Gaming in Education: Is It Effective or “Just Play” ?

There has not been a time lately when walking in the mall, waiting to be seated in a restaurant, or riding in a car that I have not seen children with their electronic devices playing video games. As a parent I am guilty of purchasing these devices for my children. As a teacher if I want to spark a class discussion of tap into a useful and reliable source of information about the most recent games to be released I ask my students.

When facilitating these discussions I find that often times my most reserved students are engaged and contributing. I recall a student that refused to complete assignments in class. After several failed attempts I noticed their binder and there were several drawings of a popular video game, “World of Warcraft”. I asked them about the game and in 43 minutes, the class period, they explained to me the concept behind the game along with the characters’ name and their special powers. They explained how they “beat” the game several times and looked forward to the newest versions with the hopes of “beating” it also. From this conversation I knew that I had to somehow connect their passion for gaming with my curriculum. I offered them an agreement that if they complete the assignment in class I would allow them to play www.coolmath.com  until the end of class. The games on this site though not specifically focusing on business teach strategy and sharpen decision making skills that can be used cross curricular.

In my quest I referred to a book from a previous class, Transforming Learning With New Technologies, as an excellent resource to educate myself about the use of gaming in education. I did not realize the amount of research and knowledge available on this subject. I found an interesting article in Science Daily addressing the effectiveness of this tool in teaching at. See link below: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090210134746.htm

After researching the topic and finding some useful websites the student moved to another school. I am still in the process of learning to incorporate games specific to my content to be used by my students. I believe games in education should be a supplement to the various deliveries and assessment of curriculum goals and objectives. As an educator I consciously try to offer variety in my delivery of content. I view gaming as an additional tool in my tool bag to prepare my students to be 21^st century learners.

Charter Schools: The Best Alternative in Public Education?

Are charter schools the best alternative in public education? Apparently it is according to the North Carolina Senate. There has been a lot of debate about the effectiveness of charter schools and their educational value to students. Statistics have proven that they have been very successful in the state of North Carolina. However, so have many public schools in the state. There has been a long standing cap of 100 schools charter schools and lobbyist have successfully convinced the lawmakers that this cap needs to be removed. See the link below : http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/story/9166891/

The Wake County Public Schools have received national attention about their issues with student reassignment and equality education for all students’ regardless race or socioeconomic status. I believe this was the most opportune time for the charter schools to lobby and  influence politicians to vote and remove the cap to offer parents an alternate in their educational choices. The charter schools also win because due to frustrations of the parents the parents are more ambitious to “try something different”. Check out the video on:  

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/battle-nc-b...ry?id=11243854

The North Carolina Association of Educators also lobbied to stop the cap removal on charter schools. They realized with all of the recent cuts in educational funding and loss of teacher jobs this would serve as another “nail in the coffin” to change education as we know it forever. It is definite that the charter schools won this battle but the war is far from over.

The people making the decisions are NOT educators and therefore look at the issues from a business perspective. Education is a unique business of its own and can not be “fixed” with cookie cutter solution or be compared with any other corporation. I make this statement as a former business women and now educator. The consensus is that OUR children lose in the end.

How Will Virtual Schools Affect Our Future?

Are online elementary, middle and high schools in our future? I was informed by a colleague of mine that she received a new student that attended a virtual school in another state. She informed me that the student stated that she did not actually go to a school building for her education. She logged into her school everyday and using a webcam she was taught by her teacher which she never physically met. The student was of a middle school age and her mother sat with her at the computer as a mediator between her and the teacher. This one teacher taught 250 other students on a subject in several different counties.

 When she first started the discussion I thought she was referring to a home schooling but this was a totally different concept. I could not believe it!! If this is true for the number of students currently enrolled in my school we would only need two teachers to teach the students. There would be no need for the school building where we currently reside for this small number of employees. The cafeteria staff, custodians and classified staff would be obsolete. Could this be a reality? What would happen to teaching jobs? How would the schools determine which teachers to keep? Would it now be a requirement to be licensed in multiple subject areas and several states (which is not a bad idea)? Is this the direction of public education?

I decided to do some research about the virtual schools and I found a plethora of information. The one that impressed me the most was found on this website for Florida Virtual Schools @ http://www.flvs.net/Pages/default.aspx and after perusing the website I discovered that Florida offers this school for their residences K-12. The website defined the hardware and software requirements needed, courses offered, and teachers are available for questions and support from 8:00 AM-8:00 PM and weekend hours!! I was stunned at the clarity of the expectations for parents, students and teachers if they were to choose this option of educating their children. I had no idea that this choice in education existed in a K-12 setting.  

Preparing Today's Student for Tomorrow's Technology


As a middle school teacher in this ever changing world of technology I find it a constant challenge to prepare students to compete in the 21 st century. Due to budget cuts and decrease in funding to education, resources are depleting and there is limited access to the most current technologies which result in an increase to the digital divide.