King of the Nerds is My Favorite Thing

With the series finale of King of the Nerds on TBS last Thursday I thought that I would weigh in on my thoughts on the show as a whole. I will not reveal the winner or the results of any competitions.

The premise of the show is for eleven nerds to duke it out and find out who is the nerdiest of them all and end the game sitting of the Throne of Games. The winner also receives $100,000. The show is hosted by Bobby Carradine and Curtis Armstrong, both made famous by the cult classic Revenge of the Nerds.

The contestants on the show range in their area of nerdy expertise and that is something I really enjoy about the show. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses. There is Virgil who is a master hacker, Moogega who works for NASA, and Ivan who creates his own tabletop roleplaying games. The other players range anywhere from a professional video game player to a young adult phantasy book writer. Then there is Alana, who just kind of sucks at everything. Seriously, I do not understand how she got on the show.

At the beginning of the series they split themselves into two teams by the way of every nerds worst nightmare. They are chosen dodge-ball style with each previously selected member of the team picking the next member of the team. Every week the teams compete in a Nerd War. There is also a theme of each weeks Nerd War. The competitions range from bowling with D20s to performing their own nerdy anthem in front of a panel of judges. After a winner is decided the teams get to decide who to send to a Nerd-Off. Each of the two teams get to send one member from the losing team of the Nerd War to the Nerd-Off.

After the two players are selected they are given a clue about what their Nerd-Off is about and then they get time to study for it. Usually the Nerd-Off has something to do with the Nerd War. For example, when they had to make their own nerd anthem during the Nerd War the Nerd-Off competition had the two players competing against each other in Dance Central. The losing player is then told that they are leaving Nerdvana.

I really love the premise of this show. The house they live in, Nerdvana, looks amazing. There are so many cool things in the house like statues of Batman, video game systems, and it even has a RadioShack room with many different gadgets. Each of the players is unique in their own ways and I love that they try to get all the different spectrums of what is considered nerdy. Right now I am making an audition tape for the second season, which was announced in February and will air in 2014. So I am announcing that I will be entering to be a contestant in the next season of King of the Nerds.

ClassRealm is my favorite thing

Today I am deciding to write about something that has not been released yet. It is a classroom management tool known as ClassRealm. ClassRealm was created by Ben Bertoli as a way to keep his students interested in his classroom. He theoretically turned his own classroom into a roleplaying game (RPG).

At the start of the year, each student can choose a race and an enhancer. The list of races are Mermaid/Merman, Vampire, Werewolf, Goblin, Troll, Witch, Wizard, Ogre, Elf, Ghost, Angel, Cyborg, Yeti, Zombie, Human, Fairy. The list of enhancers are Ninja, Pirate, Warrior, Samurai, Knight, Prince, Princess, Alchemist, Mystic, and Mage. After the students pick their race and enhancer they fill out a get to know you card with their character, a picture, and their strengths and weaknesses.

The students have different achievements that they are able to accomplish and they can earn experience points and try to gain levels. The achievements are level based, so there are easy and harder achievements. Sample achievements include anything from reading so many books to not getting in trouble. Some achievements have nothing to do with their normal schoolwork and may include extra credit items that are not done at school.

The creator has different awards for individual levels and team levels. They have to earn so many experience points to gain a level. Some awards may include extra points on a test of the person's choosing, extra recess for the whole class, and a class ice cream party. ClassRealm has been proven to help with classroom management. Ben Bertoli has noted that he noticed a significant decline in behavior problems and missing work. This idea has increased the attitude of his students in the classroom.

One of the achievements he does for his class includes the students writing a report or story that includes six paragraphs. In the first two weeks of the beta test, every student had turned in a paper. These were all done outside of the classroom.

When I get my own classroom, I am definitely going to incorporate this idea. I like the fact that I can bring my love of video games into the classroom. You can find more information about the idea at www.classrealm.com. I will also be putting a link in my sidebar.