Each year at the end of the year, I assign the students a quest. They are usually apprehensive because they are unsure as to what is going to unfold, especially since I know what is about to happen: Someone is going to lose all of their gold that they have saved so carefully for a large purchase.

If you haven’t assigned your students a quest, or you are nervous about creating the narrative for your quest, let me share one of mine.

The title of the quest is Deus ex Machina. God of the Machine. I even created a video that went with it at the end. But the purpose behind all of this is to have them practice some questions that they will see on their state standardized test. It gives them the opportunity to practice what they have learned all year and at the same time, they are entering into that world of role play.

Throughout the year I will share with you some of my quests for Classcraft. These are things that you can use in any way. Please feel free to go in and change the assignments (and add your own video) to suit your subject or review or what you have on hand. If the only reason you haven’t used Classcraft is because you are unusure as to how to set these up, let this be your first one.

I assure you that the kids love it!

Here’s the link to my quest.

The post Classcraft Quest appeared first on Teaching ELA in the Middle.

Finding a way to make learning fun and engaging can be difficult the older students become. Add to that the issue with technology, and teaching becomes more challenging.

One of the problems that we have in middle school is that students who have never had a personal laptop are suddenly presented with one, and with no supervision, they have to navigate this new world and all that it provides: constant access to games and entertainment.

Learning seems to take a backburner in this situation. The sudden ability to play online games, to watch YouTube, and to stream movies is too tempting. Teaching during this can be a nightmare. Even though you tell them that they are not using their laptops, five minutes into your lesson you find that someone has opened their laptop and are now playing an online game. The addiction to technology is too great to ignore. The best thing to do is to embrace this need and use it to your advantage.

1. Classcraft

I’ve discussed the use of Classcraft before in my article, “Using Classcraft to appeal to your students’ need for competition.” Classcraft has been a lifesaver for me in my classroom. Not only do I use it to time our Independent Reading, but I also use the Noise Meter to allow students to gauge the level of talking in the room during Independent or Group work. Plus, the Formative assessments in the form of Boss Battles is a great way to constantly review concepts, vocabulary, and provide them with incentives to learn. The extra bonus to this is that once the learning activities are over, students get to go in and spend the gold that they’ve won on pets and clothing for their character.

2. Kahoot

Kahoot is an online trivia game that the kids can access from their laptops and compete for points. There are many Kahoot trivia games that are already created. You simply need to go in and search for your topic. Or you can go in and create your own questions. Many of our teachers use this as a review of concepts, and I’ve even seen the kids go in and do this on their own when they are bored just to challenge one another.

3. PowerPoints

Students can utilize features they already have on their computers. For some who have not taken a basic computer technology course, you may have to help them (in our school they do this in the 6th grade). PowerPoints allow them to be creative and express their learning in a way that they can then pass on to others. I have my students create PowerPoint storyboards for plot, to share their research, and even had one that used this as the platform to tell their short story.

4. Book Trailers

Book reports can be given using the iMovie creator on an iPad or have them use PowerPoint and save the PowerPoint as a movie format. Students enjoyed this. I even had some who created a script, filmed parts of it on the iPad, and then plugged it in to their Book Trailer. Some even went so far as to use their phones to film themselves acting it out and inserted that into PowerPoints. They enjoyed this much more than writing a plain old book report, and we even shared our book trailers.

5. Act it Out

When teaching character traits, I find it easier to have students act out character traits. Many identify certain traits such as nice, mean, or bad, but they lack the vocabulary necessary to identify other traits that may be identified in a text. I provide them with a list and have them define them before having them act them out. This provides them with the necessary skills needed to understand and identify traits when they are reading.

6. Poems

Have students respond to a text by creating a poem about the text or the character(s). For example, when teaching Romeo and Juliet, students wrote double voice poems to tell their story.

7. Board Games

Have students create board games to learn about a novel, vocabulary, or grammar. They can be as creative as they would like, and the game must be easily taught to others with a clear set of rules for the game. Students can use their drawing and thinking skills to create their board games.

8. Ball Toss Reviews

Sports is always in and when you teach a large number of boys, you will appreciate the students being able to stand up and toss a ball. It not only helps with concentration, but it provides them with a nice brain break. Toss a foam ball around as you ask a question. They love to be able to catch the ball to answer the question with the opportunity to toss the ball back.

