1UPdate: School teacher brings gaming to the classroom
CultureShift talks to gamer, content creator and math teacher AlgeBruh about meeting his students where their interests are.
Photo Credit: Laura Herberg, WDET
A middle school math teacher is bringing gaming into the classroom.
AlgeBruh is a gamer, a Valorant player and a content creator with 116,000 followers on TikTok. His approach to education is to meet students where they are by finding middle ground between the curriculum and subjects they can get excited about.
To explain why his unorthodox methods are really working, he spoke with 1UPdate’s Nate Bender.
Listen to our full conversation with gamer and educator, AlgeBruh.
AlgeBruh says he’s decorated his classroom in theme, featuring a Discord word wall and a Rainbow Road data display. All the while, he makes sure his analogies don’t get in the way of the kids’ learning.
“We talk about it, and I try to incorporate it whenever I can. Sometimes the content is just either above their level, or I don’t want to put something out there where they won’t relate and then it will confuse them more.”
He says it’s important to meet the kids where their natural interests are to retain their attention.
“A lot of kids with math shut down immediately, because they’ve had a bad experience, or it doesn’t click for them. But if you can find ways to genuinely integrate their interests, it allows their doors and their walls to come down and they’ll at least give it a try.”
Listen: How a math teacher is adding gaming to the classroom, plus the latest news in gaming.
Photo credit: Laura Herberg/WDET.
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