“After the COVID year(s), I wanted to provide a unique and memorable experience for my incoming 4th graders. No doubt, they were down on school after remote learning. But not being a big gamer, I kept hitting roadblocks in trying to create a more engaging classroom experience and was not satisfied with my results. That’s when I joined EMC². I was specifically interested in the courses that dealt with gamification. The site raised my game to new levels!
I now have a notebook filled with player level cards, badges and items. The kids can’t wait for us to see what happens next in our multi-section boss battles. That’s all I heard about during parent conferences this year. Kids are talking about school at home! While I continue to work on our yearlong game, I have also started using some of the other resources found on EMC². The graphics are high quality and the activities are always engaging.”
“As a teacher with 29 years of classroom experience, I am proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks.”
Click here to follow more of Andrew’s journey into a new way to play
“The first time that I realized how impactful the the EMC² Learning approach is was when I completed my first Resource Rumble. Because the template was already done, all I needed to do was plug in my activities and assignments. The different themes gave me ideas for costumes, and I was able to throw in some decorations and some music to really bring the game to life. My students were so engaged, and when my leadership team stopped in, they were amazed at the thought process behind my lesson. I was asked, ‘How does your brain even come up with something like this?’ The truth was, all I did was add a few extra ingredients, the main course was already prepared.
My classroom is a place of imagination, challenge, and storytelling. My students LOVE our class game. I’m able to use the resources to motivate them to do more than they thought they ever thought they could. I know that teaching is a difficult career, especially these days — but I am personally having the best time of my 13 year career right now.”
Click here to peek inside Thomas’ pulse-pounding classroom adventure

“I think one of the biggest changes that I’ve experienced since implementing a number of these resources into my classroom is that a palpable sense of excitement has been introduced across the board. Some students who had previously been disenfranchised have really starting engaging in our lesson plans. And it’s an added bonus to bring even more players into the fun while students with ADHD suddenly get to channel all of their energies into relevant work for the classroom as they help their teammates and even have the chance to bring about some good-natured mayhem against other teams.
I love that EMC² Learning resources are pre-made and easily adaptable, which gives them a high replay value for just about any unit I can think of. And I am especially thankful for the videos that explain how a game is supposed to be played! Once I’ve gotten the hang of an activity, I absolutely love it that all I need to do is add my questions and go.”
“I believe that the resources are at such a high standard — a gold standard — because
they have been used in a real classroom with real students.”
Click here to read how Susan changed the game for her high school science classes
“I was struggling with getting my pre-service to engage in content during my lectures. This concerned me as they weren’t able to answer specific instructional design questions which are crucial as a teacher. I went to observe one of my student teachers who was working with Dr. Jen Toney. Her lesson was about opinion writing but it was different. Students were excited to go into the opinion outback to convince their traveling robot to visit their imaginary island.
I had never seen 30 students all actively engaged with writing and also editing their work.
My student was worried that I didn’t like her lesson when I literally had this confused look on my face. But I told her that I simply needed a minute to process what I was seeing. There was a palpable difference in the classroom, and I had never seen anything like it.
It was then that Dr. Toney, introduced me to the EMC² Learning platform. And immediately I saw something that was missing in my classes.”
Click here to see what made Dr. Deger rethink her approach to college-level education