Unlocking the Power of Personalized Learning Curriculum with Mastery Gamification

Hey Teacher Friends! When I was a new teacher, one of the biggest mysteries of teaching was how to differentiate well. I learned that I should differentiate and each student should have a personalized learning curriculum. The professors said that it’s best practice to differentiate. I was told that all students have different learning styles and different paces at which they can learn. I agreed and I was all for differentiation! Just one problem, I had no idea how to differentiate!

Everyone Has Different Strengths

Imagine for a moment that you are in charge of an assessment. The assessment is to test the student’s mobility. So you decide that the assessment should be climbing a tree. The higher the student gets in the tree, the better their mobility and the better their grade. Sounds good to me! However, you get to class and you realize that your students are a fish, a cat, and a squirrel.  But this is the test so you tell your students to climb the tree. Whoever gets the highest will get the best grade. Likely what will happen is that the squirrel will be able to climb the highest. Then the cat will be able to climb the second highest. But the fish will not even be able to start.

So, when you are giving grades for mobility, the squirrel gets an A, the cat gets a C, and the fish gets an F. But is this actually a true test of mobility? The teacher has labeled the fish a failure in mobility. But what if the mobility test were underwater? Who would get the A then? As you may imagine, these animals represent our students’ different strengths, abilities, and limitations.

As teachers, we know our students are different. Brains are different, experiences are different, and students all have different strengths. So it is extremely logical that they would learn at different paces and have different learning styles and needs. Yet class sizes are at all time highs and teachers will routinely have upwards of thirty students. Even if you work at a small school, each class will usually have at least 15 students minimum. So, if secondary teachers have the standard 50 minute class period the teacher will have between 1.5 – 3 minutes with each student. Elementary teachers generally have shorter times for their classes and a standard subject time may be 30 minutes for a subject, leaving just 1-2 minutes per student. And that isn’t even leaving any time for group instruction!

When I was studying to be a teacher, I had a professor that told my class that every student should have their own personalized learning curriculum. As a pre-teaching student, I agreed that this is what students need. But how in the world could teachers differentiate for each student in 1-3 minutes per student?

What Are Teachers Currently Trying?

Typically, if you talk to teachers, they will say that they deal with this difference in abilities by teaching to the middle of the group’s ability. They will have some kids who are more advanced than the pace the teacher is teaching and some will be behind the pace the teacher is teaching. We all know this isn’t ideal. The advanced students become bored and sometimes get into trouble because they are bored. The students who learn at a slower pace get overwhelmed and often stop trying because they think they are “dumb” for not being able to keep up. Then there are those in the middle who do pretty well with the pace the teacher is taking.

While this method is great for the students in the middle, it can spell disaster for faster or slower learners. Yet this is the most common approach due to time and resource restrictions in schools.

One method that some teachers use to differentiate is ability groupings. This is generally where the teacher will test the students to see their individual academic level in a certain subject and then place students in groups according to their ability. Then in that setting, students will receive work that caters to their level. We often see teachers doing this for reading in elementary. While this is an admiral way to run a class and a good attempt at differentiation, it has some limitations.

First of all, it can be a lot of extra work for the teacher to have different levels of everything for different groups. Yet many teachers are willing to put in the extra work because they see good results for their students this way. However, this can also be a hindrance to students because, once they enter the “low group,” it is unlikely that they will be able to move up to the middle or advanced group because, as the “low group” is learning and progressing, so are the middle and advanced groups. In fact the middle and advanced groups are often progressing faster than the low group.

So, despite working hard and advancing in understanding and ability, it is rare for a student in a “low group” to be able to move up to a more challenging level. They are at risk of creating an identity of “being slow.” Once a student creates an identity like that, it is difficult to unlearn it.

So, how in the world are teachers supposed to meet all our students’ needs in their varying abilities? Is having a personalized learning curriculum just a pipe dream?

Mastery Gamification – The Answer to Effective Differentiation

After a lot of frustration, I found Mastery Gamification. This is the only system that I have ever found that allows for really effective differentiation is Mastery Gamification. Mastery Gamification is unique in the fact that students will naturally sort themselves into groups and student groups are mobile. When a student is ready to move up to the next level, they easily can! No one gets stuck in a specific group and the teacher doesn’t have to test students to see which group they should be in. Curious about how this works? Read on, teacher-guide!

At the beginning of a Mastery Gamified year, students will all begin in the same group and the lowest group because they have not yet learned anything. The teacher will teach material and the students will learn. When the teacher comes to the end of the unit, students choose if they are ready to try the test. Once the student passes the test at the “minimum mastery level” (a level set by the teacher – I recommend 75%), the student moves on to the next level. In this way, students naturally sort themselves into groups. Those who learn faster pass the tests faster and achieve the higher levels faster.

The students who need more time can take more time. If they don’t achieve the minimum mastery level, they go review and study the material and try again later. So each student is able to “level-up” when they are ready. This allows teachers to work with groups of students who have the goal of moving on to the next level and who know what they need to do to get there.

Let’s imagine that you are the teacher in a Mastery Gamified Classroom. You currently have students in three different groups based on how many tests they have passed. Now, in your thirty minute class, instead of having just 1-3 minutes per student, you can have 10 minutes with each group of students. In fact, you can probably spend less time with the advanced group and spend more time with the lowest group because you know who needs more time and who needs less time, based on the group they have sorted themselves into.

This also allows teachers to customize how they teach to each group. The teacher may give more independent activities to the quicker learners. Then spend more time teaching study skills with those who need practice with study skills. This is the personalized learning curriculum done for you!

So, if you’re a teacher like me who loves the idea of a personalized learning curriculum for each student but has no idea how to do it, hopefully you got some ideas from my experience. This is the only system that I have ever found that actually differentiates in a way that meets students’ needs.

If you want to further engage your students while also increasing the academic expectations in your classroom, I hope that these notes help you. If you are interested in using the Mastery Gamification Methodology in your classroom but it seems overwhelming, don’t worry! Just start one step at a time. I’d also love to guide you through the process so you can avoid the mistakes I made when I was first mastery gamifying my classroom. If you would like support on this journey, send me an email at stephanie@segrovestrategies.com and join our Facebook group to interact with others who feel that education needs a change in order to best serve our modern students. Hope to hear from you soon!