Hmm... My favorite Beatle...

Until today, I have never given much thought to who my favorite Beatle is. I view this group of people as an inseparable image of music icons who swept the world by storm leaving their impact still affect the world today. Their songs such as Imagine, Let It Be, or Hey Jude are known, consciously or subconsciously by everybody and have become staples in music of our culture. If I singled out anybody from The Beatles, I would choose John Lennon. He was and still stays a legend, having shared his talent and gone too quickly. His legacy, however, still lives on in the music of today, and we will always enjoy his songs and relevancy of their meaning in our lives.

Imagine Glee from Daniel Reigada on Vimeo.

It's April already...

With only eight weeks left of school, it has become vital for me to reflect upon the strategies leading to successful completion of the games as well as student satisfaction with the work they were able to accomplish and the content they have mastered throughout the game design, as every day brings something new in excitement and frustration thus pushing us all to achieve beyond what was imaginable in the beginning of the year. This is a very stressful time, and even though I often get down in the dumps about the goals to be achieved with minimized student frustration, I use my frustration to come up with new strategies to help students see how much they have learned and what skills they have acquired during this year. I think, bringing people from outside who work with the tools on a daily basis also helps my students develop a better understanding of the importance of the skills they are using in Globaloria class. Last year, I was able to have a Skype session with Billy Harper, an owner of a graphic design company, originally from the area and now living in Florida. This session has truly opened my students' eyes to the wealth of opportunities for the use of their skills acquired as a result of participation in Globaloria. This year, this opportunity presented itself with the visit of Dr. Alex Games who shared his work with the students as well as identified various uses of the acquired skills in real life. When he was talking, I could see the eyes of my students light up and pens start scribbling the URLs he was supplying for them to sign up to create games. Even the girls who are not gamers were excited to talk to Dr. Games, and I am hoping that they might consider participating in Globaloria class next year.
I guess, through the hardships and "dumps", it all becomes worth it when I see that spark in my students' eyes as they realize how connected to the real life their work is and how successful they can be if they just put forth the effort. That's what teaching is all about- seeing that you make a positive difference in a person's life and help him or her establish a base for successful future.

Game demo presentations

A couple of weeks ago, you have shared your game demos with your fellow students, teachers, as well as Globaloria staff. The weeks preceding the presentations were hectic, stressful, and also productive even though snow sure tried to temper with the progress. I hope that the process as well as the presentations themselves have taught you a lot about your game topic and got you thinking about the ways of coming up with fully functional games. Don't forget to check out the Game Presentations page on the wiki to listen to the WebEx recordings as well as watch the videos I am uploading to the page as you go through the game creation process.
In your blogs today, I would like for you to reflect on

• Your game presentations. How did you feel they went? What did you learn? Are you changing anything about your game as a result of the presentations? How did these game demo presentations help you identify what you need to get done before the big event in May?
• Your topic. How did you decide to narrow your topic? What specific amendment/freedom are you focusing on? What research are you planning on embarking as a result of your decision? If you have decided to change the name of your game to reflect your topic better, what is it going to be? What other details have you identified that you will be working on?

Please, remember to add other Civic Strand students' blogs to your blog roll, comment on their blogs, as well as submit the blog prompt to the website.

Good blogging!

Hmm... to steal or not to steal???

My dear bloggers,

Your blog posts this year have been amazing as they showed your reflective side and let me understand your excitement, concerns, frustrations, and successes as you learned more about Flash and collaborated in groups. However, while doing a great deal of research lately, it has become easier for some of you to copy and paste the information you have been reading up rather thatn putting it in your own words (a.k.a. paraphrasing) and giving credit to the source.

Today, I would like for us to discuss the issues of plagiarism and the consequences for using somebody else's work without their permission. For this purpose, I would like for you to explore the following websites and discuss
1. What copyright law is and what the importance of Fair Use section is for you as a student.
2. The works that are and are not protected by copyright.
3. What public domain is and how it can affect your work.
4. How much text, video, or music you can use in your work (in your games as well!).
Copyright Kids and Cyberbee websites will be a great tool for you in your exploration. When you finish this part of the assignment, go to the following TUTORIAL, choose Emma's character and answer a series of questions about her actions regarding work at school. List THREE things that you have learned after playing that tutorial.

Good Blogging!
Mrs. Barker

Leading the horse to the water...

Student motivation has become a more prevalent issue throughout the years of my teaching. Working in a high poverty area, I frequently deal with the issues of students not seeing sense in getting education due to the cultural perceptions at home or community. Additionally, many students become easily bored in their classes as they are subjected to the same teaching strategies educators used with their parents without regards to the changes that have occurred in many spheres of adolescent life.



Web 2.0 technologies the students use outside the classroom let them create content, socialize, learn, and manage the wealth of information pertinent to their lives. When dealing with reluctant learners in my middle school classroom, I try to explore the ways to make their learning relevant and fun to them and help them see how they can apply the skills acquired to the real life situations.

"'It's a game, isn't it, Mary Poppins?'
Well, it depends on your point of view. You see, in every job that must be
done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and - snap!- the job's a
game. And every task you undertake becomes a piece of cake..."

Disney motion picture: "Mary Poppins"

Fortunately, in my Globaloria classes, I don't have many motivation issues as the students regard this class as relevant to their lives and are happy that they are doing something cool. However, motivation issues arise with older students who lag behind in curriculum, feel overwhelmed, and, therefore, want to quit. Spending extra time and giving students opportunities for catching up, agreeing on mutually set goals, and showing them that you care about them and their work helps raise motivation. I also feel that constant communication and provision of constructive feedback are extremely important, as they help educators establish relationships with students, and within our cultural environment where many students do not have caring adults in their lives, this aspect significantly contributes to the student motivation.