Gaming in the Classroom: Making Learning Meaningful and Fun

One thing we are being asked to do as educators is to push or students to higher order thinking - even in Pre - K. From reading the Betrus and Botter article, it was interesting to hear how gaming (if chosen appropriately) gets students to think beyond surface level understanding and push their minds to think more complex about different topics. Oftentimes, different stimulant games put students in roles of other individuals, and by playing the game they are showing their understanding of system components and relationships. As such, the game provides itself not only as the lesson for the students but as an assessment tool as well - without the student feeling the pressure of testing. As teachers, we can look back on the student's performance and ability to play the game to determine whether or not they understand the concept being taught through the game. This article did a great job of breaking down the benefits and complications of gaming in the classroom; however, if implemented appropriately, I think gaming could truly push students to higher level thinking in a way that is engaging and exciting for them. 

While reading this article, I kept thinking about Bloom's Taxonomy and how that can be referred to in order to help us teachers push our students with gaming in the classroom. I found a reference guide for gaming and blooms that incorporates all levels blooms as well as different games that can be implemented to target different orders of thinking. Though stimulant-type games aren't incorporated, this is at least a brief guide that can help us consider the types of games it takes to push students to think at different levels. 

Betrus, A. & Botter, L. (2010). "Principles of playing games for learning."  In Playing Games in School (Ch 2).

zulama.com

Given the Minecraft in Education Article, it is evident that Minecraft can be used in any subject or content area to apply student knowledge. My favorite part was the foreign language bit. What an incredible idea! I enjoyed learning a foreign language, but it was difficult to deeply comprehend and remember all of the vocabulary because we never applied the information. With minecraft, student's are applying the vocabulary and foreign language content to play an interactive game that is engaging and fun for them. It is also purposeful, as they look to survive the game by showing their foreign language knowledge to read and interpret signs and steps of the game. As such, the language is more likely to stick because they're using different modes of application to understand the content. 

www.techtimes.com

This short video clip shows how to incorporate Minecraft in a foreign language class from a teacher's perspective. 

Graphite/Common Sense Media is such an incredible resource for gaming in the classroom! I could not stop exploring different tabs to look for games to use with my pre-kinders. I'm excited to implement several into my lessons this week, including Mr. Nussbaum! Learning And Fun This website covers all content areas and are separated by grade level and content to make it easy to navigate for teachers in order to find the best game for your learners. Another site I really enjoyed was Edheads. I'd never heard of this site before, but found myself playing a weather game for about 10 minutes (so engaging!). What was great about the game I was playing was that although it was weather content, there were literacy (reading and following directions step by step, decoding a map key, etc.) and social studies skills (reading a map, state knowledge) incorporated all within this one game. Though this is for older students, 3rd and up, it is an incredible resource that incorporates a variety of literacy skills in a way that is appealing for students. 

Can you hear me now? (Speaking and Listening)

If you ask anyone if they’ve ever multitasked, they will tell you that they have. Especially teachers! It was interesting to read the research behind multitasking and it’s effect on our focus and productivity. We feel as though we are being more productive when we work on multiple things at the same time; however, we are exhausting ourselves even more so by covering a variety of tasks. During an effective teaching workshop, the speakers specifically said they nobody can multitask and they made a special point to say “the women in here will not like hearing this”. They didn’t go into much detail as to why we cant multitask, so I intrigued and felt it was a bit ironic that this is what the chapter partially covered.  Specifically, multitasking has mental fatigue set in faster. This explains so much. While I’m planning and prepping my lessons, I “multitask” and try to accomplish a multitude of things at the same time. It is certainly exhausting, but I felt at the time that I  was getting more done by taking that approach than I would have if I did one task at a time. Jokes on me. It makes complete sense that if our brain is operating on multiple tasks at the same time, we are thinking about all of the details that go into each of those tasks. Whereas, focusing on one task at a time gives us all the focus to accomplish that one task without the distraction of other things going on. This connects into mindfulness in a way because mindfulness strives on focusing on “the now”. By taking your to do list and focusing on one task at a time, you can set your mind on “the now” of each of those items one at a time while you complete them.

www.businessinsider.com

Hyler and Hicks also talk about the importance of teaching listening and speaking skills to students. I feel like there is more pressure for primary/pre-k/k teachers to teach these skills because the students can continue to develop these skills as they get older. Similarly, if they don’t have these skills in the primary grades, it will be much more difficult for them to  do required speaking and listening tasks in the upper grade levels, high school and beyond. During our effective teaching seminar, one of their motto’s was “if you want something, teach it”. If you want your students to listen well and speak properly, teach them how to do that. This isn’t an easy task. As I reflected on my group, listening is very difficult for students in pre-k. Partially because developmentally some students just aren’t at the school structure mindset yet. With some research, I found this great e-book resource that covers different ways to get students or children to listen. I recommend taking a look at it - definitely worth a read! 

www.towermarketing.net

Additionally, I considered how much of an impact parenting has on students speaking well and listening in school. There is one student in my class that sticks out for this. Since day 1, I never had to worry about her not using her manners or listening to me. I know her family and she comes from very supportive and involved parents. Her grandparents were in education: a principal and a kindergarten teacher. Given this environment and structure growing up, she has been taught to listen, behave properly and follow directions which has carried over to her classroom behavior flawlessly. Do you think there is a line between teaching students how to listen and speak well and parenting? 

