I am a NC State student who is majoring in elementary education. I have a passion for wildlife conservation and animal rescuing. I am also a vegetarian. I am obsessed with the NFL and my favorite teams are the Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns. I love to read and some of my favorite childhood series were: Junie B Jones, Rainbow Magic, and Magic Tree House. I have two guinea pigs named Luna and Weasley and a betta fish named Meeko. I love Marvel, Disney, and Harry Potter. My favorite class I’ve ever taken is Sociology.
Many believe that the education system will be drastically different in the future. Technology is a huge part of the school system evolving. When I was in elementary school teachers were drawing on projectors with markers and now there is all this new technology such as smart boards that have replaced this. Education will continue to evolve as technology evolves. A good portion of learning has been moved online. I took two classes in high school that were based entirely online. One of them was through a high school system and another through a community college. This global pandemic has also made a lot of people think more about the future of education since schools had to shut down and go entirely online. Many wonder if in-person learning will be a thing of the past. Class sizes moving forward will most likely be smaller as well. There is also a wonder whether classes will start later as that’s when students are more capable of learning or if classes will be cut shorter. In some ways are school systems are very outdated. A lot of schools are using textbooks that are years old because they don’t have funding for technology. Funding is not evenly distributed throughout every school in the United States due to where the school is located. For some kids the change in the classrooms won’t be as drastic.
A fad is a widely spread phenomenon that is short-lived. A fixture is something that stays around for a long time. Sometimes fads can come back at some point. A good example of this is vinyl record players. Teachers have seen many fads and fixtures come and go.This will continue to happen with many different things as society evolves. However, there are things that will stay around for a long time. A good example of a fixture in the classroom is TVs. They have been used many years for watching educational videos or movies. I do not foresee this stopping anytime soon. There have been so many different types of fads in education such as teaching style, technology being used, the way the classroom is set up. It is amazing that the educational system is constantly evolving.
My ideal classroom of the future would have a bunch of different types of chairs or seats that were more spread out. I believe that students need to have their own space to learn and do there work and most the time they are crowded together because of a large class size. I also would want smaller class sizes so I would be able to give each student more of my time. Also, if there was a special needs student in my class since there are inclusion classrooms and integrated learning I would want to be able to give them more one on one time. I would also love for classes to start later since kids are more focused later on in the day. I would also want more breaks and a longer lunch break. I was given 25 minutes all throughout my time as a student and that is not enough time especially for kids who have to go through the lunch line. I also would want to use as much technology and resources that I am provided with so my students can have the best educational experience possible.
Gamification is the application of game elements and principles in non-game contexts. To put it simply it is game-based learning. The purpose is to use principles and key elements of gaming to meet the required learning objectives. There are three types of experiences with gamification: game experience, game-like experience, and gamified experience.
Game Experience
Game experience is when a teacher creates or uses a game to support students in learning. An example of game experience is when a teacher creates a game to help students learn the concepts associated with probability.
Gamified Experience
An example of gamified experience is when a teacher creates a point-based structure to be able to have the class discuss.
Game-like Experience
An example of Game-like experience is when a teacher assigns the role of a doctor to teach about the body system. Game-like principles are everyone is a participant, learning feels like play, everything is interconnected, learning happens by doing, failure is framed as iteration, feedback is immediate and ongoing, and challenge is constant.
Using Badges in the Classroom
You should use points and badges in the classroom and keep track of them so your students can compete and strive to reach their goals. This allows you students to have choice because they won’t all complete the badges in the same order but reaching their end goal is what matters. It also allows your students to feel failure and have to persist to meet their goals and accomplish what they want to accomplish. By using points with the badges it shows that some assignments are worth more and more important to complete. The badges also give your students a tangible reward and it acknowledges skill. It also provides opportunities for collaboration with classmates. It can also help teachers asses their students and what they need improvement on. That is very beneficial to teachers and I will definitely be using badges in my classroom.
You can adapt old school games such as scavenger hunts, bingo, dice games, Connect Four and Scrabble or create a digital scavenger hunt. You can allow your students to play digital games such as Kahoot and Quizlet. Breakout EDU also has a collection of digital games and puzzles that allow your students to critically think. You can also create a quest for your students around the classroom. You can also set up a badge system where they can earn certain badges for completing assignments or certain tasks. Challenge your class to make their own game. There are many other ways besides these to gamify your classroom! I am going to use these ideas in my classroom to make learning more fun and interactive for my students.
More In-depth Instruction on How to Gamify Your Classroom:
