The Role of the Teacher in Classroom Gaming Narrative
In a recent blog, we delved into the scientific foundation that supports Mastery Gamification, particularly focusing on how to teach grit in the classroom. If I were to summarize all the science and research behind Mastery Gamification on academic performance, engagement in the classroom, making good decisions, grit, growth mindset, counteracting learned helplessness, and self-efficacy, there is a common thread that pulls them all together. It is this. Students have to believe that they have the ability to think for themselves, do well, and make responsible choices for their education. They have to believe that they are the owners of their own agency in order to use their agency. They have to feel like they have some control in their lives to actually use the control they have in their lives. So, in education, how do we teach them that they have control over their lives? The answer is both ridiculously simple and extremely difficult. We have to put the students in control. The way to do this well entirely depends on how the teacher approaches their role in the classroom.
Let Me Tell You a Story…
Let me tell you a story about two teachers. Let’s call them Mr. A and Mr. B. Both teachers have been teaching for years and have their systems down to a science. Mr. A has excellent lectures that he has honed for years. He stands in the front of his class and doles out his wisdom. Students witness an expert speaker who knows how to communicate information in a very efficient manner. He is excellent at classroom management; his students sit quietly, take notes, and do the tasks that Mr. A asks.
To the casual observer, Mr. B’s room is a little different. He is not always in the front of the classroom and his students are often not silently taking notes. Students are often working in small groups and talking to each other about the topic at hand. Mr. B is often seen walking among his students, answering questions, and pointing out things that students may need to examine again.
These teaching styles are obviously quite different and both can be effective strategies unless we are considering how to teach grit in the classroom. In education, we generally have a name for these two different teachers. We call Mr. A the “sage on the stage” and Mr. B is the “guide on the side.” While both styles have their advantages and disadvantages, the main difference is where the spotlight is in the classroom, or where the attention is focused in the classroom.
Sage on the Stage vs. Guide on the Side
With Mr. A’s “sage on the stage” style classroom, the spotlight is on the teacher. The teacher gives the lecture (in a very interesting way), students take notes, and the teacher gives an assignment and tells students when the test will be. This classroom centers around the teacher.
With Mr. B’s “guide on the side” style classroom, the spotlight is on the students. The students will learn the subject but it is often through the application of the subject. Students will still take notes so they can understand what they need for the project they will be doing. The students might even have some say on when they will be ready to be tested on the material. This classroom centers around the students.
With the teachers that I have had the privilege to know and work with, I have seen many teachers using each type of style who are very good educators. Students learn and demonstrate the material they need to know in both classroom styles. However one of these teaching styles is much better at teaching grit, growth mindset, and self-efficacy in students.
The Role of the Teacher
The Mastery Gamification Methodology uses video game rules to engage students and raise educational expectations which inherently encompasses strategies on how to teach grit in the classroom. . In last week’s article, we discussed the role of the student in gaming narrative that students are the protagonists of their own stories, and that the best way to build grit, growth mindset, and self-efficacy is for the student to take the role of the hero in the classroom gaming narrative and also in their own lives. This week, I’d like to explore the role of the teacher in the classroom gaming narrative and how we can cultivate the mindset of a hero in our students.
The Hero Needs a Guide
In nearly every good book, movie, or game narrative, the hero sets out on a quest or journey in order to achieve their goal. Without this objective, viewers quickly lose interest in the story because there is no action. The hero must take action to achieve his goal. This role puts the hero in charge of his journey. He will have to plan, take action, and follow through in order to accomplish his goal or gain his objective.
However, also in every good book, movie, or game narrative, the hero is hopelessly under-equipped to achieve his objective by himself. The hero lacks the skills, know-how, willpower, or follow-through required to complete his quest or gain his objective. So, the author kindly sends in a guide. You know the character type, if Frodo is the hero, the guide is Gandalf. If the hero is Luke Skywalker, the guide is Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. If the hero is Simba, the guide is Rafiki. The hero will almost always need some sort of guide to inspire or teach him so he is able to complete his quest. The guide is a wise, respected, and experienced character who wants to help the hero accomplish his quest. But there is something important to note here. It is the hero who is on the quest and not the guide. The story is about the hero. The story is not about the guide. The hero is in charge, the guide is the support.
This is why Mastery Gamification prefers the “guide on the side” style of classroom. As the teacher-guide, teachers must allow students to take the reins, make their own decisions and mistakes, and the teacher-guide is there to support the hero when needed.
Sometimes Change is Hard
This paradigm shift can be difficult for some educators. Many of us enjoy the sovereignty that we have in our own classrooms. I have been known to tell my students that my classroom is a monarchy and I’m the queen. And honestly, a little bit of that is not bad. The guide in a story must be respected or he is not a fit guide. If the guide cannot demonstrate his expertise and experience, he will be of little use to the hero. But there is a difference between demonstrating our expertise and stealing the spotlight from the student.
