Spotlight on Powerful Practice: Student Innovators Up Their Review "Game"

Want to see what other teachers in Johnston County are doing in their classrooms?  Want to get innovative ideas from others across the district?  In this section, we'll spotlight powerful practices and how teachers throughout JCPS are embracing the vision of JoCo2020.  Subscribe to the blog to get updates directly to your email!

When Gamification Meets Student Innovation

We were first introduced to Ms. Shannon Gibson at Pine Level Elementary by her assistant principal, Dee Owens.  Ms. Owens, after working through Growth Mindset professional development, happened upon the following moment in Ms. Gibson's class, and was so inspired, she decided to share the moment with us.

Click here to see a preview of Ms. Gibson's classroom risk...

Click video to view.

Shannon Gibson, 5th grade science teacher, decided to try something new for her review of Matter:  she decided to hand the reins completely over to the kids.

Students were tasked with gamifying their own learning, by creating games to help them and their classmates review for an upcoming assessment.  They could bring in materials from home, as needed, use technology, etc.  The world was their ungraded oyster.

Lucky for us, Ms. Gibson was open to us visiting her class the next day so we too could experience some of the student-generated games - and deepen our own understanding of Matter.

Some students had created a board game - that they admitted they'd also made impossible to win.  But as they fought to make it to the finish line of their nearly impossible game, they spent time discussing terms and clarifying understanding from the questions and answers they had generated.

Click here to see snippet of students explaining their thinking...

Click video to view.

Another group put a "twist" on the already popular game of "Twister", and brought in their own materials to make it happen.

Click here to see why these students are so twisted up...

Click video to view.

Others created their own Kahoot games...

Or simply created videos to explain and connect vocabulary terms...

And after they had mastered their own games, they had the opportunity to play other groups' games.

The last station, not pictured, was a study guide review area for students to work and think independently or collaboratively, based on their preference.

Ms. Gibson admitted this type of classroom structure was very different from her typical lesson... and an opportunity to take a risk and step outside of her comfort zone.

Would she do it again?  

"I think I will try this again before the next test.  There are a few things that I would do differently now that I have reflected on what we did and I also asked my students.  First, I would limit how many people can be in a group.  One of the biggest complaints that I got from my students was that the groups were too big.  I think I will limit it to 3-4 people per group.  That will be more manageable when we play games.  Second, I would probably make a review station of my own (pretty much like the study guide review area that I had today).  That way, groups that did not 'make' a game can still be included in the rotation.  My friends that did something with technology had no place to go in one class so I had to add them to another group (which then made that group too big!).

Also, I'm toying with the idea of having the students evaluate each other's games.  This could give each group the information they need to do even better the next time.  Not sure yet...but I want students to become even more productive as we go through the year."

Leaving, we asked Ms. Gibson what her biggest take away was from this lesson?

"To just-let-go.  After seeing what my students did today, I realized that they did work really hard on their games and most of them wrote really good - and even some challenging - questions.  I HOPE this activity helps my students to internalize the information and that they all ACE the test tomorrow, but my kids were engaged and excited about coming to my class and for that...I am proud!  

I am proud of them for controlling their excitement and balancing the fun and learning part of the lesson, but I'm also proud of myself for stepping WAY outside of my comfort zone and trying something brand new.  I had to learn to let-go and I think it actually worked out!"


Ms. Gibson, from our point-of-view, we think it did too.  And if the secret is to just let go, you've inspired us to take a few more risks ourselves...