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Carina Hilbert is finishing up her Masters in the Art of Teaching in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages through the University of Southern California. She is a presenter and instructor on blended learning and is certified in both English and Spanish, 6-12. She lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan with her two brilliant children, a needy dog, and a loud cat.

Thanks for talking with us today, Carina! Tell us a little about yourself as an educator and what subjects and grade levels you teach.

This year, I am teaching in two different levels. I teach in an alternative high school in the morning, and in the afternoon, I teach in one of the middle schools. I teach Spanish this year at Kalamazoo Public Schools.

What changes have you seen in your students since you’ve introduced the game?

Last spring, I had a class that was just angry. They were angry that they had to take a world language. They were angry that it was a requirement they had no say in. They were mostly freshmen, some sophomores, and it was in a different school district, and they were angry that we’d switched teachers. … Starting Classcraft turned them around a total 180. It turned into, “What’s the random event of the day?” They would run into the classroom, when before I had to stand at the door and basically shove them in at the bell.

What was funny was, I had several students who were mad about the game. “This is stupid. This is juvenile. We don’t want to have anything to do with this.” And the kids were the one who turned them around. “You’re on my team, you better buck up.” … A lot of kids these days are gamers, so they’re very comfortable with the platform. They’re very comfortable with the set-up.

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