Consider the following:
First thought that comes to mind with gaming and gamification is that I’m totally sold! For my 792 book review Kris and I are reading Good Video Games + Good Learning so I’m finding all sorts of support for using games of all types in my classroom. I have already found some games that I really like, one of them being Kahoot! As of right now, all I’ve done with Kahoot! is use it as a review game with my students. It’s engaging, and competitive. There are some kids that don’t like it because they’re not as quick at math as other kids...that’s why I always try to do two short Kahoot!s, one totally fun and not math related, and the other one math related. This usually starts off all kids engaged. One of my next goals with Kahoot! when we come back from winter break is to have my kids make their own Kahoot!s to review with the class before a test. Since anyone can start a Kahoot! account, they can do this together in their groups and then try them out on each other. I think I’ll start really small by having them build a 5 question Kahoot! Another game that I use in class for pre-test review is called Grudgeball. Students are put in rows and their row is their team. Each team is given 10 “points” on the board. The goal is to have the most point at the end of the period. Points are taken away by other teams when they answer the review question correctly either first or second. When I post the question on the screen, only the first person in each row can write quietly on their group’s board while the rest of the group is working the problem behind them on their own paper. After 30 seconds of alone work time, anyone in the row can come up to the front and help the person with the board, but only the person in the front can write on the board. The first two groups correctly finished, get to choose another group to take points off of. Hence the name Grudgeball. Nobody is ever out...if your group gets down to 0 points, and you answer a question correctly first or second, you can put points back on for your team. I’ve also added a fun addition that if you’re the first or second team done, you can choose to shoot the Grudgeball (wadded up paper) into a basketball hoop (or garbage can) for the chance of a 3 pointer or further back 4 pointer...this gets rid of other teams points quicker...if the shooter misses, they still get to erase the original two...so not much of a risk for taking the shot. When the end of the period is nearing, I usually play double round and double all the point deductions to 4, 6 and 8, makes it possible for almost anyone to come from behind and win right at the end of the period…buzzer beater! Desmos has some fun games as well...I’ll be sharing one of them in my video presentation. Gabe Zichermann: How games make kids smarterLoved his notion that kids are better at multi-tasking than the generation before because gaming throws so much more stimulus at them. Also, according to Gabe, our world moves too slow for today’s kids. I’m not quite sure I agree with this philosophy, because I don’t believe many of our kids have enough patience, or understand the concept of delayed gratification. Gabe says the five skills that game players need to have in order to be successful gamers are the ability to:
Quest to Learn school in New York: How do you talk a district into adopting a model like this? Where do you get the $ for the tech and other supplies? How do you fit in the curriculum standards? I really like the connections and research they’ve done on how kids learn, with an emphasis on collaboration and technology, and incorporated it into everything they teach. Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better worldTotally relate with her description of the facial features of a gamer who’s on the verge of an “epic win.” I’ve always felt that the thing that motivates me the most about teaching is helping my students have “A-ha!” moments. That exact moment when you see the understanding sink into their face and their eyes light up with the satisfaction of success. This is the closest connection I can think of in my classroom to an epic win.
2 Comments
Kristin Pruitt
12/6/2016 09:20:11 pm
I love your enthusiasm! It comes through in your writing. I'm impressed with the number of programs you've managed to incorporate into your teaching. It sounds fun and I'm sure you're students are loving it! I wish there was a way to transfer that desire for the 'epic win' into our non-tech curriculum. I really liked Jane McGonigal's Ted Talk and can identify many students in my class, and throughout my teaching, who will put hours and hours behind 'leveling up', but can't be bothered to capitalize an 'i' when they're writing.
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I love your Gringeball idea. It seems like a great way to gamify your classroom without needing tech. This seems like a great way to get students involved. I also like how it's structured so that no one is every totally eliminated.
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