What does the way you play have to do with embracing change and how does this impact you as a professional?

                                                                     

After taking the gamerDNA I found out that I got the ACHIEVER.  Some of the characteristics of this profile include, “best, first, and most” (http://www.gamerdna.com/quizzes/).  I would say that this is pretty accurate about my personality when I am playing a game.  I am extremely competitive by nature, growing up I was involved in lots of sports and always wanted to be the best.  How does this transfer over into my classroom?  As a teacher I want the students in my classroom to get the best education possible, I want for them to be successful, changing the way I approach the content in my classroom by incorporating more game play may be the best way to do this in today’s ever changing society.

“Change is inevitable in schools as the student population becomes more diverse” (Wagner, 2001) and as educators are faced with the daunting task of preparing students for “jobs that do not yet exist using technologies that have not yet been invented in order to solve problems we do not even know are problems yet” (Fisch, 2007)  Educators need to be open to changing the way they transfer their information over to students, change brings new ways to learn and absorb knowledge.  It forces educators to be creative and push the limit, it allows educators who are embracing this change a chance to change the way education in our country is run.  Most of all “change motivates and challenges.  It makes clear when things are obsolete or have outlived their usefulness.  But most of all, change forces us to learn differently.” (Thomas and Brown)

With the availability of information at our fingertips, memorizing facts is not useful anymore.  Students who have the skills to look up information, read and decipher the information and then apply it have the upper hand.  Memorization “is not a bad way to learn about things that seldom change, such as spelling, the periodic table of the elements, and dates in history.  Unfortunately, however, what students memorize are things they don’t actually use very often in their day-to-day lives.” (Thomas and Brown)  Learning in today’s school is becoming more about learning the skills to obtain and understand, sort through and make conjectures about the information around them.

Textbooks are limited to what the publishers want to put in print, “online resources let people make their own conjectures.” (Thomas and Brown)  I believe it is important to teach students how to make good judgement about the online resources they are using.  Teach them how to check the references and the sources of the information, give them the tools to be successful in the following years after they are out of school.

“Traditional approaches to learning are no longer capable of coping with a constantly changing world.” (Thomas and Brown)  Schools need to seriously think about the way students are taught.  In an ever changing world, is a text book really the best choice for the source of information a student receives.  Teachers need to have the tools them selves to teach students the online skills necessary to be successful in this world.  Online games may have a place in the classroom as one approach to learning the content.

 

 

References:

OPE Research Brief: Embracing Change, Zhicheng Zhang and Recardo Sockwell, Nov 2009

Wagner, T. (2001). Leadership for learning: An action theory of school change. Phi Delta Kappan, 82(5), 378-383

Fisch, K (2007). Shift happens. Retrieved from http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/video/shifthappens

http://www.gamerdna.com/quizzes/

A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change, Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown, 2011

How does the culture of your current teaching environment differ from the learning environment you experienced as a student?

When I was a student in high school, 14 years ago, there was not a lot of technology being used.  Kids did not have cell phones, teachers did not have computers in their classrooms and the internet was not a tool that everyone used daily.  If you wanted to write a research paper you went to the library and looked up the topic in the card catalog and then find your book.

Today teachers can take online classes to advance their degree, they can connect with other classrooms across the country and they can use technology as a tool to enhance student’s education.  Students also use technology every day to stay connected to their friends and the fast pace online world.  “Children want to be entertained and they are used to things that are fast-paced and ever-changing” (Stacy Fonseca) so why should teachers not tap into the information highway and use technology to their advantage?

Teachers are challenged to channel the energy of the online world into their classrooms.  Not long ago teachers lectured, students read and wrote essays from their textbooks and students were only able to get feedback from the teacher in the form of a test, project or in-class discussion.  In today’s world feedback has become instantaneous with the use of computers.  “The instant feedback allows both students and instructors to know if they understand the material.” (Virginia Community College)  Games are a great example of instant feedback.

