What changes our school has undertaken this 2010! Our principal has moved to the central office to become an assistant superintendent; our assistant principal has moved into the principal-ship here at Sandy River Middle School; and our initial Globaloria teacher has moved on to an assistant principal-ship at our feeder high school!!! These are all great things happening for our school district.
Globaloria is off to a great start this year. Mr. Lester and I thoughtfully placed the 8th grade students into teams at the onset of the school year. The 8th grade Globaloria students are made up of talented, respectful, and hard-working students. I'm pleased with their ability to work with their partners, and have a good time at the same time.
When I walked into the classroom last Friday and stopped by everyone's computer to discuss their progress, I was impressed by the enthusiasm of game ideas. Some teams already have game plans and emphatically pitched their ideas to me. I loved it! I noticed we have a few students who are a bit behind in the logistics of their course assignments, e.g. the linking of blogs and team names. New Globaloria students were paired up with an experienced Globaloria student, so I think a simple reminder for the experienced students to pull the inexperienced student to our target timeline will resolve this issue.
Look out for great games coming out of this Globaloria class in 2011!! They're ready to roll!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Thursday, April 23, 2009
It's already April??
Time is flying. Is April really here already? When I listened to Maitreyi talk during today's webinar about the schedule for final presentations at the different schools, it made me reflect to August when all this started for me. I remember sitting with Inga in CPD in Charleston trying to make out the course timeline for the year, and not knowing what the heck I was doing. Denise sat beside us (thank you! Denise), and showed us how it was done. Wow! Inga and I have come a long way since then. Inga has lead us well, and here we are ending April and planning our final presentation.
We have had a busy week in Globaloria. Tuesday was our presentation to the Board of Education. The students were enlightening and entertaining before the Board. They explained blogging, wiki-ing, and their games. I filmed the presentation, and Inga posted it on our wiki. It was a very successful meeting. The following day I had a visit from the State EETT (Enhancing Education Through Technology) grant coordinator. I took her around to the different classrooms demonstrating our technology use throughout the school. I was so happy she was present during our Globaloria periods! She asked poignant questions, including what CSOs we were covering. She informed us that there was discussion about Globaloria in their office, and she had questions from other members of the State department. She walked around to each group's laptop, at which time students proudly showed her their game progress. She was impressed. Then we had a repeat when, on the following day, which was today, we had a visit from the grant monitor. I had to manipulate a little with the time in order to get her in at the time Globaloria started today. I had already given her the school's technology tour, stalled, and watched the clock for Glob to start up, then brought her in. I knew it would wow her ... and it did. The kids were great, again.
We have had a busy week in Globaloria. Tuesday was our presentation to the Board of Education. The students were enlightening and entertaining before the Board. They explained blogging, wiki-ing, and their games. I filmed the presentation, and Inga posted it on our wiki. It was a very successful meeting. The following day I had a visit from the State EETT (Enhancing Education Through Technology) grant coordinator. I took her around to the different classrooms demonstrating our technology use throughout the school. I was so happy she was present during our Globaloria periods! She asked poignant questions, including what CSOs we were covering. She informed us that there was discussion about Globaloria in their office, and she had questions from other members of the State department. She walked around to each group's laptop, at which time students proudly showed her their game progress. She was impressed. Then we had a repeat when, on the following day, which was today, we had a visit from the grant monitor. I had to manipulate a little with the time in order to get her in at the time Globaloria started today. I had already given her the school's technology tour, stalled, and watched the clock for Glob to start up, then brought her in. I knew it would wow her ... and it did. The kids were great, again.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
The Blogging Experience
Last Thursday I had to speak in front of about 40 people about the afterschool program I am currently participating in. I'm standing in front of my laptop that is projected on a large screen, pointing out the various projects we are accomplishing in our afterschool. I'm just rambling on and on. Then the moderator asks, "Could you explain what the term blogging means?"
So in that split second from her asking that question to my response, my mind is racing and turning gears from an audience that is familiar with blogging to an audience that is unfamiliar. Wow. It took me by surprise; although, I know that it shouldn't have surprised me. After all, I'm pretty new at this too.
