Our children and the students we are or will be teaching are all children of the digital age. A perfect example of this occurred about a month ago while my family and I were in Disneyland. My phone, a touch screen, had died and so while I took our daughters to meet Elsa and Anna my husband stayed at the hotel waiting for my phone to charge a bit before meeting up with us. While in line my little one, two and a half year old Jessica, was getting bored and wanted my phone but all I had was dads flip phone, not touch screen, so I gave it to her and she proceeded to use her finger to swipe the phone open, looked at me and said “mommy, daddy’s phone no work”. As the students we teach are of the digital age we must incorporate technology including games within the classroom. I believe that Dr. Willis gave prime examples as to why games can be beneficial within the classroom, including achievable challenges, incremental goal progress (level or chunks to a game), confidence, resilience or persevere through challenges set back, willing to take part in risk and ultimately growth in their mind set (Willis, J., 2013).
One particular game I have seen used at my daughter’s elementary school is ST Math (http://web.stmath.com/) with Jiji the penguin. This game works at the individuals students level right alongside Jiji, consists of ten or so question and when they answer the question correctly Jiji is able to pass through however when they answer the question incorrectly it blocks Jiji path. I feel this game could be considered brain-compatible as well as follows many if not all of the criteria that Dr. Willis discusses. The game is based on the individual child’s academic level so that corresponds with achievable challenge. Jiji is broken down into levels and students are only able to progress when they have mastered the level and therefore has incremental goal progress or chunks. Additionally this video game provides students with a progress chart at the completion of their computer lab time including what level and percent they are at. It builds confidence when the student sees Jiji pass through hand is not blocked by a wrong answer which also shows the students willingness to take a risk. The best part about Jiji is that the students are provided with the login information so they can practice at home, they are only allowed to redo levels they have already completed as a means to make it fair to all students however my daughter loves playing Jiji even at home when I am not working on homework you can be sure she is sitting at my computer playing Jiji. GAME: http://www.brainrush.com/lesson/addition-subtraction-2-s-5-s-10-s Reference Willis, J. (2013, January 28). Video game model for motivated learning [Video File]. TED Ideas Worth Spreading. Retrieved from http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Video-Game-MODEL-for-Motivated STMath (n.d.) Retrieved from: http://web.stmath.com/ Information Processing Model - |
Celebrating Mom's graduation a little earlyMy Emma - | My name is Jackie Swift. My family and I just moved from Gilroy (the Garlic Capital of the WORLD) to Hollister, CA, which is a lot of farm lands. I am six of eight children, with 22 nieces and nephews and even four great nephews, I am not that old ;) So as you can see I have been around kids my whole life. I married my High School sweetheart 8 years ago and we have two beautiful daughters, 7 year old Emma whom just began second grade and 2 ½ year old Jessica, aka Princess Trouble! Although I was laid off from a job I was at for nearly 4 years, while working at this job I realized that quite frankly I can handle a 5 year old temper tantrums, but dealing with grown men and women each day nearly crying over a broken TV stick a fork in me, I'm done. That is when I decided I would be a great Kindergarten teacher so my husband and I talked about it and that is when I decided to go back to school to get my degree. After almost four long years, I am down to my last class before I obtain my bachelor’s degree with a double major in Education Studies and Cognitive Studies. As I was not working Emma’s first year of elementary school, I was able to help out every week in her Kindergarten classroom and loved every minute. I became a preschool teacher, about a year and a half ago and transformed my classroom into a Kindergarten classroom. I am having such a blast teaching, and even had five preschoolers last year reading at a Kindergarten level, so I know I picked the right field! My general understanding of brain-compatible learning is that it is based of scientific research incorporating things such as music to decrease stress, a reading area with comfortable chairs for the students, physical activity, encouraging healthy eating habits and limiting lecture time. However these are only guidelines not mandates (edglossary.org, August, 2013). One thing that I love about Emma’s elementary school is that they have healthy options, they have a complete salad and fruit bar during lunch. Although I have not seen music used in the classroom as a means to decrease stress I do know that one of the teachers at Emma’s school does play music often in her classroom, and last year in Emma’s classroom her teacher actually played the guitar during certain lessons. Our school does still have PE classes although it is only about fifteen minutes, or so, three days a week. I can recall while helping in Emma’s kindergarten classroom that her teacher often would shorten her lecturing time as to not overwhelm her students and would break it up throughout the day. Reference: Edglossary.org (August 29, 2013) Brain-based learning – Retrieved from: http://edglossary.org/brain-based-learning/ |
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Jackie Swift