Unveiling the Mastery Gamification Methodology: A New Era in Education

Students have changed. Education has changed. Standards are long and attention spans are short. Apathy is up and grit is down. Student-centered learning advantages are often overlooked. Problems are numerous and trainings are few. The one thing that hasn’t changed is the teacher’s desire to do their best for their students. But that’s where the problem lies, isn’t it? Teachers go into teaching because they want to make a difference in kids’ lives but the resources and training are struggling to keep up with the changing educational landscape.

For teachers who care, this becomes very frustrating, disheartening, and we see record levels of teacher burnout and teachers leaving education. I hit the teacher frustration big time a few years ago. I was doing everything they taught me to do in my teaching degree but it wasn’t working. My students were failing, “passing” without knowing essential content, and I felt like I was failing them. This dark time in my career motivated me to create the Mastery Gamification Methodology, which has completely transformed my teaching. My goal is to help fellow educators avoid the teacher frustration that I experienced and share the method that breathed new life into my classroom.

How Does the Mastery Gamification Methodology Create Student-centered Learning Advantages? 

The Mastery Gamification Methodology is a research-backed strategy that combines mastery learning, standards-based learning, and gamification into one smooth system. This approach prioritizes student-led learning and clearly demonstrates the student-centered learning advantages, such as increased engagement and autonomy in the learning process. It also creates a system of differentiation for teachers to easily identify students who are struggling. This is a pedagogical framework that engages students and goes along with the curriculum that has been approved by the school district. It promotes high standards for students and teaches students to take responsibility for their own education.

How is all this accomplished?

I’ll tell you the secret if you promise not to tell. I hacked the psychology of video games. Let me explain it this way. Let’s imagine you have a student in your classroom. We’ll call him Johnny. Johnny struggles in school. Johnny has received feedback from his environment that he is not smart and that school is hard. Therefore Johnny doesn’t want to try at school and because he doesn’t try, he falls further behind, therefore confirming to himself that he is not smart enough for school. He doesn’t pay attention, he messes around in class, and he bothers students near him.  This is the human definition of apathy in the classroom. He seems to not care about school and no one can make him care.

However, when Johnny goes home and turns on his video games, suddenly Johnny has passion and he has grit. Johnny turns on his game to pick up where he left off yesterday, it is his 5th time trying to finish this level and he’s so close! He keeps going for 4 more attempts at the level before he finally beats the boss, receives his badge, and levels up to the next level in his game. Then, if his mom doesn’t make him stop and go to bed, he starts the same routine with the next level. 

What happened to Johnny? How is this the same child? The student who has no grit, passion, or interest in school suddenly becomes a passionate, gritty, problem-solving genius. What if teachers could hack the psychology of video games and get this same dedication from students in the classroom? That’s the Mastery Gamification Methodology. By applying this methodology, teachers can effectively harness the student-centered learning advantages, transforming students like Johnny into engaged and successful learners.

Let’s Journey Together

I would love for you to join me on this journey to gamification. I’m excited to share my proven strategies and the methods that have transformed my classroom and an ever-growing number of other classrooms. The Mastery Gamification Methodology can be customized for any grade K-12, any subject, and any ability level. If you want to see your students take responsibility for their own education, hold themselves to higher standards, and have fun while doing it, this methodology is what you’ve been looking for. Join my community at our Facebook group to join the conversation and if you want to see if the Mastery Gamification Methodology is for you, sign up to get the free quiz below. In the meantime remember that empowered teachers empower students and empowered students learn.