The first time I blogged was last August in the Globaloria workshop. But then again, when Globaloria introduced it to me, I felt it was one of those tools that the world was already involved in, and I needed to get up to speed. In my Globaloria audience, I feel I'm often running to catch up just to keep up (blogging, learning Flash, wiki-ing). I am a learner in Globaloria; every day is a new application to learn and apply. But in another audience (as I found), I was a leader in this new application. Being a person of knowledge about blogging (at that very moment) stunned me.
So, being a bit of a perfectionist at heart, as well as a life-long learner, I decided to tackle the world of blogging, understand it to the best of my ability, and be prepared if I was ever asked again in front of an audience, "What is blogging?" At 7:00 a.m. on this Sunday morning, armed with my Google site, I sat exploring blogging. I explored by searching blogs from every subject that came to mind. I learned about peoples' opinions on movie reviews to companies' stand on political issues.
Then I turned to education. I clicked into Fred's blog titled Hacking Education. He intrigued me because he talks about "we need to completely reinvent the way we educate ..." Then he started talking about games in education, and I immediately thought about Globaloria. He writes: "In fact, I think games can play a big role in a new better form of education. The first time I really thought about this was when I read my friend Steven Johnson's book Everything Bad Is Good For You. Steven points out that game play is teaching our children skills they could never get in school. Another friend, Bing Gordon, formerly Chief Creative Officer of Electronic Arts, points out that math geeks, economists, and statisticians used to get their first taste of math as kids reading baseball cards, they now get it playing Madden Football. And the amount of math they can get to is at least an order of magnitude more challenging." I'm thinking: if math geeks, economists, and statisticians got their first taste of math reading baseball cards, can you imagine what our Globaloria students will rise to accomplish.
As I've written before, I'm often grateful to Globaloria for challenging me personally and professionally. But today, in reading Fred's blog, he has reminded me that Globaloria is lifting our students to a much higher level of learning than we could ever imagine. They are not just playing the games, but they are creating the games! I think our 14 year-olds in the Globaloria classroom would blow Fred away! We're not just talking about it. We are living, breathing, and providing our students 21st century learning in our Globaloria classroom.
So in that split second from her asking that question to my response, my mind is racing and turning gears from an audience that is familiar with blogging to an audience that is unfamiliar. Wow. It took me by surprise; although, I know that it shouldn't have surprised me. After all, I'm pretty new at this too.
The first time I blogged was last August in the Globaloria workshop. But then again, when Globaloria introduced it to me, I felt it was one of those tools that the world was already involved in, and I needed to get up to speed. In my Globaloria audience, I feel I'm often running to catch up just to keep up (blogging, learning Flash, wiki-ing). I am a learner in Globaloria; every day is a new application to learn and apply. But in another audience (as I found), I was a leader in this new application. Being a person of knowledge about blogging (at that very moment) stunned me.
So, being a bit of a perfectionist at heart, as well as a life-long learner, I decided to tackle the world of blogging, understand it to the best of my ability, and be prepared if I was ever asked again in front of an audience, "What is blogging?" At 7:00 a.m. on this Sunday morning, armed with my Google site, I sat exploring blogging. I explored by searching blogs from every subject that came to mind. I learned about peoples' opinions on movie reviews to companies' stand on political issues.
Then I turned to education. I clicked into Fred's blog titled Hacking Education. He intrigued me because he talks about "we need to completely reinvent the way we educate ..." Then he started talking about games in education, and I immediately thought about Globaloria. He writes: "In fact, I think games can play a big role in a new better form of education. The first time I really thought about this was when I read my friend Steven Johnson's book Everything Bad Is Good For You. Steven points out that game play is teaching our children skills they could never get in school. Another friend, Bing Gordon, formerly Chief Creative Officer of Electronic Arts, points out that math geeks, economists, and statisticians used to get their first taste of math as kids reading baseball cards, they now get it playing Madden Football. And the amount of math they can get to is at least an order of magnitude more challenging." I'm thinking: if math geeks, economists, and statisticians got their first taste of math reading baseball cards, can you imagine what our Globaloria students will rise to accomplish.