In my dream classroom, all of my students would have a device.  They would be connected to my computer by some software and I would be able to see their responses from anywhere in the room.  Students would also be able to collaborate with each other between different periods of the day.  A one to one device “offers an advantage to shy students who might not otherwise actively participate in class.”  (Virginia Community College)  Devices would allow students to provide me with instant feedback as to how they are understanding the material, it would also allow for shy students to participate more in class.

The way that students are learning today is much different then when I was in school.  Today it look much more like play, “when play happens within a medium for learning, it creates a context in which information, ideas, and passion grown.” (Thomas and Brown)  This shift in education does not look like any shifts before, it is a bit scary, overwhelming and exciting and “requires a shift in our thinking about education.” (Thomas and Brown)

It is a bit overwhelming knowing that I am educating today’s youth without knowing the job skills that they need to be prepared for in the future.  The world is changing at an incredible pace.  Thomas and Brown suggest in their book that the primary differences between education of the past and education of the future is: the classroom model will be replaced with digital media providing rich information through play, learning will be done through engaging within the world, and finally students and teachers will embrace what they don’t know and come up with better questions about it.  This is a lot to think about.

References:

http://www.examiner.com/article/how-has-teaching-changed-over-the-years, Stacy Fonseca

https://sites.google.com/a/email.vccs.edu/ltm/how-computers-have-changed-the-classroom, Virginia Community College

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/promoting-a-culture-of-learning-terry-heick

A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change, Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown, 2011

How do we maintain excellence as we innovate?

I think Burgess put it best in his book, “stay fluid, keep learning, and keep up the relentless search for what is most effective.”  As teachers I believe we are always looking for ways to improve the learning that is taken place in our classrooms.  Looking for these answers do not come easily, teachers need to persevere, collaborate with their colleagues and online communities and have support from their administrators.  Maintaining excellence as we innovate is a must to keep the integrity of our program.

Perseverance:  As teachers we teach our students to persevere through tough problems in the classroom and in life, we have to be able to do the same and teach by modeling; “you’ll get stuff wrong, make a fool of yourself, and many will give you grief for it. You’ll also grow, find ideas that do work and leave the armchair quarterback in the dust.” (Burgess)

Collaboration:  Teachers who expose themselves to a wide variety of ideas by reading  “about education and related fields and attend conferences whenever possible” (Burgess) become better innovative teachers.  Collaboration among teachers allows for teachers to be challenged, exposed to new ideas, and to keep learning in their field.

Support:  Get the support of your administrators, show them that the innovative techniques you are trying in the classroom are getting students excited about learning.  Show them that the lessons you are teaching them go beyond the four walls of the classroom and that these lessons will be carried on as students go onto college and their careers.  “All pirates travel with a crew; you can’t sail, navigate, and fight battles all on your own.” (Burgess)  Great innovative teachers get support, the availability of the online community has grown tremendously in the last few years, teachers can take advantage of blogs, twitter, and other online communities, teachers are able to “take counsel from a wide variety of people and see out multiple perspectives.” (Burgess)

As a high school math teacher, I need to bring math from the outside of our schools in.  I need to be able to relate the math that we are teaching the students to their everyday life.  “Educational reforms require both changes in teachers’ ways of thinking about student learning and changes in their teaching practices.” (Cambridge Journal of Education)  As we try new things, the classroom has to remain a safe place for students to try out new ideas and not be afraid to ask questions.

“It is clear something isn’t working in the American educational system right now.” (Eye on Education)  It is a great time to be an innovative teacher, we are on the cutting edge of changing the way schools look.  Teachers who embrace the change will allow innovation to change their classrooms. “Districts and schools always seem to be investing in the latest, greatest program to solve all of their problems.  It doesn’t work that way.  No one program contains all of the best answers.” (Burgess)  Stay true to yourself, collaborate with teachers that you trust and embrace the shift in education.