Other Possible Teacher Roles
If our goal is to cultivate student-heroes in the classroom, teachers must take the role of the wise and respected guide. But there are other roles that teachers fall into that are not helpful in cultivating student-heroes. To borrow from video game roles, the teacher can easily become either an NPC or a villain.
In video games, an NPC is a “non-player character.” It is a character that is programmed to do a series of actions. There is no human playing as the NPC to make the NPC move or act. The NPC is similar to an extra in a play. The NPC is there in the story and may have a small part to play but is ultimately of little help to the hero. If a teacher becomes an NPC in their classroom, it’s not really good or bad. I had several good teachers growing up that I would consider NPCs. They offered me a bit of knowledge that may or may not have helped me on my journey but they did not have much influence on my life, goals, or development.
However, if a teacher plays the role of a villain, there can be dire consequences. As we talked about last week, a villain takes action to harm others or make others feel small. In essence, a villain wants to steal the hero’s agency and impose their villainous will on the hero. A teacher-villain will not allow his students to think for themselves, he will impose his will on the students, and he will label them as failures or trouble-makers when the students do not live up to his expectations.
How Students React
So what is a student to do if they encounter a teacher-villain? Well, there are a limited number of options available to them. If a student encounters a teacher-villain, they can allow themselves to become a victim. When we discussed the victim mindset in students last week, we defined it as students who feel like they have no control over their circumstances. The victim mindset assumes that they are being controlled by outside forces and they do not have agency or decision options inside themselves. This is not conducive to students learning growth mindset, grit, or self-efficacy. Yet many students take on their role when confronted with a teacher-villain.
The other main option that students can choose is to remain a student-hero and remain in control of their own agency. However, here’s the problem. If a hero encounters a villain in a story, the hero must defeat the villain. This promotes tension in the classroom and does not lead to an effective learning environment.
A Classic Example
There’s a great scene in The Breakfast Club that demonstrates this tension between a student-hero and a teacher-villain. All the students in the scene are in Saturday detention and the teacher in charge is a drill sergeant. The teacher demands silence, respect, and complete power over the situation. Please hear me out, I am not saying that having an orderly classroom is a bad thing. I’m also not saying that Saturday detention should be butterflies and rainbows. However, the difference here is that the teacher in The Breakfast Club loved the control he had over these students and he was going to milk it for all it’s worth. He even blames students for the mistakes that the teacher made, humiliating a student in front of everyone in the class. When another student mutters something under his breath, the teacher takes this as an opportunity to demonstrate his control. The teacher starts adding more and more Saturday detentions to the kid every time he talks. I encourage you to watch this clip and I have the link here for you to watch.
So Who Wins?
The big question is, who wins in this kind of situation? The student refuses to give up his agency and the teacher-villain is determined to make him a quiet, compliant, victim. Who wins? The student doesn’t win because he gets about six months of Saturday detentions added on in just 5 minutes. The teacher doesn’t win either because now he also has to be there for six months of Saturday detention to be sure the time is served. The other students in the class don’t win either, they have only learned the lesson that you should not take on the teacher-villain, that it is better to remain quiet and give up your agency. These students will not be encouraged to think for themselves and innovate. These students are learning to stop their thinking process.
The Teacher-Guide
If a teacher’s goal is to cultivate a hero mindset in students with the objective being not only to teach students how to have a growth mindset and gain self-efficacy but also to understand how to teach grit in the classroom, the teacher must embody the role of a wise and respected guide. the teacher must take on the role of the wise and respected guide that is there to help the hero complete his quest. And if a teacher slips into the role of an NPC, it’s not really good or bad, it’s just very neutral and the teacher is giving up their influence on the student to help guide them in the right direction. However, if the teacher takes on the villain role in the classroom, the teacher will either cultivate a classroom of students with a victim mindset or they will have to do battle with the student hero that maintains his agency.
Give Yourself Some Grace
Most teachers got into education with the goal of helping young minds to grow. Teachers generally did not become teachers to become the villain and squash young minds. But there is the temptation in the day to day grind that can cause teachers to slip into villain or NPC mode. If that happens, it is important for us to recogize the fact, give ourselves grace, apologize if necessary, and make tomorrow a better day. When we do this for students it is a powerful lesson in how to deal with mistakes and it will only help them on their journey towards a hero mindset.
I hope this in-depth look at the teacher role in the classroom was helpful to you. If you want to try hacking the psychology of video games and apply it in your classroom, I’d love to help you out! Find me on my Facebook or Instagram page or just send me an email to stephanie@segrovestrategies.com. I’d love to help you bring this student engagement to your classroom.
