Lesson Plan #1: Extra Credit Gaming

I'm currently in a class largely focused on creating lesson plans, which is something I've only done in a casual, untrained way.  Well, not anymore.  Using TaskStream, we had an assignment to create our first lesson plan, and let me just say, I'm kind of proud.

Details and a link to the lesson plan after the break.

So, our lesson plan had to be based on gaming, or game design.  Naturally, I was ecstatic, and planned the entire thing when I got home from class.  I decided that mine would be a year-long extra credit game, complete with levels, boss battles, and, yes, achievements.

Yes, that is based on an actual Steam achievement.

In the example I've made actual images for, a student would find the first image taped to the inside of a Shakespeare play in a teacher's class library--say Hamlet.  The student would then have to use one of four Shakespeare attacks, such as "PUN," "ALLITERATION," "ALLUSION," and "METAPHOR."  These would clearly depend on grade level.  If the student then brought the teacher a correct example of one of the attacks, the student would be told it was "super effective!" The student would then get the achievement above, which would be put on a "HIGH SCORE" bulletin board displayed in the classroom.

Some of the assignments would be scattered, hidden around the room; others would be posted in a binder specifically for the game; and others would change depending on the unit--for instance, if the instructor was teaching a unit on satire, there would be assignments geared towards Mark Twain or Dave Barry.

For a more thorough explanation of the lesson plan, including downloads of the images above, and a download of a complete leveling system with examples of "boss battles" for each grade level, please see the TaskStream page here.