The Power of Siblings

Before I get into this post, I must address a few issues. Not everyone has, wants, or can develop a strong relationship with their siblings. What follows is my experience growing up with a sister. It might not be representative of most sibling experiences and it might not resonate with you. But I hope it makes you think and I hope you really stop to consider where you stand with your loved ones. For those of you who don't have siblings, the message can just as easily be applied to parents, cousins or best friends.

As some of you may know, I have been blessed with an incredible sister. She has inspired me in more ways than I could possibly share. She has modeled for me, perseverance, fortitude, kindness, compassion, loving and giving of yourself selflessly, and truly chasing what you want and making the most out of life. She is the yin to my yang, and I use that metaphor deliberately because as different as we are, we strike a lovely harmony when interacting with one another. We are very different people. I definitely don't own a beet farm...yet, and she isn't quite to the point of driving mustangs into graves without realizing it...yet, but in a way we are Dwight and Dwight's brother. We most certainly have not always gotten along, but even when we weren't "playing nice" we were teaching each other valuable lessons and helping each other grow.

You can probably count on one hand the people in your life that you might spend more time with than a sibling. We grow, change, play, fight, and learn from our siblings. We are given an opportunity to be a friend, a source of comfort, a beacon of hope in troubled times and a shoulder to lean on when the going gets rough. We can be inspired and be inspiring. We can be a role model and have a role model. We can encourage and be encouraged. We can love and be loved. Again, it's not easy being a sibling. It's something that must be worked at and it will most certainly not always be a love-love relationship. But there are few relationships that are hardwired to stand the test of time the way a siblingship (totally a legitimate world) is. There are few relationships that come prepackaged. That doesn't mean that they are not difficult. Yet at the end of the day, if cultivated correctly, they can be an invaluable lifeline.

Again, I feel as though I should emphasize that my sister and I don't always see eye to eye. We still argue to this day and I would gamble that we will continue to do so for years to come. But I challenge you to think of a meaningful relationship that you have with someone in which you always agree. More importantly though, I challenge you to stop and think about your siblings if you have them, or a close friend if you don't. I don't know you and I'm not pretending that I do. If you have a deep seeded reason for not talking to your brother(s) or sister(s) then so be it. But if you have siblings that you interact with at least on a semi-regular basis, let them know how much they mean to you. Thank them for all the times they played dress up (and spun around in your moms dress and heels at your request and subsequently destroyed their face on the corner of a wooden chest to please you...just a hypothetical situation), legos, video games, school, house, pretend or whatever else they might have done with/for you. Blood really does run deep, and the better our relationships are with those people we call kin, the better off we will ultimately be. After all...other people matter, period.

Lessons From the Classroom, Lessons From The Office.

As the first section of our teaching with technology class comes to an end, I'd like to devote a blog to some of the takeaways that I have so far. And because it's late, I'm distracted easily, and I like the challenge, I'm going to try and do it with a series of videos and images.

Here we go.

1.) Technology is certainly beneficial, but can definitely be misunderstood and misused.

The opportunities that technology provides are incredible. We can figure out just about anything within seconds by pulling out our phones and opening our Google apps. We can stay in touch with friends that have moved 2000 miles away; with the simple click of a button we can not only talk to them but we can see them as well. We have the power to, in our classrooms, open up a document and watch as 6 different group members all edit the same page at the same time. We can, in our history classrooms, open up Google Earth and instantly transport our classes to the Andes, the Great Wall of China or the Grand Canyon. Yet all of this must be taken with the understanding that it can be abused and misused. There are countless internet scams and the amount of propaganda and useless information on the internet may very well surpass the useful. We must understand that simply because a technology has advised us or encouraged us to do something in a particular way, it doesn't mean that we should follow the advice. Otherwise, we might end up driving our car into a lake because the GPS instructed us to.

2.) Technology has its place in the classroom, but must be kept in check.

