Genius Hour Week 1: Initial Research

Research on the topic of role-playing games (RPGs) has been going well over the past week.  I found some good sources in the form of written articles, videos, and podcasts.  There has clearly been a lot of research and attention put on this topic, and so far I have only just scratched the surface.  One particular example stood out to me which was in the form of a podcast.  It was a Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) podcast (interview starts at 21:50) where the hosts interviewed Kade Wells, a Grade 9 Texan teacher who used D&D to teach reading, writing, and critical thinking skills in his language arts classroom.  Kade Wells went on to present his experiences and his findings to the 2015 World Literacy Conference in Austria.  Wells goes on to explain the significant boost in the confidence and performance of his students which he attributes to the active use of D&D in the classroom.  Although I could not find an article or a transcript of Wells’ presentation, he does go into detail discussing how it worked in his classroom during the podcast.

I have also learned some serious distinctions some people make when discussing games in the classroom, specifically the differences between simulation games and role-playing games.  Csenge V. Zalka in their thesis presented to East Tennessee State University outlines some key differences.  Firstly simulation games are based in real world events or scenarios while RPGS are focused on fictional or fantastical settings.  Secondly simulation games are often constructed to be done in groups competitively while RPGs focus on the individual character and how they cooperate with others to overcome challenges.  Thirdly the teacher when running a simulation game merely observes and facilitates, unlike in a RPG where they actively shape the narrative.  Fourthly with simulation games most of the information students need are provided to them, unlike RPGs which require more research and data management in preparation (Zalka, p.15-17).   

For the most part I agree with these general distinctions between simulation and role-playing games, however I must disagree with the first point.  There are many RPGs out there that deal with real world events and scenarios that contain all the same aspects of cooperation, strong narrative construction, and preparation.  The definitions and history of simulation games and RPGs offered in Zalka’s article will certainly be useful going forward.  This article also offers a few sample games which the writer says can be adjusted for grades K-12 (p.60-68).  I will read through each of these more closely to determine if they would work in a classroom.  

These were the two sources that most stood out to me in my week of research.  I found both to be quite informative, as Wells offered some insightful comments on his own experiences using it in his class, and Zalka offered a more detailed academic analysis on the topic.  For now these two sources seem excellent in informing my decisions as I go on with this project.  Over the next week I will continue to do more research and focus on narrowing down the sources I intend to use to help create my own method of integrating RPGs into the classroom.  I still have many questions, answers to which many not be easily found in articles.  Such as how does one run an RPG with a group of 30 people playing?  How can one successfully integrate the RPG into all subjects so it is not relegated to just history and language arts?  And how do you best get students to buy into the concept?  I hope to find the answers to these questions in the coming weeks, and likely come up with more questions to ask.  I’m looking forward to seeing what the final product might look like.

Math Reflection Week 3: Instructional and Relational Understanding

One thing I quite enjoyed learning about today during my teaching math class was the differences between instructional and relational learning.  This was presented in class via a Youtube video.  I have a feeling that most people have learned math through an instructional teacher.  The instructional method is best described as logical, procedural and formulaic.  Instructional teaching focuses on memorizing formulas to solve problems, learning how to solve the problem after being given the instructional knowledge and then having the teacher identify your answer as correct.  Relational teaching on the other hand focuses on getting students to understand the concepts, ask how and why and identifying the elements of the problem.  As student teachers we have by now learned that every child learns differently.  Many students will want to learn instructionally, asking for the formula to solve a problem, and some will be relational, asking how and why mathematical processes work. 

This video suggests that relational learning is superior to instructional learning.  Highlighting that if a teacher uses an instructional method it will frustrate relational learners, but if a student uses relational teaching it may frustrate instructional learners at first but they will eventually come around to be relational learners.  Thus this video from A Learning Place argues that only relational learning should be used by teachers as it will create the best learning for all students.  I have a problem with this assertion.  I find it strange that an instructional method will not work for relational learners, but a relational method will eventually work for instructional learners.  This to me seems to indicate a heavy bias towards relational teaching.  As a teacher I would want to use both instructional and relational methods.  I do not see it as detrimental to learning to try and express a lesson in both a relational way while also providing instructional knowledge to students.  A math lesson should accommodate both instructional and relational learners.  

