The success of ClassDojo as a classroom management tool has led to the proliferation of this free platform to thousands of classrooms across the United States and the world. The issue teachers face with ClassDojo is that students find it “baby-ish” in upper elementary grades. Educators report that ClassDojo’s effectiveness diminishes in 6th Grade, and is not an option for student behavior management in middle school and high school.

An 11th Grade Physics teacher decided to do something similar with his class. Over the course of three school years, he developed and refined a game with his students that provided immediate rewards for desired behaviors such as answering questions, participating in class, and helping others. The platform also gave the teacher the power to provide immediate negative consequences for students who blurted out random answers, turned in incomplete homework, or bullied other students.

The teacher named his creation ClassCraft, and educators in 60 countries are using it to energize their classrooms as well. Students are encouraged to create their own characters, form teams, and help each other engage with the course content in ways they were reluctant to before. Teachers report that this platform has revolutionized the way they present material to students. If you are a novice teacher looking to make your class more engaging, ClassCraft may be the solution you are looking for!

Join middle school administrator Shannon Holden as he helps novices use free platforms such as ClassDojo and ClassCraft to regulate student behaviors in the classroom and increase student engagement. The webinar will begin at 5pm Eastern Time on Tuesday, April 19th. We hope to see you there!

This post was written by Shannon Holden, middle school assistant principal. Shannon Holden has been a high school and middle school teacher and administrator, and a new teacher coach, in North Dakota, Texas, and Missouri for 20 years. He is the host of the New Teacher Help and TechTools for the Classroom communities on edWeb.net. Follow him on Twitter @newteacherhelp.