MOBILE Esports and the BENEFITS to Students and Teacher

One of the things I miss most about not having my own classroom are the extra curriculars that my students and I would engage in. Before COVID19 entered into our reality, I had started Esports in my classroom and intended to involve other classes and grades. Check out the last blog post I wrote about that experience here. 

In my role as a re-engagement teacher this year, I am connecting with a lot of students who are into gaming. In fact, it is one of the first things they tell me about themselves when I meet them for the first time. Moving from school to school, I wanted to find a way to be able to bring the gaming into the work I do. I decided to purchase a Nintendo Switch and some games so my Esports would be mobile. I was off to the races!

This is usually how things happen when I introduce the idea of gaming for the first time when I meet up with my students (picture it): I ask them how they are doing and what they would like to work on while we are together, then I ask them if they want to "warm up" with some video game competition. Their eyes light up, they don't believe me. I pull out the Nintendo Switch, now they are speechless. We (sometimes they play solo) play a couple of games and then get into the school work. 

We have been competing with Super Mario Cart. They compete against me, but I have also recorded fastest times of students who want to race against the clock so that other students who want to play solo can have a time to beat. 

The students and I both agree that gaming is fun BUT there are other benefits....here are some of them:

• social emotional learning
• communication skills
• teamwork
• goal setting
• personal awareness
• sense of belonging
• mindfulness 

The big one for me, as a re-engagement teacher, is how the gaming helps me build a relationship with my students. While we "compete" my focus is on what the students are talking about and telling me. The more they talk the better as it provides me with important information that I can use to help them. I have also found that they are more receptive to my questions while we are playing video games. We sit side by side and are having fun. They let their guard down and they talk about home, school, their thoughts, and their feelings. They provide me with information that I can use to plan my how I can best assist them. 

I meet my students where they are at and we set goals to grow and develop. As I support them in meeting their goals the Esport piece provides them with an opportunity to show me something they are interested in and are good at. It is a win-win situation for both of us!

Speaking of win-win, I have been doing some supply teaching lately and the Nintendo Switch comes in handy when I find myself working with a class that I am not familiar with. As we work through the school day, I initiate an Esport tournament and everyone in the class that wants to participate gets to participate. From my perspective, it is pretty awesome to initiate. I love seeing kids use the Switch for the first time, feel good about their gaming skills, help each other with tips and tricks, and so something out of the ordinary. 

 

Looking forward to seeing what other awesome things comes from implementing gaming and Esports with the students I work with. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a comment here or reach out to me on Twitter (@rchids).