This week was frustrating because we were supposed to make a video based on our favorite part of Minecraft and I had no idea how to do that so I just went a totally different way with it. I probably did it completely wrong and not want Dr. Graham wanted at all but I made a movie and it had to do with Minecraft, not just our actual challenge.
So this week was all about gaming in the classroom and providing different opportunities for differentiation for our students through using games. I teach at the same school that I attended for fifteen years and a lot of the same teachers are still there doing exactly the same thing. For example when I was in eighth grade (2000-2001) we used Mavis Bacon for typing. I now have seventh graders taking typing and the only program the school still has is Mavis Bacon. The difference is I loved Mavis Bacon because it was on the computer so it was fun because Google had just become a popular search engine (at least at my school) so the computer and internet were still new and exciting. Now the kids haven’t lived life without internet so they don’t realize how boring their lives could actually be in school. I guess the real challenge for me now is to help teachers realize that they could be doing a lot more fun and exciting things in their classrooms besides worksheets. I think the best part of it all is that there are so many free game sites that your school doesn’t even have to have the money to put into these things. It’s just motivating all the teachers to actually use the resources that are available to them when so many of them have been teaching for so long and are “stuck in their ways.”
Minecraft this week was very entertaining for me. I accomplished nothing but digging holes in the ground because that’s all I know how to do besides move, but it was fun listening to other people who were getting frozen. I also enjoyed Twitter again this week. I didn’t think I would like Twitter meetings when the class first started. I dreaded Wednesday nights, but now out of the three nights I have classes, Wednesdays are my favorite because I can be part of the class without saying anything, just have to type, and that’s what’s best for me.
So this week was all about gaming in the classroom and providing different opportunities for differentiation for our students through using games. I teach at the same school that I attended for fifteen years and a lot of the same teachers are still there doing exactly the same thing. For example when I was in eighth grade (2000-2001) we used Mavis Bacon for typing. I now have seventh graders taking typing and the only program the school still has is Mavis Bacon. The difference is I loved Mavis Bacon because it was on the computer so it was fun because Google had just become a popular search engine (at least at my school) so the computer and internet were still new and exciting. Now the kids haven’t lived life without internet so they don’t realize how boring their lives could actually be in school. I guess the real challenge for me now is to help teachers realize that they could be doing a lot more fun and exciting things in their classrooms besides worksheets. I think the best part of it all is that there are so many free game sites that your school doesn’t even have to have the money to put into these things. It’s just motivating all the teachers to actually use the resources that are available to them when so many of them have been teaching for so long and are “stuck in their ways.”
Minecraft this week was very entertaining for me. I accomplished nothing but digging holes in the ground because that’s all I know how to do besides move, but it was fun listening to other people who were getting frozen. I also enjoyed Twitter again this week. I didn’t think I would like Twitter meetings when the class first started. I dreaded Wednesday nights, but now out of the three nights I have classes, Wednesdays are my favorite because I can be part of the class without saying anything, just have to type, and that’s what’s best for me.