For us educators, we are called to meet our students where they are—and where are they? Right in the middle of their games! So for us teachers who are flexible, adaptive, and innovative, the call now is to gamify our classroom.
This classroom strategy, in any grade level, can help you with the following:
- gamifying and turning any classroom activity engaging;
- developing self-regulation of behavior among your students;
- sparking healthy competition; and
- promoting collaboration and camaraderie.
The setup
- The students are grouped based on their seating arrangement. Each group has their team name and logo.
- Each session, I give merits or demerits depending on the students' behavior and performance.
- Through Split View, I show my Keynote and my online leaderboard. You can create your own using the link I attached.
- As a remote controller, I use my iPad. Through this, I can move around the classroom while simultaneously giving de/merit points.
As a classroom management strategy
The students earn merit or demerit points depending on their group's behavior. If any of the group's members is distracted, I announce that their group gets demerits; if they are the first group to settle down, I give them merit points.
Honestly, you can adopt it however you want. This strategy was just born out of my aspiration to be like Dumbledore!
As a tool for instruction
What is it about games that capture the students? It's playing with friends and getting rewards. That is why in any classroom activity, they work as groups and earn points as groups! Below is an example of how I facilitate a check-up quiz. I project my split view screen to show the Keynote and leaderboard—use my iPad as a controller—while each group answers using Freeform on one of their iPads.
Battle for the best house
I use this strategy throughout the school year. So, to track students' daily progress, I created a spreadsheet. This also allows me to give merit points to groups whose members scored highest in a test or members who submitted an exemplary output.
The impact
Besides the fact that I get to play Dumbledore in class, this strategy builds ifelong skills among the students. I’ve noticed they look out for each other more: Who’s not yet in his seat? Who needs help with the activity? They even review together, hoping their group will rack up the highest scores in the assessment. Sure, it might start off as points and pride, but I see it as the spark of something bigger. With time, this routine could grow into a habit—and that habit into a culture—where collaboration and camaraderie aren’t just part of the game, but part of who they truly become.
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