The Dangers of a Single Story

Students are asked at the beginning of the Globaloria process to listen to a TED video about the dangers of a single story. This is a good presentation to listen to because it makes all of us think about how we quite often prejudge people before we really know anything about them.
I hear students sometimes say things about other groups of people that they really know nothing about, whether it be that they have judged them about their sexual orientation, the groups that they hang out with, or their economic background. It often makes me want to say "STOP"!, listen to yourself, do you want to be judged like that? DO you not want to be known for who YOU are as a person?
It is heartening though to quite often hear one of the students respond to some remark with a comment about how that student should not be judging someone else. The students will call out other students for making biased remarks about others. It makes the participants in the conversation stop and think about what they are saying. Usually the student that makes the initial statement doesn't even realize that they are saying something negative.
That is what our Globaloria platform is about, learning about the 'global' raminfications of our actions, whether it be here at school, at home, in the community, or on the Internet, where it can be seen by millions.
Talk less, think MORE!

New year - late start

Here it is, late October 2012, but we are finally off to a start in the Globaloria classroom here at Greenbrier West. Due to moving into the new Art room (hooray!!!) and some computer issues, it was not practical or possible to begin with the program at the start of the school.
I have 9 students in this year's class and I am very hopeful about the prospects of them doing very good games. They have a variety of interests and personalities so that should only add to the fun.
To my Computer Assisted Art students I say, Do your best and I can ask for no more!

Working Diligently

Students asked, "Have we been working diligently?". Isn't it strange how everyone's idea of working diligently is different? Some students think that if they are sitting quietly and not bothering anyone that they are working. I don't think that is the case. If they are working as hard as they can using their grey matter (brain power), then they are working diligently.
Everyone has an off day but we should try and not let it become a habit. It is easy to do that I think.

Menander of Athens - "He who labors diligently need never despair; for all things are accomplished by diligence and labor." 

 

Online Collaboration

Online Collaboration - good or bad? That is the blog prompt that I asked my students in the Globaloria class to blog about. I come to this question from a totally different viewpoint than my students though. To me, they are "digital natives"; they have grown up with technology and the Internet. When I began teaching 17 years ago, teachers and schools were just starting to really get into it. For the digital natives, I think it comes more naturally to do an online collaboration to complete some type of product. They are used to texting, checking status' , and generally keeping in touch by using keypads instead of verbal communication.
As with anything else, you can have too much of a good thing. While online collaborations are good, I still think that there should be a mix of online and the spoken word. Work things out online but also speak to the participants so everyone is also developing their verbal communication skills.
The following book would be a good resource when exploring the options about collaborating:

New year resolutions....old year reflections

Ahh, it is that time of year again, the time when, with the beginning of a new year, we make resolutions with the best of intentions. However, perhaps we need to take it on a day to day basis instead of planning out for the whole year. If we make unattainable resolutions, what is the use?
And maybe that is the thought that we (I) need to keep in mind. That if we keep a positive attitude and the thought that 'it will all work out', things usually do work out. I can remember my mother and I talking about the fact (and this is a fact!) if you start out the day thinking that it is going to be a bad day; things go wrong in the morning and we get the mind set that everything else is going to be bad... then YOU WILL HAVE A BAD DAY! Whereas, if you decide that you aren't let things get to you, your day will usually improve. If my students would keep that thought in mind I think they would enjoy their days more. I'm certainly not saying that they have to verbalize it to me or to others but just keep that positive thought that 'things will usually work out' in their own minds, then things will go better.

SO I close this post with the thought - What can you do to make your days and therefore your year go better?

Everyone Processes Things in Different Ways

Which are you, left brain or right brain dominate? Did you know that effects how you think, how you process information, how you even learn? GO to the following links and check out these online tests to see which side is more dominate for you and maybe learn why you do better in some subjects more than others.

http://similarminds.com/left-brain-brain-test.html Click on link at close to top that says personality test, click on right brain, left brain test

http://frank.mtsu.edu/~studskl/hd/learn.html click on left hand column where it says 'hemisphere dominance test'

Perhaps these will help you figure out how to do something better than you have before. When you have read through and completed these first three, go back to similarminds.com link and try some of the other tests to discover about yourself.

