Welcome to #XPLAP tonight we are talking about baby steps… Which if you think about it are the most important steps we ever take. Please introduce yourself and share what you plan to do for the 4th!
Hey #XPLAP! FAMILY BARBEQUE!!
Louie from Lancaster, PA. New 5th grade teacher moving to Philly for the new school year. Super excited!
Excited to start my gamification journey. So inspired after hearing @tishrich's story at #ISTE18!
Hi, I'm David, from Baltimore, MD. I plan to do a little cooking out with my parents and then spend the night protecting the dog from his nemesis, fireworks. #xplap
Hello, #XPLAP Crew! The name is Andrew! 4th-grade/GATE teacher out of SoCal. Happy to be here with all of you! Let’s connect, share, and have some fun tonight! Planning on lighting some fireworks! Going Gandalf style! #XPLAP
Hi, #xplap friends!!! Tisha Former Culinary Tr & Tech Integration Coach in Medford, OR! We are still unpacking boxes in our new house, but hope to take a break and light some sparklers for the 4th!
Welcome to #XPLAP… Love having you all here. It is truly an honor to have you as part of this chat.
I am Michael Matera
6th grade world history teacher
dad and #Gamification nut!
For the 4th I will be working and cooking!
Welcome to #XPLAP tonight we are talking about baby steps… Which if you think about it are the most important steps we ever take. Please introduce yourself and share what you plan to do for the 4th!
Hey #XPLAP! FAMILY BARBEQUE!!
Louie from Lancaster, PA. New 5th grade teacher moving to Philly for the new school year. Super excited!
Excited to start my gamification journey. So inspired after hearing @tishrich's story at #ISTE18!
Jason Howse - Grade 6 teacher from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada! Canada Day was two days ago, but wishing a happy July 4th to all of my American friends! #XPLAP
Hi! I'm @CherryReads --7th grade English teacher in Northern Virginia. We're having people over, throwing up an epic water slide, smoking brisket and creating our own fireworks show!
Hey all Dwight here, checking in from southern Ontario... tomorrow I’ll be paddling about 17.76 miles from my family’s cottage to the St. Lawrence River. Should be a great start to the day ahead of spending the afternoon with family. #xplap
Hi #XPLAP
I'm Jen--7th grade English teacher in Northern Virginia. We're having people over, throwing up an epic water slide, smoking brisket and kicking off our own fireworks show!
✨Hi, #XPLAP Crew! I'm Kimberly from NE, and I teach 7th grade ELA. I loved meeting so many of you at #ISTE18 last week! #XPLAP is such an amazing PLN! I might just spend the 4th playing with sidewalk chalk ! I'm hooked!✨
If I cut out or don’t respond immediately, I apologize, lake country has very weak cell reception. I have to stand in a particular corner of the cottage to get a signal. But #xplap is worth it!
No!!! I do go by Louie! You were right. haha.
My full name is Robert Louis Soper III. Dad and Grandpa were Bob, so my Mom decided I would go by my middle name. I'm thinking of changing my twitter name to my actual name - too confusing! lol #XPLAP
Welcome to #XPLAP tonight we are talking about baby steps… Which if you think about it are the most important steps we ever take. Please introduce yourself and share what you plan to do for the 4th!
#XPLAP A1: I haven't truly yet ventured down the path of #gamification in my CR yet; however, was introduced to @tishrich via Twitter at a Conference in April and her blog is AMAZING!! It is a great start for those that want to know more.
A1: Starting small. Possible story line of beginning middle and end. That way the work ss do will have a connection piece to the year long journey. #XPLAP
A1: Choose a lesson, or even just an activity within a lesson and go for it. You never know how it’ll go unless you go for it. All the planning in the world is meaningless unless there’s also action to go alongside it. #xplap
A1 I don't know anything about gamefication other than it exists. 😉 So my steps would be to learn more about it! Maybe by asking some #oredchat friends like @tishrich or @hmarrs24. #XPLAP
Hi! Jocelyn here, from Toronto Canada! We just celebrated #CanadaDay on July 1, so it was a great weekend of fireworks here! Happy July 4 tomorrow, US friends! #XPLAP
#xplap Q1: For me, the biggest "small step" was attending #usmspark and asking questions from the guru himself @mrmatera. If that isn't an option, asking questions of the twitter-verse has proven beneficial for me as I start out.
