Gamifying Reading

I've been desperately seeking a way to motivate busy high school students how to read, and after attending the GAfE Summit in San Diego, I developed a series of challenges for students to undertake in their reading but within a game-based experience. 

My goals are these:  

• Make reading seem special and convince kids that they are lucky to get to do it
• Make them feel like they are part of an elite group of special students
• Give them a reward for accomplishing their goals
• Give them plenty of time to reach those goals so there is no pressure, only positive outcomes

I decided share the challenges to four students to test the waters.  I was not prepared for how they reacted. Every single one of them started taking pictures of my notes on the computer screen, and the question they all asked repeatedly:  Can I start right now?  

Yes, yes you can read.

Because I work at a school called Valhalla and we are the Norsemen, I decided to stay with our school theme. Here are the challenges:

The Gjallarhorn

retweet a Valhalla Library tweet @valhallalibrary
share the Valhalla Tumblr page ValhallaTumblr.com
write a book review that is shared by 5 people on Tumblr

The Edda
read a book of poetry, various authors

read a book of poetry, one author

The Loki

read a graphic novel

read a romance novel

read a horror/mystery/suspense book

read a banned book

The Bifrost
read all the books in a series (has to be at least three books)

read all the books by one author (has to be more than three books)

The Saga
read a non-fiction graphic novel

read a biography

read an autobiography

The Ullr

read a Michael Printz winning book

read a Mann-Booker Award winning book

read a Pulitzer Award winning book

read a Nobel Prize winning author

The Yggdrassil

read a book longer than 300 pages

read a book longer than 500 pages

read a book longer than 800 pages

Complete 5 Challenges--The Mjölnir Award

Complete all 7 challenges--The Odin Omnireader Award

I'm using GameOn from my coworker Mike Skoko (http://maclab.guhsd.net/2014-15/the-journey-begins/) as the vehicle to roll out the challenges and to keep track of what each student completes. Once they finish the challenges, they can go through them again at another level (apprentice, master, etc.)

And the reward? Free printing in the library for the school year in which they complete the challenges. When the test group  heard the prize was free printing, they really went bonkers even though they already get free printing.

So, I'll be giving them a prize that's just going to make them more efficient students. I'm cool with that. 

I Need My Stinkin' Badges

Last weekend, when I attended the Google Apps for Educators Summit in San Diego, and I learned the workshops were gameified, I got more than excited.  I mean, they were giving away stickers for completing challenges based on what we learned in the workshop. And, these stickers were cool looking.  They were space-themed with rockets and moons and spacemen, and they represented three different levels:  #gettinggoing #gearing up and #gettinggeeky.  Deep down I wanted those #gettinggeeky badges--I knew they were going to be harder to get.  I thought to myself, these guys thought this badge business through.  These badges are even alliterative.

In the second session I attended, my friend April showed me that in addition to earning real badges, the summit was also awarding online badges, and she set in motion a chain of events that still has me reeling.

The online badges were even more beautiful, and the challenges were fun.  Take a selfie at the photo booth with the Summit sign and upload it.  Tweet with the hashtag #gafesummit.  Talk to a sponsor and get a code.  It seemed as though a switch turned on for me, and my rabid desire to achieve took over.  I was going to get all those badges, I was going to get more badges than anyone else, and it was going to be amazing.

I felt incredible.

And I finished those challenges within 60 minutes.

When I checked my Credly account to see the glory of all those badges, my page indicated I had only earned two badges, when in reality I had completed nine. I mean, nine challenges is a lot of challenges, and I wanted that tab to say NINE. Really, I wanted it to say eleven. And why did April’s Credly account say she finished seven? Clearly, there was something motivating and discouraging about immediate gratification.  

This is when I realized that I had been manipulated in the best way possible.  These masterminds behind Google Apps for Education somehow got me to listen to two sponsor pitches, they got me to tweet and retweet, to comment on Google Plus, to join their Google Plus community, to give them a selfie, and to add a bunch of Chrome apps.  I was hooked.  

This is the power of gameification.

Kids and adults love to take challenges even when the only reward is a sticker.  The badge challenges were something I could try without penalty.  I could take risks and no one would know if I failed.  This wasn’t high-stakes learning:  this was try-it until-you-get-it learning.  I felt like my learning was in my own hands rather than in the hands of my instructor.

And I was liberated.

At the end of the summit, I still wanted those online badges.  This glitch with Credly that makes it seem that I didn’t earn the badges makes me crazy, but my learning is in my own hands.  With a few drags and clicks, I sent an order for custom stickers exactly like the ones I earned online.  I will have those badges for real. I need them.

I also need to get kids motivated to read, and gamfication is the solution for my library. Today I set out to design a series of reading challenges.  The challenges will include reading all the books in a series, reading a classic, reading a graphic novel, reading a book over 1,000 pages, reading from every genre, reading an award winner, writing a review on Tumblr, and more.  I’m designing the badges now.  The kids are going to go bonkers!

10 Reasons to go to Iceland

I leave for Iceland a month from today, and every time I tell people (mostly students) that I am going to visit the land of Ice and Fire, they cock their heads to the side like confused dogs and ask in disapproving tones, “Why would you want to go there?”  I have at least ten good reasons to go to Iceland.  

