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Stage 1: Rewards & Powers

In the first stage, you reward your students with experience points for good behavior. Each 1000 experience they get, they gain a level and 1 mana. Students can use their mana to cast powers, which gives them classroom perks.

This is the foundation of ClassMana and requires no student logins - you control everything from your teacher dashboard.

Prerequisites:

Rewarding Students

Reward your students for positive behaviors, achievements, and accomplishments:

  1. From the class dashboard, find the student
  2. Click the "Reward" button
  3. Choose from your pre-configured rewards, or scroll down to create a custom reward
  4. For custom rewards, set the experience points (and optionally mana, health, or gold)
  5. Add an optional description to track what the reward was for

Tips:

  • Be consistent with your rewards
  • Small, frequent rewards work better than rare large ones
  • Make sure students understand what behaviors earn rewards
  • Celebrate level-ups publicly to build excitement

When to Reward Students

  • Completing homework on time
  • Participating in class discussions
  • Helping other students
  • Showing improvement
  • Demonstrating good behavior
  • Achieving goals or milestones
  • Random acts of kindness

Configuring Rewards

To customize the rewards available in your class:

  1. Go to Class Settings → Rewards
  2. Edit existing reward descriptions and point values
  3. Add new rewards by typing in the empty row at the bottom
  4. Set the experience, mana, health (if enabled), and gold (if enabled) for each reward
  5. Click "Save Rewards"

Example rewards:

  • "Arrived on time" - 150 Experience
  • "Helped another student" - 150 Experience
  • "Great answer!" - 125 Experience
  • "Completed homework" - 100 Experience

You can mix and match different point types (experience, mana, health, gold) in a single reward to create the exact incentive structure you want.

Understanding Levels & Mana

Leveling System

Every 1000 experience points, a student levels up:

  • Level 1 → Level 2: 1000 Experience Points
  • Level 2 → Level 3: 2000 Experience Points total
  • Level 3 → Level 4: 3000 Experience Points total
  • And so on...

Each level-up rewards the student with 1 mana (students can hold a maximum of 5 mana at once).

Mana

Mana is the "currency" students use to activate powers:

  • Students earn 1 mana from each level-up (max 5 mana total)
  • Set up weekly mana distribution to give all students mana on specific days
  • Students "spend" mana to cast powers

Example: If a power costs 2 mana, a student with 5 mana can use it twice (leaving them with 1 mana).

Setting Up Powers

Powers are classroom perks that students can activate by spending mana. To configure powers:

  1. Go to Class Settings → Powers
  2. Enable the powers you want to offer
  3. Set the mana cost for each power
  4. Customize power names if desired

Popular Power Ideas

Low Cost (1 mana):

  • Choose your seat for the day
  • Listen to music during independent work
  • Eat a snack in class
  • Use a fidget toy
  • Pick the class activity

Medium Cost (2-3 mana):

  • Homework pass
  • Extra 5 minutes of recess
  • Use notes on a quiz
  • Sit with a friend
  • Class job for the week

High Cost (4-5 mana):

  • Bonus points on a test
  • Skip the hardest question
  • Choose a class movie
  • Extra credit assignment

Tips for Powers

  • Start with 3-5 powers, then add more
  • Make sure powers are actually desirable to your students
  • Price powers based on their value and how often they can be used
  • Some powers should be achievable quickly (low cost) for motivation
  • Save the best powers for higher costs to create long-term goals

Managing Power Requests

In Stage 1, students can't request powers themselves (that comes in Stage 2). You activate powers for students:

  1. Student asks you in person to use a power
  2. You check their mana balance
  3. From their student profile, click "Use Power"
  4. Select the power and confirm
  5. The mana is deducted automatically

Make sure to honor the power immediately (e.g., if they chose their seat, let them move!).

Weekly Mana Schedule

Keep mana flowing by setting up automatic distribution:

  1. Go to Class Settings → Mana Schedule
  2. Select which days to distribute mana (e.g., Monday, Wednesday, Friday)
  3. Set the amount per distribution (e.g., 1 mana)
  4. Enable the schedule

Now every selected day, all students will automatically receive the specified amount of mana. This keeps the game active and ensures all students can participate, even if they're not leveling up frequently. Remember that students can only hold 5 mana maximum, so excess mana is wasted.

Recommended schedule: 3 days per week, 1 mana each = 3 mana/week per student

Next Steps

Once your class is comfortable with Stage 1:

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