CLASSCRAFT: CLASSROOM GAMIFYICATION
ClassCraft is a total classroom immersion project. Everything kids love about video games comes to life in the classroom. Students can earn points for being on time, completing assignments, being a good citizen (and so much more) or gold for exceptional effort. Students lose hit points and put themselves and teammates in jeopardy for bad behavior, when reviewing for tests (and missing an answer, or when a teammate chooses to follow the wrong path. Students learn powers that they can use in the real world of our classroom to foster independence and choice. Students can work towards tangible goals and in game goals- all with the click of a mouse! Let’s see how it works:
Teachers first create a class and populate that class with students. Mrs. Gillespie and Ms. Mathews- Ricks will then create a username and password that is unique to each student. Each student will also have a unique parent code that parents may use to observe student progress. This all will be recorded into a ClassCraft binder for future needs. Once that is accomplished, students will be asked to take a short quiz to determine what type of character he or she wants to be this year.
Now here is where it gets interesting. ClassCraft tracks all rewards, triumphs and failures throughout the days and weeks in our class. If a parent wants to see the good things his or her student(s) have accomplished, there are graphs that parents can access that shows how students have done that day (or week). Parents can also access graphs that tell them how students have not done well. This information can help keep parents informed and uptodate on a lot of our day to day. As your student's teacher I can keep track of if they forget instruments or refused to test; things that I use to adjust their participation grade for the month (every day an instrument is forgotten/ not in class a student loses 5% of their weekly participation grade).
As students grow to work together in achieving classroom goals, they will gain XP or experience points. Experience points help their characters learn new powers- gain more freedom and choices in class they wouldn’t otherwise have. Students can get hints on exams, teleport to the front of the line for treats, trade seats to sit by friends, listen to school appropriate music during notes or classroom assignment time- all through his or her own personal growth during class. XP also gives students new armor choices and gains them new pets to train for more GP or Gold.
HP or Hit Points are the amount of “life” a student has total. Every character has a different amount of HP to complement their character type. Students lose HP if they do something wrong. What that means is if a student breaks a school rule, is disrespectful to themselves or others, or acts inappropriately, they lose HP. The bigger the offense the more HP is lost. If a student loses all HP they die in the game. The Grim Reaper takes them and gives them a punishment. Punishments can be silly, like, “draw someone with your eyes closed” (which calms students down and breaks bad moods, oddly enough), “Do the Chicken Nugget Dance,” (which gets the whole class involved), to more traditional consequences such as, “Stay after class to tidy up the room,” or “Serve Lunch or After school detention.” Punishments exist as a deterrent for your child against bad behavior. While I would never give an inappropriate punishment, it’s important for parents to back me up as a teacher. If they do not, I lose some of my power. If a parent feels a punishment is too great, we can have a dialogue about it, and come up with a better one. I am happy to work with any parent or guardian!
Mrs. Gillespie and Ms. Mathes- Ricks will take those answers from that quiz and edit each student's ClassCraft character. Depending on what he or she pick to be, a Helper, a Protector, or a someone who wants to do both; his or her selections will determine what basic features each person's character will have. Everyone will start at Level 1 with the ability to use 1 starting power. (More on powers further down.)
If parents have any comments or concerns, instead of coming out to the school, calling the front office, or missing me in person; parents have an easy way to contact me through the site/app’s messaging system. Even students can message me, and only me with concerns, homework help, or just to check on missing assignments.
GP or Gold Pieces is the currency of ClassCraft. If students want a new Pet or Armor, they need not only the XP to be able to wear these items but the GP to purchase it. Students can earn GP from leveling up, from passing exams, from defeating Boss Monsters in Boss Battles, performing above average in classwork, homework, and behavior. They can also train their pets to learn tasks that earn them GP.
Students also have access to a Homework section where I can post online assignments they can complete from home. While I always advocate for students to do all of their work every day and every night (homework); I know things happen. I offer at my leisure these extra credit opportunities. I am, just like my student’s parents and my students, extremely busy. I have my own family, my own worries, and my own need to have my own time. I create extra credit opportunities after school, on my time. The amount of opportunities I can provide depends on many factors. Please students, take the time to finish your assignments when they are due; parents, please encourage your student to complete all assignments. This way, extra credit is just that, extra.
"ClassCraft has engaged my class’s attention very positively for the past 6 months. Even though sometimes they swear they “hate it” when they lose HP or “Don’t care,” when something happens to his or her character, they come in the next day wanting to Battle a Boss or take on a daily event. It’s fun for all of us which really, opens up and promotes a positive classroom environment."
-K. Gillespie
Click the above image for a Video Trailer of what students can expect when they play ClassCraft!