My Case for Interactive Fiction - Part III

In this final post to make my case for interactive fiction, I am sharing a video by leading games researcher James Paul Gee.  While Gee will share his credentials during the video, his seminal book What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy is a must read for any teacher or leader who is interested in using interactive fiction, media, or video games as a learning tool in the classroom. Enjoy!

Being Twitter-versed

While there are websites, blogs, podcasts, etc. that stress the usefulness of Twitter in business and education, I wanted to take a few moments to share how I use Twitter in my classroom.  As a teacher and school leader, I am relatively new to the Twitter game, but it has had a meaningful impact on how I view my world. 

Professional Development

As a tool for professional development, nothing can beat Twitter.  Gone are the days of the old sit-and-get professional development. With Twitter, I can find the professional development that I need and that I want without much searching.  With Twitter, the professional development comes to me; albeit it comes to me 24 hours a day!  This, however, is a good thing.  When we as teachers and leaders stop thinking about PD as a full day in the auditorium, we can really start catering to the needs of the teachers and ultimately the students. 

Professional Learning Community

While my district has structurally manufactured times for small teams to meet on a regular basis, I have found that Twitter has expanded my community outside the walls of my school.  While I follow my colleagues and they follow me, I also follow many other people in the educational world.  With this constant ability to share information amongst each other, I have found myself sharing with the history department at our school more than I ever had before.  This is a real professional learning community. 

Communication/Collaboration

As a teacher, I was hesitant about using Twitter because of all the “old fears.”  What I’ve found, though, is that the students who follow me appreciate the updates I give about grades, assignments, and projects.  Along with those updates, though, the students also get insight into my profession.  They receive my tweets about using the Common Core.  They receive my tweets about using video games in the classroom.  And the more they can see me as a teacher who is constantly learning and sharing, they too will become people who are constantly learning and sharing.  This is true communication and collaboration! 

Well, enough for today.  Find my name @SSullivanLHS on Twitter and follow me if you would like to become part of a growing community of educators committed to excellent teaching and leadership. 

Making a Case for Interactive Fiction - Part II

After a decade long push for “proficiency” in education, the transition to college and career ready standards is quickly working through school districts across the country.  In my district, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication has become the central focus in every classroom; it is these skills that students need most to compete in the academic and business worlds they will encounter when they graduate from high school.  And in my opinion, there is no better time to turn our attention to interactive fiction. 

Collaboration/Communication

The majority of today’s top selling video games have some sort of multi-player component.  And in many cases, the multi-player component is the primary reason players buy the game.  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, for example, made a billion dollars after only 16 days when it was released in late 2011. 

So what’s the draw?  Communication and collaboration!

Games like Modern Warefare 3 or World of Warcraft provide players with opportunities to communicate and collaborate in an environment that is unlike the one they live in every day.  Players can communicate and collaborate with other players from around the world to carry out objectives and reach goals. The players are forced to use clear communication skills in order to sustain team objectives and initiatives.  (In my world this sounds like a professional learning community!)

In the end, it is these types of communication and collaboration skills that colleges and businesses are expecting our students to know...and video games are teaching them!

Creativity

While one argument against interactive fiction is that it limits the creative capacity of the players because the world is already created for him/her, games like Minecraft give players an unlimited amount of resources to create a brand new world.  

Minecraft allows players to create items and objects to use in the game world with only the resources that they can harvest in the game.  As many RPG games allow players to craft items, Minecraft provides players with an opportunity to truly stretch the limits or their creativity to populate a new world. 

Similar arguments can be made for the multi-player components of games like Halo: Reach.  In many of these types of games, players can create maps for use in multi-player games.  With trial and error, players create maps that are both challenging and enjoyable and stretch the limits of their creativity.

Critical Thinking

There are many times that I sit down to play a game to simply allow myself to be immersed in a new world.  However, there are other times when I sit down to play a game and want to think critically.  With games like Portal 2, Myst, or World of Goo, I get the opportunity to think deeply about how to solve difficult puzzles and problems.  

These games give players a chance to solve difficult puzzles and problems within the confines of the game world.  While there may be more than one way to solve the problem, players use trial and error to find a solution that works to advance to the next level.  This type of critical thinking, along with immersive interaction, it what keeps players engrossed in these types of games.  

With all this said, it's time that we meet our students where they are.  We know they go home at night and play video games.  Let's begin to use their knowledge of interactive fiction to teach collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.  It's time to start making the case for interactive fiction! 

Making a Case for Interactive Fiction - Part 1

I’ll wholeheartedly admit it, Atticus Finch is my hero!  To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the novels I look forward to reading each year with my freshman students.  Integrity, character, and standing up for what’s right are concepts that students seem to understand through Atticus’s struggles while defending Tom Robinson in a community that is seemingly against him.  To Kill a Mockingbird is undoubtedly a wonderful novel.  But I have another admission: Sometimes I need more! 

And I’m not alone.  Over the last five years, I’ve heard excellent discussion amongst my students about character and story development from reading To Kill a Mockingbird, but the “real” conversations about these topics takes place after class is over—when students crowd around my desk to talk about video games.  It is in these conversations that my students skillfully analyze character and story through interactive fiction.  It is from these conversations that I slowly realized that my students demand more interaction with characters and story than a novel can provide. 

