For our final class, we discussed gaming in the classroom. We started by brainstorming a list of games we’ve used in class before or other ideas. In elementary school, I remember playing CoolMathGames and All the Write Type. These are great tools for learning and it was always exciting getting to go to the computer room! In high school, my Spanish teacher used Duolingo as a means to earn bonus points. This is something we had to earn on our own time to practice our Spanish! One game I have never played in the classroom but have played at home is ‘Minecraft’. This is a great game for learning and teaching kids about the world and building. It is great for expressing creativity and teaches you different resources and biomes!

In class, we also discussed any concerns with bringing games into the classroom and the first one brought up was students getting competitive with themselves or their classmates. This is definitely a concern when points are involved and something I experienced first hand in the lecture. We did a fun Kahoot game to recap the course and it personally brought a bit of anxiety and competitiveness. Seeing my name pop up on the scoreboard and place me among my peers made me feel stressed and like I needed to be in first place. This may not always be the best idea in classrooms and definitely shouldn’t be done on a daily basis. That being said, Kahoots can also be super fun and a great way to assess students and engage the whole class!