This week was, I hope, really groundbreaking for me in terms of directing my teaching style and philosophy. I have been studying and working with a serious lack of student engagement within my class. I knew that my students complained of working on an essay for 20 minutes or would rush through an assignment and turn it in with obvious errors that they could have corrected. I also knew that my students play hours of video games every day after school. Instead of considering how the games were providing such an engaging experience for my students, I resented the games and used them as evidence of my students' ability to work hard. "If you can play a game for 2 hours without stopping, you can certainly write for 30 minutes without stopping." But the couldn't, or the wouldn't, and this week has finally opened my eyes as to why. They didn't want to.
I was born in 1990 so video games were certainly around when I was a child, but they were almost entirely marketed to boys. I am an only child to parents who thought that any screen was the enemy of an intelligent mind and so I never owned and rarely played any video or computer games growing up. So I have never understood why people enjoyed these games so much. There were two games, however, that I did love and play as much as I was allowed to. These were Oregon Trail and Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego? These games were not just games, they were experiences! Experiences that taught me something new, put me in charge as the decision maker, and gave me a sense of accomplishment. ( I must note that I never got to Oregon on the Oregon Trail, but I was a very reckless pioneer.) It was in thinking about these games and watching the videos about the value of gaming in the classroom and in the world that finally allowed me to understand the potential that game-based learning has for my classroom. I have always had this dream of a class where all of my students are enthusiastic about working hard, collaborating, and persevering through challenges. Most teachers will chuckle to themselves about the ridiculousness of this idea, my classroom of Eden. But what I realized this week is that that world already exists in the video game world. All I need to do is figure out how to incorporate video games effectively into my classroom. I was thinking about how I could encourage my students to work hard at the things they dislike the most with the use of games. The thing that many 4th graders despise doing is revising their writing. Meaning making improvements to their own writing. Imagine what the introduction of a quest could do for student engagement in this area. Students could earn badges for making different kinds of revisions and when they have amassed enough badges they arrive at "Best Essay World" where all the writing is beautiful and essays are above average. I had a kindergarten teacher who taught me to love and be excited by the learning process. To love the struggle because it leads to growth and to see learning as an exciting adventure we all get to partake in. That perspective on learning changed my life and for the past three years I have been trying and failing to provide the same experience for my students. I think that by "gamifying" my classroom, I just might be more successful in reaching my classroom of Eden.
5 Comments
Alicia Martin
4/28/2018 08:46:07 pm
It's funny thinking back to our childhood and the games that we played. I also played Oregon Trail. I also remember learning how to type by playing Mario Teaches Typing. I think a lot of teachers have that same idea of having a "classroom of Eden." I think we all know nothing can be perfect but incorporating games is a great start. I love your idea, I can't wait to see how it turns out. I have never used the new Class Dojo, but I wonder if that can be used in your idea.
Reply
Scott Marsden
4/29/2018 02:00:38 pm
Madeleine,
Reply
Shawn
4/29/2018 02:44:24 pm
Change is always hard. I know that with many of my team mates this phrase could not be more true. Each and everyday they are fighting with their students to keep them engaged and sticking with their old practices. Expecting their students to conform to them instead of them changing to meet their students. I heard someone say to me once that good effective teaching and lesson planning will have the students majority of the work. I took this to heart and it changed how I presented lesson. How could I put the leaning more on my students and less on me. shoot, I already know this stuff. So I started to look at what my were interested in and how I could use that to my advantage. Keep up the great work.
Reply
Scott Marsden
5/1/2018 06:52:22 pm
This is so important, Shawn! School shouldn't be a place where kids come to watch adults work--they should be doing the work!
Reply
Stephanie Jones
4/30/2018 10:17:15 pm
I wrote my blog before reading yours, and we both had the idea that you can use badges as a way to motivate and hold students accountable for their work. We should work together, so that they are similar across grade levels. If we are successful than we can share this with our staff.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2018
Categories |