A1: I think a major first step for me was to do some close observation of games I like to play and really investigate what elements and mechanics I enjoy. This allowed me to personalize within an already familiar and effective structure. #XPLAP
A1 hey #xplap! Little steps? Try giving choice paths. When I started gamifying it was after trying to find a way to give different paths to show mastery. Great way to start and led to my XP grading.
A1: I've got a new theme, I need to decide how I want to use it. I'll have 5th grade, I'll keep my homeroom part of the day, and teach a specific group of kids math and ELA. Some kids will overlap. I'm thinking Camp Halfblood & Camp Jupiter. #XPLAP
A1: I agree about focusing on one mechanic to start with. Awarding points or team building challenges. I also think getting feedback from ss after each new thing u try is essential. #xplap
A1: Use existing games to modify and connect to the curriculum. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. Start with small steps. Once you feel comfortable with what you are doing, slowly raise it up a notch to other ed tech games, such as, Prodigy Math, @GetKahoot, etc. #XPLAP
A1: I am still early in the #plan book. But one thing I notice is that it is important to be willing to take some risks to try something new. Know that you will fail at some parts. And that is ok. #XPLAP
@mrmatera@tishrich No idea if I'm doing this right, but I'm a h.s. English teacher in Washington State planning my first gamified class (and new to the twitterverse) #XPLAP
A1: Oh, and not waiting until you have it all or until the "right time" BOY, for example. You can start any time with as little as you think you can manage. #XPLAP
A1. Craft a narrative for a single unit! Suddenly it’s not *just* fractions - rather you’re in a world where the evil Negatron has commandeered your crew’s spaceship, and it’s up to you to hack your ship’s mainframe with a series of codes to initiate emergency override. #xplap
Hi y’all! I’m Michelle, a 4th grade teacher from deep in the heart of Texas! I’m super excited to be here! Plans for the 4th are to enjoy my family & read some@more of my XPLAP! Hopefully I’ll come up with a theme! Why is this so difficult for me to choose? 2 many #XPLAP
A1: Take a lesson or activity or unit that you're already doing, and enhance it / change it up with some game mechanics! Add Power Ups, an Easter Egg, some team challenges... start small! #XPLAP
A1: Find a narrative! make a trailer (here's mine). https://t.co/4HCTmsdKqW The atmosphere is important. Ts in the US are lucky because they have their own classroom. In Israel the Ss stay at their homeroom and the Ts go around. #xplap
A1: I am still early in the #xplap book. But one thing I notice is that it is important to be willing to take some risks to try something new. Know that you will fail at some parts. And that is ok. #XPLAP
A1:
✨Start with a unit, or a quarter. It was the perfect way for me to get my feet wet and try out #gamification and #GBL. Once I saw the positive results with engagement and collaboration, I knew I had to jump all the way in! #XPLAP ✨
I did this with one unit I already did and stile@the Angry Birds Theme to apply to it. It helped a lot, pick something the kids are familiar with #xplap
#xplap Q1: For me, the biggest "small step" was attending #usmspark and asking questions from the guru himself @mrmatera. If that isn't an option, asking questions of the twitter-verse has proven beneficial for me as I start out.
It doesn’t have to be fully fleshed out at the start. Add elements while it goes, your students will even help you brainstorm elements and provide feedback. #xplap
A1:
✨Start with a unit, or a quarter. It was the perfect way for me to get my feet wet and try out #gamification and #GBL. Once I saw the positive results with engagement and collaboration, I knew I had to jump all the way in! #XPLAP ✨
A1: adding dice rolls can be a quick way to turn any activity into a chance activity, whether it’s deciding how many supplies you get, how many vocabulary terms to use or even deciding a winner of a contest. #xplap
A1. As someone stepping into gamification, my first steps have been creating some theme-related game elements. Pretty basic so far. Theme is MARVEL for my 5th graders. I'm excited to see where the journey is going to take us! #XPLAP
Welcome to #XPLAP tonight we are talking about baby steps… Which if you think about it are the most important steps we ever take. Please introduce yourself and share what you plan to do for the 4th!
