Let me start off by giving a little background information. My name is Brian Person and I am a licensed social studies teacher in Colorado and am currently working on my SPED Masters. Right now, with social studies jobs being hard to come by I am working as a substitute teacher and float between a middle school and high school from where I did my student teaching and coaching.
I am also an avid gamer, playing choplifter on my Sega master system when I was 6 and not looking back. I've played every genre out there, but my main focuses are RPG's, shooters, and RTSs. MMORPGs used to be my main focus, ranging from Dark Age of Camelot to WoW, but time constraints make attending a heroic 25-man raid difficult.
I saw the Extracreditz episode on Gamification last week and after getting over a very troublesome stomach bug, I decided I couldn't take it anymore and had to see if this could work. To those of you not familiar with Gamification, please watch the Extracreditz episode because these guys explain it perfectly, here's the link?
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2985-Gamification
You back? Awesome, let's get down to it then.
As a substitute teacher I have to overcome certain obstacles to get a class motivated. I think Edward Norton in Fight Club would say it best, a sub is a self-serving teacher. You are there for your time and then you are gone, probably never to see that class again. On occasion I will sub for a teacher regularly, but most of the time it is a one shot deal. As students or former students you know what I mean. Subs always mean easy days, where the rules are lax, the work is easy, and you can just loosen the belt with no care in the world.
This is the setting I am using Gamification in.
There are two classes with one being my control group and one a variable group. Both are 9th grade health classes.
- Administer a test
- Play a movie
- remain quiet during the test
- remain quiet during the movie
- ensure students pay attention during the movie for a future assignment
- What I did for the test- I explained the expectations for the test. That they were to remain quiet until all tests were completed and to not look at their partners papers. I then passed out the test, told them to quiet down, and watched them take the test.
- What happened?- The students were quiet during the test, but the problems came as some students were finishing early. I noticed they were pent up and anxious and it did not take long before students, who had finished the test, started whispering to one another. I put my finger over my lips and reminded them to be quiet, but the second I turned around I could hear the faint whispers again. I then reminded the whole class that you cannot talk until all tests are completed, but after a few minutes the small bits of whispering continued. I had to issue proclamations of doom (you will get an extra assignment) to get them in line and even then it was not a deal buster. By the time the last student finished, the class had all but burst into conversation.
- What I did for the movie- I put in the movie and again, I verbally reminded the class that the material covered would be on a future assignment and that it had to remain quiet.
- What happened?- About the same you would expect from the test. I almost had to stop the movie because the noise level got so bad.
The problem was, as a substitute teacher, you are not going to command automatic respect. Basically take any issues a normal teacher has with talking, fidgeting, rudeness, etc and multiply that times 100 and that is what a substitute usually has to deal with. What happened here was an average day for me and most teachers simply tell me to lay the hammer down or report the students to the office.
Today though, I tried Gamification for the next class.
With the same expectations as before, I put the following on the board before the students came in.
XBOX Classroom Achievements
1- "I am Copyrighted"- Do not look at other student's tests.
2- "Ebert got nothing on me"- Do not talk during a movie.
3- "Shhhh, I am taking a test"- Do not talk during a test.
4- "I am Caveman, buy my insurance"- Do not use handheld electronic devices during work time. (there will be break times)
5- "What's a battle?"- Do not talk and remain attentive when instructions are being given.
6- "I leaned my lesson Sempai"- Recover a lost achievement by not repeating the action over the course of the period.
Basically the way it worked was I had everyone pull out a sheet of paper, put their names on it, and number 1-6 blank. If they failed these achievements I would mark them off with a sharpie, but they could gain them back if they didn't repeat the behavior. Why give them a chance to recover? For this reason?
Ultimate Achievement-
"I love Substitutes"- Complete all the above achievements.
This way, if they lost one, they would have an incentive to gain it back for the big one. Here was how the rewards worked.
- Gain 3 achievements- choice of gum or laffy taffy
- Gain 4 achievements- choice of gum/taffy or big piece of Reeses chocolate.
- Gain "I love Substitutes" achievement- choice of any 3 pieces of candy plus your name will be given to your teacher as having done exceptionally well and should be further rewarded.
What I did for the test- I was, at first, concerned with how long explaining the achievement system would take, but I found that was not a concern. The second the kids saw, "XBOX", they knew exactly the nature of what I was talking about. It took me less than 5 minutes to communicate these expectations. I also found that I didn't have to repeat things like "you must be quiet" during the test because the achievements explained to them all what was expected. I simply told them, "ok class, you're working on achievements 1 and 3 now."