Mediating Social Thought through Digital Storytelling

We know the power of storytelling. Students have the opportunity to stretch their imagination, bring to light their thoughts and experiences, and share their personal matter through the telling of stories. With digital storytelling, students are exposed to a new literacy of using not only their imagination to tell a story, but multiple forms of media to bring their thoughts to life.

http://captura.llanogrande.org

The example in the article focused on a group of migrant high schoolers who created a digital story depicting the social problem of domestic violence against women. The article went on to describe how the students portrayed their topic through the use of a digital story. Without even watching the story, it was incredibly moving. Digital Storytelling allows for multiple forms of media and technology to intertwine in order to evict more emotion by capturing the audiences senses of sight and sound. By displaying pictures and words with background music or sound effects, the author(s) can elicit a specific response from their audeince in order to get the message or purpose of the story across. It was truly amazing to hear about the collaboration and thought process from the high schoolers regarding this project. Not only did they have to do the background research, but they also had to combine multiple elements of media that all encompassed the topic of domestic violence in order to tell their digital story. This is a great example of a way to incorporate digital storytelling in the classroom. By having students collaborate on social issues, they can discuss real-world matters with their peers and use their imagination and creativity to present a story to their classmates regarding a pressing issue through the use of pictures, video, audio clips and music.

The process of creating the story itself is such a learning opportunity for students. I think teachers would be silly not to take advantage of this incredible tool. Oftentimes, teachers worry about time (or lack of) for projects such as digital story telling. However, if teachers really educate themselves on the ins and outs of digital storytelling, they can be the top resource for their students, and be pro-active in the trouble-shooting process by telling them exactly what they need to know in order to create their own digital story. I found a prezi-presentation that links digital storytelling to the common core standards. Thus, there is no excuse to not incorporate digital storytelling in the classroom! Prezi on Digital Storytelling (with student examples)

Additionally, I found a great resource for digital storytelling, but it also had student examples that cover social issues just like the study in the article. It's mind-boggling to me what students are capable of through this media.

www.storycenter.org

How could this project be modified for students at the elementary level? 

Scott Nixon, A. (2009) Mediating social thought through digital storytelling.  Pedagogies, 4(1), 63-76.

The Rest of The Story

Narrative Writing

Narrative writing comes naturally to some students. For others, a lot of them have a difficult time putting their thoughts into words. For some, they even struggle with picking an idea to focus their narrative on. This text provided us with multiple ways to incorporate technology with narrative writing. One quote that really stuck out to me in this reading was, "Without a doubt, we want students to both see themselves, literally and figuratively, in the narratives they write" (Hyler and Hicks, p.37). In today's generation of students, I think incorporating technology with narrative writing provides and even better opportunity to see student's personal voice and flair in their writing. The book discussed using writer's workshop for narrative (or really any type) of writing. Writer worskhop provides a great opportunity not only for students to experience the writing process with different genres of writing, but also for a teacher to get small group or even one-on-one time with their students and build rapport with each and every one of them. Additionally, by working one on one with students in their narratives, we are getting to know them through their writing as well. Some students come across as shy, but you get a sense of who they are through the things that they write about - especially with the narrative writing genre. 

I loved reading about the opportunities digital storytelling creates for student writers. When reading, I couldn't help but feel it was targeting older students in upper elementary or even high school. As a UPK teacher, I tend to have the primary grades in mind when reading about incorporating technology in the classroom. As such, I did some exploring on the internet, and came across a great resources that discusses six different iPad apps that are elementary appropriate and great for digital storytelling! Consider this a "Find Six" from Educator's Technology :)

Hyler, J., & Hicks, T. (2014). Create, compose, connect!: Reading, writing and learning with digital tools. 

Mindfulness

According to Dr. Amy Saltzman, mindfulness is "paying attention to your life, here and now, with kindness and curiosity" (Saltzman, p.1). To me, the two key terms in this definition is kindness and curiosity. Kindness goes a long way, and unfortunately seems to be a lacking character trait in many individuals these days. Additionally, curiosity is one of the most critical skills in children, but unfortunately it seems to evaporate for many over time. I think both kindness and curiosity are critical components for learning and living, so I enjoyed this definition of mindfulness since it encompassed both of these traits.

