The Gamified Teacher

 Tired of playing the behavior game with unruly students? You're not alone. Teachers everywhere deal with daily behavior issues that disrupt their classrooms and student learning. Instead of handing out more detentions though, you can make a much bigger impact by simply playing games. For Hyperactivity If you have a class or two of students who can't sit still or focus for more than a minute, then you'll want to focus on M&M game traits: Movement : Incorporating space and time for physical movement allows hyperactive students to expel excess energy. When they are allowed to move their bodies, you'd be surprised at how well it focuses their mind for mental tasks like brainstorming, reviewing, reflecting, and more. For example, some of my students struggled with paying attention to the reading long enough to identify figurative language. To combat this, I use Lit Grid . It's like a giant game of team Connect 4 with a twist of relay race, and instead of dropping ch...

Because of student apathy, low reading levels, and short attention spans, many teachers feel that class reading time is like pulling teeth, but it doesn't have to be that way. Reading, whether as a whole class or in small groups, can be entertaining and engaging for students and teachers alike. You simply need to add a little gamification to your reading routine. Hook'em The first step to successful gamification is hooking your students. How will you approach the reading in a way that is new, entertaining, and interactive? Students need to see the fun in the activity from the very start, or they won't be invested in the game or engaged in the reading.  For example, instead of telling them they'll be researching background information and filling out a quiz on the topic, I tell them they'll be competing in teams to complete the background scavenger hunt first. Adding teams and competition is a great way to amp up the fun and get more students to buy in. Once the rea...

Back to school season is just around the corner, and students and teachers everywhere are dreading the meet-the-teacher, 2 Truths and a Lie, and syllabus overview routine. If you want to win week 1, ditch the mundane and aspire for inspiration with activities that engage students in the class, culture, and curriculum! Day 1: Names and Norms In my opinion, the very first day should be about two things and two things only: who is everyone and what norms need to be established? These are imperative when it comes to two of the most difficult aspects of teaching, connection and control. For learning names, challenge students to listen to each other with a game that makes it fun to remember.  I like to use the traditional Name Game for first exposure. Then I like to take it to a relatable level with Among Us.  Among Us : This whole class card game gets students chomping at the bit to shout out names and details by engaging them with aspects similar to the popular video game so man...

 ...and How to Fix Them! Teachers across the nation are confused as to why students have such bad grammar these days. There's a lot of talk about texting, social media, and now, even AI, but what if it all actually came down to something you were doing wrong? Don't freak out! This is actually good news because while we can't control the influence of tech on our students, we can control what and how we teach them. So take a deep breath, be honest with yourself, and get some strategies that work! You Think Reading Will Improve Writing OK, before you hunt me down and feed me to the literary wolves, hear me out. I admit that reading is a great way to improve spelling, vocabulary, and sentence fluency, which certainly do impact a conventions score. However, think about how often students are taught about sentence errors like run-ons, fragments, missing commas, unnecessary commas, etc. Then, think about the many classic texts we ask them to read that are riddled with errors like ...

Is student behavior driving you nuts this year? Are toxic classroom cultures preventing student learning? You're not alone! Many teachers are feeling frustrated with the lack of impact traditional management is having on these post-pandemic kids.  I was having the same problem with one of my classes until I realized we all needed a true academic reset.  During COVID, it took schools so long to adapt to the new online normal that many kids lost trust in the system and simply checked out. Then we brought them back and tried to teach and manage like we had before the pandemic, and for some kids, it just didn't work anymore. We all needed to reset not to the way it was before, but to the way it is now. For this reason, I dedicated two days to problem-solving and collaboration - not with my colleagues, but with my students. Present the Problem After looking at the unusually high amount of failing grades, missing assignments, and low assessment scores in one of my classes, I decided...

A lot of new teachers ask how they should pace their curriculum in order to get through all the required learning while actually making learning happen. This kind of knowledge often comes from years of experience, and until then, it's normal to edit and revise your curriculum until you get it just right.  In order to make it easier for you though, I broke my curriculum down into a few simple schedules that you can make your own! See below. Note: Every teacher has their own style, so while these work well for me, don't stress if they don't work for you! Scheduling Out the Year 1 week - Community Building 1 week - Pre-Assessment 4-6 weeks - Class Novel 1 & Grammar 1 week - Essay 1 4-6 weeks - Class Novel 2 & Grammar 1 week - Essay 2 1 week - Presentation 1 1 week - Makeup Work / Extra Credit / Celebrations 1 week - Group Project 4-6 weeks - Class Novel 3 & Journals 1 week - Essay 3 4-6 weeks - Choice Novel 4 with Independent Projects 1 week - Student Project 1 ...

If you're struggling with back to school activities for the first day, my advice is to keep it simple. You'll get plenty of engagement, information, and future success by focusing on just three simple questions: Who? What? and Why? Check out how I answer these questions on my first day in a 9th grade ELA classroom. Who? Obviously, the first thing they need to know is who you are, and I accomplish this in three ways. I include myself in the introduction questions and any icebreaker games we play. I also include a bulletin board over my desk that displays my name, images of some of my favorite things, and art students have created for me over the years. Finally, my personality definitely comes out as I lay out the style, structure, and expectations of my class. The fun part is getting to know the students. For many years, we played Two Truths and a Lie and the Name Game. Since then though, I've adapted to more modern games. My students love Among Us , the card game that allow...