References:

Teach Like a Pirate, Dave Burgess

Cambridge Journal of Education: http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=6d0b8a42-6f1b-460a-9070-57393882f23f%40sessionmgr111&vid=10&hid=113

Eye on Education: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/01/27/eye-on-education-innovation-institute-introduces-kids-to-science/

Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teacher-collaboration-strategies-ben-johnson

Week 4 Reflection

This week I was able to contribute to our class in the following ways:

• I participated in the twitter meeting where I commented on each question that was posted and also commented on tweets of others.
• I helped on groups 2 wiki page, answering questions that Vicki’s students posted.  I also helped to clean up the wiki to make it look more professional.
• I was able to comment on the blog posts of others in our class.

I enjoyed reading the first two parts of Teach Like a Pirate and am looking forward to finishing the book and talking to Burgess.

How do we keep our lessons engaging? Does innovation play a part in this?

How do we keep our lessons engaging to our students?  That is the million dollar question….Burgess gives many suggestions in his book Teach Like a Pirate: some of the suggestions I liked the best include, setting the mood as students enter the room, have a killer hook to introduce the lesson, and bring energy to each and every class that you teach.

Burgess talks about how minor decisions regarding the setup of a teachers classroom can impact students in a major way.  As students enter the room do you have the lights on,  is there anything on the board, do we start with homework or go into an investigation, is there music on in the room?  “Music is an unbelievable state and mood changer.  It has the ability to touch our soul like few other mediums.” (Burgess)  All of these little decisions that teachers make on a day to day basis help set the mood  and get students in a state of mind to learn.

Many of Burgess suggestions to get students engaged in a lesson is to have a great hook.  Burgess incorporates movement, props, costumes, music, dance and drama, real world applications and much more to get students engaged and interested in what he has to teach them.  “When I am engaged, I don’t even pay attention to the passing time. However, when I am not engaged, it can feel like a class is never-ending.” (www.teachingchannel.org)  As teachers we can “layer in as many engaging strategies and techniques as can reasonably fit” (Burgess) and figure out what works for us and the group of students we have in class.  Trying to figure out what works is a good learning strategy for a teacher who is still figuring out who they are as a teacher.

I would love to see Burgess teach a class, the excitement and energy that he talks about in his book is contagious even on paper.  Students can tell when a teacher is having fun and enjoying the material that they are covering.  “We can tell if our teacher is engaged with the content they teach. If they don’t find it exciting, we won’t either.” (www.teachingchannel.org)  Students feed off from the energy that teachers put out into the classroom so it is our job to keep it up and help our students be engaged.

I believe teachers must be willing to take a risk and try new things and reflect and then revamp multiple times before a new creative lesson has reached its potential of student success.  Teachers must have the backing of their administration and also have teachers around them who are willing to have ideas bounced around.  I believe technology is a great way to try new and creative things during and after school hours.  “Technology, as one of a multitude of tools in the hands of an expert educator, can be undeniably powerful.” (Burgess) 

Research has “shown that learner engagement is paramount to learning success.” (http://web.a.ebscohost.com)  “Today’s students have grown up in a world of fast-paced, colorful, challenging interactivity, so today’s teachers must not only educate but also engage. This engagement must occur on the emotional, intellectual and physical levels.” (http://education.cu-portland.edu)  Many of the suggestions in Burgess’s book follow this same guideline and it makes a lot of sense to me.  If students are use to immediate feedback, lots of stimulation and the use of technology at their fingertips then this is what teachers are going to have to do in their lessons to keep them engaged in the material they are teaching.  

Resources:

Teach Like a Pirate, Burgess

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2013/12/04/student-playlist-engaging-lessons/

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f58e21d4-8779-4c95-b43e b5cad603614e%40sessionmgr4001&vid=6&hid=4101

http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/curriculum-instruction/strategies-for-engaging-under-performing-students/

http://www.apadivisions.org/division-16/publications/newsletters/school-psychologist/2005/01-issue.pdf#page=34

What is the rationale for the evaluation tool your group created to allow teachers to determine the use of serious games in the classroom?

