Writing & Travel

There are tons of different kinds of assessments that are used within the classroom. It ranges by testing knowledge, to testing mastery, to testing background information, etc. Each type of assessment holds its own motive and reasoning for utilizing the assessment in the first case. For example, in the beginning of our literary elements unit, we give the kids a list of literary elements and have them fill out as many as they can. This would be a diagnostic test (pre-test). Later in the unit, we do mini quizzes/check-ins. That would be some sort of formative assessment that we use to make sure that the kids are on the right track. Then at the end of the unit, students practice their writing skills and show their mastery of literary elements in a small essay. This would be an example of a summative assessment. Assessments are everywhere in the world of education.

For my choice assignment, I am planning on writing the 4 blog posts and then creating a game.

Possibilities for Play

What Play Can Teach Us About Writing

Valuing Games as a Graduate Student

Game Analysis

As a teacher, I feel like most of the digital games that we utilize in our classrooms utilize learning recall. Kahoot, Quizlet (which then can be exported to websites such as Blooket), etc. Kahoot is now considered to be the "least favorite". Blooket does a nice job of utilizing mini-games though. For example, one of the games on Blooket is Balloon Tower Defense. It take a game that kids are familiar with and enjoy on their chromebooks and then implements a series of questions to help them recall information. If they get the answers correct, they are able to upgrade their defense teams on the game.

Another favorite of mine is just cheese and crackers. It's one of my mom's favorite snacks so I always remember eating it on the couch during my childhood while watching Disney movies.

A question that I still have from chapter 2 is do these theories all need to be present in a game in order for the game to be enriching and considered part of “playful learning”? I can see how some of them would be needed, but is it possible to create a game that does not have all the theories built in and for it to still be enriching? I feel like some people might be overwhelmed by trying to include all of these learning theories, but I can see how a game could fall flat and not achieve its original goal if it didn’t have all the learning theories.

Another snack that is in regular rotation for me is chips and salsa...I don't know what it is about it, but I can go through almost a whole jar of salsa if I don't pre-portion it.

I feel like this chapter emphasizes the point of why we use games in the classroom. Whether we do it to spice up the environment and motivation of our students or if we use it as a review, teachers are supporting game based learning. BUT after reading this chapter, I feel like I have learned how to accurately and intentionally include game based learning in the classroom. By looking at the design elements of game-based learning, I believe that I will be able to create games using these elements and be mindful of the learning outcomes that I want my students to foster throughout the process. Also, I found it interesting to learn more about the types of game-based learning. You can use game based learning to prepare for future learning (like an activating strategy), for learning the new knowledge, for practicing the knowledge, and for reviewing. I don't know why, but I typically only use games for review. Changing this perspective is innovative for my curriculum.

One question that I have is about the difference between gamification and game-based learning. Is it possible for gamification to still teach players skills? We have a game-design class at my high school that focuses on gamification and I always thought that it was what was discussed in this chapter as “game-based learning”. However, after reading this chapter, I am seeing that gamification is largely just a use of rewards, while game-based learning is the design of games to be meaningful and relevant. Could the student course at my high school need to be reviewed and renamed?

I am a huge foodie so I am very much looking forward to the Dr. P Game this week. One of my favorite snacks that support graduate learning are definitely Oreos...with milk of course. The perfect dunk time is about 4.5 seconds :)

Here is what I am working with as of right now for my theory of what is graduate writing:

Graduate writing is both a mindset and a task that urges graduate students to creatively and intellectually create claims and new ideas based on research and theory being proposed in their graduate courses. Graduate writing is an analytical process that synthesizes theory with innovative, original ideas from the graduate student that produces scholarly conversations and new findings within the field of research. As we study play theory in the Writing/Games writing course, we can find that play theory can strengthen and enhance graduate writing through its autonomy and gamification of topics.