We have been shown all of the wonderful ways that technology can aid our classrooms. We've discussed Google Docs, Primary Pads, Evernote, online assessment methods, iclickers, byod policies and more. And the potential that these resources have is wonderful, but they must be kept in check. At the end of the day, the student is using the technology to advance and enhance their learning and that is it, nothing more. And the temptation that some/most of these technologies provide to being distracted must be kept in mind.

3.) Whenever told new information, we should always consider the source and the underlying message.

This idea pertains to all means of conveyed information be it a friend telling us, a newspaper reporting on it or some other medium. It is particularly important when dealing with information on the internet though. Every bit of information is conveyed by someone who has opinions, beliefs, values and a voice. The internet has developed a reputation as a place that people take to in order to share these things; hell look at what I'm doing right now. As a result, we must consider the sources of the information that we may be gathering as well as the potential biases and opinions that may be employed to get an underlying message across. With this healthy skepticism, we can be better prepared for taking information from techonlogy.

4.) Despite what obstacles you might face, if you are on the right path you will willingly accept the challenge.

So this one has less to do with technology and more to do with the course and the program as a whole. An unfortunate, but common (and necessary) thread throughout our courses this summer was the daunting task that we are undertaking choosing to become teachers. We live in a time where standards are becoming stricter, assessments are becoming more critical, pay and benefits are being cut and resources are lacking. Despite all of this I couldn't be more excited about my future. I know that these obstacles loom like a hurdle at the end of a 3200, but I am more than happy to take on the challenge because I know that what I am doing is one of the most important things that someone can choose to do. I will be teacher, I will make a difference, and I will never, ever, ever give up trying.

The EdGamer Channel: Worth a Look

It seems a bit odd to praise a fellow blog (actually a podcast) and encourage readers to visit a different site on my own blog. Wouldn't that be a bit like David Letterman telling all his viewers how hilarious Conan or Jimmy Kimmel is and to flip over and watch their show? Not that it is really a fair comparison in the end, these guys have a whole professional website and I've got a free blog thanks to Google.

As a part of the EdReach network, the EdGamer podcast is solely dedicated to discussing the educational value and impact that video games can have. They discuss all matters and all video games, not just those that are specifically intended to be "educational". In on particular podcast, the subject of interest was violence in video games. They discuss the potential damaging effects that these games have on students and they also discussed the potential for MMA games, despite their violent nature, to have a beneficial effect on children as a means of releasing their frustration and aggression in a virtual and non-harmful fashion. The host and the various guests always try to keep the topic relevant to the classroom, but sometimes they stray away from the classroom and discuss video games as they are. In the same regard, they also don't always stress video games in their podcasts, one of the recent podcasts was about the Top 5 (ish) Digital Creation Tools.

Enough about the specifics of these podcast (hey, they have an archive and I gave you the link, check it out yourself) though, I'd like to discuss why I think this project is very relevant these days. I don't really need to remind or tell anyone about the impact that gaming and technology has on our children. For better or worse, these screens are a daily component of their lives. Therefore, efforts should be made to highlight the benefits of these various mediums and to try and stress/encourage the potential good that might come from these technologies. That is goal of this podcast. It addresses current issues and hot items in this realm (particularly video games) and it does so in a way that is current and interesting. They aren't writing editorials about it or hosting a radio show. They are a living example of how these things can be used for good. Even better, they don't limit the scope of their topics of discussion to things that are purely academic or good. They take on controversial topics and games, such as Mortal Kombat and GTA IV, and try to make sense of these issues.

Who might benefit from this series of podcasts? Honestly, I think that everyone would benefit from checking out some of the work that these guys do, but specifically parents and teachers. This is a very easy, approachable and informative resource to keep these people in the loop about what games are popular, what technologies are being used, and the impact that these things are having. Additionally, it can give the parents and teachers ways to both encourage certain types of gaming or involvement that are positive, and deal with those that are not.

Gaming is not a fad that seems to be going away anytime soon. It has moved from platform to platform and has certainly waxed and waned in popularity over the years, but it has remained a major part of our society over the past two decades. The EdGamer podcast is a way for people who are not necessarily privy to this type of entertainment to access the language and the major events occurring in this world and take advantage of the opportunities that they present.

