I teach 5th and 6th grade STEM in the lovely Pacific Northwest in a small, rural town called Chimacum. My goal is to help students discover that all learning is life-long and that 21st century tools can be used for work as well as fun.
Jul 07
Not sure, jury’s still out on that one for me. In my brief, 22 year career, I’ve tried incentives such as grades, stickers, beans in a jar, lotto tickets, class money, awards all the way to abolishing all of those, even the grades. The change to no rewards and punishments worked, but not as well …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/07/badges-do-we-need-them/
Jul 07
In both my reading of ROLE Reversal and learning how to use the 3D GameLab interface to gamify my classes the concept of student autonomy and choice is very important to create a student-centered experience. Kids need multiple pathways for learning and for demonstrating their learning. That needs to be balanced by the need for …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/07/whole-class-vs-individual-vs-small-group/
Jul 06
The idea of badges and achievements in gaming is a problem for teachers who have abolished extrinsic motivators in their classrooms. In 3DGL there is a Badges section, an Achievements section and an Awards section. I’m really conflicted by the awards section because it’s more like rewards than badges and achievements in my eyes. I …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/06/rewards-and-gaming/
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/06/elements-that-make-games-motivating/
Jul 05
Make my lessons attractive? I guess that’s something we as teachers are trying, or should be trying, to do for our students. If anything I’ve learned that not all kids are intrinsically motivated to learn the Science I’m teaching. Or they don’t like school and have been trained to become passive in school. Either way, …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/05/make-lessons-attractive/
Jul 03
I’ve been planning for the fall already and I’ve been using a spreadsheet from 3DGL to help organize the activities into quests with XP and achievements. Now I need to get those “quests” into the 3DGL interface for students to start playing (learning)! It’s really helpful to “see” the whole year at a glance. I’ve …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/03/my-6th-grade-plan-3dgamelab/
Jul 03
With regards to the 8 characteristics of Game-Based Learning (GBL) [CORRECTION: this should be Quest-Based Learning (QBL) as GBL is something different entirely] mentioned in 3DGL: Choice (Autonomy) Failure Progress Bars Multiple long & short aims Reward ALL successful efforts (XP points) Prompt, meaningful feedback Elements of uncertainty/awards Socialization schools need to embrace these, probably …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/03/characteristics-of-gbl/
Jul 02
We’ve barely been out of school for two weeks and I’ve already had the first day of school nightmare! What the heck?! It’s probably because I’ve been obsessing with 3DGL and I’m so excited to use it that I’m jumping right in planning my year. I think it’s better to do it now, while I’m …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/02/planning-for-the-fall-already/
Jul 01
This past year I tried my hand at gamifying my classes after reading Lee Sheldon’s Multiplayer Classroom. It was quite a failure. The class didn’t feel like a game. Kids didn’t show the level of engagement I was after. After going gradeless and offering kids more and more choice to take charge of their learning …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/01/gamifying-take-2/
Jun 30
Okay I’m not a big fan of cockroaches. I grew up in Miami, FL and we had those big, flying cockroaches with the antennae that looked like human hair. My mother always screamed when she saw one so early on I picked up that fear. To this day when I see a black blur out …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/06/30/molting-roach/
I'm a Curipod Ambassador! :)
I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023, 2024, and 2025!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