What happened- In 4 years of subbing I have never seen a class so quiet during a test. There was one whisper (and I'm a nazi with achievements) that I marked off, but I told the girl she could get it back if she didn't repeat it and guess what? She bit her tongue and got it back
There was one funny moment that I almost busted out and had to control myself. There was a kid whose head was leaning to whisper something to his friend, but he was waiting for me to go away. So I walked away, but kept him in the corner of my eye. Instead of him talking, his intended recipient made a "shoo away" motion with his hands and while he said nothing his body language screamed, "DON'T TALK TO ME". I've never seen that as a sub and I almost busted out laughing.
I also had something else unprecedented happen. As a sub, students are quickly apt to pull out their IPODS and 4g Iphones without thought since it's almost an extension of themselves. But 3 students, who didn't want to lose out on achievement 4 actually raised their hands, when they finished the test, and asked permission to pull out their phones. I of course let them since they finished that portion of their work, to unwind.
One student attempted communication via sign language, but saw me looking over and quickly dropped her hands to the desk.
After the test I gave the students a 5 minute stretch break, told them they all won achievements 1 and 3 and to mark them on their sheets. During this time they could talk, walk, text, etc.
What I did for the movie- I was almost speechless when this happened. Only teachers, whom after months of constant reinforcement, could do what I was getting ready to do. I was simply going to say "Ok class, time to be quiet and focus." But I got this far...
"Ok class, time to-"
And there was a hushed silence in the room. Everyone, who just a second ago, was talking out loud, texting, and semi-crazy after having taken a 45-minute test, were as quiet as a graveyard. I was so amazed I almost zoned out, but I simply told them that I was putting the movie in and that were working towards achievements 2, 4, and 5.
- What happened- There was 30 minutes left in the class and not a word was spoken when the movie played. This was a movie on drugs and alcohol in schools and it was very heart provoking and strong because this man was asking kids some real questions. Some students, who were listening attentively, actually started crying when the movie's host busted out the big questions.
At the end of the class everyone won the ultimate achievement and I simply threw the candy out and let em all have at it. I'm sending an email after this to the teacher to call me, cause quite frankly, I can't write this down in a substitute report.
I have come to the conclusion that Gamification can work. I am going to pursue this further as a video documentary. I am going to get some real materials, different rewards, use different methods, and film myself doing this in various classrooms. Not only that, but I have decided to use Gamification as my capstone Masters project for my school (a subject that, up to this point, has been hard to come by). I will provide updates as they come along on this forum and post preliminary findings as I get them.
First things first, gota go text my friend for that camera he said he never uses
Thank you for time and please, any feedback is welcome.
R,
Brian
A teacher trying something new.
I am also an avid gamer, playing choplifter on my Sega master system when I was 6 and not looking back. I've played every genre out there, but my main focuses are RPG's, shooters, and RTSs. MMORPGs used to be my main focus, ranging from Dark Age of Camelot to WoW, but time constraints make attending a heroic 25-man raid difficult.
I saw the Extracreditz episode on Gamification last week and after getting over a very troublesome stomach bug, I decided I couldn't take it anymore and had to see if this could work. To those of you not familiar with Gamification, please watch the Extracreditz episode because these guys explain it perfectly, here's the link?
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2985-Gamification
You back? Awesome, let's get down to it then.
As a substitute teacher I have to overcome certain obstacles to get a class motivated. I think Edward Norton in Fight Club would say it best, a sub is a self-serving teacher. You are there for your time and then you are gone, probably never to see that class again. On occasion I will sub for a teacher regularly, but most of the time it is a one shot deal. As students or former students you know what I mean. Subs always mean easy days, where the rules are lax, the work is easy, and you can just loosen the belt with no care in the world.
This is the setting I am using Gamification in.
There are two classes with one being my control group and one a variable group. Both are 9th grade health classes.
- Administer a test
- Play a movie
- remain quiet during the test
- remain quiet during the movie
- ensure students pay attention during the movie for a future assignment
- What I did for the test- I explained the expectations for the test. That they were to remain quiet until all tests were completed and to not look at their partners papers. I then passed out the test, told them to quiet down, and watched them take the test.
- What happened?- The students were quiet during the test, but the problems came as some students were finishing early. I noticed they were pent up and anxious and it did not take long before students, who had finished the test, started whispering to one another. I put my finger over my lips and reminded them to be quiet, but the second I turned around I could hear the faint whispers again. I then reminded the whole class that you cannot talk until all tests are completed, but after a few minutes the small bits of whispering continued. I had to issue proclamations of doom (you will get an extra assignment) to get them in line and even then it was not a deal buster. By the time the last student finished, the class had all but burst into conversation.
- What I did for the movie- I put in the movie and again, I verbally reminded the class that the material covered would be on a future assignment and that it had to remain quiet.
- What happened?- About the same you would expect from the test. I almost had to stop the movie because the noise level got so bad.