9. Music

Find ways to incorporate music into learning. When teaching poetry, have students bring in the lyrics to their favorite (clean version only) songs. Students can decide what soundtrack would go best with a novel they are reading and provide the why. Of course, you can always go out on a limb and have students rewrite songs to go with whatever it is that you are teaching. I have even used that last one during the week before Christmas break when students are antsy. Students rewrite Christmas songs into Scrooge type carols. We have a lot of laughs on that day.

10. Chunk It

Sometimes subjects are much too difficult to sit through the entire thing. Chunk it into smaller parts and provide more transitions. Technology has given students the sense of immediate gratification. Often they will become bored with longer tasks. Instead of having them write in longer spurts, I have them write in shorter ones. I provide a timer. When the timer goes off, we transition to something new or we take a brain break. I’ll teach a mini-lesson, and then have them practice before repeating the process.

What about you? Do you use something in the classroom that always keeps the students engaged? Feel free to share in the comments below.

Did you use one of these strategies? If so, how did it turn out?

The post 10 Ways to Make Learning Fun appeared first on Teaching ELA in the Middle.

I ran across Classcraft by accident two years ago. I signed up and thought that I would use it and test it out, but I still held the ultimate decision of whether I would utilize it fully.  

Last year, I had a small group of students who were addicted to role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons, and I decided to use Classcraft to see if it would appeal to this group of students. The result: They loved it! Not only did those students love the quests, I had other students who loved the idea of training pets and dressing their characters up.

I realized then that I was on to something, but how could I convince colleagues that it was useful for education?

The Classcraft Breakdown

Classcraft has a lot to offer. Students create characters and work in Teams. Classcraft offers teachers a way to create a classroom management plan within the program. You can create consequences and rewards for select behaviors. Plus, you can have students go on Quests and have Boss Battles.

Among these, Classcraft also offers several other tools that are great for teachers, such as a Timer, a Volume Meter, a Stopwatch, and a Random Name Generator. I use these tools in my class often. Gone are the days of picking popsicle sticks or drawing from a deck of cards. I can click on a button, and the program randomly chooses a student or a team. I can then reward students for their answer to a question. As an ELA teacher, having students read aloud in class is no longer a struggle because students like getting a reward of XP (Experience Points that they need to level up to the next level).

Quick and Easy Formative Assessments

Classcraft makes it easy to give fun formative assessments. Boss Battles serve as both reviews and formative assessments for me in class. For a Boss Battle, students must answer a certain number of questions correctly to defeat a “Boss.” You can choose to have the questions as multiple choice or short answer. For each correct answer, students deliver a striking blow to the Boss. If students get an answer wrong, they receive damage in the battle. If students fail to win a Battle, then I know where or what we need to work on.

I have used Boss Battles for vocabulary and reading comprehension. The students love the idea of battling each other or battling the Boss, and they do not feel as though they are learning or being assessed. The only thing that concerns the students are that they are receiving XP to level up, and Gold to purchase new gear.

It’s all about the gear

 The students love to show off their gear! They can edit their character on their end, and when class time comes, they want you to show off their character! When you pull a student up on the screen, it pulls up their fully decked out character. The students are proud of their characters. Plus, when I create the storyline for the quests, I try to include things about the Warriors, Mages, and Healers so that the students feel like they are truly participating with their teammates.

Teams are important, too!

Teams in Classcraft are important for keeping community and management. I provide opportunities for them to work in the Teams, and I usually group these myself. I try to make sure that each group has a variety, and I keep them small. For example, in one class I had enough students to have 6 groups of 3 which allows for me to do Jigsaw Reading activities. Plus, the smaller groups allow for a quieter work environment.

One more thing about Teams: Each Team is responsible for each other. Teams share in rewards and consequences. If someone falls in battle (they run out of Health Points (HP), all Team members sustain damage. Mages can protect someone from falling in battle or taking too much damage; however, they can only do so much; therefore, the Team must hold each other accountable for their actions. When you have a class that is fully committed to the game, this is easy, but if you have a class that is not fully committed and invested in the game, you run the risk of Team members not wanting to hold each other accountable. Out of the 4 classes that I teach, I only have one that does not care, so I have to step up the rewards. I’ll let you know how that goes later.

Trying Classcraft for your classroom

Classcraft offers a free version that you can test out, but to get the full experience, you will need to get the premium version which is $12/month. This allows students to upgrade their characters and gives you access to extra tools, such as Quests, Boss Battles, and the noise monitor.

**Disclosure: If you decide to click on the link in this article, note that I will get a free month for you trying it out.

The post Using Classcraft to appeal to your students’ need for competition appeared first on Teaching ELA in the Middle.