Hopes for this new school year

This year in Globaloria, I hope to be able to inspire my students to be as creative, motivated and socially aware as possible. I want to be able to lead the class in such a way that these young adults are really  into creating games that reflect their own learning about the topics of their own choosing. I do not want them to feel intimidated about the process but to look at this class as a journey of their own making. I hope that they will come to be the facilitators of the class, that as we travel on this learning path, that the students are the one doing the leading of THEIR OWN Learning.

I hope that the games that they are creating are completed, with good graphics, good information and unique. I want them to make games that are creative and fun to play and that show the talents of my students because I know that they can do this, they just seem to think that they can’t or don’t want to give the impression that they know how to do this.

I am really concerned that the students will not motivate themselves. I know that no matter what I SAY to them, it comes down to what they are willing to put into the process. I do plan to place my own incentives along the way so that students will feel that they are accomplishing for themselves as well as the class and their peers.

Isn't the Best Way to Teach Quite a Puzzle?

Doesn't that seem the question that is always passed around when teachers get together? Or at least the administrators and 'higher ups'? When I first began teaching it seemed that the biggest complaint among the veteran teachers was the practice of the administrators and educational theorists and experts to suddenly change how things are done in the education process. It wasn’t so much that new ideas were unappreciated but it seemed to these teachers that not enough time was given to new practices to actually see if they were effective and to also often “throw out the baby with the bath water”. Remember that expression, where we tend to get rid of everything when we really need to keep the good without getting rid of the ineffective?

Effective teachers look for those ways to teach that work the best way for them. Yes, we need to constantly be on the lookout for ways to improve our teaching, if we don’t then I think we will become stagnant and ineffective. However, if you are knowledgeable about works for you then hold on to those methods, just make sure that you are not fooling yourself in believing that your way is always the best way.

With the Internet at our fingertips, teachers should develop resources that can keep us updated about trends and effective practices. One of the most talked about subjects is about problem solving and group learning being the way to go for our teaching. In this article at the  EducationNext.org site, check out this posting about the Sage on the Stage: “Learning by problem-solving may be less efficient, as discovery and problem-solving often take more time than mastering information received from an authority figure. And incorrect or misleading information may be conveyed in conversations among students….”  is part of this posting. Check out the rest and see what you think.

The EducationNext.org site often has a plethora of thought-provoking articles, videos and postings. Perhaps you will and perhaps you won’t, who is to say that looking through the postings we won’t find something about Globaloria and the way we are updating and challenging our students’ learning.  That, I believe, is what we all should be doing, challenging our students with their learning and developing OUR OWN BEST WAY TO TEACH EFFECTIVELY. Isn't it a Puzzle!

End of year blahs

It is that time of the year again. The time where students, teachers, parents, and especially Seniors begin to look towards the end of the school year  and completion of their tasks. I know that it is a very stressful time for those Globaloria students doing their presentations and their teachers who are pushing and prodding them to do their best.
I am proud of how my students tried to do their best in their presentations. They worked very hard the last several weeks and tried as hard as they could to complete their games. For the most part anyway. Their were a few that could have done more but they will have to live with that and will always know that they could have done better. Since these will always be posted the students know that viewers will always be able to see what they have accomplished, be it great or just so-so.
I have learned a great deal this year in Globaloria and I have many ideas on how I will change up my teaching/facilitating of this course for next year. That is the goal, right? To be always striving to do better, or that is my thought anyway; if a teacher is not always trying to do better than it is time to call it a day.
So in closing, here are the video blogs from my 3 teams concerning their process on their game designs:

Making your education the highest priority

This post is a repeat of a former post. I believe it is worthy of another read:
Priorities, priorities, what do we do first? Quite often we neglect what needs to be done, like this blog.  I've noticed that students have a difficult time putting their education at the front of their own priority list. Why is that? Right now, especially for a high school student, their education should be at the top. Some high school students work, some are in sports or other extra-curricular activities and they forget that their Number 1 priority is their education. IF you don't have a good education it will be very difficult to be where you want to be later in life.

