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Hello again all!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving for my North American audiences and for the rest of you, I hope it was a productive Thursday. It has been a while since I've updated this blog, but events in my life have been pretty intense the past few months. I don't want to bore you with details but I'm going to anyway, so sit back and enjoy. Also, because this is somewhat of a refresh for me, I will take a break from the professionalism that is usually so prevalent in my writing. You can take that seriously or not, there's really no wrong way to interpret it.

Firstly, I hope you have all been enjoying this amazing gaming fall we've been having. Seems like there has been a great new release every week for the past two months. While I personally cannot afford to purchase them all, I do feel like the collection I've gathered will keep me both entertained and frustrated for many months to come. If you're interested, here are the games I've been playing: Gears of War 3, Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim. I haven't been able to give MW3 my full attention because I was late to the party on it, but the other three games are must buys. Especially Skyrim. If you don't play games and have no intention of playing games, you should get it anyway. That good.

On the job front, I struggled as summer closed and fall began with the fact that I had not yet found a teaching job. Here I was, this fresh-faced upstart from NWLA out to prove to the world that I'm gonna be somebody, and no one was willing to give me a chance. Well, I take that back. A few people were but I wasn't a coach so they extraneous circumstances forced them to look elsewhere. (Its the south. Football is huge. Even at the middle school level which is a little weird.)

So, I did my best to get my resume out, attempted to find a job outside of teaching (Landed an interview at this sweet non-profit in New York. Sucks I didn't get the job but I fully support what they do. Check out DoSomething.org for more.) I landed a few jobs subbing, including one three week stint as a Spanish teacher and I have no experience in Spanish. The teacher who is actually from Spain had to leave short notice for a family emergency in Spain, so there were no lesson plans or anything available once she left. So I taught myself as I went and prepared lessons like any non-Spanish speaking Spanish teacher would and toward the end of the three-week stint, I think I caught the eye of a principal at a school in Bossier and was offered a position there as  Mild-Moderate Special Education teacher. Am I SpEd certified? No. But thankfully Louisiana has this program where I can pursue SpEd certification while teaching. So that's where I am. I love my administration, love my kids. I am very happy as far as jobs go. Now, to work on the angle of SpEd and games, which I gather won't be too difficult once I've had some  more time.

Finally, if you're eyes aren't strained enough and your head isn't tired of reading, on the life front, two big changes happened literally back to back. First thing is that I married the most wonderful woman on the face of this earth. We were married on October 22, 2011. As more pictures become available to me, you better believe more will be posted here. This blog may be about gaming and teaching, but by golly its my blog so I'll post what pictures I want.

And finally, as my local readers know, my sister Heather was diagnosed with cancer back in March of this year. A very aggressive form of cancer that they believe started in her breast but quickly showed us that it wasn't afraid to move around her body and re-emerge in placed where tumors were thought to be completely extracted. Well, my beautiful, vibrant, fun-loving sister Heather lost her fight with cancer the next day. She passed at 9:15am Sunday October 23, 2011. She was 38, and we miss her very, very deeply. Excuse the cheesiness of the photo. Heather is the blonde in the back, behind me is my sister Cheryl.

There you have it, the reasons why this blog hasn't been updated as much as I would like. I look forward to updating more as I get the hang of balancing married life, a full-time teaching gig and gaming, but I can assure that it will definitely be updated more than tri-monthly. Thanks and great gaming!

Gamer:Teacher

Encouraging Gamer Students to Get Up and Get Active

Hey guys and gals!

I hope you all are having a terrific September and start of Fall! Gaming season has begun and I am sure most of your students are well aware of this. Last week saw the launch of Gears of War 3 and this week, DICE is letting loose an open beta for their game Battlefield 3. I personally can't wait as Battlefield is one of my favorite series for its innovation and design. But, one thing I would like to talk about is the reputation that people who play games often get of being overweight, junk food gobbling, sun fearing nerds. While that isn't (for the most part) true, there is definitely a correlation between being a hardcore gamer and being unhealthy. Several studies have been published and contradict one another as to whether gaming is directly linked to obesity. Some push towards an overall state of inactivity, while others claim that gaming has little to nothing to do with childhood obesity and obesity is instead caused by socioeconomic status and genealogical factors.

