Those Kids | Mr. Gonzalez's Classroom

Dec 19

Days 7, 8, 9 WoW in Science #gbl

By Alfonso Gonzalez in Gamification
December 19, 2013

This week we spent our last three days just playing WoW to level up. Almost every 8th grader had a blast. Two 8th graders complained about having to play WoW at first but then I never heard from anything negative from them again. Another 8th grader pretty much let me know everyday that she didn’t …

Afternoon Class, Gaming Language, Hearth Stone, Heroes, Mountainous Area, Noob, Retrospect, Science, Those Kids, Wow
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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/12/19/days-7-8-9-wow-in-science/

Jan 14

I Celebrated Too Soon

By Alfonso Gonzalez in Ed News
January 14, 2013

I wrote Shift Happens just a bit too soon. I was celebrating the fact that we started our year without achievement awards or student of the month awards. Then I noticed that PBIS was on the agenda of our upcoming faculty meeting. When the topic came up it was mentioned that nearly half the year …

192, Achievement Awards, Choices, Focus, Peers, Those Kids
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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/01/14/i-celebrated-too-soon/

Oct 01

Mt Saint Helens 2012

By Alfonso Gonzalez in Class News, Science
October 1, 2012

Last week we took 6th graders to Camp Cispus. I wrote about an unexpected change of plans where one of our 6th graders noticed that the road we normally take to Windy Ridge and Spirit Lake to see Mt Saint Helens was closed. Luckily, the Johnston Ridge Observatory, facing the horse shoe shaped crater and …

Adult, Camp Cispus, Caption, Challenge Course, Downside, Google, Google Maps, Haze, Horse Shoe, Johnston Ridge Observatory, Lava Dome, Mt Saint Helens, Nbsp, Plan B, School Kids, Spirit Lake, Those Kids, Time Of Year, Unexpected Change, Weather, Wildfires, Windy Ridge
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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/10/01/mt-saint-helens-2012/

Jul 16

Gamifying My Classes

By Alfonso Gonzalez in Ed News, Gamification
July 16, 2012

I’m taking the leap and am going to try it out. I finished reading The Multiplayer Classroom by Lee Sheldon and I was able to start mapping out how I can gamify my classes. After two and half years of teaching completely gradeless I have found that I still haven’t managed to engage all my …

Autonomy, Contrary, Daily Basis, Experiences, Facebook, Half Years, Leap, Lee Sheldon, Lot Like, Number 1, Own Pace, Peer Pressure, Playing Games, Scho, Science, Science Labs, Science Lessons, Sheer Excitement, Survey, Task Behavior, Those Kids, Three Times, Transformation
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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/07/16/gamifying-my-classes/

Jun 11

Alternate Reality Game

By Alfonso Gonzalez in Ed News, Gamification, Grades & HW, Science
June 11, 2012

This past Thursday Nicholas Provenzano hosted a Twitter chat at #NerdyChat on the topic of Gamification (see transcript here). Gamification is the idea of using the best of video gaming in the classroom. Why? Watch a kid play a video game. Video games hook the player and motivate the player to persevere through failure and …

Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/06/11/alternate-reality-game/

May 07

The Scaffolding vs. Struggling Debate

By Alfonso Gonzalez in Ed News
May 7, 2012

Ronnie Burt wrote a blog post about a debate he’s been having with Sue Waters, Edublogger Debate: Scaffolding vs. Struggling â€“ Can You Be Too Helpful? I found the topic quite intriguing as it fits perfectly into what I spend a majority of my time worrying about, Student Engagement and Student Discipline. So the question …