        An important point Saltzman made in this article was that we ask students to pay attention yet we never teach them how. I observe this over and over again in the classroom. Many times, teachers will ask students to do something (multiple times) yet they never teach them HOW to do something, so the fact that they expect this from their students is a little silly. Paying attention is a great example. Recently, I took an Effective Teaching workshop through BOCES. Through this professional development training, I was taught to assume nothing when it comes to having a group of students on day 1 in your classroom. That means, it is our responsibility as their educator to teach them how to raise their hand, how to walk into your classroom, how to come prepared for school, how to walk in the hallway, etc. That way, the students are on "your agenda" and understand your expectations because you taught them your expectations. I think teachers lose sight of this when it comes to behavior management because they end up spending so much time redirecting behavior and yelling, when it could be a simple fix of "re-teaching" the student the particular task they seem to be forgetting, or maybe not even know in the first place.
       It is Friday afternoon, and I'm just getting around to reading this article. I love the idea of the "Still Quiet Place" for meditation in the classroom with young ones. I really wish I would have read this earlier in the week and tried it with my group of UPKers. I'll definitely try it on Monday and report back on how they reacted. I have some bold personalities, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes! Additionally, I looked up mindfulness in the classroom and came across an article that discusses mindfulness in higher education. The article also includes different examples to try in the classroom, though some ideas are expansive they can easily be differentiated to fit a variety of learners and grade levels.
      As I think from a literacy specialist perspective, I know we are very limited with our time with students. Oftentimes, we only see groups of students for 30 minutes a day. The article stated a simple 5-15 minute session will help younger children become familiar with the Still Quiet Place. Would you incorporate mindfulness meditation/the still quiet place in your room as a literacy specialist even though you're already pressed/limited for time? If so, how?

*Update: Do you ever wake up early on a Saturday morning and decide you want to watch the news and stay really attentive on everything going on in the world to start your weekend? Yeah, me neither. But for some reason, that's how I started my weekend, and am I sure glad I did! While I was watching, one of the segments that came on was about meditation. What are the chances?! Turns out, one of the news casters had a panic attack ON AIR while he was giving a news report and has since turned to meditation. From that, he wrote a book and has an app (Free!.... at first)  to help people start the meditation process. The app has different videos and readings that allows you to mediate anywhere anytime, at your convenience. I immediately downloaded the app and perused through to see it's features. It's called 10% happier, and I recommend it if you're now motivated to start meditating on  your own.

It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens by D. Boyd

Chapter 2: Privacy 

At one point in our lives, we were all teenagers. We all understand the struggle of trying to keep our lives private, especially from our parents and other adults. However, there was also a certain part of our life that we wanted public and shared - especially with friends. Today's teens have a bigger challenge with this private/public balance because so much of their life and sharing takes place online through social networking. As Boyd explains in this chapter, "There’s a big difference between being in public and being public. Teens want to gather in public environments to socialize, but they don’t necessarily want every vocalized expression to be publicized." This is difficult in terms of social media because online conversations, such as comments and posts on Facebook, can easily be viewed by the public and other individuals you may not necessarily want to be involved in that "conversation".

 Network privacy is a more difficult type of privacy to acquire than the privacy of teens prior to those in the technology age. For example, some teens may have taken their friends to their room, posted a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, and whispered a conversation in hopes of nobody eavesdropping. Today, teens have a lot of conversations online or through text messaging. However, these words are written not spoken. As such, the conversation can easily be accessed long after it's over. This could bring up controversy as time passes. Network privacy take skill, knowledge and awareness of policies, programs and conditions to fully understand in its entirety. As such, teens need to be aware of the program and network they are using, and it's privacy policy. Without the knowledge and skill of navigating a network appropriately, a conversation or information may not be as private as one would assume.  As Boyd states in this chapter, "Much to many adults' surprise, teens aren't looking to hide; they just want privacy". Thus, we know teens want privacy. However, it is important for them to be knowledgeable of network privacy in order to achieve the privacy they are looking for.

Chapter 7: Literacy

This chapter focuses on the question of today's youths being digital natives. This was very interesting for me to read because that is such a common term I hear lately regarding individuals who were born in this technology era. After reading the chapter, I very much agree that not everyone born after a certain date is a digital native. To be a digital native, you really have to immerse yourself in the world of technology and understand the ins and outs, multiple uses and variety of skills that go with technologies. As such, a 14 year old with an Instagram account isn't a digital native solely because she was born in a year where technology was very much present in the world around her. Rather, an individual, regardless of age, who utilizes many forms of technology, has a variety of skills to teach and understand technology, and connects with others by doing so is a digital native. By definition, according to this chapter,  “Digital natives share a common global culture that is defined not by age, strictly, but by certain attributes and experiences related to how they interact with information technologies, information itself, one another, and other people and institutions. Those who were not ‘born digital’ can be just as connected, if not more so, than their younger counterparts. And not everyone born since, say, 1982, happens to be a digital native.” This quote truly summed up what it means to be digitally  native. Again, age has nothing to do with whether or not someone is digitally native. Rather, their use of the digital world makes them digitally native.

Similarly, this article written by Mark Prensky talks about teaching a generation of students very familiar with the world of technology and the challenges faced by teachers who are less familiar with technology than their students. It provides a different perspective on the term digital native, but still interesting to read relative to the world of modern education education.