Gamification "What System?"

This is a general overview of the system I use and how I am gamifying my classroom. I do not claim to be an expert on the topic, I want to share the decisions I made and what I am doing in my classroom in hopes that it may help other educators with decisions they are trying to make to gamify their own classrooms.

I finally made the decision to go all in and gamify my year long math class. Now, I had the task of figuring out what system/s I would use. I had to make a decision about creating my own or just using one that someone else had already put together. If I pick the latter, then I could implement it right away in my classroom. I also hear a lot in education "work smarter, not harder". After having that sink in and seeing what was out there, I decided to combine the two. I use a spreadsheet that was already built and put together, but then I had to add a few things and align it to my current math curriculum.

Explore Like a Pirate

After reading the book "Explore Like a Pirate", it gave me a good place to start. It doesn't exactly tell you what system to use in a gamified classroom, but lays it out nicely for the reader. It also made me go check out the website explorelikeapirate.com . While I was exploring the website, I came across some resources that author, Michael Matera had already spent hundred of hours putting together. It was his Standards Based Grading (SBG) google spreadsheet that I decided to build off of and implement in my classroom. Now that I had a starting point I needed to take his SBG spreadsheet and align it to my current math curriculum.

My school district uses the "Bridges" math curriculum. I took our assessment binder and figured out what skills were expected for mastery by the end of each unit. I then took those skills and aligned them to Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Next, I created a google spreadsheet "Skills by Unit". I started with the CCSS skill language, then tried to rephrase it into kid friendly language. Then, using the Bridges Home Connections book (homework book) and Student Book (daily workbook), I planned five Treks (an assignment to demonstrate their understanding of the concept) for each concept students are expected to master for the unit. I aligned the Student Book and Home Connection pages to the standards for each unit. Next, I needed to find three other activities or games that aligned with the skills for that unit. Some I ended up creating and others I found online. This way students have a voice and choice of how they want to demonstrate their mastery of the concept. For each concept they have the option of choosing which 2 of the 5 Treks they want to complete.

Skills by Unit Spreadsheet

 I took all the Treks from my "Skills by Unit Spreadsheet" and inserted them into the blank SBG spreadsheet where it says Resource 1, Resource 2, etc... I tweaked a few things in the wording to fit the theme of my game, but all the formatting and formulas were already in there so it was just a matter of watching his video to figure out how to work the spreadsheet. I probably watched it at least 5 times!

SBG Spreadsheet

Gold Pieces

I changed the Resources 1, Resources 2 etc... and decided to call them Trek 1 , Trek 2 etc... I did this to fit the theme of my game, which is "The Oregon Trail". I also decided to buy his "New World Mega Pack". This comes with pre made spreadsheets: The Control Center, SBG, Trivia Database, Super Grouper, and a few other spreadsheets as well. I decided to purchase it mostly for the Control Center. The two main things I use the Control Center for is it allows you to incorporate a Leaderboard and use Gold Pieces. The Leaderboard allows you to assign XP (experience points) to Treks and after students earn so many XP's they level up. When they level up they automatically earn Gold Pieces. In my room they can can cash their gold pieces in for item cards. This is very motivating for students and the engagement I have seen has been incredible!

Leaderboard

Again, This is a general overview of how I am gamifying my classroom using these spreadsheets. I do not claim to be an expert on the topic, I just want to share the decisions I made and what I am doing in my room in hopes that it may help other educators along their journey in gamifying their classrooms. In upcoming posts I plan to look at different aspects of my gamified classroom  and how I implement them. If you have any questions, I would be more than happy to answer them along the way.

Lesson: Make sure you research and pick a system that will work well for you. Do not take on to much at a time! What systems are you thinking about implementing?