Frustration to Triumph: The Magic of Gamified Lessons and Productive Struggle
Gamified lesson success on day three of a new school year? Yup, it happened, and it was EASY! We’re at the start of a new school year here in Australia, and with a new school year comes a whole new class. Every year I tell myself that the beginning of the year is a big step back. Every year I think I remember where to start from, and every year brings fresh reminders about how far my students come by the end of the year and that once again I overestimated where to start.
So it was with a bit of trepidation that I put up our pre-reading scavenger hunt for our class novel Percy Jackson and the Lightning Prince. I wasn’t sure how this new batch of year 5s would go with pushing through the multiple steps and multiple instructions so early in the year. But you know what? I learned more about my students in that 45 minutes (yes, it took them that long!) then I had in the last 2 days! It was amazing, it finished my day on such a high!
Gamified Lessons through scavenger hunts
The premise of the activity is this. They read through 10 short passages that have been scattered about the courtyard. The passages introduces them to the different Greek Gods from the story. Each card has a question, and the answer is found on another card. They hunt around for the answer to the question, write it down along with the card number they found it on. Finally they unscramble a final secret word and 4-digit code using the answers and card numbers all while racing against the clock. Multiple steps to follow, multiple sets of instructions.
Productive Struggle
I modelled and explained the task then stood back and watched and waited. Did they remember the steps? No. Did they ask me to repeat them? Also no. Had I told them they couldn’t come to me? Again, no. Instead of coming to me, they started talking to the people standing around the same post, went and tested out their ideas by checking out other posts (they were scattered through the courtyard outside our classroom), erased answers and tried again. They split off into groups of two or three or four all on their won. Then it happened, one group figured out the process and it spread to everyone else. Suddenly they all figured out what to do and the race was on!
That’s the thing with gamified learning: they want to win and they want to get there on their own. Never mind that they are only racing against themselves and not each other. Never mind that there’s no prize. There’s a mystery word, there’s a four-digit code – they will find it!
Learning from each other
It didn’t stop there. One student pointed out to another that they had spelled the answer wrong and that spelling mattered because they needed the shaded letter to unscramble the final word. That’s right, you read that correctly, one student told another that spelling mattered!
There were calls of “Where’s Poseidon?”, “I can’t find Athena!”, and “Which one is Hades again?”. Other students would point them in the direction as they ran by. Even with the race against the timer, they were supporting each other, they knew who Hades was!
Gamified Lesson Success for everyone
Know what else I noticed? One of my students couldn’t read confidently enough to complete the activity and was too embarrassed to ask. Do you know what I did? I yelled out a new rule – when you get to a card you have to read it out loud to everyone else. I quietly wandered behind the student as he joined in, pointed out to him which the card with the answer was and watched as he would find the answer as another student read it out. It was heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. He found a way to push through the struggle and be successful.
Productive Struggle without the teacher burnout
Was it exhausting? Nope. Download, print, stick up and follow. Seriously, that was the entire extent of my prep. After the cards were up and ready, I just wandered, observed and guided (you can grab my free productive struggle guide and student reflection here). It became all about those teachable moments. It took them the entire lesson, but I know that for the next book it won’t and their goals will be to be as accurate as possible and beat their own time.
I joked later to my line manager that maybe I should just call the year now, and finish on a high! Gamified learning doesn’t have to be lots of work for you, and it doesn’t have to be exhausting. For me, it brought together a new group of students, taught them a bit of background information for their novel, pushed them to a productive struggle, and allowed them to be successful. Not bad for day three.
Looking for a pre-reading activity for your elementary or middle school classroom? Check out my list of novels here.
Want to know more about using productive struggle in the classroom? Check out my post on embracing the struggle.
Here’s to Engaging Learning!
In Around the Middle
