Refelection Blog Post

 

This class is up there on my favorites for the ME.D program.   

I feel like I have a better understanding of new media and digital literacies. One of my strengths is that I am opening to new learning along with relearning things that I am familiar with.  It has opened my mind to what is considered literacy and there is much to include within this topic.  One of our first articles that we read was R You Really Reading. This brought up a good debate on what some consider literacy. Even the Ted Talk on gaming just made me think and reflect about all that goes into the practice and culture of gaming. Prior to this class I would never have considered that in the realm of literacy practice. Those chapters in our textbook were the most difficult for me to connect to because I have no background in that participatory culture.  But clearly there is much thought and collaboration that goes into gaming. And as we learned in the Ted talk lots of people are spending time participating in gaming and gaming culture. I think one of my other strengths during the class was in the discussions and using the readings to support my thinking and then learning from everyone’s posts and blogs. For the most part I loved writing the Community Engagement proposal.  I have never done anything like that and once I started with my idea, I got invested in it as if it were real.   

An area that I would like to improve on would be reading more of the discussion posts. I tend to reply to the ones that are posted when I post.  So, if I post early and there are a few then I try to reply to those and get ahead a bit in the module.  Our last assignment was the most difficult for me as a learner. As an educator I have become passionate about being culturally responsive in my work as a teacher and wanted to make a connection culturally responsive teaching and digital storytelling. So, reading more discussion posts will be a goal for me for my Summer Term that is coming up. I need to tighten up my APA citing.  It can get me in trouble sometimes.  Also if we are being honest, there are times when I just want to be done and I don’t have the capacity to think about a topic anymore. When I read the feedback for our last paper and reread my conclusion, it wasn’t stellar.

I signed up for a free digital storytelling webinar for this summer to learn more about how to do that and what it looks like so that I can implement it in my classroom or help other teachers with this literacy practice. Something else I am taking away is the idea of gaming. I know a little about Minecraft but have never played it.  That might be a goal for me.  I know nothing about it, but the kids at my school will be a good resource to use. 

Here is the link.  There are other free ones as well.

https://www.storycenter.org/workshop

Best of luck to everyone.  Hope to be in class again in the summer. 

Game simulations -Blooket

 

The open source game that I played and investigated was Blooket.  My decision to use this game was because of my experience teaching 4^th grade last year.  My students loved playing it and would simply go to the site and pick a game to host and then share the code to play with other students in the class. As a teacher I did not use it to its fullest capacity. Furthermore, last week one of the 7^th grade teachers at my school this year was using it for her RTI time with students.  In my opinion this demonstrates the versatility of the site.

Blooket can be used in various ways.  Teachers can create a Blooket based on a skill or topic that he or she want students to engage with. Or teachers can search a topic that is already part of the Blooket sets. Simply choose one that fits that topic for your students, or you can search a topic in the search bar.

Image 1: (https://dashboard.blooket.com/create)

Image 2: (https://dashboard.blooket.com/create)

Students can log in to the Blooket sight and search for games to play. They can either Host a game or play Solo. Students can also search by topics they are interested in such as movies, sports, candy. In this case students can still play the game and interact with others when hosting.  If we remember that literacies are social and about making meaning, then if students are engaging in a topic of choice is it possible they are engaging in Green’s model of literacy?

Image 3: (https://dashboard.blooket.com/set/64219ead68047ee65342f8ff)

As many of the teachers are doing some test prep activities, I wanted to explore the Blooket sight and see if it was more engaging for students. If you choose to play Solo than these are some of the Game Modes that are available to pick. If you decide to Host a game there seem to be more options, and the Host gets to choose the Game Mode.

Image 4:

Solo (https://play.blooket.com/solo?id=64219ead68047ee65342f8ff)

Image 5:

Host (https://play.blooket.com/host?id=64219ead68047ee65342f8ff)

From the Solo mode I picked to play Monster Brawl (getting into my best 3^rd grade mindset).  My next choice was to pick my Blook, which is my character. These are a selection of different animals in the shape of little squares. I can see this as super engaging for students to do!  Once this is completed my next decision was to decide on my level of my map which was easy or medium. As a participant I am glad that the designers distinguish between easy and medium. Then I had to choose a difficulty.  Again, game designers provide information to help make player choices.

Image 6: (https://monsterbrawl.blooket.com/play/brawl/settings)

Image 7: (https://monsterbrawl.blooket.com/play/brawl/settings)

After answering 1 correct question I can choose options from shooting bubble or throwing eggs at the monsters.  Therefore, there is an incentive to get answers correct. There seemed to be no time limit for answering the questions, so I could focus on solving questions and not be concerned with that aspect. When a wrong answer is chosen then, I was not able to engage with the game mode. This could be frustrating for students who struggle.

 I was given the option of a tutorial prior to playing, which I decided to skip, since I figured most 3^rd graders would do that.  I was able to engage in game, but was not sure how to use all of the upgrades I had earned. I think 3^rd grade students would play and figure it out through what Hung (2013) refers to as “learning-by-doing aspect of games” (p. 332) I just tried to move my character away from the “monsters” and get them with my bubbles and bees.  In the end I was defeated, and the game ended for me.  I did not answer all the questions. I decided to play the game again.  For me as a learner, I like to understand more about what I am doing. Hung (2013, p. 332 ) explains that the learning by doing parts of a game can be frustrating for players because they need to understand more of the game features and how to use them more efficiently. In my next round I utilized the available tutorials and did much better. 

Overall, I think this is a great way for students to learn and engage in fun ways that are different than traditional paper and pencil tasks. I will be sharing this with my teachers next week when we return to school.

References:

Blooket. https://www.blooket.com/. Retrieved April 9, 2023.

Green. (1996). The three dimensions of literacy and technology. https://mylearning.suny.edu/d2l/le/content/482614/viewContent/13123419/View

Hung,A.(2013). Situated play: Instruction and learning in fighter games. Lankshear and M. Knobel  A new literacies reader. (p.321-352). Peter Lang Publishing Inc.