Gamification Card Drafting Mechanic

Mrs. Lee creates five decks of cards to structure her assessment—each deck has two cards more than the total number of students (to increase variability). The cards in Deck 1 have the name of a 20th century poet who was not the subject of an in-class discussion. The cards in Deck 2 each feature a poetic theme (e.g., love, death). The cards in Deck 3 stipulate a poetic technique (e.g., assonance, metaphor). The cards in Deck 4 feature a form of creative expression (e.g., write a song, write a story, compose a series of tweets, make a PechaKucha) that students should use to demonstrate mastery. Finally, the cards in Deck 5 give students some kind of special boon or benefit (e.g., trade a card with another student, demand a different card from the teacher).

Each student then drafts five cards, one from each deck. Whatever students draft indicate the nature of their assessment. Perhaps they will have to make a PechaKucha about the nature of color and metaphor in the poetry of Sylvia Plath. The special benefit might be the opportunity to speak for 20 minutes with a friend of the teacher who is a professor of poetry at a local university. Whatever the specifics, there’s an almost infinite number of combinations and excitement.