It's Virtual Reality?

Today during our Ed. Tech course, one of our instructors challenged us to think about how we might be able to structure a class like a video game in order to entice students who might otherwise remain disengaged. I am going to happily accept that challenge. What follows are my thoughts on how a classroom might be able to resemble a video game.

• On an Xbox 360, a player is prompted to make a profile before they start playing games. They pick a gamer photo, a gamertag, enter a bit of information about themselves if they would like to, and are then ready to play. At the beginning of the school year (or of the timeframe you are looking to use this strategy) a student could be asked to do the same. Pick a username they would like to be referred to as (obviously staying appropriate), bring in a photo they would like to put up on their profile and write a bit about themselves. These "profiles" could be put onto poster boards and hung up around the classroom. These will provide a location for them to post their "achievements" which I will describe below. The students could also decorate their profiles to be representative of who they are and their interests.
  
• The next thing that Xbox 360 has done with their games to make them a bit more rewarding is to introduce the idea of "achievements". Each game comes with a list of accomplishments (the aforementioned achievements) that when reached,  reward the player a certain number of gamer points. Each game is usually made up of 1000 gamer points divided into different achievements based on difficulty of the task. For example beating the first level of a particular game might be worth 10 points while beating the entire game might be worth 100. In a classroom setting, particularly an English class, each project or book that you assign could come with achievements. Let's take The Great Gatsby as an example. If you finish the book, you get 75 points. For each chapter you finish, you get 10 points. If you can name and describe one character from the book, you get 10 points. If you can name and describe 3 characters form the book, you get 40 points. If you can explain the significance of the green light at the end of the dock, you get 30 points. These achievements would be determined prior to the assignment, and then the students would work to get the highest "gamerscore" possible for that book. To determine whether or not they have reached these achievements, the teacher could ask them to write paragraphs, talk to them about the topic, or some other means of assessment. For each achievement, the student could get a little notecard with the achievement and the point value (often times achievements have clever names i.e. in Tiger Woods 2012, if you land a shot 5 inches or closer to the cup you get the achievement "Scared of the Dark").  They could then take these note cards and post them on their profiles. For the sake of discretion, you could have the achievements be posted under the name of the particular assignment or novel so that kids don't feel bad if they don't have many achievements for that task. And the idea of achievements extends beyond books; you could do it for research papers (30 points for three sources, 40 points for a rough draft) or any other idea. The key here is to be creative and emphasize the important information.

• Next we can move onto what the gamerscore could mean. The easiest answer for me here, and the one that makes the most sense in the classroom I think, is that you could offer kids rewards for reaching certain milestones within projects or within the class as a whole. For example, if a kid gets 500 points on the Great Gatsby, he might be exempt from one upcoming homework assignment. If he gets 750 points, perhaps his final paper on the novel can be 2-3 pages shorter than the requirement for other students. If they reach a score of that level, clearly they are grasping the novel quite well. Another option could be basing the students grade off of the gamerscore. If they get 750 points for a particular project, that get be a C. If they get 850 a B, 950 an A, and so on. This could be a neat way to get kids energized about their projects and their grades.

As a parting thought, this could even be offered as an alternative to the normal classroom curriculum and structure. That way, if kids are interested in relating it to video games they can and if students feel like they would learn better the traditional way, they can choose that instead. And these are simply some thoughts about how a classroom might operate like a video game. I'm sure there are other options for blending the two into one desirable product.

More Like Ocarina of Timeless Games.