Thanks for being part of the #WellPlayed Community as well as #XPLAP. If you have not already, check out https://t.co/Si0YFAP2bn for more content on this subject!
A1 Reading Explore Like a Pirate helped me get the big picture. Then I started thinking about my theme and different activities and items that would fit with the theme and my content. #xplap
Theme first, for sure. Everything flows from there. Always ask what do you want your players to *feel* before you ask what do you want them to *do?* I talked about my game design process on this week’s #ProfessorGame podcast with @RobAlvarezB! #xplap 🤓
I'm starting at the beginning of the year... I'm hoping that creating the context of the game will just overlay the curriculum already being taught. Need to change mindset a little to think of how the content/classroom happenings fit into the story. #XPLAP
#xplap A2: my inspiration comes from movies, music (swing/big band), and history. I'm still in the beginning stages of planning my year-long game, but I know the inspiration will come from what I am passionate about.
#XPLAP A2: Love idea of Ss creating games. Last yr some PBL groups created Spoons, Jeopardy, and Bingo. It was awesome!! Those kids had better ideas than mine, and they did an amazing job!!
A2 Twitter of course! Love my #OrEdChat tweeps and collection of @dbc_inc books. I have a great team of teachers, coaches and admin to bounce ideas of in my district. #NMStrong#XPLAP
A2: As anyone in the #xplap community has seen, or pretty much anyone on my social media, sometimes inspiration comes from the strangest of places, the random gold skull home decor aisle at Marshall’s/TJMaxx
A2 Summer is a great time to rejuvenate and reevaluate pedagogy, without this time to binge well played episodes and reading blogs from other #gamifiers I would not even have started #gamification, also I work in the park for the summer season so being out in nature is perfect!
A2: See what others are doing on #xplap, #games4ed, etc. Take those ideas and work them to fit the needs of your own classr. Most of all, dont be afraid to ask questions. The experts @mrmatera, @tishrich, @HeckAwesome, @mpilakow, @hmarrs24, and so many others are helpful. #XPLAP
@mrmatera, you had a first year teacher on your podcast who dove into gamification... What was his name? He is pretty much my hero! haha. I would love to hear how his year finished. #XPLAP
A2: Learning from other teachers in what they are doing, watching game shows, playing video games, and creativity helps jump start gamification for me. #XPLAP
Heck yes!!! Let's make this happen! Closest thing to it is @USMSpark home of @mrmatera! One of my very favorite learning experiences! ...and so many #xplap and #tlap 'ers there!
A2: The best is for me to walk into gaming stores. I see items and places that really inspire games in the classroom. A room transformation I am planning is based from someone doing a medical game #xplap
A2: This #XPLAP and #games4ed communities, movies and popular media, but most importantly my students. I've asked since I even toyed with the idea of gamifying, and have even scrapped narratives when they start with, we are not liking this anymore.
A2. Pop culture! Head to a toy aisle to see what’s hot these days. Alien warlord invading the planet. Dinosaur clones terrorizing a tropical island. So many jumping off points for classroom narrative. “What would it look like if my class was thrown into the world of (x)?” #xplap
✨I have to admit....basically, I can just follow directions! Check out: https://t.co/KxUBMGPMWd . This YouTube channel is ALMOST as legit as @mrmatera's, almost! #XPLAP ✨
#XPLAP A2: From what I have done in the CR that could be considered #gamification... cooking shows. My Ss have competed in cupcake wars, food truck challenges, etc. I also have created a number of #breakoutedu games, thanks to Twitter/FB PLNs.
A2 Summer is a great time to rejuvenate and reevaluate pedagogy, without this time to binge well played episodes and reading blogs from other #gamifiers I would not even have started #gamification, also I work in the park for the summer season so being out in nature is perfect!
