Each month at Classcraft, we’ve shined the spotlight on an awesome quest — personalized, self-paced, choose-your-own-adventure lessons — created by an inspiring educator like you. We’ve gathered our first 12 Quests of the Month together to celebrate their hard work over the past year and inspire other teachers to put Quests to work in their classroom.
These 12 creative teachers have been educating collectively for 155 years (over a century and a half!) at schools in the United States, Germany, and Hong Kong. Check out their amazing custom avatars below and learn why we think these teachers and their quests are, well, epic!
If you use Classcraft, share your quest on our submission page and it could be featured as our next Quest of the Month. Like our 12 heroes, you’ll also get your very own unique portrait. (If you need some help getting started, watch this webinar to learn how to build a quest in 15 minutes.)
In honor of National Teacher Appreciation Week (May 6-10, 2019), we’re celebrating even more rockstar teachers! Have your students and colleagues use this form to nominate you as one of Classcraft’s Innovative Teachers of the year. You could win your own Gamemaster avatar and receive a special poster signed by the Classcraft team! Nominations will be accepted up to May 3, and winners will be announced during Teacher Appreciation Week.
Now, we proudly present the winners from the first year of Classcraft Quests of the Month!
1. Steve Isaacs — ‘Journey to the Center of the Game’
A teacher for 25 years, Steve teaches game design and digital storytelling (Grade 7) and game design and development (Grade 8) at William Annin Middle School in New Jersey. Student choice and voice are very important to Steve, and he loves to share his student’s work with the world.
We loved Steve’s quest for its fascinating introduction to the history of video games! We were also amazed at the number of links to fun articles and games in the quest, which ends by having students playing the Oregon Trail in Minecraft then creating their own game. This is a fantastic way to use the ubiquity of games and digital entertainment in conjunction with English Language Arts.
We “dig” your style, Steve! Import Steve’s quest here to start using it with your class.
2. Amanda Moore — ‘Algebra: A Terrible Winter’
Amanda has been teaching for a decade and currently instructs Grade 4 at Chapelwood Elementary School in Indiana. She has a passion for using technology in the classroom to redefine what learning looks like and getting her students to experience learning in a way that excites them.
Amanda’s quest blew us away! Not only did she create her own story universe and an epic accompanying trailer (so awesome!), but her tasks are meticulously organized. She also links to many videos and online tools to complement the tasks and help her students to review algebra concepts.
Great job making math as easy as pi, Amanda! Import Amanda’s quest here.
3. Todd Ghormley — ‘Introduction to Genetics’
An educator for five years, Todd teaches high school biology at Wyoming Indian High School. He started using Classcraft after exploring how to implement gamification to his curriculum to boost engagement.
We chose Todd’s quest because we absolutely loved his biology-infused story! We really appreciated the care that he put into writing a witty and exciting narrative, complete with characters, to introduce his students to genetics. It was clear from the neatly organized structure of the tasks and the inclusion of differentiation and remediation that Todd knows how to make the most of his Classcraft quests!
We’ve got our ions you, Todd! Import Todd’s quest here.
4. Tyler Chambers — ‘Journey to the Top of Plot Mountain’
A teacher for three years, Tyler teaches English Language Arts to Grade 8 at North Ridge Middle School in Texas. He loves teaching, reading, gaming, and sports. His interest in gamification in the classroom inspired him to give Classcraft a try.
Right off the bat, Tyler’s extensive quest on short fiction wowed us with its artful placement of the objectives. We loved the story and how closely he linked it to the tasks. We were proud to see a teacher make a great quest with branching pathways that give students choices.
Way to thicken the plot in your second adventure, Tyler! Import Tyler’s quest here.
5. Tammy Leahy — ‘The Caverns of the Ogre King’
An educator of more than 11 years, Tammy teaches English Language Arts for Grades 6-8 at Windham Middle School in Connecticut. She’s passionate about reaching the “difficult” kids others might give up on and helping them grow into better people.
It wasn’t a difficult choice to include Tammy’s quest because she surprised us at every turn! She wrote a great story that takes students step-by-step through an argumentative essay. Her story was illustrated with a lot of beautiful artwork, and she was sure to include references for each of those images (a really important component). Her tasks are well-explained, even detailing the competencies evaluated in each, and the files are perfectly shared.
We shouldn’t jump to conclusions, but this quest is fantastic, Tammy! Import Tammy’s quest here.
6. Josh Banks — ‘The Curse of Salem’
A teacher of 19 years, Josh covers American literature, media literature, and creative writing at Ste. Genevieve High School in Missouri. He enjoys reading, exploring new technology opportunities in the classroom, traveling, watching the Miami Dolphins play on Sundays, and is a self-proclaimed movie buff.