While I can neither claim nor disclaim any of these studies and theories, I bring to you today a great website that I recently found that urges gamers to get up, get out and get active. The name of the website is GamerFitNation. GFN touts itself as the place where gaming and health come together and they do a fantastic job at it. Started on April 6th, 2010, this website aims to help gamers become more aware of their physical and mental health and well-being. They have multiple updates daily on the latest gaming and health news and also have guest articles by Gamer MDs. Gamers can come here and look up new gamer friendly workout routines and recipes.

Now the reason why I feel we as educators should be looking at physical and mental health of our students is because when students are happy and healthy, they tend to perform better. And, as I firmly believe as a Social Studies teacher, we shouldn't only be encouraging academic growth, but also a growth in the entirety of our students character. One of my main themes here at Gamer:Teacher is character development and it is a theme I will constantly revisit because of how important I feel it is. So please take a minute and look at all that GamerFitNation has to offer our students. I know you won't be disappointed in what you find there.

Until next time-

Gamer:Teacher

Video Games Can Help Male Students

Hello all!


I hope you're enjoying your week! I was just surfing the web and came across an interesting article from Public Radio International and thought I would share it with you.


In the article titled, "Boys don't do as well as girls in school- video games can help", it starts off with the (shouldn't be) shocking statistic that in 65 countries, boys test scores in literacy is dropping compared to that of their female counterparts. The author speaks with researcher Ali Charr-Chellman who thinks that the problem isn't with boys but rather with schools: " The problem is that schools no longer welcome the competitive, physical culture of boys, and boys are getting the message that school is not for them." Charr-Chellman goes on to state that in order to better reach boys, schools should start integrating things that are interesting to them like video games. Its an interesting read for sure, and while I don't disagree with what Charr-Chellman is saying, I don't fully agree with it. Expect a post from me in the coming weeks about the gamification of society and schools. 


Here is a link to the article:  Boys don't do as well as girls in school- video games can help.


Until next time!


Gamer:Teacher

NPCs: Most Pleasantly Ignored

Hello all!

For many of you, today is the first day of school and I would like to firstly wish you the best of luck on your new school year! It is going to be exciting and renewing and at some times disappointing, but at all times rewarding.

Today's blogpost is taken from an issue I've seen growing considerably in my PLN (Personal Learning Network- Learn more here). That issue is of Critical Thinking. Are we teaching students valuable enough critical thinking skills? Or are we instead feeding them all of the information and expecting them to digest it and regurgitate it back to us? Well, me being the hyper-intellectual that I am (humor) have found a parallel in the gaming world. That parallel friends, is the NPC.

The NPC or non-playable character is often filler for the game. The player takes control of their character and runs around causing havoc or saving the day while the NPCs are randomly loaded, unloaded and re-loaded onto the screen with minimal action or dialogue. They are typically being run over, hit, kicked or most pleasantly, ignored by the player.

You may ask yourself, "Self, how does this equate to learners and education?" and I would tell you to A. Stop talking to yourself and B. quite simply, when learners aren't given tasks that test and exasperate their skills and are instead spoon fed information for, I don't know, say a huge standardized test, how are they any better than these NPCs? Learners are given set parameters which they are not to exceed for fear that we as teachers will be uncomfortable and that then robs the students of developing these important skills. Teacher your students to take the reigns, teach them to ask questions. Facilitate their learning and for once do not be the sage on the stage, but instead the guide on the side. Learning should be messy, so let's all get dirty together and teach students how to test limits. Teach them how to break the mold of what we expect and instead teach themselves how to reach.

Go here for 10 tips to encourage critical thinking among students: Edutopia

Find me on Twitter and expand your PLN: @chopork

Character Classes and Your Students.

Hello all!

Well, school has officially begun here in my home district, and many of you are counting down the days until you're back in the classroom. A lot of excitement and honestly, fear about what this next year will bring is surely swirling around in your brain! If you're a new teacher, like me, you may wonder how you'll do in your first classroom, how seriously the students will take you, what the parents will be like. And if you're a vet teacher, you're probably checking and re-checking lesson plans and looking at student performance from last year. All of this is great and I'm excited for all of you to go into your first classroom or return to your classroom. However, what I'd like to talk about today is character.

More specifically, what kind of character are you preparing your students to become So much outside pressure and influence now pervades the school halls that its hard to know if and how you yourself as the teacher are influencing your students. And yes, this is a teaching AND gaming blog, so let me get to the base of what I'm speaking about: Character classes.

