Being a teacher is not an easy job. Days are spent on your feet, nights are spent grading papers, and lesson planning usually happens on weekends. It is also an emotional job—connecting with students, learning about their lives, and building trusting relationships.

But being a teacher is rewarding. Check out this recent survey reported by T.H.E. Journal in which 1,002 K-12 teachers were polled about their jobs. Nearly three quarters (71 percent) said that seeing students grow is what they most enjoy about the job. More than half (68 percent) of those who entered the field in the last 10 years said they would recommend the profession to others.

As the field of education continues to change in vast ways—including the integration of technology and play in the classroom—Dig-It! Games wants to recognize educators for their work and ask them an important question: What do you want?

Image Credit to Clip Panda

Image Credit to Clip Panda

At the recent Games for Learning Summit, U.S. Department of Education Director of Educational Technology Richard Culatta discussed the future of gaming for education. “Part of the message we are trying to send here is, if you’re building and designing games for learning, you have to connect and work with teachers and with school leaders to make sure you are building games that are meeting the needs,” he said.

We deeply care what educators think of our games. We invite teachers to Open House events or welcome them to stop by the studio to test our products. We’ve incorporated their feedback into games you see in the App Store today.

Our website offers lesson plans for both Mayan Mysteries and Maya Numbers. We are also preparing to launch a Pinterest page that we hope will make it easier for teachers to implement game-based learning in the classroom.

Last month, we hosted classes from Wheatley Education Campus in our studio. We taught game design to these students and had the chance to speak with their teachers. We would love to have other classes visit (just let us know at info@dig-itgames.com) to help them collaborate, learn about educational game development and build their own apps.

Now, we want to know what teachers are thinking; how they would like to use our games in the classroom; what games they’re looking for in the market. We want teachers to help us design the games we create—not just test them. We want to talk with teachers about the content within our games, to emphasize its accuracy and that our games meet the standards that teachers are looking for.

If you are a teacher, we thank you for all you do to encourage students to love learning and become critical thinkers and problem solvers. That’s our mission, too. We value your perspective, so contact us—let’s get together to help our students succeed.

In the meantime, we know that 91 percent of teachers spend their own money (NPD Group) on supplies and resources in the classroom. For Teacher Appreciation Week, we’re offering some of our most popular educational games at a discount. If you visit the App Store today through 5/15, you’ll see that 3 Digits, Roman Town, Mayan Mysteries, Loot Pursuit: Pompeii and Can U Dig It! are all $0.99 for the full app—including all in-app purchases. Help blend fun and learning for your students!