The Kingdom of Diddorol behind-the-scenes Podcast

The Kingdom of Diddorol is a fictional kingdom that serves as the setting for all English Language Arts activities in Barrington (NH) Middle School's Room 244. It is the geographical component of the storyline of a game overlay, which presents and contextualizes all the usual ELA content in an alternative way. Each of the six provinces in Diddorol have a corresponding area in the classroom. Each province also symbolizes one of the Six Traits of Writing, and has a "mythology" of its own. In this podcast, I'll share about my experiences in using a game overlay to change my delivery of the standard public school curriculum. Insights into what is working, and why -- as well as what is not, and how I'm coping with that -- will be explored, in the hope of encouraging other educators to experiment with this teaching method. A tip o' th' hat to Lee Sheldon, author of the text "The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game," the rulebook I used in developing Diddorol.