This week my group created a rubric to use as an evaluation tool for serious games.  We started this task by individually listing all of the components/elements that we thought were important, those components included: correlates with learning objectives, has a variety of levels to challenge and accommodates all students, motivates students through engagement and unpredictable outcomes, builds problem solving skills, allows students to learn from their mistakes by constant and constructive feedback, and allows students to work collaboratively. These categories came by grouping all of our groups recommendations together and then rewording to make the criteria easier to read.  Finally, individually with a little tweaking, we all worked on the wording for the does not meet, meets and exceeds expectation categories.

We decided on a rubric for the evaluation tool because it is easy to read and another educator could use the rubric that we created and evaluate a serious game of their choice.  Rubrics are also consistent with what we are already using in our classrooms.

After this weeks twitter meeting, I like the idea of having a 2 part rubric; one for the teacher and one for the student.  I think it is important for the teacher to quickly scan and evaluate a serious game before the students play it.

A few online sites that I found useful in creating a rubric include: rubistar and iRubric.

“Yet, we are indeed at a true crossroads in education as far as the level of penetration in serious games and virtual worlds in the education and the economic sector.  I continue to be fascinated by the potential for learning through simulations and serious games.” (Serious Educational Game Assessment)

Week 2 Reflection

I really enjoyed the work we did as a class this week.  I liked thinking about the components of a serious game.  This was a hard task for me as I was able to come up with quite a list.  I narrowed my list down to my top 5 and am quite happy with what I came up with.  I think many of the elements of serious games are also important elements of a good teacher (I don’t think this is a coincidence).  My group worked very well this week on the wiki page.  We all contribute a great deal and we have been able to come up with a strategy that works for all of us and able to collaborate even though we live in different places.  The twitter meeting was again helpful this week, it helped me think through the question that we had as our topic to blog about.  

What are the common components of serious games?

After doing some reading, research and reflecting on serious games this week I’ve narrowed down my list to 5 factors.  The components of serious games that I have found include:

• Have specified learning goals and objectives – If teachers are going to use class time to have their students play serious games then the games must have learning goals and objectives to justify the time spent playing them.

• Personalized learning styles – A serious game must be able to customize a learning path to be exactly what a student needs at any time in their educational career.  Also if a computer can gauge the level of the player and cater to their learning style a student will be more successful.  There is just not enough time in the day to fill in all of the gaps that each of our students have developed over the years, games can analyze the standard that the individual student is missing and help to recover those specified tasks so that they are successful. Today’s children have grown up with technology at their fingertips and their learning styles are quite different than their parents.  Technology is just an extension of their everyday lives and this is often how they learn best.

• Immediate feedback – To keep the students attention, immediate and frequent feedback must be given to the student to let them know how they are doing.  This feedback will help the player make decisions on the rest of the game, motivate them to keep trying their best and influence the learning process.

• Challenging on many levels and appropriate for the player – To keep students interested, serious games need to be challenging but attainable for the individual playing the game.  “Moderate levels of complexity create intermediate levels of cortical arousal, which is both optimally pleasing to most interpreters and maximally efficient for learning in most instances.”  (Husain)

• Teach us to think and solve problems – Serious games should cover real world problems, these problems not only are interesting but can teach life long lessons.  “Video games have the power to change us, games can teach us to think and solve problems.” (Thomas)  Rote memorization and spitting out facts do not belong in serious games “they should be games and not just drill and practice.” (Husain)

References:

Click to access layla_husain_master_thesis_2011.pdf

http://edreach.us/2014/01/18/edgamer-126-gamifi-ed-empowers-students/

http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=etcpress

Click to access Video-Game%E2%80%93Based-Learning.pdf