We loved Josh’s quest, “The Curse of Salem,” for its interesting “meta” story! This quest explores the history and drama of the Salem witch trials through “The Crucible.” We enjoyed the quest’s tasks because they were expertly constructed and organized. And, of course, we loved the subject matter as it is both a fascinating slice of history and a rich pool of literature.
Your “cursed” quest rules, Josh! Import Josh’s quest here.
7. Lisa Rose-Jeffreys — ‘Habits of the Mind’
Lisa has been teaching for 17 years and currently instructs middle schoolers on a variety of subjects at the Yew Chung International School of Hong Kong. She has a passion for diving, learning new things and applying them, and “all human-created technology.”
Lisa’s quest story is fascinating! She uses it to help students develop their Habits of Mind and take ownership over their quest. We’re impressed at how she brilliantly created her own mini-universe to power her narrative. We also liked that she complemented her tasks by embedding educational videos.
Your quest is habit-forming, Lisa! Import Lisa’s quest here.
8. Lenny Dutton — ‘Coding Champions Quest’
An educator of 10 years, Lenny teaches digital and product design for Grades 6-8 at the International School Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany. Play, kindness, and effort are all important to Lenny, as are global issues, sustainable development goals, and design.
This coding quest achieves an impressive feat: It manages to seamlessly integrate a curriculum about coding into an exciting story, and vice versa. Students will do everything from making art, to writing music with code. Between the striking images, the many fascinating links and videos, and the perfectly formatted (and witty!) dialogue, this quest is the complete package!
Lenny, you’re our champion! Import Lenny’s quest here.
9. Kurt Lemke — ‘Escape from Alcatraz’
An educator in his sixth year, Kurt teaches Grade 7 English Language Arts at Castle Dome Middle School in Arizona. Besides his family, Kurt loves seeing “the light go on in my students’ eyes as they start to understand an obscure concept and how it can be applied to their lives.”
This extra credit quest has three different endings! Kurt’s quest, “Escape from Alcatraz,” is great because it has a solid lesson plan matched with a rich and intriguing story. All the files and links are in perfect order, which makes the quest very accessible, too. This is truly great work that shows that if you gamify “extra credit,” your students will want to work for it!
What a great escape, Kurt! Import Kurt’s quest here.
10. Rayvelyn Swift — ‘Scamper Challenge’
Rayvelyn has been teaching for 25 years. She educates Grade 3 at Edison Elementary School in California and loves giving students an educational experience that sparks a desire for learning and discovery.
We. Love. Pirates! Rayvelyn’s quest wowed us by blending a fun story of pirates and castaways with the SCAMPER technique. Her tasks are particularly well-constructed — and they’re all housed within the quest itself. We are always impressed to see how teachers make the most of the functionalities of quests, and Rayvelyn is a shining example.
What a masterful way to think outside the box, Rayvelyn! Import Rayvelyn’s quest here.
11. Arcadia Parson — ‘On a Quest for Currency’
An educator of eight years, Arcadia teaches technology education to Grades 6-8, financial skills to Grade 7, and game design to Grade 8 at Corporate Landing Middle School in Virginia. A huge fantasy reader, Arcadia was looking for a fun way to engage students when she found Classcraft.
Talk about a trailblazer! Arcadia did two amazing things with her quest: She shared the first financial skills quest on our Marketplace, and she introduced us and other teachers to an awesome way to safely share Google Drive files. And what can we say about a story that begins with “Within the kingdom of Arcadia …” besides “bravo!”.
This impressive quest makes so much cents, Arcadia! Import Arcadia’s quest here.
12. Drew Hutcheson — ‘The Essential QUESTion’
Andrew has been teaching for 16 years and focuses on physics and chemistry for Grades 10-12 at Flagler Palm Coast High School in Florida. He’s keen on maintaining a positive growth mindset and enjoys how Classcraft is positive and uplifting for students and teachers.
Drew’s quest was significant for the Marketplace! It’s mind-blowing for many reasons, but let’s just say that whatever boxes we check when we like a quest, here we’ve checked them all. Drew has created a mini-universe for his story, brilliantly using the map’s features to power it. He expertly formatted the tasks, shared an awesome-looking website, and made a quest that can be used by any teacher, for any subject. That’s excellence on a whole other level!
Drew, thanks for creating this essential quest! Import Drew’s quest here.
Epic lessons start with you
Thanks again to our first 12 Quest of the Month teachers for all their hard work and for sharing their quests with our global community of educators.
And to all you amazing teachers who are sharing your Classcraft quests with your network and on our Marketplace, thank you and keep it up. We can’t wait to see how your learning adventures unfold!
Quest of the Month