The problem was, as a substitute teacher, you are not going to command automatic respect. Basically take any issues a normal teacher has with talking, fidgeting, rudeness, etc and multiply that times 100 and that is what a substitute usually has to deal with. What happened here was an average day for me and most teachers simply tell me to lay the hammer down or report the students to the office.
Today though, I tried Gamification for the next class.
With the same expectations as before, I put the following on the board before the students came in.
XBOX Classroom Achievements
1- "I am Copyrighted"- Do not look at other student's tests.
2- "Ebert got nothing on me"- Do not talk during a movie.
3- "Shhhh, I am taking a test"- Do not talk during a test.
4- "I am Caveman, buy my insurance"- Do not use handheld electronic devices during work time. (there will be break times)
5- "What's a battle?"- Do not talk and remain attentive when instructions are being given.
6- "I leaned my lesson Sempai"- Recover a lost achievement by not repeating the action over the course of the period.
Basically the way it worked was I had everyone pull out a sheet of paper, put their names on it, and number 1-6 blank. If they failed these achievements I would mark them off with a sharpie, but they could gain them back if they didn't repeat the behavior. Why give them a chance to recover? For this reason?
Ultimate Achievement-
"I love Substitutes"- Complete all the above achievements.
This way, if they lost one, they would have an incentive to gain it back for the big one. Here was how the rewards worked.
- Gain 3 achievements- choice of gum or laffy taffy
- Gain 4 achievements- choice of gum/taffy or big piece of Reeses chocolate.
- Gain "I love Substitutes" achievement- choice of any 3 pieces of candy plus your name will be given to your teacher as having done exceptionally well and should be further rewarded.
What I did for the test- I was, at first, concerned with how long explaining the achievement system would take, but I found that was not a concern. The second the kids saw, "XBOX", they knew exactly the nature of what I was talking about. It took me less than 5 minutes to communicate these expectations. I also found that I didn't have to repeat things like "you must be quiet" during the test because the achievements explained to them all what was expected. I simply told them, "ok class, you're working on achievements 1 and 3 now."
What happened- In 4 years of subbing I have never seen a class so quiet during a test. There was one whisper (and I'm a nazi with achievements) that I marked off, but I told the girl she could get it back if she didn't repeat it and guess what? She bit her tongue and got it back
There was one funny moment that I almost busted out and had to control myself. There was a kid whose head was leaning to whisper something to his friend, but he was waiting for me to go away. So I walked away, but kept him in the corner of my eye. Instead of him talking, his intended recipient made a "shoo away" motion with his hands and while he said nothing his body language screamed, "DON'T TALK TO ME". I've never seen that as a sub and I almost busted out laughing.
I also had something else unprecedented happen. As a sub, students are quickly apt to pull out their IPODS and 4g Iphones without thought since it's almost an extension of themselves. But 3 students, who didn't want to lose out on achievement 4 actually raised their hands, when they finished the test, and asked permission to pull out their phones. I of course let them since they finished that portion of their work, to unwind.
One student attempted communication via sign language, but saw me looking over and quickly dropped her hands to the desk.
After the test I gave the students a 5 minute stretch break, told them they all won achievements 1 and 3 and to mark them on their sheets. During this time they could talk, walk, text, etc.
What I did for the movie- I was almost speechless when this happened. Only teachers, whom after months of constant reinforcement, could do what I was getting ready to do. I was simply going to say "Ok class, time to be quiet and focus." But I got this far...
"Ok class, time to-"
And there was a hushed silence in the room. Everyone, who just a second ago, was talking out loud, texting, and semi-crazy after having taken a 45-minute test, were as quiet as a graveyard. I was so amazed I almost zoned out, but I simply told them that I was putting the movie in and that were working towards achievements 2, 4, and 5.
- What happened- There was 30 minutes left in the class and not a word was spoken when the movie played. This was a movie on drugs and alcohol in schools and it was very heart provoking and strong because this man was asking kids some real questions. Some students, who were listening attentively, actually started crying when the movie's host busted out the big questions.
At the end of the class everyone won the ultimate achievement and I simply threw the candy out and let em all have at it. I'm sending an email after this to the teacher to call me, cause quite frankly, I can't write this down in a substitute report.
I have come to the conclusion that Gamification can work. I am going to pursue this further as a video documentary. I am going to get some real materials, different rewards, use different methods, and film myself doing this in various classrooms. Not only that, but I have decided to use Gamification as my capstone Masters project for my school (a subject that, up to this point, has been hard to come by). I will provide updates as they come along on this forum and post preliminary findings as I get them.
First things first, gota go text my friend for that camera he said he never uses
Thank you for time and please, any feedback is welcome.
R,
Brian
A teacher trying something new.
