Leveling Up
Your classroom isn't a video game, but you can still increase your XP!
Let’s be honest: when you started your teaching career, you probably imagined a glorious, well-deserved finish line. A moment of arrival. You’d conquer the classroom, master the curriculum, and finally achieve that mythical status of “The Perfect Teacher.”
But as you know—and as I explore in my book, Always Becoming, Never Arriving—that finish line is a sort of mirage. And thank goodness it is! The true joy of this calling isn’t in arriving; it’s in the continual process of becoming. As Christian educators, our commitment to growth should mirror our commitment to Christ: a daily, purposeful refinement of mind, heart, and practice.
Think of your teaching life not as a race to the end, but as a wonderfully challenging, open-world video game. The goal isn’t to beat the game (at least not on this side of Glory!) Rather it’s an opportunity to keep gaining experience points (XP), unlocking new skills, and getting a little bit better every day. It’s time to talk about Leveling Up.
Press Start on Playfulness
Sometimes, we get stuck in the same old classroom loop—the familiar lesson plan that works but no longer sings. We settle for “good enough.” The problem is, if you’re bored teaching it, how can you expect your students to be excited learning it?
This is where the power-up of playful practice comes in.
I remember my early days teaching middle school science. I had to teach the unit on plants, and honestly? I dreaded it. I went through the motions, and my students responded in kind: yawns and glazed-over eyes. It was clear I was stuck at Level 1.
So, I decided to Level Up.
Instead of just my previous (boring) lectures, I brought in fruits and vegetables, and we made paper-thin cross-sections to examine their cellular structure under the microscope. We tried the classic bean-sprouting activity, but I turned it into an experimental challenge by asking a “magic question”: What will make your bean sprout the fastest and tallest? (Spoiler: the winner was putting them in the dark, where they stretched high in search of non-existent light—a great discussion starter!) We grew Wisconsin Fast Plants, a variety of mustard plants that go through their entire life cycle—from planting seeds to harvesting new seeds—in just 28 days.
The change was virtually instantaneous. I was having fun again, and my students were buzzing with genuine curiosity and learning a lot more.
Here’s the key: I didn’t change the curriculum; I changed my engagement with it.
Small Quests, Major XP
Leveling up doesn’t mean a complete, exhausting curriculum overhaul. It means intentionally seeking out those small, strategic XP gains in your daily practice.
Here are a few micro-challenges to help you gain ground this week:
Student Connection XP: Try a “gratitude gear-up” for an opening circle with your students. Start class by challenging students to privately think of one specific person (inside or outside of school) who helped them in the last 24 hours. Have them briefly jot down how that person helped. Then, simply ask for a show of hands: “How many of you can think of that person?” No sharing required—the point is to prime their brains for gratitude and acknowledge the network of support surrounding them.
Pedagogy Power-Up: Introduce a “One-Pagers” summary for a complex topic instead of a standard essay. This forces students to synthesize text, visuals, and key concepts onto a single page, tapping into creative and analytical skills.
Curriculum Refinement Boost: Find one unit that feels stale to you right now. Instead of scrapping it, try to connect it to an unexpected, current event or a concept from a completely different subject area. Can your history lesson connect to the principles of a good business model? Can your math lesson be applied to a recent news infographic?
Friends, let’s remember that teaching is a deeply spiritual act of service, and excellence in our craft is part of our worship. Our dedication to continual development shows our students that learning is not a means to an end, but a posture of life. It also reminds us that we are ourselves a work-in-progress; God is not finished with us yet!
Your Challenge: Find Your Next Boss Battle
Don’t wait for your teaching practice to get boring; preempt the slump! Look at your week ahead. Where is one small place you could incorporate some playful practice, try a new structure, or simply approach a routine lesson with fresh eyes?
What small Level Up can you achieve today?
Go grab that controller, press start on something new, and embrace the joy of becoming. Your students (and your soul!) will reap the benefits!
Dave’s Faves
Here are three things I’m absolutely loving right now that I hope you might love too…
Dave’s Fave #1: GeoConnections
Any of you still playing the NYT daily games, like Wordle, Connections, and their newest addition, Pips? (I play them almost every day!
If you like the Connections game, and if you’re a geography geek like me, check out GeoConnections. It’s a daily geography puzzle where you find the common bonds between random clues—and the answers are always geographic. Here’s a recent (correctly solved!) puzzle to illustrate…
Might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s free, and might help boost your geographic awareness as you play.
Dave’s Fave #2: Focus Friend
Perhaps you never struggle with putting down your phone? I confess, I do—all too regularly. If so, here’s a playful technological solution that is aimed at behavior modification: a cute little (free!) app called Focus Friend. You get a little bean friend, and to make your bean happy, you designate a certain amount of time to avoid picking up your phone (10 minutes? 30? An hour?) And while you’re busy living your real life and not staring at your phone…your little bean friend knits socks, which makes him happy. And you want your bean to be happy, don’t you?
I know, I know…it’s ridiculous. And yet…I find it helps me avoid mindlessly scrolling, because it gives me a little behavioral nudge. Maybe something for you to look up on your app store? It’s free, so you aren’t out anything for trying it!
Dave’s Fave #3: If I Left the Zoo
Jars of Clay is one of my very favorite bands of all time. I own most of their albums on CDs that are stashed somewhere in the storage room. And perhaps my favorite album of their? 1999’s If I Left the Zoo. This might be their most underrated album, but it includes two of my favorite Jars songs: “No One Loves Me Like You” and “Grace.”
Whether you’ve never listened to this album before, or you haven’t listened to it in years, I hope you’ll give it a whirl, and drop a comment to let me know what you think.
The Last Word!
A word of encouragement for you all, friends, as you think about “leveling up” your practice…
Remember that you are not just delivering content; you are building the Kingdom, one lesson and one relationship at a time.
Don’t let the grind fool you into thinking you’ve mastered this calling.
This work we are called to do is a profound act of service, an opportunity to live out your discipleship on a daily basis!
So let’s keep seeking that next XP bump, not because you must, but because you GET to! Embrace the joy of the journey, and know that your effort to become better is already making you the inspiring, impactful educator your students need you to be.
