The first and last time I played a video game was Pacman on my brother's Atari 2600. June 7, 1982: the sweatiest day in Texas history. Many years from now, on my deathbed, this will be one of the moments from my life that will pass before my eyes. The constant "woka-woka" caused a lifetime of neurosis, the graphics permanently crossed my eyes, and the joystick crippled my hands. Pacman is more than likely the reason why I never married, thus shattering my poor mother's frail heart. It is what caused my chronic asthma and occasional snoring. It is the only reason why I lecture ten year olds on the dangers of Fortnite and GTA. In my humble, yet highly informed opinion, there is no room for gaming in the classroom! Ok, enough of that. Like the internet, computers, and cell phones, gaming is here to stay. In 2018 alone, $43 billion were spent on video games. In less than a year after its release in June of 2017, 126 million players were tuned into Fortnite. When the Fortnite app launched to the iPhone, it accrued $2 million a day. What does this mean? Our kids really, really love video games. What does this mean to us as teachers? We are the proud owners of some really cool tools that'll get these kids motivated to learn! Teachers have always used games in the classroom. When I started my teaching career, my Aunt Marianne shared some cards games and whole body activities that she used to help students master skills in "arithmetic, reading and social science." She was a teacher way back in the 1960s and 1970s. She learned the games from her mother who used them when she was a schoolmarm in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1971, a decade before Ms. Pacman and my carpal tunnel syndrome, Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger created the educational, text-based video game called The Oregon Trail. They created the video game to teach school-aged children about pioneer life on the Oregon Trail in the 1800s. At first, Don Rawitsch, an 8th grade history teacher in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was not sure if his students would like the game. However, when kids were lining up at his door after school to play his video game, he knew he had a winner. We can say that The Oregon Trail was the granddaddy of the digital educational game movement. It inspired the creation of several other educational, text-based video games, like The Amazon Trail and Africa Trail. Today's iCivics follows that long line of educational video games. It was created by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to educate students on citizenship and civic education. Game-based learning tools and gamification have a solid place in education. According to the Handbook of Games and Simulations in Learning, digital gaming provides students with significant life skills. Gaming encourages students to be curious, take-risks, solve problems and try again when they fail. Games provide a safe place for students to hone these skills. Because of my background in writing, I'm drawn to digital games that provide a platform for students to be creative thinkers and problem solvers.
Currently, I've been exploring the following free game-based learning platforms for the next school year. My plan is to incorporate high-interest, interactive games into my language arts and math instruction in a setting where all students are actively engaged and participating. * Quill.org: An interactive digital tool that teaches grammar, vocabulary and skills. * NoRedInk: Personalized, high-interest adaptive writing activities, plus feedback * iCivics: game-based digital learning tool with a persuasive writing component * Quizlet and Quizzez: provide short answer writing opportunities disguised as games This year, I'm using Pixton's online writing platform to teach my students how to develop an original graphic novel or comic book for our final writing project. It's not a video game, but students create avatars, create settings, and decide the fate of their characters, a bit like Sims. For myself, I've installed the WriQ Google extension to make my life so much easier. This tool was designed to help the busy writing teacher quickly provide feedback to her students. WriQ does most of the work for the teacher, so that one-to-one writing conferences run smoother and faster. The benefit is that the teacher will be able to conference with more students in one class period. Teachers have used games throughout the history of organized educational systems. Playing games to reinforce skills and concepts has proven to be an indispensable tool in the classroom. Just like card games and interactive physical games, digital games provide a plethora of benefits for learning.
6 Comments
The most important message that you should take from my Writing Conference 2019 is this: Technology IS a part of the writing process.
I have always been a proponent of using technology as a writing tool. Websites like Dictionary.com, Synonym.com and Thesaurus.com have become indispensable. I could not begin to imagine a world without word processors like Google Docs or Microsoft Word. It's inconceivable! However, as a teacher of writing, I was very old school in my way of thinking about how I taught writing. I believed that the writing process began with an inspired idea jotted down on a piece of paper, then fleshed out on a piece of paper, edited and revised on a piece of paper, and finally polished on a piece of paper. Students would go through a ream of 50 sheets of paper for one essay alone. I dreamed about saving acres of endangered woodland by making the switch to digital, but I was hesitant because there must be something magical that happens on a sheet paper. After all, Fitzgerald, Austen, and Shakespeare never, ever did possess a shiny black Dell. Right? There's something about the hand-brain connection that produces better writers. Right? What I learned through the evolution of my practice is that great writing comes from an inspired MIND. The medium, whether it is paper-pencil, stone-chisel, keyboard-latte, doesn't really, really matter. As teachers of writing, what we should do FIRST is inspire great ideas for our students to write about. Focus on great content, think about how you're going to teach it to the best of your ability, and how to use technology to enhance those great ideas. Think TPACK. I'm so glad Punya Mishra and Matthew Koehler came up with the TPACK model because heaven knows I would not have come up with such an ingenious theory. Most teachers of writing know how to effectively teach the writing process. They also know what subjects their students find interesting and inspiring. Where they might struggle is finding a writing platform that meets their needs. The number one need for me is that it has to be FREE. Free, free, free. Any California teacher will tell you that we can only deduct $250 for work expenses. Luck for us, there are several tech tools out there in the world wide web that are still free. One that I plan to explore is Pixton, where students can create comics, storyboards, and graphic novels. But if some day, Pixton sadly joins Storybird in the world of "for-profit" educational digital