Any course. Any content area. Any grade level. Far too often, those first days of class are invariably the same:
Awkward icebreakers. Forced introductions. A few personal anecdotes from the teacher and some vague language about “making it a great year!” And then it’s onto the syllabus where we proceed to detail all of the rules, procedures, and materials required for our classroom. While we’re at it, we rattle off a list of all the ways that students can (and presumably *will*) lose points and be punished for falling short of our expectations.
Excited yet?
This sort of soul-crushing compliance is one of the fastest ways to suck the air right out of any classroom. And yet it happens time and again in schools all around the globe. But that doesn’t mean we have to keep repeating the same mistakes!
As the new school year kicks off, there’s no better time to breathe fresh life into your syllabus and engage your students like never before. Whether you’re a seasoned pro at gamifying your classroom or just dipping your toes into the world of playful pedagogy, the brand new EMC² Learning Story-Powered Syllabus collection has everything you need to transform ordinary lessons into extraordinary adventures. Imagine turning your classroom into a quest, where each assignment is a mission, every quiz a challenge, and your students the heroes of their own learning journey.
So what might it look like if a sleepy syllabus was turned into a year-long adventure?!
Take a look at this course trailer titled “Here’s Fantastic Places, Unhuman Humans” — Dr. Jim Egan’s gamified twist on an English class that was recently offered at Brown University to get a feel for just how epic these game-inspired courses can be…
Discover the Power of Playful Learning
As Dr. Egan’s course welcome video so expertly demonstrates, gamification is a powerful approach that can help set your students’ imaginations on fire. This kind of first-day energy helps your students see breadth, relevance, and value in your course curriculum from the moment they set foot in your classroom. With a simple splash of storytelling, any ho-hum course really can start to feel larger than life. They say that even the greatest journey starts with a single step. And for teachers looking to gamify their instruction, these all-important first days of instruction are a great way to start your year off on the right foot.
It all starts with rethinking your syllabus.
The beauty of Story-Powered Syllabus lies in its versatility. This resource lineup is designed to seamlessly integrate into any subject, grade level, or teaching style. From the epic Realm of Nobles to the vast realms of Portals where your classroom becomes an interstellar jump point to galaxies far, far away, each resource is crafted to help you gamify your syllabus with ease. Whether you’re looking to engage students with a yearlong themed adventure or simply want to add a spark to your back-to-school routine, these tools provide you with everything you need to captivate your students’ imaginations and keep them excited about learning.
Easy to Implement, Impossible to Ignore
What makes every resource inside of the Story-Powered Syllabus lineup stand out is how simple it is to use. Each resource is packed with ready-to-go ideas, templates, and activities that can be customized to fit your classroom’s unique needs. No matter your experience level with gamification, you’ll find these tools intuitive and fun to work with. Imagine the joy on your students’ faces when they embark on a self-paced Side Quest or earn a coveted Leader Badge —these aren’t just assignments; they’re experiences that make learning meaningful and memorable.
Each presentation in the collection gives teachers an action-packed starting point to convert any traditional syllabus into a full color game manual. Every slide is fully editable, and can be modified to suit the unique needs of your instruction. That includes every picture. Every item. Every background image. And every text box. A sample narrative has been provided inside of each manual to help get you started on your gamification journey. And to help save you time, individual pages even include boilerplate language for course scope and sequence, grading policies, assessments, and group activities.When you’re done, you can share the finished product with your classes as a .PDF, or you might even consider printing your action-packed syllabus out to give each student their very own booklet. This one-of-a-kind guidebook offers larger-than-life excitement AND attends to all the practical matters they’ll need for the journey ahead.
Get Your Game On Today!
The possibilities with every one of these Story-Powered Syllabi resources truly are endless, and the impact on your classroom can be profound. Not only will you see increased engagement and enthusiasm, but you’ll also foster a learning environment where students feel motivated, connected, and eager to tackle new challenges. So why wait? Dive into the brand new collection today and start crafting a classroom experience that your students will remember long after the school year ends.
Thank you for being part of our incredible community of educators. Your dedication and creativity are what drive us to keep growing and innovating. Here’s to reaching new heights together!
The activities featured in this blog post are just a handful of the 800+ resources available and on their way to arrive shortly in the EMC² Learning library. This entire library is available to all members with an active Engagement Engineer or Engagement Engineer PLUS account, and is included with your annual site membership. We hope you’ll consider joining us as an Engagement Engineer to unlock a full year of site access. For complete details including our exclusive limited time offer for annual site membership, click here.