As I've written before, I'm often grateful to Globaloria for challenging me personally and professionally. But today, in reading Fred's blog, he has reminded me that Globaloria is lifting our students to a much higher level of learning than we could ever imagine. They are not just playing the games, but they are creating the games! I think our 14 year-olds in the Globaloria classroom would blow Fred away! We're not just talking about it. We are living, breathing, and providing our students 21st century learning in our Globaloria classroom.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Halloween
We're moving along. Group 1 and 2 have completed their flashing stars. They are now reading about action script. It has left them a little insecure and confused this week. Then yesterday, Tyler yelled out that he "got it!" He was so excited that I asked if he wanted to film a short tutorial for the rest of the class. He was thrilled. I thought it would be a good tool for the other groups, especially the groups with only one period. Unfortunately, there was another class in our computer lab, so we decided to postpone our filming.
The second groups with only one class period are moving along as well. They are reading and starting to create their stars. Karri has figured it out, and ran from student to student giving a mini tutorial. The tutorials are a little challenging for the students whom do not like to read. A couple of students have become computer buddies reading through the tutorial. I thought this was a good modification strategy.
Me, I'm feeling the students are beginning to go beyond my understanding of flash. This leaves me a bit uncomfortable in class, because I want to be able to answer their questions. I have to remind myself that this is a good PBL, and they are going to learn by exploring and doing it for themselves.
The second groups with only one class period are moving along as well. They are reading and starting to create their stars. Karri has figured it out, and ran from student to student giving a mini tutorial. The tutorials are a little challenging for the students whom do not like to read. A couple of students have become computer buddies reading through the tutorial. I thought this was a good modification strategy.
Me, I'm feeling the students are beginning to go beyond my understanding of flash. This leaves me a bit uncomfortable in class, because I want to be able to answer their questions. I have to remind myself that this is a good PBL, and they are going to learn by exploring and doing it for themselves.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Refocusing
Ms. Barker and I discussed, prior to class today, that we need to focus on the second group. We found ourselves so involved with the first group, that by the time the second group comes in, it has been difficult to change course and focus on the second group coming in. Today we devoted our attention to the second group. I didn't realize how much they needed our guidance. It was a good day. They stayed on task. They checked out RTC's projects. They were impressed with their progress. I think it was inspiring for them to pay attention to their own work.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Reflecting
I have spent a couple of hours tonight (Sunday) catching up on my class, and those of others in Globaloria. I just finished reading Patrick Smith's progress note tonight. There were a couple of points he made that left me reflecting about my own experiences. Patrick talked about this being his second year in Globaloria, and how, with that prior knowledge, he finds it easier this year in starting up class. I look forward to knowing the complete process of putting together a game! I sometimes find myself insecure about the unknown stages. It's not a bad thing, mind you. It is being insecure that drives me to learn more and want to know more.
In another section of Patrick's progress note, he mentions giving a presentation about wikis. This, again, left me reflecting of my own experience. I introduced wikis in a presentation for the students in the math department a couple of weeks ago. I set up a wiki for their project. If it weren't for Globaloria, I wouldn't have the strong foundation and understanding of wikis. I could feel it from the Globaloria students, as well. The math teachers asked me to explain our project to three class at one time. I was in the commons area explaining to a room of about 70 math students about working with a wiki. Every single Globaloria student in my presentation gave out a "Yay," or some kind of positive recognition of the use of wikis.
My first impression of Globaloria was that it was all about creating games. But I think Globaloria's objectives are much more. It definitely bridges the old classroom to 21st Century learning and the use of technology integration.
