Anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films knows the consequences for mischief. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the very first of the books and movies, Hermione, Ron, and Harry cement their reputation for being mischief makers by losing hundreds of points in one go for their house Gryffindor when they wander out of Hogwarts Castle in the middle of the night. However, they then manage to win them all back and then some by saving the magical and muggle worlds. Something else they were renowned for constantly doing.
Although you may not have a Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin at your school, you can still motivate your students by awarding them for good behavior, good grades, or overall success. And if you want to keep it interesting, you can also deduct points for a job badly done. That’s up to you to decide!
Hogwarts coat of arms.
How Are House Points Tracked in Harry Potter?
A chalkboard and tally marks aren’t going to cut it for the wizarding world! At Hogwarts, house points are stored in 4 giant hourglasses, each representing a house, which are kept in the Great Hall. The running total of points is always on display and a prize is awarded to the top-scoring house after a set period of time. Surely this is the most famous example of gamification in childrens' literature!
- Gryffindor’s hourglass is filled with rubies
- Slytherin’s with emeralds
- Ravenclaw’s with sapphires
- Hufflepuff’s with diamonds
Whenever a teacher or a prefect awards or deducts points for a house, gems begin to swell or seep from the hourglass.
The hourglasses are of course magical. For instance, when Professor Mcgonagall awards 50 points to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Luna after the Department of Mysteries battle, the gems magically appear.
How Can You Start Awarding House Points in Your School/Classroom?
Who doesn’t know Harry Potter? His popularity has now spanned at least two generations, and counting. So why not capitalize on his fame by adding some magical gamification to your classroom, activity, or project? Start out by getting everyone involved:
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Set up student “houses”: If you don’t have a magical sorting hat, do this yourself or get the students involved in picking teams.
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Choose “house” names and identities: Do students want to use the original names from Harry Potter or do they have their own ideas for what their teams should be called?
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Create “house” crests or symbols: Help students identify with their teams by giving them an opportunity to be creative and design their own logos or slogans. This will definitely help keep up engagement.
Creating a scoreboard with house points is a great way to keep students engaged and foster gentle competition. But there are a few points to consider first.
The magic of Harry Potter inspired countless kids to read. Inspire them in the classroom with Hogwarts House
Points.
What Do You Have to Decide Before Awarding House Points?
Once you have your “houses” it’s time to consider how you want to start awarding points. For example:
- Point criteria: How many points are specific achievements worth?
- Achievements to reward: Are your students going to earn awards for academic achievements or also for good behavior like: helping others, being quiet in the hallways, cleaning up, etc.
- Point detractions: Will the points system go both ways? Will students lose points for bad behavior?
Should you decide to detract points, be sensitive to any emotional impact this might have. Perhaps consider only detracting points for poor conduct. Remember, your goal is to motivate students!
How Can You Maintain Fairness and Motivation?
One of the biggest problems for many Harry Potter fans was the arbitrariness of the points system. Dumbledore clearly played favorites when it came to awarding points, with a clear soft spot for Gryffindor. The same goes for Snape and Slytherin. So when implementing a house point system make sure to:
- Award points fairly
- Take measures to prevent manipulation
- Ensure equal opportunities for earning points
- Maintain consistent rules for earning and deducting points
How Can You Use KeepTheScore for House Points?
A Harry Potter-themed scoreboard for your classroom
Should you decide to give a Harry-Potter-Style house point system a try, you will need a way of tracking and displaying the points. KeepTheScore can help! We have created a tool that is super quick to set up and comes with a bunch of features and themes to customize your scoreboard. And that includes a Harry Potter theme called " Wizard" (as shown in the screenshot below). It’s free to try, so give it a go!
Here’s how to setup your scoreboard:
- Create a standard leaderboard by clicking the button above.
- Add the names of your “houses” and a title for your board, perhaps “Wizarding Wonders”!
- Click on Settings to personalize your board with a theme, layout and logo. You can also change your board’s colors and fonts.
- After you’ve saved your change, you can click on the Share button to e.g. create a public link, embed your scoreboard on another website, or create an image file of it.
- Start awarding points!
Do you have any questions or insights? Share them with us in the comments section! And if you want regular inspiration on how to use KeepTheScore, sign up for our newsletter.