For those of you that know me well, I'm sure you could imagine the grin on my face when I was given the task of investigating a video game for its educational value in my Teaching with Technology class. As a self-identifying "gamer", I am thrilled at the chance to impress upon the world the value that video games can have for children. From the education and literature paradigms, there are few positive commentaries on video games. Most of the discussion is devoted to the harmful and damaging effects that many believe come from playing violent video games. And while this may be the case, it is equally important, in my opinion, to recognize when and where video games provide us some value and can have a positive influence on children.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (OoT) is widely considered by many gamers to be one of the best if not the best video game of all time. The tale follows a young hero named Link (or a name of your choosing when you start the game) in his quest to save the beautiful Princess Zelda and defeat the evil Ganondorf. Along the way, the player must overcome a series of increasingly difficult challenges in the form of temples, monsters, and the most annoying "helper" that you will ever experience in your life (HEY! LISTEN!). The intricacies of the game, the detail given to world (granted detail circa nintendo 64 in 1998) and the thought and attention that must be constantly given by the player makes it a frontrunner in the world of video games. For me to best explain the educational value of the game, I'll break it down by lessons that it taught me. Mind you these are merely single examples drawn out of a bundle of options from this adventure. (Potential SPOILERS below).

Creativity: In the very first temple that you face, you run into a number of doors and openings that are covered in spider-webs. You cannot cut them with your sword, you cannot run through them, and none of the items that you have at this moment are helpful. To get past these webs, you must pick up a stick from the room, light the stick on fire with one of the torches in the room, and then burn the web to the ground. The game doesn't give you hints or tell you what you should do; you must figure it out for yourself. This game challenges the player to think creatively to solve problems. Often times the obvious way is not the best, or even the correct way. This translates to life and the classroom quite readily. We must be able to be creative in order to help accomplish tasks and generate ideas.*

Problem Solving: The situation mentioned above involves some problem solving, but the example provided below comes a bit later in the game. After the first temple, you must sneak into the castle, past all of the guards, and talk to Princess Zelda. The patterns of the guards differ from spot to spot. Therefore the player must begin to recognize these patterns to get by without being spotted. Our classrooms and our working world are littered with problems waiting, needing to be solved. This game helps to develop that mentality and prepare the players to recognize and tackle the obstacles that they will face in life.*

Following Directions: At one point in OoT, you are offered the opportunity to take up a side quest for which you will be given a great reward. You are then tasked to deliver an item to a character in the game who in turn requests you to do the same and so on until you find yourself doing the job of the sporadic, passive aggressive and pompous mailman (seriously, he isn't that fast). In doing each task, you must recall what your delivering to who. At other points in the game as well, you are given clear instructions that you must follow in order to move forward. The applicability of this to learning in children seems obvious, but for the sake of clarity, children must do this every. single. day. Whether it is at home, on the bus, in school, at recess, or playing sports, children are given directions that they are expected to follow. This game provides an opportunity to organically discover the value of following directions and to be motivated to do so.

Patience and Dedication: Finally, the most important takeaways from LoZ OoT (too much "acronymizing"?) are patience and dedication. You cannot beat this game without developing a healthy sense of patience. OoT is challenging enough and complex enough that you will inevitably fail along the way. For some people (myself included) it takes a number of tries just to figure out the Forbidden Forest at the beginning of the game. But the game teaches you that by being patient, dedicated, and motivated, you will be rewarded in the end. These virtues are invaluable in a classroom and for learning. If you don't get something right away, staying patient and staying dedicated to the task at hand are the most important things you can do in that moment. If there are only two critical aspects learning (which certainly isn't the case) they are patience and dedication.

 

 Unless you are attacking a chicken, then it's best to avoid dedication to the task.

To be honest, I could write a novella on the benefits reaped from Ocarina of Time and a full series on the Legend of Zelda games. This blog could have just as easily have been written about A Link to the Past, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, etc. The LoZ series has always captivated me because of the value that these games have outside of pure enjoyment. They teach the player lessons that are necessary in almost every domain of life. And if this learning process can happen while the individual is having a great time, well that seems like a win-win to me.

*For those with experience in the game, I could have simply put the Water Temple down for every category and made my point.