Scene 1: Teacher meets former student out in the community a couple of years after the student has graduated from high school. "Hey there 'former student' (names protected), how's it going?" Former student replies "Well Mrs. Neal, not so good, I really wish that I had not missed as much school as I did" or "I wish I had paid more attention in class"; I'm just not able to get a job like I want". Some will say that they just couldn't make it in college or they just don't understand why they can't keep a job or get a higher paying job.

Students need to learn how to process information, apply the knowledge they have gained to real world situations, critically problem solve ON THEIR OWN and to have long term goals and work towards them. Coming to school and wanting to learn as much as possible is the way to achieve their goals.

Scene 2: Teacher meets former student out in the community a couple of years after the student has graduated from high school. "Hey there 'former student' (names protected), how's it going?" "Well, Mrs. Neal, do you remember when I thought about getting a job after school so I could get a car? And we talked about it and I decided that maybe it was too much to do and still keep up with school stuff?" " I remember" "Well, it has paid off, I've made the Dean's list in College and I've earned another scholarship! I've even got a really good job lined up for when I graduate doing what I've always wanted to do!"



Too simplified? Obviously! But you should get the point, we all need to figure out what our top priorities should be FOR THAT MOMENT and act accordingly. We would all get much more accomplished and be more successful.

My Mother

My mother was born October 19, 1919. She died March 5, 2011.  My sisters and my brother and I were blessed with a wonderful evening with her the night before she died, we laughed, talked, reminisced about the wonderful times we had as a family. We were truly blessed with having that wonderful memory forever.

Mother was 91 years old. Think about that. Think about the changes that she saw during her lifetime. When she was born and was growing to young adulthood, she lived in what was considered a nice home. But they still had to haul water from down over the hill, good weather or bad, sometimes in snow over their knees. They had an outside toilet, everyone did at that time in Bellburn. They used oil lamps, there was no electricity yet. She knew the value of an education, she was salutatorian for her school. She was always quick to tell us that she would have been valedictorian if she hadn't left school one class period early her senior year so she could catch the bread truck up to Quinwood to work at the Krogers store there in the evening. Because she had one less credit she missed being valedictorian. But she knew that she could help her family more by working after school.
She grew up during the depression so she saved everything. She was thrifty but not cheap, she just knew how to get the value of every dollar. She was a volunteer all of her life. She was a marvelous lady, a wonderful wife and mother and we will miss her so much.

I remember sitting beside my mother in church, with her all dressed up in her good wool coat with the fur collar, feeling that all was right with the world.

I remember Mom and Dad having friends over, them rolling up the carpet in the living room and dancing to the sounds of Benny Goodman and other ‘Big Bands” while my sister and I went to sleep to the sounds of our parents and friends having a good time. All was well in our world.

I remember a mother who loved to cook. I also remembered being very surprised to find out that when she and our father married, he was the one that had to teach her the basics of cooking. I remember how she liked to share her recipes with others so she has left these behind in the local cookbooks.

I remember sitting in the floor of our living room and seeing Mom all dressed up ready to go to the Rupert Womans Club meeting. She loved being able to help with community projects. She was very proud of her role in founding our Rupert Community Building.

I remember Mother standing at the stove at camp, cooking for a crew of 20 or so, always going to the door if we heard a car going up or down the road to see who was arriving. I also remember our mother in her blaze orange hunting coat and hat with her shotgun, ready to go hunting. She especially loved to turkey hunt, and that was when there were hardly any turkeys. Some of our happiest times as a family took place at camp.

I remember Mom and her Avon. Oh, the Avon. We girls were so lucky. Every new product that came out we got to try. I don’t think Mom ever made that much being an Avon lady because every new product that came out she purchased so she could have to show her customers. This was the time that most women did not work outside the home. I know that part of her route was back through the country areas of Crawley and Keiffer. We’ll never know how many women’s lives were brightened when they saw that little blue Volkswagen beetle coming up the driveway.

I remember a mother who loved the fact that I could sew and make my own and others’ clothes. Oh, how many times did we would make the trip to Piece Goods in Beckley for new projects. Then she began quilting on pillows and wall hangings and other items. If I were to ask for a show of hands of those here today who have one of Mom’s reversible aprons, probably almost all would raise their hands.

