Class with Kristin
Class with Jeff
We started off with a translation game. I was pretty excited to figure it out, so I jumped right into it without thinking why we were doing this. I eventually started working with Mike and Lisa to figure out a few things that were unclear. Like the shaking hands in the shape of a heart. Heh. Once we started the discussion about this, Erin made a comment about how it would have been helpful to her if she had an objective. That reminded me of one of my engineering classes where the prof asked us on the first day of class to calculate how many ping pong balls were could fit in a room of so-and-so dimensions. While everyone started working diligently, I raised my hands and asked why we would need to do that. As it turns out, that was the point of the exercise, is to question its validity and usefulness. X years later, I’ve become the other students. It’s important to know why you’re doing something and what goal it will help you accomplish, either in the long run or short term. But then we go back to gaming, it’s just fun. That puzzle was fun (yes, puzzles are fun). So the takeaway here is that learning can be fun. You can use fun things to help students learn. And I would like to follow Jeff’s advice to think of my classroom as a type of game, and develop rules for that game so everyone can play. I just have to figure out a way to do it effectively.
We started setting up our
portfolio in class today. Well, not the actual portfolio, but the tool we’ll be
using for our portfolio. I had a lot of fun doing it. It was an easy program
and it was very intuitive. I wanted to test out all the themes and all the
buttons and make my practice portfolio snazzy, but there was no time for
snazziness. In all honesty, I didn’t think of weebly as a portfolio site, I
thought of it more of a CTools, but for high school and middle school students.
It’s where they will get all their information for the class, announcements,
assignments, important dates or calendar, updates… etc. I’m still unsure of the
student portfolio though. I think it’s a good idea, but I’m not yet convinced
that it’s something I’ll definitely
have in my class.
We started off with a translation game. I was pretty excited to figure it out, so I jumped right into it without thinking why we were doing this. I eventually started working with Mike and Lisa to figure out a few things that were unclear. Like the shaking hands in the shape of a heart. Heh. Once we started the discussion about this, Erin made a comment about how it would have been helpful to her if she had an objective. That reminded me of one of my engineering classes where the prof asked us on the first day of class to calculate how many ping pong balls were could fit in a room of so-and-so dimensions. While everyone started working diligently, I raised my hands and asked why we would need to do that. As it turns out, that was the point of the exercise, is to question its validity and usefulness. X years later, I’ve become the other students. It’s important to know why you’re doing something and what goal it will help you accomplish, either in the long run or short term. But then we go back to gaming, it’s just fun. That puzzle was fun (yes, puzzles are fun). So the takeaway here is that learning can be fun. You can use fun things to help students learn. And I would like to follow Jeff’s advice to think of my classroom as a type of game, and develop rules for that game so everyone can play. I just have to figure out a way to do it effectively.
Shaza,
ReplyDeleteI took the time to listen to the latest talk from Jane McGonigal which was just posted to YouTube this month. Thanks for the suggestion. It was an interesting explanation on how one can take control of one's life under very difficult circumstances and how the power of a positive attitude and actions can have a strong impact on an individual and those with whom that individual interacts.
I agree with your comments from today's class. Every day is a good day, but Friday's are special.
Shaza, I have similar thoughts about using the Weeblys for my future students as portfolios. I was so pleased with how easy it was to create (and no code!), and think it will be a useful tool for me as a professional. I am still shaping exactly how I will use it come fall.
ReplyDeleteClassroom as a game, with rules so everyone can play... that's gold.
I was critiqued by a supervisor for the dryness of my teaching and was exhorted to make the lessons fun. "Learning should be fun!" she said. I knew going into teaching high school French or Latin or German that I would be using songs and skits and colorful posters in the classroom and be less cerebral. On the other hand, however, my (hundreds of) college students have never complained of class being un-fun, and actually found the material engaging and my humor (believe it or not) something that made the class fun. I *am* going to learn and use songs to learn the dative prepositions and irregular verb paradigms, and plan to have the students put on Latin plays, make posters, and go to Rome. But fun takes place on the higher cognitive level as well. French 'amusement' suggests this: engagement with the Muses. German 'Zerstreuung' shows the darker side of fun. It literally means 'to destroy by means of strewing' or simply 'dissemination.' It scatters the mind, if entertainingly. So the question remains: To what extent can the activity of playing video games involve *real* learning?
ReplyDeleteThe classroom as a game idea makes a lot of sense to me, even when I have a hard time wrapping my mind around games IN my classroom. To be successful teachers, we have to have an objective or goal. There's going to be challenges and obstacles along the way, but in the end, you get rush when you beat the level.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I'd like it to be, at least. I don't know if it will be that easy because nothing is that easy, be it a video game, teaching a class, or even getting out of bed in the morning.
I area with you about weebly. It was nice, clean and easy. I like nice, clean and easy. If I was teaching some kind of senior seminar class or the like, I see myself implementing it in a hot second. But I'm teaching 11th grade US history. I don't know if, based on what I've seen of my curriculum, if it's going to work well with that.
You started a good conversation here, Shaza. To me, thinking of my subject as a kind of game, or at least as a kind of system, offers a way to step back and see my subject through slightly different eyes. This, in turn, has the promise of opening us up to seeing new ways of presenting our subject, to perhaps open the possibility of doing what sociologists call "making the familiar strange."
ReplyDeleteIt's all about trying to find entry points for those kids for whom physics and math don't come so naturally...
I think I'll probably use a Weebly or website as a CTools type thing as it seems like it could be beneficial for students ass well as eliminate a lot of time wasting questions like "when is ____ due" as for using it as a portfolio maker I'm still unsure. You make a good point about questioning why we are doing certain things (something I fear too few of us do often enough), its definitely important that we make it clear to our students why we are asking them to do certain things. I think its also important that we promote that questioning thinking that you had in class.
ReplyDeleteI am actually excited about my portfolio and plan to actually use it! I want a teacher blog or website and then I plan to have a seperate site for my classes or maybe tab!
ReplyDeleteGood luck!