Tips when starting to use Classcraft!

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Hi, everyone:

We’ve collected various tips on how to play Classcraft from teachers with lots of experience using the game. Feel free to add your ideas here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Mélysa Fréchette, Community Manager, support@classcraft.com

18 comments
Date Votes

I have a whiteboard in my room reserved for the ClassCraft Tip of the Day. It reminds students of the nuances of the game. Here are two weeks worth to get you started:

  • When you fall in battle, all of your teammates lose 10 HP!
  • When your parents signup for ClassCraft, you get a baby griffon pet!
  • When you train your pet, you gain some gold!
  • When your pet is fully trained you get a big GP bonus!
  • When you purchase a complete armor set you gain a new pet!
  • When you use your powers to aid a teammate you gain XP!
  • You reclaim a bit of AP every night when you sleep.
  • You must rely on your Healer to restore lost HP, treat them well!
  • You must rely on your Mage to restore lost AP, treat them well!
  • You must rely on your Warrior to prevent HP loss during battle, treat them well!

 

 

Aaron, I'd be interested in seeing what else you remind them of. I've never played a game like this, so I don't really know what they need to remember. I will be working with middle schoolers, so maybe they will have better memories than younger kids. Fingers crossed!

I teach high school students, and still use the tips to remind them of information they may not have explored yet (like new pets). 

 

This week I also posted the HEROES OF THE WEEK with a character portrait for the student in each class with the highest XP gain for the week and each student received a big reward in GP. One student, in particular, has consistently poor grades in several of his classes and was so excited to have done well enough to be recognized for his accomplishment.  I posted his accomplishment to his parent as well and got them excited about it as well.  He is now shooting for Hero of the Week again this week!

Is there anyone here who can discuss using this in a 5th grade class where students are present all day for core subjects. I'm a little worried about how this will distract from my teaching. I do not have a whiteboard. Do I need to keep my digital projector on all day to make this work so that kids have immediate feedback? I do have a phone, but it is mine and I am not sure how I feel about using my personal technology for a school event. Please help! I haven't started this yet.

Aaron,

Posting a Daily Tip is brilliant!  Want to post 160 more? :) I love the idea of Hero of the Week also.  Thank you so much for sharing!

Deborah, I am going to try this, and we are 5th grade. I wonder how you are doing, if you proceeded!

How do you ACTUALLY start playing? I've logged in as a student but it keeps bringing me to the setup screen with all the options like setting up teams, designing characters, etc. Where is the actual game for students to play? 

Hi Kevin,

Sorry about the delayed response.

The action happens in the classroom. Once your class is set up, you can teach class as you normally would and use Classcraft as a layer over anything you're teaching. For example, when a student answers a question correctly or makes relevant observations, you can give him/her XP. It a student misbehaves, you can take out HP.

Characters are static, so there is no "real" playing. From their student accounts, students can use their powers, purchase and equip gear set items, and message the teacher. In the Premium version, they can also train pets and hand in assignments.

Regarding the powers, students can use most powers whenever they want, but you can also add rules to limit this (for example, they can only use their powers at the beginning or the end of the class). Since you can customize most powers, you can create powers that students will be motivated by, like eating in class, having an extra day to hand in an assignment, etc. There are also collaborative powers that students can use to help their teammates.

Hope this helps!

Anne-Marie, for students to use their powers etc do they need to be logged into their account? or can it be done through the teacher's? Thanks

Yes, all powers can be used from the teacher interface.

I've instituted lucky team of the week and randomly will assign XP to a team that the wheel of destiny chooses. I try to ensure that I'm rewarding more than I'm taking away HP (spare the rod, spoil the child and all). But does anyone know of an easy way to monitor growth? I can see individual student's changes in XP/HP/GP, but I can't compare it to the whole class. Am I missing some way of doing that?

Hi Sarah,

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but hopefully it'll help!

In the class view of your game dashboard, you can click on Level, HP, AP, etc., in the header to sort students in decreasing or increasing order.


 

Also, in the graph view of Analytics, the dark line represents the student, while the faded line represents the class average. This gives you a sense of their progress as well.

Hello,

I didn't know where exactly to post this so I am going to post it in a few spots.

I have been using classcraft for about two and a half years now. However, I find myself giving out way to many points at the end of the year because my students are so far from the higher levels. That being said, I am in the same rut as I was last year. So my question is about the pacing of giving out xp or about how much xp should I have between levels? 

To give some information, I am a 7th and 8th grade self contained teacher. My students are 1:1 iPads. I teach most of the subjects and have the same students all day for the entire year. If more information is needed I will provide it. 

Hello,

I am new to this and have gone through multiple tutorials.  I have a fair sense of the way this works but I haven't seen anything that explains what my management looks like in terms of time.  I am a 4th grade teacher.  I envision being tied to running to the dashboard all day to keep up wit xp, damage, etc.  How does the teacher MANAGEMENT look like in a given day?

Hey Linda,

 

I keep a printed out spread sheet on a clipboard throughout the day that I put tally marks in columns representing some of my more common ways to gain experience. I have a column for things like classroom participation, having homework done, and using time wisely. Whenever a student does something to gain experience, I put a tally in their row for whatever column they did and then I add the experience whenever I have a free moment. I found it took away too much class time to try and do it real time. I use a Chromebook or a Tablet once in awhile, but those don't usually help speed up the process if I'm trying to keep the class engaged and focused on a lesson.

I just learned about CC and am anxious to begin.  Do students need to keep the game open throughout class?  I know they can react to some of the losses in points, but I didn't know if that would pop up when they logged in?  How do people manage this?  

Hi Krista, it might help if you have it open all day. You will want to keep it open for yourself, but students only need a few minutes at the end of the day. Check out this link.

 

https://help.classcraft.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115006181647-Using-Powers-During-Class

I am using classcraft this year with 3rd grade - for everything - :)

 

I have purchased a laptop pro and a mini projector (blue tooth) so that I can keep projecting student information on a separate board during groups and so forth while using the school's laptop and projector for power points and so forth.

What I am apparently running into is the Ipad Pro version isn't as option friendly as the PC version - 

Also - I'm a little fuzzy on how to link "a quest" to our GSuite

You can PM me also at jason.roberts@sumnerschools.org :::: 

 

Thanks!  Jason@3rd 

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