Follow Me:
  Welcome to Packwoman's Tech in Progress!
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Movie-Making
  • My eBooks
  • PackwomanFilm
  • Media
  • Contact

My Gamified Classroom

8/10/2017

0 Comments

 
"We all have our moments of brilliance and glory and this was mine..."
-from "The Great Mouse Plot" by Roald Dahl
This past spring, revolutionizing my classroom became my biggest priority.  For the last decade, my classroom has served as a pilot for numerous technology initiatives in Palm Springs Unified.  My beloved Room 208 was the first middle school 24/7 classroom in the district, the first 2:1 iPad classroom in the district, one of the first BYOD classrooms in the district, and one of the first 1:1 Chromebook classrooms, too.  I've rolled out a lot of new technology over the years, and worked to troubleshoot the workflow on a variety of devices with kids of all achievement levels.  Through it all, constructivism has remained the "true north" of my pedagogy, and students making their own meaning has always been the goal.  

Over the years, I've increased the amount of choice my students have in terms of task, team, technique, and time.  I've given back 20% of their "work week" for entirely self-directed, ungraded research projects, and I've made digital storytelling a pillar of my classroom. Student voices have flourished - there is some absolutely incredible student-created content on my YouTube channel to prove it.  And yet...

Something has been missing.  I won't say that I've been searching for a silver bullet for all of the challenges we face in education - because no such remedy exists.  But there has been a missing element in my classroom, a missing piece of my professional practice and I've been searching for and hoping to find.  And I think, maybe, I finally have it.

Last semester in my graduate program, a lot of my thinking about gamification was refined to a workable idea, a grand mashup of everything I've learned over the course of three classes that have dealt with gamified curriculum.  My thoughts deal specifically with the value of quest-based learning and how I can integrate Minecraft into my curriculum. For my final project, I developed the vision for my classroom next year.  I also began the practical work of building out the components I need in order to make it come alive.  

Being a digital storyteller first and foremost, of course I chose to share my ideas via YouTube.  Take a look:
So, that's my vision in a nutshell.  I've already finished building out the first unit for Social Studies in Rezzly's 3D Game Lab.  The Minecraft tasks I've embedded are meaningful and will give kids an authentic opportunity to problem-solve and create.  ETIS assures me that a cart of Minecraft-ready devices will be delivered in the fall, the Minecraft: Education Edition usernames will be set up, and my journey to become redefine my classroom with gamification will truly begin. 

I am so excited!
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author: Jessica Pack

    California Teacher of the Year.  CUE Outstanding Educator 2015. DIGICOM Learning Teacher Consultant.  6th Grade Teacher.  Passionate about gamification, Minecraft, digital story-telling, and fostering student voices.

    Picture

    Download:

    "Digital Storytelling: Connecting Standards to Movie-Making" by J. Pack
    Picture

    Archives

    June 2020
    May 2020
    October 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    August 2016
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    June 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    3D Game Lab
    Advocacy
    App
    AR
    Audioboo
    Augmented Reality
    Aurasma
    Behavior
    Budget
    Byod
    #CAedchat
    Ca Toy
    Ccss
    Classcraft
    Class Dojo
    Classroom Management
    Common Core
    Community
    Digicom
    Digital Literacy
    Digital Storytelling
    Ebackpack
    Edtech
    Ela
    Engagement
    ETIS
    Flipped Classrooms
    Gamification
    Gaming
    Ibooks Author
    Integration
    Ios
    Ipads
    Itunes U
    Keyboarding
    Middle School
    Minecraft
    Minecraft Education Edition
    Minecraft Education Edition
    Minecraft: Education Edition
    Movie Making
    Movie-making
    Pbl
    Pedagogy
    Philosophy
    Podcasts
    Primary Sources
    Professional Development
    Project Based Learning
    Publishing
    Qr Codes
    Rationale
    Samr Scale
    Social Studies
    Socrative
    Teacher Of The Year
    Teachers
    Technology Integration
    Technology Plan
    Today's Meet
    Tourwrist
    Toy
    Video
    Web 2.0

    RSS Feed