The Game is on!
AND
Just as an ironic side note- I watched this on a Sunday afternoon by my patio window, sipping my tea with my computer next to the book I was reading. You will probably laugh if you get to the end of this video.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Is reading fun?
So, for me reading is fun. For many of my students it is not. I love reading; I see the characters in my head and when I put my book down it is like I am putting down some friends for a while only to pick them up later. Crazy, I know. How do I get that love of reading to my students? While finding the right text is key, how do I get them to practice much needed reading skills without boring them to death? A colleague of mine is super amazing and took on the challenge of inventing and running a RPG in her classroom. Students could "power up" based on how well they did on assignments, they could "earn" extra health, etc. My colleague is awesome and energetic and even she found that it was hard to control and manage. Give me something in a package! How can I use games in my classroom? Google is now giving out google badges for newspaper articles read, and I am looking more into that. For now I guess I have to just live in the abstract, the-idea-is-out-there moment and wait for someone (one of my students, perhaps) to create something for me. Click below to watch a brief video discussing the possible positives that could come from gaming in the classroom. My concerns: internal motivation- are we losing it altogether if I compete for "prizes" all the time, could my role as a teacher become (gasp!) obselete?
The Game is on!
AND
The Game is on!
AND
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I would say that your Sunday afternoon of sipping tea, by the patio door with a good book is not over! It can still happen!
ReplyDeleteHey I'm following you now - it works!
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the motivation question. I have kids at home who can't read enough; I've even threatened to take away reading time as punishment (I know - horrifying parenting to an English teacher)! So here's my motivation anecdote: my son was really into learning about Nicola Tesla, and asked for a biography of him for Christmas. He got this lovely book - it just looks inviting! He also picked Tesla as a topic for a school project. Now that learning about Tesla is attached to school, he just won't touch the book. It sits there, lonely, on the shelf. If simply by being attached to the idea of school, the topic becomes unmotivating, how do we win?
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