In another section of Patrick's progress note, he mentions giving a presentation about wikis. This, again, left me reflecting of my own experience. I introduced wikis in a presentation for the students in the math department a couple of weeks ago. I set up a wiki for their project. If it weren't for Globaloria, I wouldn't have the strong foundation and understanding of wikis. I could feel it from the Globaloria students, as well. The math teachers asked me to explain our project to three class at one time. I was in the commons area explaining to a room of about 70 math students about working with a wiki. Every single Globaloria student in my presentation gave out a "Yay," or some kind of positive recognition of the use of wikis.
My first impression of Globaloria was that it was all about creating games. But I think Globaloria's objectives are much more. It definitely bridges the old classroom to 21st Century learning and the use of technology integration.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Finally!!
Finally, finally, finally! After three attempts at trying to upload, then download The Guitar Heroes' paper prototype, I was finally able to do it at 11:00 p.m. tonight! The internet at our school has become sporadic, which has made uploading/downloading nearly impossible.
We're a bit stressed at our school, because we have so many grants going on at the same time. We're a model school, which means lots of training and implementation of new technology, PBLs, teaching strategies and techniques. We have the state EETT grant that I am associated with; the Globaloria; and an Afterschool grant running at this time. Our equipment is beginning to flow in, which is exciting. I tested our chalkboard tonight. It is an AMAZING tool! It easily replaces the Smartboard. Anyway, I 'm rambling on because the other grants have affected some of my time in Globaloria. I missed the webinar tonight because I was at the grocery store buying food for our Afterschool program that will be launched to the parents tomorrow. I'm feeling absolutely terrible about missing the webinar. But I am also thankful and absolutely grateful for the technology of today, because I will have the opportunity to log into the wiki and really not miss any information discussed.
Today in Globaloria we filmed the Gamevision group's paper prototype. I tried, again, to upload/download The Guitar Heroes paper prototype with no success at school. I was able to transfer their presentation from the flip camera to my computer while at school; then used my internet connection at home to upload/download the video onto Teachertube and then the wiki. I know they will be happy to see the outcome of their work. In class, Tyler is thrilled because he took a bouncing ball and had it ricochet off an imaginary wall into a black hole. It was terrific. The whole class gathered around to see it. Phyllis is also excited because she is mastering the layering on Flash. She gave a mini-tutorial to Tyler and Chelsea. We wanted to get the Fourth Column's new group picture since we lost Chris from the group, and picked up Cody. Unfortunately, Dillon was absent so we'll need to postpone. Cody is catching on quickly, and fits right in the class. He navigates easily in the wiki and blogging. He is currently filling out his community issues.
We're a bit stressed at our school, because we have so many grants going on at the same time. We're a model school, which means lots of training and implementation of new technology, PBLs, teaching strategies and techniques. We have the state EETT grant that I am associated with; the Globaloria; and an Afterschool grant running at this time. Our equipment is beginning to flow in, which is exciting. I tested our chalkboard tonight. It is an AMAZING tool! It easily replaces the Smartboard. Anyway, I 'm rambling on because the other grants have affected some of my time in Globaloria. I missed the webinar tonight because I was at the grocery store buying food for our Afterschool program that will be launched to the parents tomorrow. I'm feeling absolutely terrible about missing the webinar. But I am also thankful and absolutely grateful for the technology of today, because I will have the opportunity to log into the wiki and really not miss any information discussed.
Today in Globaloria we filmed the Gamevision group's paper prototype. I tried, again, to upload/download The Guitar Heroes paper prototype with no success at school. I was able to transfer their presentation from the flip camera to my computer while at school; then used my internet connection at home to upload/download the video onto Teachertube and then the wiki. I know they will be happy to see the outcome of their work. In class, Tyler is thrilled because he took a bouncing ball and had it ricochet off an imaginary wall into a black hole. It was terrific. The whole class gathered around to see it. Phyllis is also excited because she is mastering the layering on Flash. She gave a mini-tutorial to Tyler and Chelsea. We wanted to get the Fourth Column's new group picture since we lost Chris from the group, and picked up Cody. Unfortunately, Dillon was absent so we'll need to postpone. Cody is catching on quickly, and fits right in the class. He navigates easily in the wiki and blogging. He is currently filling out his community issues.
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