interested in sponsorship or want to talk about Classcraft at an edcamp you’re attending, please write to stephanie@classcraft.com.

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

Jess Henze is a passionate, driven educator and lifelong learner. She strives to have a first year’s experience every year and rarely does things the same way twice. Through constant professional networking, both virtually and personally, she has learned so much from so many people. She has a blended family that keeps her on her toes and brings joy to her life every day.​

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

I am an eighth grade science teacher in Edgerton, Wisconsin. It’s a fairly small town, but we’re 1:1 iPad Minis with our students. I came to the district I’m in now a few years ago as a result of edcamps. The principal that I worked for last year was very much into edcamps and very much a lifelong learner.

I’ve been teaching now for 10 years. I did about six years in Madison and two years in Milwaukee as well.

It sounds like edcamps have been integral to your career as a teacher.

Absolutely. I honestly couldn’t even think about where I would be without having attended my first edcamp, which was in Milwaukee. It was the first one in the state. I went and they introduced this whole idea of “vote with your feet.” Typically, when you go to an educational conference, you sign up for specific sessions and go to those sessions. One of the philosophies with edcamps is that if you’re not getting what you need to out of a session, you get up and go to another session and chime in on conversations as you go.

I’ve learned so much. I’ve connected with so many phenomenal educators that share a similar passion. It’s an amazing experience. … I’ve continued to go to edcamps because I can learn pretty much anything that I want to.

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Classcraft random event and photo contributed by teacher and Classcraft Ambassador Joseph Pang from Malaysia

What’s your favorite classroom moment? Share with us! Email stephanie@classcraft.com.

I’ve been using Classcraft for my Grade 7 English class as a trial run. My students absolutely love Classcraft, and it really adds the element of fun and engagement for me and my students.

One of the things we love about it is the random events feature. There’s one specific event I made that created an extremely hilarious and fun session for all of us: “The Curse of the Cats.” The students and the Gamemaster [the teacher] become cursed by a black cat, and as a result, all of us would have to end our sentences with “Meow!”. Anyone who did not end a sentence with “Meow!” would get 2 Health Points (HP) deducted from them, and if the Gamemaster failed to follow, he would have to award 10 Experience Points (XP) to everyone.

It was an overwhelming success! Soon, our class was filled with the sound of cats! It was definitely one of my fondest moments using Classcraft.

Guest post contributed by Jamie Dunbar

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

The term “gamification” was first coined by computer programmer Nick Pelling in 2002, but only recently has the word caught on. This, unfortunately, has made it a buzzword, and there’s some confusion as to what it all means.

First off, gamification is not adding video games to the classroom. Gamification is taking the principles of game design and applying them to other aspects of life, in our case education.

Over the past three decades creating games, designers have got really good at answering questions like:

1. How do we get people to play our game?
2. How do we pace our game?
3. How do we direct the player to do what we want?

These are the same questions teachers ask daily, and they’re the questions that Classcraft helps answer.

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

Zsófia Alibaux-Jakab began her career at Britannica International School in 1999 as a French teacher and then started to teach English as an Additional Language (EAL) to various levels and age groups. Her interests include horse riding, motorcycling, reading, hiking, and spending time with her husband and two sons.

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

I am the Head of Secondary and EAL [English as an Additional Language, similar to ESL or English as a Second Language - Ed.] and Mother Tongue Coordinator in an international school in Budapest, Hungary. I started teaching in 1999 at this very same school, then moved to France in 2004 and continued teaching in an international school there, then moved back to Hungary in 2011 to teach again at my former school.

I currently teach Year 8 to 11 (grades 7 to 10). I am a passionate educator and a lifelong learner, always eager to learn more and try out new things.

How has Classcraft changed the way your students view coming to class?

It had a tremendous impact. I was desperate to find anything that would bring Dungeons & Dragons to the class. I’ve tried to devise my own resources in my early days of teaching, but it needed a platform and didn’t quite work out.

Last school year, I did a Google search and found Classcraft. It was unbelievable. I started using it with my Year 9 French class, where I had some disengaged students, and it worked its magic. Students were a bit skeptical at first, but some of them were really enthusiastic and got into it straight away. This class has been playing now for the second year, and we stuck to their characters.

The atmosphere of the class has changed. Now coming to class is like an adventure, with its surprises. The daily event starts the lesson, and some events are really popular, like the “Feast of the King,” or making the Gamemaster sing. They have a lot of fun too using their powers. Classcraft also helps them work together and apply positive peer pressure. I’m planning to use more classes with Classcraft soon.

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Mrs. Vicki Lincoln is a 2nd grade teacher at Marshpoint Elementary School. She’s also a parent whose daughter, Alyssa, uses Classcraft at school in Classcraft ambassador Larah Buffington’s class. Read below to learn how Classcraft has made a difference for them!

“Why in the WORLD should I let my child use Classcraft for school? Does it really matter?  Is it beneficial?“

As a parent, these were the questions I asked myself when my daughter first came home telling me about the program that her teacher was using within the class. The students earn points and rewards depending on how the teacher has the program set up. My daughter is extremely bright — however, we like to refer to her as the "Absent-minded Professor.” She would frequently forget to turn items in. With Classcraft, she was much more conscious of turning in assignments because she would earn different rewards. It was refreshing for me to NOT have to remind her to turn in items for Mrs. Buffington.

As most parents know, children love video games. Classcraft appeals to the student’s love of games and keeps their interest. I have been impressed with how much Alyssa comes home talking about the program and what her group (or Alyssa herself) were able to earn when they completed activities for her teacher. She also speaks of how other students that would previously not do assignments (or participate) seemed to be much more engaged so that they could earn these rewards.

I wish this were a program that would have found her earlier. I can’t speak highly enough about this program.

Photo credit: Goodluz / Shutterstock.com

Guest post contributed by Kelly Fong

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

Candy Crush. Tetris. Minecraft. What do these names all have in common? They’re some of the most popular games to date with mechanisms that educators can use to enrich students’ learning experiences. But why exactly are users hooked? What makes these games so popular? And can we take components of a highly engaging game and use those pieces in the classroom to enhance learning? Eleventh-grade physics teacher Shawn Young helped answer those questions in his SXSWedu presentation “Unlocking Play: Going Beyond Gamification.”

Young, the founder of Classcraft, is a web developer and teacher who transforms his classroom into a giant role-playing game (RPG). Through the use of gameplay mechanics, Young goes beyond the typical scope of gamification in school. He has his class participate in the RPG to earn points or lose points and gain real rewards (e.g., an extended deadline) or face real punishments or consequences (e.g., handing in a paper early). Additionally, students work in teams and lose points as a whole unit if one student “falls in battle.” This results in students sharpening their collaborative, leadership, and teamwork skills as they are collectively responsible for each person on the team.

Why is all of this important? According to Young, 86 percent of teachers see classroom management as a challenge and 40 percent of students are chronically disengaged. Games like Classcraft help remedy the engagement and attention span issue that is so prevalent in schools today. Young notes in his talk that educators have a duty to figure out ways in which attending school remains relevant in the modern and very digital age where students can find information at the click of a button.

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