ErikaApathyEDET679

This week I learned a lot. I have been really enjoying reading the "pirate" book. I like the way it is organized and how easy it is to follow along. This weeks topic was one that I have experienced in my teaching and my personal life many times, but never in the capacity of exploring it more in-depth. I think flow is something I always strive to have in my classroom, and so I don't think about it as much as I had to this week. Lately I have been subbing and it is so different to see how each teachers classroom works. Everyone has a different way things are organized and flows through out the day, that I have learned a lot working in so many different classes. I think again it was interesting that I was able to apply my own personal experience to a week topic. I haven't had too many classes where I can look back at my own education or daily life and think about how it relates to the topic we are discussion that week. Perviously I was able to reflect on my French cl...

What classroom strategies can contribute to or detract from "flow"? According to Martin Sillaots, "flow is a state of mind in which a person is concentrated so deeply on a certain task that she is loosing her sense of time and stops worrying about other things" (pg 2).   In order to achieve a state of flow the following conditions should be present:  1. Balance between challenge, the uses skills, and more challenging levels to correlate with growth of skills.  2. No distractions to support concentration 3.  spontaneous and effortless tasks that are rewarding with in the game. They don't need external rewards outside the game.    Contribute to flow 1. tasks students can succeed at 2. clear goals 3. provide feedback after completing task 4. Autonomy 5. Immersion As I read this weeks materials I realized I didn't know there was official term used when you are so emerged in what you are doing that you are completely unawa...

This week I struggled a lot to keep on time with all my assignments. I also realized I titled my blogs incorrectly so I apologize for that. This week I learned a lot. I will be honest I didn't know there was a difference between gaming and gamification. I find myself thinking a lot about my experience in high school during my French class. I am very curious to learn more about the games the Spanish teacher used during her class. It would be interesting to look at if there is a difference in retention or success rate of students in the french vs spanish class. Just something I have been thinking about. Something else related to that I wonder if the reason the French teacher didn't implement games is because she was an older teacher who had been teaching for a while. The spanish teacher was younger and was a fairly new teacher. This seems to be an important factor when it comes to trying new ideas out in the classroom. This is why to a point I am working on my masters before ...

What is gamification? According to an article written by Scott Nicholson the definition of gamification is the use of game design elements in non-game contexts. He pointed out that a common application of gamification in the classroom is using a point system similar to one that might appear in a video game. When i think of gamification I think of my experience with the Spanish classes in high school using a lot of games in their lessons.  An example of a technology that lends itself to gamification is ClassCraft which adds an adventure piece to assigned lessons. With ClassCraft students create a character, play as part of teach and earn experience points and work toward rewards based on class behavior. Students are rewarded for helping other students, producing above expectation work.  Students can also receive consequences for poor behavior.  Instead of classes focused on textbooks and lectures, the class is focused on earning badges, experience points,  le...

This week focused a lot on how not all games are effective in the classroom. When students are allowed to express their feelings, ideas, and put input into the games being taught to the in their classrooms the games become more effective because they are more geared to engaging to the students. There are so many aspects of students education that doesn't allow for any input from the student. Games seem to be the perfect solution to that discrepancy. Thought out this entire week I kept remembering the only real experience I have had with games in my education was jeopardy. It was so much fun and I believe really helped me prepare for the test. I don't know if it is true, it would be interested to look more into and look at does reviewing tests using games improve the actual test results. I am curious to see what the results would be. looking more into my experience with games I also am realizing that maybe i should have taken Spanish instead of french in high school because ...

In order for a game to be effective at teaching children it needs to engaging. Students at all ages will very quickly loose interest in a provided game if it does not meet certain criteria. The most important engaging game play experience is one that taps into many of players sense. They may include thoughts, feelings, actions, and meaning making.  According to Laura Ermi’s article engaging games are ones that allow the players to fail. Players need to feel they are challenged by the game. They work to improve their performance, learn new moves, and improve their understanding of the game. With this in mind players will feel suspense, anxiety, and physical arousal which can be translated to positive feelings with the anticipatory feeling of success when a level is beaten, or a certain achievement in the game is met.               This may sound like a cheesy example, but as I read the articles and paper for this ...

It appears that most people believe that games help students learn. Gaming in schools has been proven to help improve engagement in students. I think the best example of this shared was Cherie who talked about her first experience with gaming. I remembered having to take typing classes in middle school. This was a reminder that while games in education can be effective at improving students engagement it depends of the type and application of the game. There are certain times and situations that a game not be the best way to teach information or best for students to learn new material. I think games are best used in classrooms as review. I remember being in high school history or science class and having Jeopardy review days. They were the most fun because we got to be on teams and test our knowledge of the information for an upcoming test. I do remember also feeling less stress about the test because the review as done in a fun and relaxed way.