What would MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech sound backed by Kendrick Lamar’s “Be Humble?” What about John F. Kennedy imploring us to choose to go the moon backed by “Rocket Man?” Though, Youtube DJ was designed for mixing music from Youtube, it could be applied for classroom use to introduce speeches, historic events, and documentaries backed by any music you wished.
Closing your lessons is important even in video games. Here are some iOS applications that can help you to a flawless victory.
Video Mashups are fun. You see them ubiquitously strewn throughout social media spaces. They make us laugh. They make us think. They make us want to create one. Why not use them in your classroom for instructional purposes? VixT allows you to do just that easily on your iOS or Android device.
Having students create video mash up poems, exit tickets, or answers to questions could add a little extra spice to lessons with minimal investment.
Need help getting started? Check out their Youtube Channel!
If you teach in a GAFE school district, Google Classroom is an asset. These tools integrate rather nicely with amazing benefits for both you and your students. There’s a link below to download the PDF.
Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. – Einstein (?)
Like Mr. White’s comments, the quote seems to imply that one is ‘naturally’ abled. The talents that one has have been bestowed rather than developed. You can see the rather troubling place that can lead us from Mr. White’s words.
The quote, while well-meaning, seems to be saying that one is given a rather limiting set of skills that one should stick to. One should not challenge the status quo. Climb a tree? Nah, you’re a fish. Stick to what you’re good at. Do fishy things, but don’t try to see beyond your pond. That’s dangerous thinking. Plus, you’ll fail. Absolutely you’ll fail. Even though you’ve never tried, you’ll fail because fish don’t climb trees.
Change “fish” to black, poor, female, ELL, or IEP and that quote gets very grimy. Very grimy. It’s the stuff that eugenicists dream of. It’s the ultimate “stay in your box because you don’t have the talents to do that” statement.
It also gives the “fish” an excuse for not achieving. I can’t do certain things because I’m just a fish. I didn’t do my homework because I’m a fish. I can’t do math because I’m a fish. Learn computer science? Fish don’t do that. Make movies? I’m a fish remember. Write a symphony? Fish don’t do music.
Teachers could also use this philosophy to deny opportunities to students. I’m not going to teach script writing and movie making to these fish. It’s not their talent. I’m not going use certain tools with these fish. Fish don’t do (insert skill). Fish in this neighborhood don’t do well doing (insert skill) so I’m not going to present it to them.
This quote is pretty Orwellian. Essentially, all talents are equal, but some talents are more equal. It infers that some talents are more desirable than others and those that have those talents are therefore more valuable. It creates a hierarchy that is “natural” and eliminates the possibility of dreaming. It’s pretty literal. Fish aren’t birds. Birds aren’t lions. Lions aren’t hippos. “Tapping into money” and being able to “turn a television into a watch” seem like a lot better talents than fitting 30 people in a house to me. However, you get what you get and don’t have a fit, right? There ain’t no changing. If you’re a cockroach, get used to scurrying when the lights come on because it’s not going to change.
We have to teach fish that they might not be able to climb trees, but they can build jetpacks. According to science, all life started in the seas. We’re all fish. Some of us we’re told by others that another reality was possible so we evolved legs and lungs and left the pond. This is what we need to teach students. You don’t have to stay a fish.
We need a coherent curriculum that is knowledge based so that students are able to very rapidly eliminate the achievement gap. We need students to be given the opportunities to not only learn the rudiments of reading and math, but also computer science, multimedia creation, science, arts, and engineering. We need to allow far more exploration and collaboration in schools so that no one sees themselves as a fish that can’t climb trees but as a school of fish that push each other to evolve into whatever they’d like.
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If you’ve seen us present on any gamification or video game stuff, you’ve heard us talk about Bartle’s taxonomy of player types. Essentially this dude Bartle wrote a paper back in 1996 and, after analyzing game play, broke people down into 4 types: achiever, killer, socializer, and explorer. You’re not usually just one. You’re a blend of all 4, but many people relate to one or two of the types more than the others.
Perhaps the most obvious gamer type that PoGo caters to is the explorer. There is so much of the real world that you can go explore with purpose and there are so many pokemon to find. Explorers love easter eggs so hunting for those rare and legendary pokemon speaks to explorers.
They’re more about acting and interacting. They are gatekeepers who want to regulate and make sure people stick to the rules. They also want to be at the top of the food chain. In Pokemon Go (PoGo) there are gyms and you can take over gyms by challenging the person who currently has control of the gym. The pokemon you leave there rotates in the beacon of that gym declaring it your territory. Killers love this.
