Bringing a little bit of magic into the classroom.
“For every job that must be done, there’s an element of fun. You find the fun and snap! The job’s a game!” Mary Poppins
Dr. Melissa Gresalfi and I were brainstorming earlier this week about some new professional development Missions we’re creating aimed at helping teachers get a handle on some of our most popular curricular units. As we were discussing ways to draw teachers into the Missions, Melissa recalled a favorite scene in a favorite movie…Mary Poppins. The scene is where Mary Poppins takes the Banks children to meet Bert, who is drawing a beautiful chalk scene on the sidewalk. Suddenly, with a knowing grin and a wink, the adults take the children by the hand, and all together, they jump into the drawing, totally immersing themselves, just for a while, in a colorful, whimsical experience.
The image has stuck and has me thinking about how teachers can really transform the learning experience. Much like Mary Poppins, part of our role is to embrace that play experience. A new article recently published in Educational Leadership entitled Why Educators Should Care About Video Games talks about some ways this can be done when leveraging the use of video games in the classroom, but one of the most important seems to be that leap into the game. When teachers take on the role of a game character when reviewing Quests or when they support not only the big ideas and concepts, but also, bring the narrative into their classroom, they become important characters in the game. Magically, that sense of play really does seem to color the learning experience and truly transforms both motivation and outcomes for our students.
So, next time you are wondering how to motivate your students, look for a way to bring some magic and an element of fun into your classroom, take your students by the hand and jump! When you and your students are having fun together, the job of teaching and learning seems to feel more like a game indeed!
This is a great article. It makes the rationale, pedagogy and findings about learning gains very accessible. A must read for all educators!
Teachers who immerse themselves in the Quests, Missions, and Units of QA can find LOTS of ways to import the fun of the space into their classrooms.
For example, many of the 3D spaces have some hidden jokes and trivia (sometimes called “Easter Eggs”) hidden in the spaces. Take the Plague Unit… In the Appendix of the Unit Guide is a list of trivia questions teachers can use to build classroom games from… questions like “How many skeletons are in the Ingolstadt Harbor?” or “What is the name of Tina’s dog?” These questions aren’t a part of the Unit, but can be found by exploring the 3D space visually or (in the case of the dog’s name) by rolling the mouse over different objects. What fun if a teacher would post such a question on the board in the classroom or computer lab, and award points or a treat or privilege for the first student to discover the answer?
What are some other ways you have taken QA to a new level, transforming the learning and embracing play in YOUR classrooms? Let’s share some of our best ideas!