Welcome to…American Government!
Your Mission: The American Presidency.
Objective: Concept Mastery.
Fourth quarter has been, at least in my classroom, a challenging time for student motivation. The month of May is off in the not-so-distant future, and visions of swimming and sleeping late dance in the minds of our students.
In a desperate attempt to combat what I’ve come to call the fourth quarter funk, I’m introducing my students to American Government…gamified!
Before I explain “the mission,” let me first say that I have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of the world of “gaming.” Seriously..not a clue. In fact, I ran all of my terminology by my husband (a Call of Duty guy) before I presented “the game” to my students because gaming concepts and terminology are, in my opinion, nearly comparable to learning a foreign language. Gaming to me is playing Super Mario Brothers on my 1990’s Nintendo system. Those were the days…. 🙂
So, even if you are not a gamer, please don’t be scared away from concept of gamification!
I first learned about gamifying about two years ago at a flipped learning conference, and it sounded interesting. However, my first thought was, “I have an EOC in my class, and I can’t devote class time to students playing games!”
Gamification of learning and game-based learning are two different concepts, at least in my mind.
To gamify a lesson or unit is to add elements of a game to your activity. Game-based learning involves incorporating learning games into your lesson or learning environment.
After I sorted out these terms, and learned more about gamification from a wonderful session at METC, I decided to give it a try!
Here’s the plan, in a nutshell.
Students earn “experience points” by completing objectives, or targets. These objectives include completing and submitting unit assignments on time, actively viewing instructional videos by their due dates, tutoring their peers after school, researching and presenting current events articles, and other “targets” (activities assigned by me) that may arise.
Students then earn badges through their experience points. These badges provide various perks students may use on their test. For example, if students earn 200 experience points, they can use the “Post-It Pal” badge, which allows them to use a Post-It note of information on their unit test. Side note…I’ve included the stipulation that the Post-It note must be supplied by me and only include their own handwritten information 🙂
At the end of the unit, 10% of the students experience points will be added to their grade in the form of bonus points.
I introduced this “game” to my students yesterday, and their response was remarkable!
They are actually excited about this opportunity, and have asked what else they can do to earn experience points! I’m attempting to secure guest speakers for my students…imagine how many experience points their attendance at this type of event could earn!!
In the next few days, I’ll be posting some helpful documents from “the mission,” badges, as well as student progress and response. Check back soon!
Happy “International Day of Happiness!”
Thanks for reading 🙂
THis looks great! I am looking forward to seeing how you set it up as I am interested in applying this concept to my Grade 9 Geography classes.
Wow! Looks so cool! I can’t wait for summer and do my gamification myself. Good luck!
Good luck! I’ll be curious to see how you keep up with the points allocation!
I’ll be interested to see how it goes, I’m going to start using class craft in one of my classes tomorrow ( 8th grade science) and I’ll write about it on my blog (RichardBallard.weebly.com) so we can compare notes!
It’s definitely good and exciting. I look forward to see how it works.
Thank you!
I am currently in the planning stages of creating a year-long game for my Grade 8 Core French class, beginning in September. I am excited to get started, and VERY excited to read about other teachers’ experiences!
Hi, Erin!
After dabbling with gamification with just one unit, I am definitely going to create a year-long game for next year..complete with leveling up! Good luck with your game!
Bethany
Where do we go so that we can monitor your progress? I really like this idea but I’m not sure where you’ll post so I can keep up with what you’re doing? Good luck, I am definitely rooting for you. Thank you for stepping outside of the box and sharing your thoughts with other teachers.
Hi, Candee!
Thanks so much for your encouragement. I’ll be posting my results here on my blog. The last day to earn Experience Points is Wednesday, and our unit test will be Friday. I’ll be sure to update a few times this week 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Bethany
This sounds so very interesting. I also look forward to how things go, and will be checking back to view results. Good for you and thanks for sharing!!
Awesome tips for gamification. Have you tried using the CLASSCRAFT app/website. It is totally free and allows the students to see the progress they are making in a very realistic game-like atmosphere. The teacher can add experience points, etc. There are quite a few features and totally free! My class actually asks me to use the RANDOM EVENT wheel; or add to the BOOK OF LAMENTS 🙂 I also have no real game experience, except bowling on the Wii, but it was fairly easy to navigate. I now have the app on my phone and can walk around the room adding points, taking away points, etc. http://www.classcraft.com/
Hi, Cynthia!
I have heard wonderful reviews about Classcraft, and I plan to look into that program more when I gamify next school year. Thanks for the tip!
Bethany
I teach US Government at a small school about an hour north of St. Louis. I first heard of gamification at PD conference last year. Do you have any resources you’d be willing to share? I’d like to see how an example of someone who trailblazed this path before I jump in with both feet. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Hi, David!
I have a few resources I would love to share with you. If you search for the “nuts and bolts” of my gamification experiment here on my blog, you’ll find a PDF that I shared with my students outlining the “game” which I think would help you immensely. I also plan to look into Classcraft over the summer to see if this is something I could use. Let me know if you have any question!
By the way, how is EOC review going for you?
Bethany
Bethany –
It came and went and now we are waiting for the results. The students have told me that they reformed the test significantly from previous years. They added 10 questions and made most of the 50 questions very reading comprehensive. So, it’s time to adapt and teach more reading analysis next year! 🙂