Group items tagged

In my social studies classes I am a fan of games that go beyond the simple answer a question get a point and instead cause students to debate within and without their table group, think critically, and make a decision.  Games are not some aberration that teaches students to think life is a game, but instead is creating an environment that allows for difficult concepts to be acted out in a safe environment.

even if the game doesn’t come out great the teacher tried to be creative instead of hiding behind what “works". 

 I also think that at times to much has been pushed onto the “best practices” and has slowed creative thought.  The best practices have a place and they work very well when used properly, but when do we stop saying what teachers are doing is wrong because they don’t look like the person next door?  Are we all supposed to be clones teaching in the same way all the time?  I think not.  But I suppose that is a different topic to tackle on different post. 

Kathy Sierra, a popular technology blogger, author and game developer, believes that incentivizing learning-related behaviors poses risks. Sierra says rewards should be left at the classroom door. She is critical of the way gamification is practiced in the classroom, and believes well-intentioned educators may be missing the mark.

“A well-designed game only deploys certain mechanics to support an intrinsically rewarding experience,” Sierra explains. “When you remove that experience but keep the mechanics, you are now working from an entirely different psychology than actual games, and it is one that, in essence, uses mechanics to drive mechanical behaviors.”

Matthew Farber is not keen on the term “gamification”

come up with a philosophy of play

I believe in God the Playmate, Maker of every kind of place to play and every kind of playmate, both the visible and invisible.

I have to remind them again and again that we are only playing. They cannot fail. But somehow all the expectations to be good, to do it right get in the way of our natural

The 3 P’s It all comes down to what researchers call “explanatory style.” When bad things happen, what kind of story do you tell yourself? There are three important elements here. Let’s call them the 3 P’s: permanence, pervasiveness and whether it’s personal. Pessimists tell themselves that bad events: Will last a long time, or forever. (“I’ll never get this done.”) Are universal. (“You can’t trust any of those people.”) Are their own fault. (“I’m terrible at this.”) Optimists, well, they see it the exact opposite: Bad things are temporary. (“That happens occasionally but it’s no big deal.”) Bad things have a specific cause and aren’t universal. (“When the weatheris better that won’t be a problem.”) It’s not their fault. (“I’m good at this but today wasn’t my lucky day.”) Seligman explains: The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do, and are their own fault. The optimists, who are confronted with the same hard knocks of this world, think about misfortune in the opposite way. They tend to believe defeat is just a temporary setback, that its causes are confined to this one case. The optimists believe defeat is not their fault: Circumstances, bad luck, or other people brought it about. Such people are unfazed by defeat. Confronted by a bad situation, they perceive it as a challenge and try harder. And when good things happen, the situation reverses: Pessimists think good things will be short-lived, are rare and random. Optimists think good things will last forever, are universal and of their own doing. What’s the ultimate result of this? Pessimists often quit. Life feels futile. And when life feels futile, you stop trying and frequently get depressed. So now we understand the kind of thinking that underlies these positions… but how do you go from one to the other? Research shows you should act like a crazy person… Okay, I’ll be more specific.

2014 was a year of work. 2015 should be a year of fun. That's my resolution.

Indeed, wrestling myself away from my smartphone might be just the signal my muse needs to come around to visit me again

Relocating the muse

the Free Library of Philadelphia and

we’re inviting you to think about how you can tell a story using light.

deepening the conversation

More than any other aspect of digital texts, this sense of malleability is what I find most exciting as an educator because it helps us expand the definition of what constitutes writing and it reminds us that writing, just like all forms of creation, is a social practice in conversation with others in the world around us.