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!
Want to share your insights on education with us? Email stephanie@classcraft.com to get started!
Educator by day, gamer by night, and a bookworm nerd every day of the year, Kent Turner is a graduate of University of California San Diego, where he obtained his M.A. in Bilingual Education. He is now in his third year of teaching middle school students who, like him, are deaf and communicate in American Sign Language. When Kent is not busy applying Classcraft to his lessons, he enjoys going on movie marathons with his wife and two dogs by his side.
Thanks for talking with us today, Kent! To start, tell us a little about yourself as an educator and what classes and grade levels you teach.
I am an avid gamer who grew up playing Japanese role-playing games (JRPGS) and Western RPGS. I am also a deaf person who signs natively in American Sign Language (ASL) and reads English. For my M.A. in Bilingual Education, I wrote a thesis on the topic of gamification and built a prototype LMS similar to Classcraft’s that gamified the classroom where I did my internship.
I work with deaf students who sign in ASL as well, making the primary language of our classroom a signed one rather than a spoken one. I’ve been using Classcraft for nearly two years now in our 8th grade English/Language Arts class at the Texas School for the Deaf. I also teach Science and Video Production, but I’ve yet to incorporate Classcraft in these classes as I haven’t modified the curriculum to mesh with gamification. It is my ultimate goal to play Classcraft in all of the classes that I teach!
Want to write a guest post on Classcraft or another topic in education? Contact stephanie@classcraft.com.
Guest post contributed by Classcraft Ambassador Helaina Storie
A good story hooks you and doesn’t let go. I have stayed up all night finishing a book because I wanted to know what happened next. The same thing can be said for games. I have been a gamer for about 20 years now. I have been a teacher for 10 years, and in that time, I have used games in class but never to the extent of what I’ve done by introducing Classcraft and my own spin on a math adventure.
“I love the level of involvement it inspires in my classroom. Kids who would otherwise be bored or not care about history are coming into class excited to battle bosses and do daily events, which gives me the opening I need to inspire a love of learning!”
“I love how it creates an extra layer to our classroom—an environment in which students can cultivate a digital representation of their in-class selves, take risks, and learn to work together!”