I remember a mother who was loving but firm, if she told us something we had better listen. We were expected to help with the Friday ‘clean up the house for the weekend’ chores. I remember smarting her off when I was feeling my emerging teenager growing pains and her smacking me across the cheek. While the slap was not that hard, the humiliation was terrible. I did not do that again and my respect for her again grew.

I will always remember our last evening with our mother, Sandra, Sharon, Butch (ok, Bob), and I and her talking, laughing and joking, reminiscing times past in our family. We were truly blessed with her full presence on the last day of her life.

I wish for our children and their children the attributes of our mother, loving, community oriented, ready to volunteer whenever she could.

I wish for our children and their children and the children to come that they too are blessed with memories of a mother such as ours.

We, her family, remember so much and we are truly blessed with those memories. 

In memory of my mother, Beulah Vivian Flint Price
 

Resolve

My last post had my wishes for the upcoming weeks on what I hoped we could accomplish in our Globaloria class. Alas, too many snow days and a bout of the stomach virus that was going around cause too many absences from school to be very successful. When students were in class, they have been working very, very well. We are trying several different things with the mini game, trying to add drag and drop controls and random entries and speeds. I am bribing now though, if everyone gets their games done and uploaded by the end of the weeks I will bring in some food goodies for the class.
Students have indicated that they would prefer that I post a topic for them to blog about instead of them choosing for themselves so here goes:

Your topic for this week of February 7, 2011 - What is a Social Issue? Define it and post some links to social issue sites that you have found on the Internet. (Please make them appropriate for school; and you know what I mean) I am inserting one here that does not define it but does give you some topics. Happy Research!

a new year...

The days seem to fly by..before we know it the new year has arrived. I had hoped by now that we would almost  be completed with our games and here we are barely begun. My hope is that in the next two weeks (weather allowing of course!) we will complete our mini games, the students will feel much more comfortable with Flash and that their team game ideas are better developed with sufficient research completed to enable sophisticated, educational, socially relevant games. Optimistic, yes but if properly motivated I know these students are capable of doing it. What do you think?

The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination.
Tommy Lasorda

Food for Thought

1. How would you describe the best of you? 
2. As to your role in Globaloria, what do you think has been your best or greatest accomplishment so far this year?

STEM and Civics

I have thought for several days on how to address this topic, the correllation between STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Civics I suppose it is sort of like my thoughts about Art. As I tell my students, Art is everywhere, it surrounds us, it is in our homes, our media, our clothes, products we use, etc. According to the Encarta Dictionary, Civics is: "Civics – civ^.ics (noun); definition: study of citizenship; the study of the rights and duties of citizens".  If we are looking at being good citizens then we should look at ways to improve the way of life for others, whether in our own communities or in other areas of the world.

I believe that our Globaloria students become confused about their role in developing the games that they do.  One of the first things we ask them to do is to go to the "Play to Learn" section of the wiki and the first link takes them to another page where the one of the first links are to action game types. Perhaps this leads them to think that their most important function in the class is to create a game that is full of action and extensive game play. I don't think that is our function. I think our students' most important role is to develop a mindset of creating a fun, rigorous, educational experience for THEMSELVES as well as the gamer.
In a round-about way I suppose what I am trying to say is that any game can be tied in with STEM and Civics, just by the virtue of making the games relevant to being productive and socially aware global citizens.

Love this dancer

So this was posted on Jarraca"s page on Braxton High's wiki. I wanted everyone to see it. More later


Isn't this great! My students loved it. To me it shows a joy of life and just danced for the sheer joy of it. Shouldn't we all feel that way about what we do? Sometimes teachers and students get bogged down with the 'have to's and forget to enjoy the 'right nows'. Just a reminder to live life to the fullest and enjoy the moment. A timely reminder right before Thanksgiving week. Be thankful for the good things in your life and have a great week!

Last time, this time...