When you hit level 5 you have a choice of joining one of three teams: Mystic (blue), Valor (yellow), or Instinct (red). Also, in real life, when you realize someone around you is playing the same game you are, there’s this instant bond. Facebook groups for PoGo players in specific cities have popped up and people are sharing their experiences and funny photos all over social media. It is a socializer’s dream.
Achievers want to get all the achievement points. They’re the ones who seek out the quests and have to complete every….single……one. There are over 700 pokemon in the pokemon catalog, although not currently in the game. There are also medals you can earn for say capturing 10 poison pokemon or for walking a certain distance. Achievers will want to capture ever pokemon and medal they can.
The wide-spread popularity of this game could definitely be inspiration for engaging professional development and instructional design.
What categories do you relate to? What drives and motivates you?
I, like much of the world that has access (sorry, UK), am in deep with the Pokemon Go (or PoGo as the cool kids call it). Despite server issues, glitches, and what otherwise would be deemed a poor release, it’s the latest craze and, intended or not, I’ve ruminated on some additional benefits.
This is probably obvious, but because the app uses GPS to track movement, you can’t do the FitBit cheat where you shake your hand and get steps. You have to actually move a significant distance.
This is my step count before noon today and you better believe I’ll go out again this evening.
Over the last few years I’ve developed major social anxiety. I’ll just straight bail on things I said I’d go to because I start to have a panic attack at the thought of being in a social situation. I have hated trying new places, especially by myself. If I have a purpose, like looking for new pokemon, it gives me something else to focus on, a purpose, a mission, so my anxiety doesn’t have time to ramp up. I don’t have the empty space in my head to worry. Also, if I encounter people who are clearly doing what I’m doing (you can totally tell by the way they wander in weird patterns like bees signaling where the honey is), we have something to talk about so I’m not stuck with, “Uhhh so it’s really hot today.” Maybe it’s endorphins or dopamine or norepinephrine (that’s a thing right?), that come from all the walking…who cares? It’s AWESOME.
There are many places I just wouldn’t normally go because 1) the anxiety of trying a new place (see above) and 2) I just didn’t see a reason to check that place out. There’s a park by my house I’ve wanted to check out since before I moved to where I live now and I just never went. It’s home to 2 gyms and like 10 pokestops though so first chance I got I jetted over there and spent like an hour walking around. Added bonus: It’s SO nice to spend time outside and I don’t even mind the aforementioned heat.
There’s so much I want to say about this game that it will probably come out in a few posts, but those were the initial things I wanted to get out. What do you think? Do you play? What do you love about it? What are you hoping to see in the future?
This. Everything that’s going on. This is a white problem.
Because from very young we’re shown images and told that brown people are dangerous. Our parents shield us from the “menacing thug” as we walk down the street.
Message received: Be suspicious of brown people.
Because we’re told that “they” allow “their” communities to be that way. Because we hear and then use phrases like “nice black family” and “she even talks white,” or he “sounds black.”
Message received: Being brown is bad. Being white is good.
Because it’s so deeply woven into our growth we can’t even see it. Because it’s subtle hate being passed on that we don’t even realize is there so when it’s pointed out we defend it like it’s part of us because it is.
This is racism.
It isn’t lynching or slavery, but make no mistake, it IS racism.
Stop. Stop using words and phrases like “talks white,” or “nice black family,” or “surprisingly polite Mexican man.” I’m not just talking about not saying it because it’s the PC thing to do or because we’re “in mixed company.” That’s the worst because it’s saying we don’t really believe it. Because there are children around us hearing us say these things when it’s “just us” and they learn those lessons. They learn that it’s ok to talk about the brown people when it’s just us white people.
Stop. That.
Concede that we can’t understand. We can’t understand the fear of being stopped by the police and wondering if we’ll survive the interaction regardless of how respectful and compliant we are. Concede that we can’t understand not being able to go to the authorities because there’s a very high likelihood they will turn on us because they have that same deeply woven thread – that subtle fear and assumption. We can’t understand what it’s like to raise our children training them what to do if they get stopped by the police. We can’t understand fearing for their safety when they go…anywhere.
Concede that the deeply woven in part of us that’s always been there needs to be recognized and destroyed. It spreads with our words, our assumptions, and our subconscious stereotypes, with our quiet conversations and whispers when it’s “just us.”
First, however, we must acknowledge that the lens through which we look at the world has been bent and marred without our realizing it and because of that we cannot understand the struggles of others but..
We CAN listen.
We CAN empathize.
We CAN speak up to and with those within our own culture.
Because this is our problem and we need to get our house right.
google-classroom-integrations
Intelligent Hoodlums 