Serious games bring serious results to the classroom

For this exercise I chose to play 3rd World Farmer, a game that simulates the harsh realities and poor conditions of many farmers around the world. I played this game three times and each time ended abruptly due to external circumstances such as a corrupt government or environmental disasters. My family kept leaving to make a meager living elsewhere and eventually my farm always fell apart.

If I were to use this in a classroom I would only use it with advanced English Language Learners as the vocabulary is elevated and complex, while the task is intricate and multifaceted. My objective would be to analyze strategies that worked best and for students to provide cause and effect scenarios. They must play at least three times and each time provide their strategy, intended outcome and rationale, followed by the results and cause of failure or success. After these analyses they must reflect on how this game portrays the greater issue of survival for many individuals in the world. This would challenge students to approach the topic using the scientific method but then round it out to establish relativity to their own lives. Assessment of their writing and analysis would be sufficient for demonstrating comprehension. However, I would be very cautious in the group I chose to use this so as not to trivialize their own experiences in their home country. I recognize that this game could mirror their home life before Buffalo and I think would thus be inappropriate to use with some students. This game certainly has a valuable place in the classroom but as the case is with many activities, teachers must be aware of their students and tailor instruction to their individual needs and circumstances.

Gamification for Real-Life Skill Development

    Gamification is a teaching technique used to develop real-life skills  through the implementation of classroom games that mimic relevant situations. Games are engaging for students particularly in a language learning environment because they are stimulating and utilize a multimedia approach to education. Students are provided a visual stimulus, often supported by sound, in which they must read, write, analyze, and navigate their way through a game’s simulation of reality. This exercises the brain in an authentic manner that develops critical thinking skills while reinforcing the basics at a pace that is appropriate for each individual.

        For my own gaming introduction I chose to play Phantasy Quest. I only played twice, however both rounds took me a very long time because I had to adjust to the simulated world and try and understand my ultimate goal in this “escape the room” game. The goal of the game is to use the resources on an island you've been shipwrecked on to survive and find the girl you supposedly lost. Both times I was deemed a “Fledgling Moron” but I did advance a bit the second time around. If I were playing this game with a class my language learning objective would be to use directional descriptions and exploration for the purpose of creating a map of the island with descriptive language of the available resources at each area. Hopefully this would help students to develop spatial awareness of their virtual surroundings which practicing descriptive words based on their observations. As the teacher, I would give them a word bank that they must include in their drawing and have students present in groups to compare and contrast each concept of the Phantasy Island. I don’t feel that a walkthrough is necessary for this game because it is more about exploration than the ultimate goal of winning or defeating the surroundings. Instead of using images from the game, students would be creating their own mental images and producing them on paper to demonstrate their idea of what the entire gameworld looks like. Their presentation would be an assessment of their understanding because it would affirm their exploration of the game and the level of detail would variably demonstrate their level of understanding.

#EdChat makes the tweets go 'round: The intricacies of a Twitterchat (Mod 6.1)

Welcome to Twitter!

After boldly joining the social networking site which is familiar to many of my students but somehow foreign to me, I began to discover the use of hashtags and how to follow a Twitterchat. I will admit, this was no easy task at first but I slowly became comfortable with the 100 messages a minute scrolling by my eyes. It is a bit overwhelming and once I finally found a place to jump in, I felt that my topic was already antiquated in the tweeting world. So I stuck to the broader question of incorporating technology into the ESL classroom. To my surprise, I got a number of responses and one user who was very active in the chat forwarded me to a bunch of other users who would be able to help me best. I was given multiple usernames and linked to their many different sites across the web. I felt welcomed into the chat and the world of educational technology. I even got a private message from another teacher who was interested in the same topic and shared his findings thus far.

Clearly, Twitter is incredibly beneficial for professional development because it provides access to resources and users relating to any subject matter needed. Rather than weeding through a Google search of poorly designed websites and irrelevant forums, my fellow Twitter users performed an informed search on exactly what I asked them for. For example, one website which I found helpful included a visual dictionary for ESL students, just one resource that I don't think I would have found as easily or as quickly on my own. I will certainly continue to use Twitter, even if only once in awhile to answer pertinent questions that I stumble upon throughout teaching. I know I can rest assured that no matter my challenge, my followers will be there to offer advice and make suggestions to collectively advance as fellow professionals.

What's in a tweet? (Mod 6.2)

Before attempting to link myself in to the world of technological communication, I lumped together social media sites and assumed they were just another way for people to overexpress themselves and detail the minutia of their fairly average lives. I could not have been more wrong. These sites, particularly Twitter in particular offer uses a plethora of options for meeting, greeting, and tweeting their way into a complex network of social interaction. For many, Twitter is a tool that surpasses the basics of a social network sites and launches professionals into a network of like-minded members with whom they can compare techniques and resources.

I particularly like the way this site has mapped out how Twitter is effective as a Personal Learning Network:







As we can see, it is a cycle of giving and receiving information to promote personal and professional growth within one's field. This is incredibly helpful, particularly for teachers who can take what they learn in education classes and share with a community of fellow professionals to move forward and promote the advancement of education as a whole.

However there are some things of which Twitter uses must be aware, lest they fall into the trap of being seen the way I had previously assumed them to be. In this article on Twitter tips we see how easy it is to overtweet or overshare and potentially ruin the online image of ourselves we are hoping to convey. This reaffirms the "publicness" of Twitter and how detrimental it can be if we are not familiar with the perceptions of our followers.

Overall, I feel that Twitter is helpful for professional development in the sense that it is concise, yet contains invaluable information in those 160 characters. I find that I am able to scroll through hundreds of tweets and immediately know if they are relevant or not. This is not only efficient, but effective and that is exactly the qualities I look for in using online resources to further my goals as a professional and improve myself as an educator.