In video games, and many card and board based games, you are invited to take upon yourself a "Character class." What this dictates are certain characteristics and abilities you are in possession of if you play that character. Most often you find these in RPG based games, but more and more these principals are sneaking their way into multiplayer centric games. In games, you set your character up with specific load-outs to ensure that you are prepared for any "battle" situation. In RPGs, you may find yourself playing as a Mage, Soldier, or Assassin. In multiplayer games, its more gun oriented: Sniper, Assault or Close-Quarters Combat.

How does this lend itself to classroom instruction? Well, that's kind of up to you. How are you preparing your students for school and life situations? Are you preparing them to handle these situations from a distance as a Mage or Sniper would? Are you preparing them to rush into the fire like an Assassin or Close Quarters Combat soldier would? (I understand assassin's are stealthy--For the sake of argument, you win. But stick with me!) Or are you preparing your students to be more middle of the road when it comes to obstacles? Neither this, nor that but prepared nonetheless.

The middle school I am currently subbing has implemented this new program called "advisory". In this program, the students come to their homeroom teacher for 30 minutes once a week to discuss what is going on in their lives and at school as well as any additional pressures they may be facing. We as teachers can take this time to speak to students either as a group or give them individualized attention. It is a pretty great program that I hope the students can appreciate.

Until next time-

Gamer:Teacher

This isn't a topic that can easily be covered in one post, so I hope to continue talking about character on this blog. As brief as this was, I hope it gives some idea as to how students are being prepared for the real world.

Let's talk about mobile, baby.

Hey guys and welcome back!

Hope all of you that have returned to school already have found some sort of routine. The rest of you, time is a-ticking!

Well, I was working on a separate post that discusses character development in your classroom, and its definitely still on its way. I would just like to take a moment to discuss the place for mobile platforms in the classroom.

More and more, teachers are finding cell phones and tablets in their classrooms. And more and more, its with younger and younger students. I feel personally that there is a huge area of impact teachers are missing. Kids have their phones with them all the time, every day. How we continually choose to exclude this type of device is beyond me! If you take a device that you consider a distraction, but design it into use in your lessons, that device is no longer a distraction, but an extension of learning. Below, I'm going to outline some great games and apps for mobile learning, as well as give you some links for more information.

Let's start with my favorite, games. Now there are decidedly more learning games distributed for younger students (K-6) than there are for those that are older. But, choose to believe it or not, these kids are still walking around with cell phones, many more capable than their teachers! So here we go:

Angry Birds: Its hard to believe this phenomenon of a game could be an exercise in learning, but it definitely can. This game is entirely based on physics, but is masked in such an addictive and fun way that your student will be discovering physics, problem solving and elemental geometry at an early age. Definitely worth checking out if you're one of that 8 people who don't have access to it already. (.99 App store/ Free Android Marketplace and Chrome internet browser)

Jelly Car 2: This game delivers customization options to get your child creating within the game, but also delivers another physics based adventure. 30 levels provide students with much to do and car abilities within the levels deliver some more of those great problem solving skills we all seek. (.99 App Store/ Unfortunately not available on Android Marketplace, but look for Jelly Car 3!)

Super Why!: Based on a popular show on PBS, this app works to develop your students' vocabulary skills, though designed more for the Pre-K group. This app works on spelling, rhyming, reading and writing. ($2.99 App Store/ Again, not on Android Marketplace. Sorry! There is however, a huge amount of spelling and writing games available)

Check out the list provided at Parenting.com for more great games: Great iPhone Learning Games

For the older crowd, its tougher to provide educational experiences that are guised as games. So, what I suggest doing is using different apps as extensions of their learning.

First and foremost: Prezi! I love this app and so should you! Its a presentation app that can be downloaded for iPad (Expect an android app soon) and its fantastic. You can link it with your online account and have access from your computer or tablet. This is great for high school and middle school when they presentations of their own. Instead static powerpoints, try to implement Prezi instead! Here's a link to some samples: Prezi

Twitter: Yes, this is a social networking app. However, if that is all you think Twitter is, you are very mistaken. Twitter is by far a collaboration app. With the use of hashtags (#likethese), your students can link up with people all over the world to get insight and viewpoints on different topics. Also, with developing programs like TwHistory, immersion into content and collaboration is expanding exponentially every day. For those of you who are wary of allowing students to hop onto Twitter because of this reason (Connectability to anyone, anywhere that has a Twitter account, let me introduce you to Twiducate. It is a Twitter like app that is more of a walled garden where students are only able to connect to those who the teacher allows).

This is only a brief list of Apps you can use in your classroom. I myself learn of more almost every day by connecting to new groups on Twitter and Facebook. I suggest you do the same!