Avoiding The Michael Scott Mentality

"The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know if they are genuine." --Abraham Lincoln

 A very interesting perspective was brought to my attention several days ago, regarding both my post about Facebook as well as the website itself. One of the professors for my Teaching with Technology course suggested that Facebook often times is simply our "best" selves. We can choose to put up our most inspiring/interesting thoughts, our best photos, and the things that we think portray ourselves in the best light. Not only that, but we can come back and delete these things at a later date if they haven't been received well by our peers (in terms of likes or comments). In essence, he was suggesting that we need to approach an online portrayal of an individual with a healthy skepticism because it might not be an honest depiction. This idea turned out to be a wonderful transition to our class today. We played a rousing round of 20 questions (I'm sure you are wondering, "Is that possible?") in which our instructor gave himself the ability to lie twice. Quickly, our cohort started to try and close loops; fact check prior questions by asking new questions that eclipsed aspects of those that came before in a way that could check for honesty. In doing so, we proved that we were capable of approaching a task with a healthy skepticism. I should mention that, prior to the game, our teacher told us that this activity had important implications in regards to doing research online and using the internet at large. This connection is the same healthy skepticism mentioned above in regards to online selves. When we do research, read a story, or interact with the web in some other way that demands a certain level of credibility, it would behoove us to make sure that we are getting the full story including as many perspectives of the events as possible.

I'll be the first to admit, I don't do this enough. I've come close, at least half a dozen times, to ignorantly declaring the death of Charlie Sheen while he is still alive and....well not well I guess. Fortunately I have this handy website to refer to in the future. All jokes aside though, this provides another opportunity for me to reiterate the point that my Professor (he had many other outstanding points) and I are hoping to make. If I gathered my news solely from this source, I wouldn't be doing the topic the due diligence that it deserves, assuming that I have a vested interest in the vitality of Charlie Sheen (which I do, obviously...#winning). One area, among many, where this does have practical and real implications is when doing research for a job proposal, school assignment, lesson plan or anything else where your reputation is factored in. You need to ensure that the information that you are including in your work, the material that you are wedding yourself to, is accurate and honest. Nothing deflates an argument faster than false information; consider it the pin to your fragile helium balloon. But in taking some simple precautions and approaching the process of your internet research with a healthy sense of skepticism and inquiry, you can add a nice layer of Teflon to that balloon of yours! (Might not float so well anymore). Looking beyond just the interweb, I think it (it being the healthy sense of skepticism) is appropriate for addressing books, magazines, even photos and such.

Finally, if I might add as a closing thought, I don't think that this practice of ensuring that you are receiving an honest and fair depiction of an event/idea/etc is reserved for things of a professional or academic nature. I think that it deserves just as much consideration when you are having discussions with friends, sharing your opinion over the internet via some sort of social media website or perhaps, hypothetically, filming a documentary at your paper business in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Organizing Your Online Life

If you are anything like me, your bookmarks are completely overflowing with useless pages that you thought were interesting three years ago. And with half of these bookmarks, you can't make any sense of why you felt it was worth marking in the first place. Occasionally you find a gem, (20 year old Casey bookmarked a page about "the 35 manliest mustaches of all time") but most of these pages have long since eclipsed your interest. For this reason, I was super excited when I got matched with my website for this assignment. Diigo, is an incredible useful tool for anyone that spends a reasonable amount of time using the interweb. Through it, you can bookmark pages, add sticky notes to websites to remind yourself of something on a later visit, and highlight passages that you would like to remember among other things. The most convenient thing about the website, is that anytime you do one of the above functions, it automatically puts it into a very sortable and accessible library on Diigo's website. Best of all, the website is free to use and starts with a fantastic instructional video explaining how to do everything. An accurate comparison of how I felt when discovering this website, is how Michael Scott feels about Wikipedia.

In going through this assignment, I realized how much my online self is like my actual self. Most of my bookmarks were things that I would classify as "happy", "funny" or "optimistic" which are three things that I try to be on a daily basis. Additionally, there is very little, if any, semblance of organization in my web browser and on my computer. Up until this point in my life, I have managed to survive without setting up a strong system of keeping careful track of things, but I believe that needs to change now. As we start this program and as I realize the duties of my hopeful profession, it's time for me to "grow up" in that sense. And this website, which was only brought to my attention because of this assignment, will play a huge role in that organization. All in all, I'm grateful for the opportunity to discover such a helpful tool and I'm excited to see what others have to say about their websites.