Essential question: How are games providing new opportunities for differentiation in the classroom? This week I was introduced to Minecraft. I have heard of it, but have never really delved into the possibilities it can offer, especially in education. According to Ossola (2015) "History teachers make Minecraft dioramas, English teachers have kids act out Shakespeare plays in a model of the Globe Theater, and art teachers let students recreate famous works of art in the game." Now this really started to sound interesting. The major downfall is that Minecraft is not free. I also learned MinecraftEdu does not work on ipads. This is a major downfall as I only really have ipads in my classroom. I also did not realize the amount students could learn just by playing a game like Minecraft. According to Granata (n.d.), Minecraft can teacher "students to type by allowing them to communicate with each other in the game and showing them how to do online research by trawling the vast Minecraft forums for specific information." This intrigued me even more because my students struggle a lot with research. I think a main problem with the population of my students is that they are ELL students with very low reading levels. When they see lots of words, they just give up. This could change if they really wanted to do something, so game like Minecraft could prove to be invaluable when trying to teach my students about research. This could also be true for coding, which was mentioned in one of our assigned articles. To learn things students must experiment and if they can't figure it out they must research to learn how. In both Minecraft and coding students learn digital citizenship. According to Stiff (2015), this can be teaching student about how to be smart and responsible on the internet and to not give out personal information. Students are so trusting that this can be a huge concept to help them stay safe as they explore thing online. One gaming site I came across this semester is Zondle. It is not a whole world you create, like Minecraft, but it is very useful in helping to engage students in the task at hand. Just last week I had a student who had already played the games and taken the quiz. I assigned new work and he refused to do it but would play the Zondle games. He liked it that much. This is more than I usually get from this particular student. Usually he tries to watch anime instead, but this time he was willing to do something related to class. I was impressed at how much a simple game engaged him. Ms. Cuje gives a great description of Zondle on her blog, Tech Tools Buffet. I have not played with Zondle a lot but she talks about how you can send different content to different students. Even if you didn't do that there are 49 games to choose from and students work at their own pace so differentiation is built into it. Regardless, I have found it to be great for review! I have even had students request it after only using it once in the classroom. There are just so many options in the classroom. What options you have depend on the resources you have available. The biggest issues with games according to Dutton (n.d.) are a lack of funding and lack of teacher knowledge on how best to use the electronic resources they have available. When thinking about electronics teachers are often concerned about how to monitor students. If you add the element of differentiation this can make one's head spin, if not thought out carefully. According to Guyne (2007), "School districts encourage differentiation of instructions, but teachers are concerned about behavior-management and control issues." If a teacher's concern is on management, then what are some tools that could be used to help with management.This idea combined with our discussion on Twitter this week brought me to Classcraft. This was not something I had thought fit here, but after more research realize it could be an integral part of differentiation. I recently was introduced to Classcraft, and just started it about 2 weeks ago. It is basically an upgraded version of ClassDojo. It works great for older students, specifically I am using it with my high schoolers. Students must be grouped and I can change the grouping whenever I see it necessary. Students in each group have different roles and the students work together as a team to help each other. It is hard to understand all of the nuances of the game at first, but as you move along you realize how each part is connected. The goal is to get to level 18. If a student reaches that level they win. I have not decided what they will win so that is a mystery for now. Reward are built in as powers. The game comes with presets but you can change these as you need. Students also get points to upgrade their characters. Some students really get into it and others don't really care. So far Classcraft has been very positive in my classroom. We are still learning how it works but it has been very effective for improving behavior in some students. I had one student practically jump out of his chair today so he could clean up the room to earn some extra points. Here is a 5 minute video explaining Classcraft and what I have learned about it so far. Sorry but I could not get it to be 2-3 minutes. I tried my best but didn't know what to cut out as it all seemed important. References
Cuje, S. (2015, April 21). I am in Love with Zondle! Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://techtoolsbuffet.weebly.com/newly-discovered/category/differentiation Dutton, L. (n.d.). Differentiate Learning and Electronic Games. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Differentiated_learning_and_electronic_games Guyne, R. H. (2007, November 1). The Educational Benefits of Video Games. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://www.techlearning.com/news/0002/the-educational-benefits-of-video-games/64111 Granata, K. (n.d.). Teachers Take Advantage of Minecraft in the Classroom. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_news/teachers-take-advantage-minecraft-classroom-60294258 Ossola, A. (2015, February 6). Teaching in the Age of Minecraft. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/02/teaching-in-the-age-of-minecraft/385231/ Stiff, H. (2015, February 6). Monforton Teacher Instructs Coding to Kids. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://www.belgrade-news.com/news/article_6716d926-ae2a-11e4-959b-13ebce844c1c.html
9 Comments
Amy Witt
2/26/2016 09:08:45 pm
I like the possibilities you outline in your post about gaming in your classroom. I can relate to your comment about students giving up on reading when they see too many words, as I teach students who struggle with reading. I agree with you, though, that providing them challenging opportunities in a game format would go over better and engage them in learning. Your resources of Zondle and Tech Tools Buffet are ones that I'm going to check out.
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Sara
2/27/2016 10:08:37 pm
Like I said zondle is wonderful!!! I wish I would've started using it sooner. Even though the games are not that exciting, my students eat it up every time. I have only used it with high school, but it seems like my 9th graders like it more than older students. A few high schoolers really liked it when I used it for test review. They definitely got higher scores on that test than the one I just gave.
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Sarah K
2/28/2016 11:20:06 am
Sara,
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Kate
2/28/2016 06:29:57 pm
Sara,
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Sara
2/29/2016 02:09:56 pm
Sarah,
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Sally
2/28/2016 10:23:50 pm
I love your video. Thanks for sharing Classcraft. I will have to try it. I'll check into it tomorrow. I'm hoping it will work well with my 9th graders.
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Sara
2/29/2016 01:30:47 pm
My 9th graders like it the most out of all of my high school classes. It takes some getting used to, but it seems like most are getting the hang of it. Some definitely are more into it than others. The upgraded version allows you to see data on all of the students. This is great for me for citizenship grades. I can show students what they did.
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Jeff Clay
3/5/2016 09:40:17 am
I really liked your screencast demonstrating how you have started to use Classcraft with your students. I teach 8th grade, and I think this would be an interesting way for my students to be motivated to work hard and demonstrate appropriate behavior. I appreciate how you described the features available for purchase, and how these can create a more robust experience for you and your students. It will be interesting for you to see how this technology tool continues to impact your classroom for the rest of the year. Are you treating this as a pilot to see if you would like to utilize it next year?
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Sara
3/13/2016 07:18:24 pm
I think everything is always a pilot. If it sticks then I keep it. Classcraft has been no different. I think next year our middle school might use it as well. We just didn't want to change their rewards up so late in the year. For high school we weren't really doing anything so this is an improvement.
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