From the desk of Mr. Walters

I’ve been blogging here about gamification for years. I’ve read and watched just about everything  Gabe Zichermann  and  Jane McGonigal  have said about human motivation and how games motivate us*. I've spoken at conferences, workshops, and in-service events about gamification. Despite all of that, I have not tried Classcraft until this school year. Classcraft  bills itself as a game-based approach to teaching, but it is basically a gamification tool (see my  Gamification / Game Based Learning / Game Design disambiguation here ). It was designed to encourage participation, good behavior, and collaboration and at first, seemed like the secondary version of Class Dojo. In some ways it is, but it does a lot more. Basically, Classcraft’s goal / premise is to help me manage, motivate and engage my students by transforming my classroom into a role-playing game, which should be right up my alley. Anyone who has spent any time reading my blog knows that I love...

Hey, all. Go check out my latest post on the Gamestar Mechanic Teacher Blog !  Game of Sprites – An epic adventure in STEAM learning. The Holidays are upon us! The students are restless… It’s time for a new challenge! Starting November 18th, the awesome team at Gamestar Mechanic began releasing a series of brand-new Challenges for your students to play through. These challenges will not only allow your students to unlock new sprites and gear but also provide them with a great lead up to a new Contest that will task them with creating their own... More