鈥淚鈥檓 not a math person.鈥�
It鈥檚 something this middle school math teacher heard often.
But Gerilyn Williams was determined to change that. So the math teacher at Pinelands Regional Junior High School in Little Egg Harbor, N.J., set out to 鈥済amify鈥� her instruction.
She did things like changing the language she uses to mimic gaming鈥攍essons are 鈥渜uests,鈥� chapters are 鈥渓evels,鈥� each unit is a themed world, and quizzes are 鈥渂oss battles鈥� where rematches are allowed. She saw students鈥� feelings and mindsets about math start to change.
And the results speak for themselves. In the seven years since she began, she鈥檚 seen grades go from the standard C bell curve to a class average of a B.
Here, she explains what this looks like in practice and offers tips for teachers looking to try something similar.
