When people are immersed in games they have a belief that they can overcome obstacles and change their virtual world for the better. If we can harness this motivation and positivity in our classrooms (or in the real world!) our students will flourish. School does not have to be what we grew-up with. Alice Keeler mentioned that just because what you see in a classroom isn’t traditional, or worse yet- boring, doesn’t mean learning is not occurring.

A Ted Talk by Jane McGonigal talks about the positive effects of gaming and ways we can gamify our real-life for the better.

I decided to take a look at a game that I have never played before. This game has been hugely popular with my 5th graders since my first year teaching the grade-level: 2011-2012. I had brushed it off as a fad, the graphics looked worse than most games I grew up with- but this game has seemed to maintain or even grow in popularity each year. This is a game you might have heard of: Minecraft. Bonus points: I would now have a shared experience with all my student Minecraft players which will definitely help with rapport.

I decided to spend the $19.99 it cost to download it to my PS4 and have played it the past couple of days.

At first, the graphics turned me off and the learning curve appeared steep. After the first five minutes the in-game tutorial became more understandable and I was getting the basics down. Within three hours of tinkering and exploring I had built my first house with various materials I gathered in the nearby area. The house, I’m sure, is terrible by even semi-experienced players but I was proud of it.

I also cleared an area behind my house- which you can see in the picture, to attempt my first super structure but I was attacked by a creeper, lost all my materials, and it blew a hole (if you squint you can see it) pretty deep below. That was rough.

I didn’t quit though! I learned from this major setback with the immediate feedback the creeper gave me: I need walls and armor my next go around.

Here is my Google Sheet with my take-aways from Minecraft and how some concepts might be applied to my 5th grade classroom.

Some major take-aways that stood out to me:

1. Standards-based report cards (much clearer understanding of what student knows/doesn’t know)
2. Immediate feedback is crucial
3. Allow for choice
4. Give students time to explore their own unique interests
5. A badge system could be fun and motivating

Also- Gamification does not mean add more games to your curriculum, it is adding elements of games (what really makes this fun and rewarding) and apply that to your classroom!