Reason 1--Volcanoes, Volcanoes, Volcanoes

Iceland has 130 volcanoes, and one major eruption of Hekla formed a volcanic ridge that spans 25 miles.  Two continental plates that meet on Iceland are drifting apart, which creates the dramatic steam pots, sulfur pits, and enables Icelanders to harness more geothermal energy than anywhere else in the world.  I need to see this.

Reason 2--The Aurora Borealis

The solar flares this year have made the night sky come alive in Iceland, and the Northern Lights should be on every person’s bucket list.  Do the lights really ripple across the sky?  How long does it last?  Will I be able to sleep?  Is this where the Norsemen got the idea for the Rainbow Bridge to Valhalla?  Basically, it’s like the heavens are unleashing an exploding rainbow, and I can’t wait to see it.  

Reason 3--Clean, delicious fresh water

Friends, I live in San Diego, where the drinking water tastes like the water that Harry forced Dumbledore to drink at the end of The Half-Blood Prince that made the dead creatures climb out of the pool in the cave.  It’s the worst tasting water in America.  Conversely, Iceland is said to have the most delicious water in the world.  Icelanders claim that their water is what makes them so healthy and happy, and it is the reason for their long lives.   Just so you know, I am traveling a long way for a cool drink of water.

Reason 4--Pools and Saunas

Iceland has several geothermal pools in virtually every city.  Icelanders take their pools seriously, and I want to relax in as many as possible.  And, every hotel I have looked at has saunas.  The pools are where news is exchanged, where people gossip, and people relax and chat. 

Reason 5--Hidden Folk

Icelanders believe in a phenomena known as the huldufolk or “the hidden people,” (a charming term for mystical creatures like elves and dwarves).  Some sources say 62% of Icelanders believe in the hidden folk.  Terry Gunner, a folklore professor at the University of Iceland said that the belief in the huldufolk makes perfect sense:  this is a place of fire and ice, where steam billows out of the ground, where the sky lights up with ripples of green and purple, and survival is miraculous.  I am going to Iceland because I want to be around people who believe in more than what is seen.

Reason 6--"Blind is the man without a book"

Icelanders might be the most prolific readers in the world.  I read a study from Bifrost University that 93% of Icelanders read more than one book a year, and 50% read more than eight books a year.  At Christmas time, they have the jolabokaflod, or the book flood, when most books are published and everyone gets a book for Christmas.  And I read on the BBC that one in ten Icelanders publishes a book each year.  What does this mean to me?  Icelanders will like a librarian.  It means this is a country of people who care about each other and the world they live in.  They are thinkers.  And, have you read anything Icelandic?  I read Burial Rites by Hannah Kent and then jumped into Independent People by Halldor Laxness.  Icelandic writers can make farming in the remote corners of the frozen landscape riveting.  This is a country with a rich history of storytelling, which is the perfect place for a librarian to vacation.

Reason 7--Puffins

I don’t need to explain this.  Everyone love puffins.

Reason 8--Icelandic

Have you seen the words?  Have you heard Icelanders speak it?  It has to be the most complicated and difficult language.  I just want to listen to it.  I think it’s prettier than French and Portuguese multiplied by a thousand.

Reason 9--Vikings

I don’t need to explain this either.  Vikings are cool. 

Reason 10--No murders

I just read on a website that Iceland is the only country in the world where no death or crime is due to murder.  The rate is nearly the lowest in the world at 1.8 per 100,000.  Iceland is safe.  The descendants of Vikings don’t hurt each other compared to the rest of the world.  

I’m taking a road trip around Iceland with my husband to celebrate 20 years of marriage, and we’ll be staying in guest houses along the way.  I'll write blogs along the way and share my pictures, too.  I suspect I won't want to come home to San Diego after visiting Iceland.  

New Book: Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

We just added Allie Brosh's first book, half of which has already appeared on the web in her blog, and the other half is entirely new material.  The image on the cover is Allie Brosh herself, and the yellow triangle is her pony tail.

The book isn't all that different from her blog;  she writes about the mundane--her two dogs and the rules they must live by, including no bees.  Her classic blog, "The God of Cake," her retelling of the time she ate her grandfather's birthday cake, is still just as funny as it was the first time I read it, but in the context of this book, next to the new blog posts, the story has another layer. In this book, Brosh exposes and reflects on her crippling depression in at least two posts, and she does so in a way that makes the experience crystal clear to those folks who have never struggled with depression.  She also reflects on her arbitrary rules for life, which made me think about perception and reality, and of course, philosophy. She even depicts herself on a forbidden quest to a cave where she reads the writing on the wall.

I've always loved Matt Inman's The Oatmeal, and I've often compared Inman and Brosh and both comedic geniuses,  but after reading this book, I have to say that Inman is funny in a superficial and scientific way, and he encourages wonder with the world with his emphasis on animals and science. But Brosh understands the heart, she shows what it is to be human, and she does it while making me laugh.  She reminds me of the time in own childhood when I teamed up with my sister to harrass and annoy our mother.

This book won't stay on the shelf long, friends.

NaNoWriMo

We're deep into November already, and I just want to remind you that NaNoWriMo isn't even half way over.  These writers have some great tips about writing.  Pick up that pen, and keep going!

Library Orientation Video

What is The Deep Web?

This short video provides a clear explanation of the Deep Web, the majority of the material on the Internet, and helps explain how Google only scratches the surface of the material available, but you can access the deepest parts of the web through library services.  Just ask me how!