Badges are an essential component of my gamified classroom. The concept of badges is to complete a task or skill with competency and be awarded the badge according to such skill. The collection of badges creates a profile of the student’s learned skills. As a novice teacher, I quickly found that students were engaging in meaningful historical skills but did not realize it because there was no system that would uniform the multiple skills they were learning. Letter grades do not clear information about progress or what the student learned through or at the end of the term. With badges, students earn the objectives put forward by the department and understand them better, rather than being tucked away in the course catalog.

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This system is the root of the “historical thinking” aspect of my course. Students should demonstrate their ability to defend historical skills. Through the scope of badges, students have a better understanding of what they know and what they do not know by seeing which badges through their attempts of earning, and their collection. Having this badging system allows me to have a better profile of where my students are in their journey in history. Badges can shape a clearer understanding of the historical skills students are acquiring through the term. At the end of the term, the student and I can have better feedback on what the student needs to improve on for the next term and their next history class.

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To earn badges, I have instructed students to think deeply about them. To begin this process, students have a total choice of what badge they want to attempt to earn. Prior to submitting an assessment, students plan what badge they want to earn. I have asked them to do this to increase their chances of writing a paper that has sound historical skills as it aims for the objectives highlighted by the badge. Once they have created their assessment, students will apply for the badge by submitting a reflecting paragraph appealing for why their assignment deserves that badge. Students need to explain their logic behind their paper using evidence that points out the objectives of the badge. If their reason and assessment both align with rubrics and language of the badge with competency, students will earn that badge and be awarded points. If the student does not meet the criteria, students are then given feedback and encouraged to resubmit their assessments, until they prove evidence substantial evidence for competency. In most cases, students usually receive badges after a resubmission, as they get a chance to apply feedback that can help them reach competency. 

Below, I have included the description of all the badges along with student samples that have earned them the badge.