A2: I think back to movies/game shows and blend it with social studies concepts. My s’s get excited, but I sometimes have trouble connecting game with day to day. #XPLAP
A2: The food network and reality TV gives me tons of inspiration! That is what launched my Amazing Race, Great Food Truck Race, and Masterchef themes in Culinary Arts. #xplap
A2 I,look for ideas in games I lime to play. I'm fact I think in terms of 'game inspired design'. Modern. Retro. Board games, card games, video games. They all have mechanics to borrow. #xplap
A1 I’d recommend playing with the different ways gamification is implemented and see which ones feel authentic to you and that engage your class and build from there #XPLAP
#XPLAP A2 I took inspiration from many places. My own love of Star Wars and Comics, my gamer husband, @HeckAwesome, @mrmatera and the #Xplap tribe, and most importantly my class.
A3. Trust and communication. Have to be ready for some degree of failure, a huge part of gamification, but if everyone is on board, learning from mistakes can even be fun! #xplap
A1: Ok...I’m really to this whole thing, but diving in! My baby steps are to finishe the book, try to narrow down to A theme, then take off! I’m hoping to get some ideas tonight & build my PLN #XPLAP
A2 Theme is a great place to look for inspiration. Movies & books that fit your genre help. Also games you play & thinking about the different mechanics. Then come up w your own twist on some of these. Of course the #xplap chat has tons of helpful ideas. Youtube vlogs too!
A2: I'm a novice and trying to jump in this year. I'm looking at games that I like to play, reality tv competitions that suck me in (and why), and checking out what others are already doing! #XPLAP
A2:
✨Okay, what do you love?✨
Start with things that you're passionate about and branch off from there. Maybe it's a theme, a room transformation, a sport, a video game, a board game, etc. Once you find your thing, it seems like the ideas start flowing! #XPLAP✨
A3: Sidequests and eastereggs. When things may get a little stale mid or EOY, adding some well designed alternate challenges can spice things up AND even change the narrative you've been working with. #XPLAP
A3: No idea! I think the biggest must have is a willingness to take risks, make mistakes, and laugh at yourself!! Also, admitting that the kids just might be smarter than you... #XPLAP
A2: I’m always looking for ideas from video games, board games, pop culture, tv shows, podcasts (#WellPlayED), and any other random thing that might come up. #xplap
A3: I really want a full semester game that crosses between all of my courses and leads to a an amazing end result. Cards, dice, projects, maps, geotags and finish up on @Flipgrid#xplap
A2 I often work in the realm of science and social studies and use the standards as inspiration for explorative RPG creation, from there I build out. If you get stuck it’s fun to bounce ideas off friends or Ss for inspiration #XPLAP
A3. Regular and ongoing team-based competitions (think Hogwarts House Cup). Creates powerful opportunities time and again to collaborate with the same teammates to reflect, produce, and improve.
And a gratuitously oversized trophy or championship belt never hurts 😎 #xplap
A3: Passion. Gamification is not just some magical layer you get to put over your curriculum to just transform it. If you’re not excited and passionate about it, your students won’t be either. #xplap
A3 - I assume everyone's "must haves" will look slightly different. For me it would be:
1) Fancy Dice
2) Timers
3) Randomizers
4) Quest maps
5) Narrative
#XPLAP
A3: Must haves for #gamified classroom... dice, mini white boards, hourglass timers, games.
But more importantly..
