About Us

We are two ELA teachers with 18 years of combined experience. We’ve taught students in fourth grade through eighth grade and have spent the most recent years of our career working together to gamify our fourth grade classrooms! Our goal is always to create memorable and engaging learning experiences that push kids to continue exploring, thinking, and creating. Tapping into gamification principles has helped us capitalize on student interests as we push kids to continue leveling up reading and writing skills. 

Certifications: 

Elementary K-6 with Middle Level English 7-9, B.S.

Literacy Education, M.Ed

Reading Specialist Certification

Middle Level English Education, B.S. (4-8)

Instructional Technology, M.Ed

Instructional Technology Specialist Certification (PK-12)

ESL Program Specialist Certification (currently working towards!)

When kids are little, they can’t wait to read and write. They reach for pencils, make random squiggles, and pretend they are writing words. They memorize phrases and hold books to their noses long before they actually decode words on the page. Yet too often, by the time students reach 4th grade, they start to view reading and writing as a chore instead of wildly magical experiences. We hope to bring back some of that magic and get kids excited about learning. 

We see that kids spend hours gaming with their friends, playing and replaying difficult levels, and even using the internet or YouTube to research strategies. Why aren’t students this dedicated to their schoolwork, parents wonder. If only they spent half as much time studying. Even in the world of sports, we don’t see children walk off the court or the field in frustration if they don’t make their first attempt at a basket or score a goal. They keep showing up to practices, working on their skills, and setting achievable goals.

Perhaps, we’ve made school too high-stakes. Kids see it as stressful and overwhelming instead of fun and adventurous. In a gaming space, kids are comfortable taking risks, trying, failing, and trying again. In a school space, kids are afraid of failure. So, what if we made the schooling experience feel more like a gaming experience? What if instead of acing an exam or failing a test, students pushed themselves to simply level up and learn new skills?

Schooling is a gaming experience. We have taken on this mindset and shifted our own teaching pedagogies to embrace the ideas of gamification. It may seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. To be honest, gamifying lessons is its own gaming experience for educators. Often, teachers are handed a curriculum that seems very dull, but with a touch of creativity, educators have the opportunity to create engaging and rigorous lessons. 

Students level up and learn new skills. As mentioned previously, many students enjoy gaming and competition outside of the school setting. From video games to board games and sports teams, kids are excited to level up and learn new skills. There are so many milestones kids can achieve when it comes to meeting curricular objectives and learning standards. Through gamification, those victories can be celebrated and treated like leveling up in your favorite game.

Why Capture the Mind? 

At this age, our biggest goal is to foster a love of literacy. We want students to become passionate readers who delight in stories and energetic writers who have confidence in their abilities. We discovered that one of the best ways to “capture the mind,” or engage students, is through gamification. This means we employ gaming elements to hook and challenge students. Learning to write an essay can be scary, whereas “leveling up” your writing skills sounds like an exciting challenge. Taking weekly grammar assessments feels mundane (and for some, torturous), but weekly boss fights to defeat an evil villain feels invigorating. Even nightly reading homework is less groan-worthy when students are working to complete a 40 book challenge. We find that when we pair the literacy basics with breakouts, escape rooms, field days, and the latest tech tools, we have a classroom of excited and engaged learners! Our job becomes a whole lot more fun and perhaps a bit easier! 

Favorite TED Talks about gamification:

https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world 

https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_massively_multi_player_thumb_wrestling

Here are some books that helped shape our mindset…

Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal

Explore like a Pirate by Michael Matera

Fully Engaged: Playful Pedagogy for Real Results by Michael Matera and John Meeh

These are commissionable links.