Gamification is something that I used mildly when teaching middle school. Kids dug the use of Class Dojo, as it made being on task fun and instantly rewarded. Class Dojo really helped cultivate a culture where collaboration and communication were honored, all within an easily managed phone and website app. In addition to Dojo, I would use an analog tracking system with stars (yes, those old school charts) that worked very well with my 6th graders who were enrolled in my math support class. As I have made the move to high school (and increased the use of technological fluency) this paper chart was transformed into a shared Google Spreadsheet that lists assignments that have been completed as well as those that are currently in progress (our gradebook could serve the same function but is bulky to for students to use).
As a math teacher, I have aways looked to games to increase fluency with foundational skills. Some sites that have been used over the years are Khan, Math180, Kakooma, Manga High, PBSkids and NCTM to name a few. Recently, I have been using games such as dominos, Yahtzee and various dice games with my small skills class to build in basic mental operation fluency at the high school level. When students start to see the "learning game" as just a game, learning becomes so integrated into the process. Noticing how students work with games that seem contrived in relation to those games that are authentic in their design makes a world of difference. Over the past month I have been experimenting with using DESMOS for their activities. This is new to me. Having used DESMOS for many years as a graphing app resource, I was delighted to see the build-out of their class activities. These activities are grounded in math and do not attempt to be "jazzed up" to allow students to try and relate.
4 Comments
Christina Schreiber
4/30/2018 12:32:47 pm
Seeing the desmos demonstration made me jealous of math teachers! That looked like so much fun! I also used Class Dojo with some of my middle school students but I felt that the novelty of it wore off and it only worked when I was diligent about using it which was hard when I was teaching lab science. The class periods would just get away from me. I could see it being very effective as a motivation tool for elementary students.
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Diana Moore
4/30/2018 06:15:37 pm
Joseph,
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Jane Adams Gallagher
4/30/2018 10:00:16 pm
I have heard of Class Dojo, but have yet explored it. Something else for me to check out. I like that you found a meaningful purpose for old fashioned games, such as Yahtzee. So many skills being addressed in a fun group setting. I think it's easy to get caught up in using digital technology and forget that board games have a place too.
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Scott Marsden
5/1/2018 06:58:13 pm
I tried Class Dojo with HS freshmen and it didn't work that well. The novelty wore off fast. I wonder if something like Class Craft would have worked better.
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AuthorHello, I'm Joe. Welcome to writings about my thought process throughout the journey of Touro's Innovative Learning Graduate Program. Archives
July 2018
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