How to Gamify Your Class Curriculum and Instruction
It is no secret that students love games. The more we can add games or game-like content into our classes, the more engaged students will become. Check out the steps below to help guide you on the path to gamifying your curriculum.
1. Change your terminology
The first step in making your lessons more like a game is to try changing the vocabulary or terminology you use to describe an assignment or lesson. We like to call our assignments “missions.” But other terms you could use include: quest, journey, battle, adventure, challenge, or operation.
2. Add levels to your assignments
If you are really into gamifying your curriculum, consider adding levels to your assignments as well. Provide badges for each level that a student completes throughout your unit of study. If you’re interested in badges, check out this post about the different types of badges and how to effectively use them in your classroom.
3. Allow students voice and choice in how they show their learning within an assignment
Let’s take reading as an example. We posted a while back about Eight Reading Activities Your Students Will Love. That might just do the trick. Allowing students a choice in how they show their learning opens up so many different opportunities for them to complete an assignment, and it provides them with a chance to show you their strengths.
4. Provide opportunities to redo assignments
Like in life and video games, we don’t usually learn how to do something in one try. Students should have opportunities to redo an assignment or fix their errors and turn it back in for more credit. Allowing students second, third, and fourth chances guarantees that they are learning the content and working towards proficiency. Why wouldn’t we allow them that opportunity?
5. Provide feedback
When we are playing a video game, often we have a peer playing along side us letting us know how we are doing. We need to be able to provide that same level of support for our students. When teaching in-person, it is much easier to provide instant feedback through conferencing. However, there are so many great apps now that providing feedback quickly and efficiently is something every teacher should be doing. While it does take time, it is super helpful for students.
6. Embrace progress and not perfection
This one may be a bit hard for your perfectionist type students to grapple with. However, as a class, we need to embrace failure. It is all about the skills and content the students are learning and the strategies they are utilizing to achieve those skills that is important. Whether they know it or not (and I hope they know it), students are practicing their skills in problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, time management, and communication. Like in life, students need to embrace trying things out, failing, and trying again in order to achieve mastery. We don’t always get it the first time…and that is okay.
To sum it up
Each school year provides its unique challenges. However, student engagement should not be one of them. If you find your students less than enthralled with class, give gamification a try. It might just be the winning strategy.
Happy teaching!