tools, there is always Google (Yes! You have to PAY for Storybord now). Google Classroom, Google Docs, and Google Slides can be utilized to help students create works of writing art. My friends at Google share that they are constantly working on ideas to improve the educational experience teachers and students. Don't be afraid of using technology WITHIN your writing program. It doesn't minimize the writing experience. In fact, with explicit instruction and clear expectations, it can enhance it. Don't use technology solely for "publishing." Incorporate technology throughout the writing process, especially in the editing and revising phases. Google Docs and Microsoft Word have built-in editing tools that help students revise and correct their writing faster and easier compared to traditional methods. I have found that most writing students become frustrated and exhausted when they have to rewrite and rewrite several drafts. Eliminate that stress by switching to digital tools. Last but not least, think outside the box. Last month, we had problems with Storybird due to a glitch in their system. My class lost access to their accounts, therefore they were not able to write their stories. So, we used Google Slides instead. My students used the slides as "pages," and illustrated them with Google images. It was actually better than Storybird because my students had a bit more control over the images. Writing will always be a huge part of the human experience. Technology is here to stay. Let's enjoy everything the combination have to offer. Thank you for attending The Tess Giner Writing Conference 2019! Happy Writing! Technology is supposed to make our lives easier. That's the huge selling point. It's the cheeseburger of the 21st Century. A cheeseburger has everything you need in a compact, easy to use package: the meat, dairy, vegetable, and bread. Viola. It's all there. Instant nutrition. Screencastify was supposed to be the Provolone on my Google Slide Deck burger. Instead, I just got some bitter-tasting, soy cheese-flavored product. I had a very hard time recording my lovely, melodious voice over my Slide Deck. I wanted a full screen presentation because I believed that it made for a more professional look. But I couldn't get it to work! So after literally hours of trying, I scrapped it, and picked another video maker...iMovie. iMovie is awesome! In fifteen minutes, I transferred the individual jpegs of my Google Slide Deck to my iPad Photo Gallery. From there, I moved them to iMovie. Clicked here, clicked there. In two shakes of a hummingbird's tail, the slides perfectly aligned into movie form. Recording my voice was a cool summer afternoon breeze. Oh, so wonderful! Editing was a snap. All I had to do was upload my iMovie onto my Youtube channel. Nothing. Nothing at all. I couldn't believe it. Why do the Tech Gods hate me so!? I watched every video I could find in hopes that I could fix this absolutely maddening situation I was in. Flabbergasted, I watched a video by some ten year old boy-genius who promised that he had the solution, but sadly, even he could not pull me out of this putrid techno-mire. Until someone takes pity on my poor soul, my iMovie is stuck in my iPad indefinitely. Some of you already have a Youtube Channel. Man, was I envious, so I signed up asap. It's been sitting in the light web, dormant, waiting for my premier iMovie. The Dust Bowl: Using Significant Historical Events to Develop Setting in Narrative Writing was going to be my first opus in a long line of opi. Not yet, apparently! Despite how polite it may sound, Youtube's message hurts down to the bare bone: "This channel doesn't have any content." Now, with all of these unfortunately negative experiences, you'd think I was anti-technology in the classroom. Nope, far from it. I'm in what you call the Learning Pit. It's the pits, but it's helping me to become a better teacher to these modern kids who are growing up so quickly in the 21st Century. ====================== I've been following two exceptional teachers on Twitter: Jennifer Gonzalez and Catlin Tucker. I was made aware of Flipped Classrooms back in our 701 class. I thought it was a very innovative way of looking at instruction, but I had some concerns. In her article, "Flipped Classroom 101: Challenges, Benefits & Design Tips," Ms. Tucker validates those concerns by addressing what I was thinking the flipped classrooms would promote: * Students without internet access at home would fall behind * More and more screen time for those who do * Having to deal with students who don't do homework * Overloading kids who are already exhausted with schoolwork with heavy-duty homework. However, she stresses that despite how valid these concerns are, teachers should still try flipping their classrooms with the in-class flip. She writes that instead of sending the videos home, I could "blend my video content into a station rotation lesson." I could weave my other videos into my whole groups lessons. This takes care of the problems that sending videos home could stir up. Jennifer Gonzalez encourages you not to give up if the in-class flipped model seems to not be working up to your expectations. In her complementary article "Modifying the Flipped Classroom: The "In-Class" Version." Ms. Gonzalez reports that research shows that the flipped classroom model has shown an increase in student achievement and positive attitudes toward school. She suggests that pre-recorded lectures are a station in class, while other related activities make up the other two stations. This frees up the teacher to conduct one-to-one or very small group time with students. One of the perks that I really appreciate is that front-loading information allows students to think about the subject before the group gets together for the classroom discussion. Students come to the discussion with ideas, questions and observations already in their heads. They have been thinking about the topic, so it sets the mood for a better learning experience. Despite my run of bad luck with online tools this week, I still believe that they are a must in any writing classroom. My new driving question centers on how I can better use online tools to motivate reluctant writers. The flipped in-class model may give my kids a sense of control. And, in all honesty, that exactly what I want them to feel; that they control their education. UPDATE!!!!!!
I couldn't let it go! I looked for help on Youtube one more time. AND I FOUND IT! A very, very young man (I can tell by the sound of his adolescent voice) who goes by the name of Ice Sodumb is a genius. His instructions were so simple and so clear, I almost cried. Here's his helpful video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouDwetVT_-M This kid is going to be my new Twitter buddy. Now, let's see what he knows about Screencastify. Here's a link to my glorious and long awaited video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uzKPLcoVfE |
Tess Giner
This is my 25th year as a public school teacher. I've taught every grade between Kindergarten and 12th grade. I hope to encourage my students to love writing and reading as much as I do. Archives
July 2019
Categories |