Gamification with Classcraft in the Read 180 classroom

This is something I learned about at a Google Summit last winter. At first I was a little hesitant-- it seemed like so much work to set up a game application for my classes. But it was something I really wanted to try, especially with my Read 180 Fundamentals classes. After searching the WWW, I found a pretty cool option for this aspect of class--Classcraft.

 "Classcraft is a free online, educational role-playing game that teachers and students play together in the classroom. By using many of the conventions traditionally found in games today, students can level up, work in teams, and earn powers that have real-world consequences. Acting as a gamification layer around any existing curriculum, the game transforms the way a class is experienced throughout the school year."

It is free! Create an account and just mess around in it for awhile and you will quickly see how it works! Sign up through the image below and you will get two months of premium features for free--you're welcome.

Students can create their own avatar characters. This makes things a little more personal for the students and is a bit of an incentive. Even if some of your students think it looks nerdy and lame, they will quickly come around when they find out they are rewarded for their good behavior with things they ACTUALY care about. 

I love that you can customize the "powers" or rewards that students can learn. This will make things fit your teaching style as well as the kinds of kiddos you have in your room. (This is a fake class I made-- not actual student names.) 

As students level up, they will learn more powers- Only the kids who have been well behaved long enough will level up to rewards that they can handle in the classroom.

This is a reward I added to my game to fit my students. They love to listen to music and will do almost anything to have even 3 minutes of phone time. 

The game also allows you to customize the rewards and punishments to fit your needs and the most common behavior issues found in your class. Here are examples from my classes.

Gold/Yellow add Experience Points and help them level up to learn powers.

Red removes Health Points. If they lose too many health points, they fall in battle and have to receive a punishment given out by the game-- you can slo customize your punishments. (Last to leave class, stay after school detention, lunch detention, call home, loss of Read 180 chair privilages, etc.)

There are so many options with this progam that you certainly could become overwhelmed. If you stick to the simple basic parts of this program, you will be able to master it quicklybefore moving into more advanced features. 

This program creates a visually apealing and familiar aspect to class. It doesn't affect grades if you don't want it to, teaches teamwork, and several other fatastic features. I strongly encourage you to monkey around with it during your next very boring PD day ;) or when your kids go down to an assembly. 

There are hundreds of videos about this and how they set it up. I hope this overview gets you to look into it and see how you can make it work for you and your's.

--Happy Teaching