Laughter, play, fun, and an innovative spirit...#xplap
A3: You need a relevant theme that gets students excited. What do they like? What are they talking about that? Use that! Without it serving as the foundation for your game, your ideas will become confusing and won't mesh well. #XPLAP
Hopefully by now you have all heard of the #HiveSummit it is a free digital conference. I would love for you all to help out. There is a challenge for you all… (part 1) #XPLAP
Here is the challenge: Help bring people to the hive by doing a Sketchnote Promo! Follow the rules and help the #hivesummit be epic. #HiveSketch should be bumping soon! PS… You can enter more than one! #XPLAP
That’s the design I have in mind. What I’m planning for this coming year. It be the main goal in another year. Building my #pixelclassroom is the key that is needed #XPLAP
A3: Not completing sure since I’ve just done a small unit, but I think having some mystery or unexpected things to keep Ss engaged all@year will be super important to my game this year #XPLAP
A3 Physical items like cards, games, dice, props, all add a lot of fun and excitement. Story and role play are things that really pull students in! Enthusiasm and imagination. #xplap
Bingo. It’s like you’re reading my book, my friend. Great minds think alike 👍 (But also, like no, for real. I’m in the final stages of a 54,000 word manuscript on *exactly* this topic... if you’re looking for some light reading). #xplap
A3 stable class management, Ss leaders and input, class council time to process what is and isn’t working, flexibility and openness to making changes as needed, a deep understanding of goal of the “game” & ways to get there #XPLAP
Hopefully by now you have all heard of the #HiveSummit it is a free digital conference. I would love for you all to help out. There is a challenge for you all… (part 1) #XPLAP
A3:
✨GADZOOKS! SURPRISE!✨
I think incorporating the element of surprise is really important to keep students engaged in the game. It can be small things like unexpected XP, or more elaborate things like introducing new levels! #XPLAP
No. They are hidden, and I've had full units where kids don't find any even though they are there. However once one is found it spreads like wildfire in the class. #XPLAP
Here is the challenge: Help bring people to the hive by doing a Sketchnote Promo! Follow the rules and help the #hivesummit be epic. #HiveSketch should be bumping soon! PS… You can enter more than one! #XPLAP
A2. The whole reason I chose MARVEL as my theme is because I LOVE the Marvel shows/movies. I love DC too, and it pains me to leave them out... lol. Definitely drawing from the MARVEL storyline for inpiration. #XPLAP
#XPLAP I found that in my 1st grade class a leaderboard, Xp points, special power badges, boss battles, EASTER EGG and switching the game up often were musts. I did it mostly offline this year as we were not 1 to 1 yet.
A3: According to research, some must haves are: emphasis on student's actions impacting results, clear & achievable goals, mastery approach, student autonomy, relate socially with others, direct feedback given, and low-risk environment #XPLAP
Alright #xplap, great chat tonight, I look forward to looking back over a faster connection to see what I missed. Have a great holiday tomorrow! I think my connection has pretty much timed out on me at this point.
A2: See what others are doing on #xplap, #games4ed, etc. Take those ideas and work them to fit the needs of your own classr. Most of all, dont be afraid to ask questions. The experts @mrmatera, @tishrich, @HeckAwesome, @mpilakow, @hmarrs24, and so many others are helpful. #XPLAP
Hi, #XPLAP - Currently I am finishing chapter 6. Excited to read more. My mind is thinking of all the possibilities to family my fourth grade classroom. Now as to the fourth - beach walk, beach time with friends and family!
It is not about the numbers, it is about the relationships… Those for me feel strong and good. Thanks for watching and interacting with the content. Keeps me going! You are the best! #XPLAP
I forget if you mentioned your game being yearlong or semester long... Do you have any recommendations for a self-contained fifth grade? Some have suggested breaking it up to keep their interest. The thought of reinventing in JAN is a bit daunting. Thoughts? #XPLAP
Hopefully by now you have all heard of the #HiveSummit it is a free digital conference. I would love for you all to help out. There is a challenge for you all… (part 1) #XPLAP
So far, I've liked using a theme in a world that someone has already created and I adopt. (Harry Potter last year, Camps Half-Blood and Jupiter this year) It means that I can invent a character or event if I need one, but a lot already exists and can be borrowed as is. #XPLAP
No. They are hidden, and I've had full units where kids don't find any even though they are there. However once one is found it spreads like wildfire in the class. #XPLAP
Finally, #Sprint is good for something! haha. I'll also be in the midst of new employee orientation, but you can bet I'll be involved and listening on my breaks and commute!. #XPLAP#HiveSummit
My sketchnote of @mrmatera’s #xplap book, chapter 3. It’s been a long time coming. I read & wrote all over the chapter a while ago, but only got to my sketching and reflection today. The choice seems obvious when you lay it out like this. @dbc_inc#alwayslearning