Ok, last week I posted about what makes a good game but now I want to know about what makes a good team. While some schools have their students working individually (and of course at the college level it would need to be working on their own), I think one very relevant aspect of the Globaloria program is having  students learn to work as a team. Later in life students will be required to work with people that they don't know, have no common ground or possibly that they even won't like but they will still have to be able to work with them to complete projects or to get the job done.  If they have learned from this program how to put aside their differences and look for the common ground then they will have a life skill that is priceless.
To my students in the Computer Assisted Art/Globaloria class, write a blog about what you think is crucial in creating a successful team for designing and completing a thought-provoking, fun, STEM or Civics  based game. How many on a team? What should the different members be able to do? Should there be one overall manager/leader or does everyone have an equal role? Answer these questions and other topics relevant to the team-building process.

Making a "Worthy" Game

Ok, so our students have been reviewing games in the Play to Learn section of the Globaloria program. Several of the games are about the type of game genru that can be created. Now the question is...What makes a GOOD Social Issue Game? Do some serious thinking about this and post a RICH blog about how you can create a fun game and still cover a Social Issue, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) or Civic Issue. 

Saturday Night Live

Do any of you remember (or in the case of our students seen it on reruns!) Gilda Radner's character on Saturday Night Live called Roseann Rosanna Danna? She was one of the best they ever had on that show. She was definitely one that died too young... Do you remember when she would do the news with Dan Acroyd (I think it was him) and at the end of one of her rants about something he would say something like "what does that have to do with anything?" and she would say her catch phrase: "Well, it just goes to show you, if it's not one thing it's another". That is how I feel. After finally getting over my bout with bronchitis I now have messed up my back. Trying to do some wheel thrown pottery, I sat in the wrong position for too long of a time last Sunday and strained my back. I have babied it along all week but it really became much worse on Friday evening and I was very disappointed to not be able to go to our home football game. I like to support our students as much as possible so I felt bad twice - once for the back pain and once for not being there for our team. Hopefully it will improve.
I did go to our local Communities in Schools fundaraiser on Saturday and helped my Art students do free face painting for anyone that asked. Five students had said they would come and help but only three showed up. We had a good time but since I had to fill in for some of the missing students my back became very tired.
And this leads in a round about way to my closing thought "If it's not one things it's another!" I'll try and stay focused on the positive and let the rest go by the wayside. Don't remember Gilda Radner? Check out one of her videos.

What I learned in...

Do you remember the book What I Need To Know I learned In Kindergarten ? Well, this post is more about what I learned in the first days of school. Some good, some not so good. To get it out of the way I will begin with the not so good:

- First, our school is going through a major renovation which I believe is about 3-5 behind schedule. This led to not having all of technology up and running when school began.
- Schedules were a work in progress for several weeks.
- Laptops did not work because of blocks on students until all AUP (acceptable use policies) forms were turned in and students could be allowed to even sign into computers, much less use the Internet
- When laptops did work, the Internet went down again.
- I got bronchitis and missed a lot of school

Now for some of the good:
+ I have a greaaaat class of students! That makes up for almost all of the frustrations (except for the frustrations the students have felt about the technology)
+ We have several tech-savvy people who are willing to go above and beyond to help us fix our technology issues. We truly appreciate their help and understanding when we get very frustrated and cranky.
+ I was told about a site where you can download a free program called Blender. I have not had the time to work with it but one of my students said it is awesome. It is supposed to compare to Photoshop.
+ The culture of our school has undergone a very positive change this year. We have seven new teachers (we are still waiting for two more new teachers to come on board) and they are a very diverse group. While a few are from WV, one is from Romania, one from Peru, one from India, one from Virginia, one from China and one from Detroit, which is kind of like a foreign place to our rural students. All of the new teachers are doing a fantastic job and I believe this has given new life to the teachers that have been here a while.
+ The students have been very receptive to this diverse group of teachers and responding well to the new alternating block schedule.
+ I am now feeling much better, not well, but much better than I was.
So while there have been great frustrations about some things, the overall atmosphere of the school is hopeful and positive. To my students, write your blog about your impressions of the first weeks of school. Discuss your hopes and expectations (and maybe your fears!) about your learning in the Globaloria program this year. To fellow teachers, please comment about your experiences so far this year and...Gooooo Gloabaloria!
Squirrel!