Until next time-

Gamer:Teacher

Edit: Here's a great list from Mashable on iOS apps your students should have going into school: http://on.mash.to/mWw4jJ and here's a website that continuously provides the best information on mobile apps for your students: Mobl21

Games Your Students Will be Playing This Fall

There are so many things to look forward to as fall approaches. Leaves changing, cooler weather, school starting. But, much like the summer of movies that preceded it, most game companies choose to release their big AAA titles or blockbusters in the fall. Which is great for us teachers. Students are starting to settle into routines and then all of a sudden, here comes three or four more new distractions. Today, I'd like to take you through the games with a higher profile that are coming out this fall in my new post: Games Your Students Will be Playing This Fall.

Before I begin going through the list, I would like to make clear that I firmly support and advocate adherence to the rating system provided by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board or ESRB. I think they have a pretty good understanding and base for how to rate games that are coming out. However, as we all know sometimes parents are a little less informed and buy their children games that are too mature for them. So, if you have a student that is playing these games, you should have an idea of what you, their parents and the student are in for.

September 2011

Let's start with the game I'm most excited for this fall; Gears of War 3. In this game, you take control of Marcus Fenix, a veteran of the COG wars on the planet Sera. In it, you fight your way through hordes of enemies known as Locusts in a battle til the end. This is the third in the series and is an Xbox 360 exclusive. It is very gory, but the developers were kind enough to throw in the option to disable blood and profanity.
Trademark: Chainsawing your enemies in half with a weapon known as the "Lancer".
Rating: I hope you don't have to guess, but this one is rated M for Mature.

October 2011

Starting its history with a long line of PC games (Battlefields 1, 2, 1942, 2142 and Heroes) and eventually bringing their games to a console market (Battlefield Bad Company 1, 2, 1943), this next iteration looks to have learned and grown from all of its predecessors to create an amazing new experience. Housing new technology dubbed Frostbite 2.0, this game will enable players to demolish entire buildings to create new pathways or take out a pesky sniper. This is a traditional military based First Person Shooter or FPS, so you can expect blood and profanity.
Trademark: Team based multiplayer with destructive environments.
Rating: Not official yet, but expect an M for Mature.


       November 2011
 
       Fourth in this inventive series, the player takes the reigns once more of Desmond Miles/Ezio Auditore. This game will most likely be layered like the previous versions in that you spend some time playing as Desmond Miles, the contemporary counterpart of Ezio Auditore. In the first game, Desmond links up with a corporate version of the Templars who use him to abstract information about his ancestor (Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad) who was an assassin during the Crusades. Assassin's Creed II takes you to the Renaissance which I personally enjoyed much more, and there these characters have stayed. Lot of story in these games, too much in fact. But it is enjoyable and you would able to tie it in with history lessons.

Trademark: Fully scalable environments, beautiful renditions of historic locales.
Rating: Expect an M for Mature with this one. It is about assassins after all.


       November 2011

       Ah, yes. The perennial fan favorite returns. With this game, expect your students to have sleepless weekends, get togethers and general resentment towards anything shaped like a controller. This game makes number seven in the Call of Duty franchise and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. Always a strong seller, this game has taken almost a world dominance as the multiplayer game of choice for a very wide demographic. Boys, girls, athletes, straight-A students, band nerds, popular, unpopular. You name it, and they have at least played some iteration of a Call of Duty game. This game marks the return of the characters in the previous Modern Warfare title aptly named Modern Warfare 2 in a world deep in world war. The trailer invokes images of 9/11 as buildings in New York are brought down by missiles. The single player will no doubt play like an interactive Michael Bay inspired movie, and expect tens and possibly hundreds of hours of your students time to be sunk into this game. It will be huge.

Trademark: Addictive multiplayer, movie-esque single player experience.
Rating: Expect an M for Mature, but also expect that it will find its way into your students' hands.

There are some other games that are coming out this fall that look amazing. The sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum called Batman: Arkham City and the massive, MASSIVE Role-Playing Game named The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are both coming out, but I wanted to give you the games that will probably receive the most airtime and publicity. If you have any questions or thoughts on these games, tell me in the comments below!