As the increase in technology pushes our capabilities of teaching in the classroom, it also increases the level of collaboration and interaction students have with each other and the world.  Growing up with Twitter and Facebook, today’s students need interaction in order to understand and make sense of the world around them.  The same is true in the classroom.  Reading a book “the old fashioned way” doesn’t offer the same level of interaction that our students have grown up enjoying; it just doesn't seem as relevant.

Over the course of the last twenty years, video game technology has also improved from the seemingly archaic visuals, characters and settings of the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System to lush, vibrant vistas of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  These artfully rendered games immerse players into a world that a written novel could not begin to describe.  Look at the Playstation 3 downloadable title Flower for example.  In this game you play the role of a flower petal seeking to re-populate a world devoid of color.  Using the intuitive controls, players are able to engage in a truly unique, "Zen-like" experience. 

In the end, as a teacher seeking a relevant entry point for students to engage in literature, I can't deny the power and influence of video games.  While there are many games on the market that I would not use in my classroom, there are twice as many that I would.  The same could be said for books, of course.  Regardless, I know the majority of my students are playing video games at home with greater regularity than they read books.  And with that said, it's time to start making the case for interactive fiction!

Battelle For Kids - Common Core Verticle Progression Training

As the deadline for the full implementation of the Common Core draws closer, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend professional development dedicated to "unwrapping" the Common Core standards in order to make them easier to implement in the classroom. 

With some major shifts in focus and rigor, I am looking forward to pushing my students to think creatively and collaboratively.  Today, at the ESC of Cuyahoga County, I took part in a Battelle For Kids sponsored training that presented the vertical progression of the Common Core in English Language Arts.  And I must admit, there is much work to be done. 

So what does all this mean?  This is the beginning of a very exciting shift in how we teacher our students.  Using technology to add depth to they types of lessons I teach is certainly appealing.  The expectations are greater, the rigor is increased, and the urgency is clear. 

I'm excited to experience the future with the Common Core! 

ETech Ohio Conference...reactions

Blogging from the ETech Ohio Conference!

9:00 - Batelle Hall is jam packed with teachers and educational leaders waiting to hear Dr. Michio Kaku discuss education and technology in the next 20 years. He has a long list of credentials and has an excited crowd. Looks to be a great start to the day.

Predictions are difficult to make...
1. Augmented Reality - unlimited virtual information imposed on reality (the Internet will be everywhere, all the time)
2. Intelligent paper, intelligent glass (doctors, lawyers, mechanics in the wallpaper)
3. Classrooms of the future - learning in a holo deck
4. Office of the future - the computer is nothing, the scribble is everything, flexible screens
5. Cars will drive themselves using GPS, radar, and computer chips

To see and hear more from Dr. Michio Kaku, visit http://mkaku.org/

10:45 - Shut up and Teach! Nevin Jenkins
Jenkins focuses on removing The teacher from the front of the room and creating collaborative learning spaces for students.

1 If students don't know something, teach them to find it!
2. Project Based Learning
3. Kahn Academy
4. Show Me (iPad)
5. It's about the conversation!

Great presentation! Jenkins is truly leading the charge to teach 21st century skills in the classroom.

1:00 - Game Design Fundamentals

As an avid gamer and believer that video games can teach 21st century skills, I'm excited for this one!

A good presentation that focused on board game design and the use of board games in the classroom. Discussion of strategy, tactics, and mechanics were primary areas of focus. This was part one of a two part presentation.

Visit www.gamestarmechanic.com for more info.  

2:30 - Why Games?  How Playing Games Can Help Us Be Better Learners

What a fantastic session!  Colleen Macklin, professor at the New School For Design in NYC discussed how using video games in the classroom can improve teaching and learning.  Macklin discussed using games like Portal, Stacking, Katamari, and Minecraft as entry points to hook reluctant learners into making the most of their "game time."

To learn more about Colleen Macklin, click on the link:  http://ctm.parsons.edu/people/colleen-macklin/

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Overall, a great day at the ETech conference! I know there is much more to see and learn, but I am only here one day.  A congratulations is in order for Sean Wheeler and the 2.0 team for presenting their Wikiseat project and inspiring teachers across Ohio.

New Year's Resolutions for a Principal in Training

It's been a while since my last post, but the new year brings with it much opportunity to forget about the woes of 2011. As a welcome back post to myself and all readers of my blog, I wanted to share my top 5 new year's resolutions for a principal in training.

5. Communicate better with my staff - While I am the chairman of the best English department in the world, I sometimes feel as though I could communicate with them more clearly the initiatives our principal and district leaders are hoping to implement this year.

4. Eat a healthy breakfast - I'm guilty of being one of the first teachers in my school in the morning and one of the last teachers to leave at night. For that reason alone, I just don't eat breakfast. By noon each day, I've hit the wall and feel like a teacher zombie!

3. Effective TBT meetings - As this time of year brings with it semester exams and grades, I want to work in my Teacher Based Team more efficiently and effectively.

2. Common Core - As the 2014 deadline approaches, I want to learn more about the Common Core and help my staff to align our existing curriculum to the new Core Standards.

1. Spend more time with my daughter! - She's the best and growing everyday. While I am a work-a-holic, I want to make sure that my daughter gets all of my attention as she approaches her 2nd birthday.

There you have it! I know these are great resolutions for a principal in training and I know they are achievable. I just hope I don't keep adding to the list!