Engagement comes from the joy of winning, earning points and the fun

When starting out as teachers we are asked what are our values? What do we feel is important? How will we engage learners? How can we have any idea how we will teach at the start of our career? I can promise my pedagogy didn’t include anything about making learning fun.

The reality is teachers change and grow their teaching styles throughout their careers. Our practice evolves and with the increasing number of teachers sharing their daily lives on social media, new ideas are only a swipe away. My journey with gamification began during the struggles of 2020 when I was looking for ways to engage my students in learning and review. Now, I can’t imagine my classroom any other way. My students beg to play their favourite games when it’s learning time!

Every lesson

Gamification is defined as the application of typical elements of gameplay to other areas of activity. In a classroom, that means that every lesson can be a chance to gamify. Over the last few years, I have used gamification across the curriculum. My most used games have come from Instagram, TikTok, Conferences, and Google searching. My kete continues to grow and I swap games in and out so they stay fresh.

Most of the games I use are low prep, have minimal materials and can adapt to any learning area. Some have come to me on the fly, others are adapted from an original game found online or a copy and paste of the rules. The best games don’t need to be fancy or take a lot of time. The engagement comes from the joy of winning, earning points and the fun.

Picking prizes

Prizes are always a big question for students. What are they working towards? What will they win? You could play for bragging rights, early playtime or a small prize in a one-off game or an ongoing tournament. I picked up a bag of small plastic trophies in 2021 on clearance at a party store. Each term my students competed in year-group teams to win the trophies. They loved taking their trophies home to share with their wha - nau at the end of the term and throughout the year everyone won a trophy.

An alternative is a system where students earn points in a thermometer. This is my

By Jordan Shallcrass, Rolleston School

go-to during Spelling review weeks. Students complete tasks and play games to earn points. The more points the more or bigger the rewards. This has led to class auctions, controlling the teacher’s TikTok and 3D design or coding sessions. Students can design their rewards and take ownership of the system to increase their motivation.

The following are just a few examples of our favourite games. Most can adapt to suit a wide range of year levels as they are not specific to a skill or area of knowledge.

Pie Face

The first game I ever tried came from a virtual conference. I got up in the early hours to connect to the American conference and was caught with the idea of turning Maths into a game. Shared by Hello Fifth (instagram.com/hello_fifth/ ), this uses the game Pie Face. I normally split my class into two teams. Each question is answered by both teams. If they are correct a member of the team has a turn with the Pie Face. They get one point for having a go and three points if they are hit in the face. Rather than cream, we use wet sponges. This is a great way to cool down on a hot day and enjoy reviewing our learning at the end of the week.

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