Day 4 Shutdown, Power Off

Positive:

• Continued to learn more about the game--feeling more comfortable and confident, willing to take risks.
• Helpful instructors. :)
• Received stipend and t-shirt today. :)
• Figured out how to include sound files.
• Fewer crashes today.

Negative:

• Glitches on "say" function.
• Not able to use updates yet (hopefully tomorrow).
• So much more to do--a little overwhelmed.

Day 4 Afternoon

What interested you in video games as a form of teaching?

The potential to capture students' interest and engage them in a problem-solving activity is what interested me in using video games. I also like to stay up-to-date with ways to use technology in educational settings, so that was another reason I wanted to use video games. For the HI-FIVES workshop, I wanted to design a game that involved the counseling curriculum, because that seems to be an area in which technology is underutilized; thus, this was another reason I became interested in using video games.

Day 4 Morning

What do you do well when connecting with your students? Do you have any concerns about connecting with your students?

I am usually able to establish a good rapport with most of my students. I don't have a particular strategy, I just try to show them that I enjoy working with them by taking an interest in their lives and listening to them. Lots of patience helps, too! I take their interests into consideration in planning lessons and make an effort to incorporate activities that they will enjoy and that give them some flexibility within the topic that we are learning. I genuinely enjoy working with adolescents and they realize that--they know that the kindness and respect I give them is sincere. I do not have any concerns about connecting with my students.

Shutdown, Power Off

Positive:

• Confidence increased!
• Significant progress made in building game world.
• Learned new tricks (chain reactions, sound, etc.)
• Patient and easygoing instructors!
• Finishing on time.
• Better understanding of the "grand scheme"--what's expected in the coming year, next year, etc.
  

Negative:

• Need more help with sound tomorrow.

Day 3 Afternoon

Describe how your students learn best.

I believe that my students learn best when they have the opportunity to explore a concept through a variety of activities. This is what I usually consider when I am planning lessons/units and I try to incorporate activities that tap into different learning styles and that allow students to work in a variety of settings. I use traditional delivery methods--lectures, notes, readings, class discussions--as well as more creative methods--hands-on activities, labs/experiments, small group projects, open-ended exploration activities, skits, games, etc. These activities also allow for more flexibility and student investigation--if they become interested in a particular topic, they can study it further on their own. As I discussed in my previous post, teaching in this manner keeps me interested, too!

Day 3 Morning

Describe your teaching.

As a classroom teacher, I found that my students learned best when they received information in numerous ways--reading, taking notes, watching a video, conducting an experiment, creating a game about the topic, etc. Now, as a counselor, I still try to conduct lessons using a variety of activities because it is more engaging for the students and helps meet their learning needs (kinesthetic, auditory, visual, etc.).

A good way to describe my teaching as a counselor is to share some of the activities I'm planning to do with my students next year as part of a unit about conflict resolution. Students will use tangrams/manipulatives in an activity about communication, misunderstandings, and perspective; this is a "hands-on" lesson. Small and large group analysis and discussion of their experiences during the activity will follow. During another activity, I will show students several video clips of people in conflict, with individual and small group analysis following the clips. At another time, students will create and perform brief skits demonstrating conflicts and the skills that they have developed to resolve such conflicts. I am hoping that for the final part of this unit my students will be able to play the game that I'm designing for HI-FIVES, which will be about conflict resolution.

I like to have a diverse teaching experience for myself, too--it keeps me interested and engaged along with my students!

Shutdown, Power Off

Positive:

• Learned how to begin putting things together to develop a world.
• Learned how to teleport. :)
• Very patient instructors-even when I was frustrated!
• Confidence much higher than yesterday afternoon.

Negative:

• Getting kicked off the server frequently. :(
• Feeling very frustrated and incompetent first thing this morning.
• Some items causing errors in the game when they were inserted into the worlds.

Wish list:

• A finished (or nearly finished) game that I can view/play.