Until next time-

Gamer:Teacher

Playstation Move.Me

Today, Sony announced some very fun news regarding both their Playstation 3 console as well as their Playstation move peripheral. For those unaware of the Playstation Move, think Wii for Playstation only with stronger accuracy and glowing orbs. For those unaware of a Wii (all 3 of you, though I highly doubt you're on the internet, let alone reading this blog), you hold a wireless connected peripheral or controller, whether by using Bluetooth (PS Move) or InfraRed (Wii) and the actions of that controller are then translated to the screen using sensors or a camera.

What Sony announced today is that they're allowing research centers, colleges and students have programming software for the Playstation Move to create content for educational and rehabilitative purposes. I'll post a link to Sony's official announcement, but in the classroom, those possibilities include but are not limited to virtual experiments in the science classroom where students are able to interact with chemicals or objects they couldn't safely do in a regular school setting. There could also be project based geometry classes where students use this technology to create architecture or structures using theories and principles used in Geometry. There's also all of the great ideas demonstrated in the video at the Playstation Blog website.

I hope this idea takes off and we get a lot of fun new uses (and excuses) for bringing gaming into the classroom.

Sony Playstation's Official Release Statement: Playstation Move.Me Available today

The RPG effect

Hello all, and welcome to another exciting post of Gamer:Teacher! Last week was full of happy and disappointing surprises. Most of which non-school related so I won't burden you with those details. On the bright side, I have been able to get some great gaming in as a stress relief/coping mechanism (sound so depressing when you say it like that). Among that, was an XBox Live Arcade game titled Bastion. In this game, you take your character through beautifully painted environments on a traditional RPG tale. Boy wakes up, he's the only one still in his town, no one met at the emergency spot AKA the Bastion, boys journey is to collect pieces to reopen the Bastion to find his people. Cut and dry story. But what really grabbed me about this story was how the boys actions were reacted TO by the narrator. Instead of the narrator ( who we later find is called simply "Stranger") voicing the story and the actions the boy WILL take, the narrator instead outlines what options are available and then reacts to the decisions the player makes.

For example, as I explored the first world, I would often stray from the path I was supposed to take to instead explore various other outlets. The narrator would then say things like, "The boy then walked around for a bit" or when I would destroy the blockades that weren't necessary to my path, the narrator would say, "The boy rampaged," While playing the game, I thought this was so novel and genuine. The designer of the game was interested in how the player wanted to play the game instead of telling the player where to go and how to handle situations. Then I thought, "Why aren't more classrooms like this?" Yes, you are seeing this as more teachers embrace Bloom's Taxonomy and Higher Order Thinking strategies, but not at a rate that reaches the most students. Its like that wonderful saying, "A teacher should be a guide on the side and not the sage on a stage."

We as educators shouldn't be telling students where to go and what to do with their education (Understand I am not saying that the students should have free-reign over the classroom).  We should be designing pathways for our students to take that allow them to stray from the main path we have placed for them. We should expect that students want to explore and engage their education their own way. We should let them leave their desks at the risk of them falling, but know that we can always provide them an extra life.

Well, that about sums it up. I hope you've had your fill of me this week (and parenthetical statements). Until next time-

Gamer:Teacher

First Post: Here's the Gist

Lifted from my EduBlogs.org account,  I feel more comfortable using and posting this on Blogger. Here you go!

Hello all and welcome to my first blog post! I have been wanting to create a blog for a while and that this was as good a time as any. As you may have noticed, I named this blog “Gamer:Teacher” and for good reason. For one thing, I am a certified Secondary Social Studies (alliteration=winning) in the state of Louisiana. I finished my student teaching up this last semester at a wonderful middle school in South Bossier. I currently am seeking employment in several parishes as well as several states. Nothing against the people of Louisiana, but the heat absolutely sucks.I am based out of the Northwest region so those of you who watch TV, think more “Billy the Exterminator” and less “Swamp People.” Secondly, I am a gamer. I have played games since I found out what thumbs were for and see no end in sight. In fact, as I write my first post, I am engaged in a multiplayer game of Battlefield Bad Company 2 Conquest mode.
As one may be able to guess on what I’ve written thus far, I love to game. As one who works in a classroom setting can guess, students love to game.  According to a survey conducted in 2008 by the Huffington Post 97% of American children play video games. And I hate to tell you friends, but it isn’t going any where. Your students will be playing them for longer than just the foreseeable future. So, that’s where my blog comes in.
I will try and post at the minimum weekly updates that discuss both what is happening in the world of education as well as the world of video games. I will also sprinkle in some ideas on technological incorporation into the classroom. So please check back, and if you have any questions or comments, I’m open to them.
- Gamer:Teacher