From this video I have learned about two distinct forms of math teaching and learning.  Although it might seem like the two are opposites, I believe that both could be very complimentary in my classroom.  To me this shows that mathematical learning as a teacher, is far more than simple instructional knowledge, but requires a deeper mathematical pedagogical knowledge to know the answers to the why and how questions.  I would hope to incorporate both instructional and relational instruction into my classroom to better cater to both mathematical learning types.  By offering both I would hope that students could discover which method works best for them or which one is more engaging to them 

Math Reflection Week 2: What Makes a Math Teacher?

No doubt many people when asked what their least favourite subject in school was would say mathematics.  Many people I’ve talked to often express a kind of anxiety or fear when encountered with the prospect of classroom math.  I believe this to be in part to how mathematics was taught to them growing up and bad experiences associated with math.  Both I and my colleagues in my teaching cohort have expressed a level of anxiety when it comes to the prospect of teaching math.  I as well as others I’ve talked to feel as though we lack the necessary knowledge, or are too “out of practice” to teach math.  However, we are all still operating under the basic assumptions that teaching math is simply the process of the teacher possessing large amounts of knowledge and imparting it on to their students.  This assumes that the greater the teacher’s knowledge in mathematics the greater their ability to teach.  This mindset leaves student teachers with little experience outside of high school feeling as though incapable of teaching math.  

So we must ask, does greater mathematical knowledge make better math teachers?  According to an article byDeborah Loewenberg Ball and Hyman Bass from the University of Michigan it may not be that simple.  According to their study, they found that teachers with past knowledge of advanced mathematics only produces positive effects on students in only 10% of the cases, and oddly enough produced negative effects in 8% of cases (p.3).  However, they go on to state that from observational studies “teacher’s understanding of and agility with the mathematical content does affect the quality of their teaching.” (p. 3).  Therefore there are difficulties when teachers are unfamiliar with the content.  So what must be done to teach mathematics effectively?  According to Ball and Bass a lot of what teachers need to do to teach effectively are pedagogical skills.  This means adjusting your mathematical language and definitions to fit your student’s knowledge and experience.  Teaching mathematics thus requires a kind of textbook understanding of mathematical elements, but also math that is less visible such as definitions or determining the validity of multiple methods.  For Ball and Bass the significant factors for teaching mathematics is the act of unpacking or compressing ideas into more usable forms.  Another idea is to connect mathematical ideas across different mathematical subjects (p. 11).  These are some of the basic concepts for what makes an effective math teacher.
   
Mathematical knowledge is something that emerging teachers will simply have to have, but it is important to identify what they do know and what they don’t know.  I believe that we have already started this process with the Elevate my Math online course.  In it all of us were able to identify what we knew and did not know.  Student teachers will have to learn mathematical knowledge specifically for teaching.  We must continue to develop our content knowledge while beginning to develop our pedagogical content knowledge.  For me developing both of these skills further will be important as I progress to becoming a teacher.   

Genius Hour Proposal

What is genius hour? Genius hour is a set amount of time in which you pursue an answer to a question that you are passionate about.  For students this means that they get to focus on what interests them for a set period during school.  Over the next four weeks I will be pursuing my own genius hour.  I will seek to answer the question: how can role-playing games be used as a teaching tool in the classroom?  Over the next four weeks I will seek to research the discourses on this topic, to curate what seem to be the most effective methods, to create a method to integrate role-playing games into the classroom, and finally to reflect upon the implications of using role-playing games in the classroom.  Below I have posted a Google Slide presentation outlining my question, my timeline for this project, and why I am passionate about this.  The concept of genius hour is something that I would readily implement into my classroom.  There are numerous examples of how it has been used in education so one would not be starved for examples.

Copyright

Copyright can seem like a big daunting thing, but the basic rules and principles to learn are quick and accessible to learn.  I have learned a few things from reading about copyright laws.  For example just the act of creating a work enables copyright and ensures that the creator of the original work has the right to use it.  There are four types of copyright under creative commons: attribution, share alike, non-commercial and no derivative works.  The most important aspect about teaching copyright to children is properly citing their sources.  As without this it is hard to tell if the students are using their sources legitimately.  Teaching this can be done through simple in class exercises or lessons illustrating how to properly cite most works. These images and citations properly illustrate how to use copyright friendly online images.

Riberio, Lucelia. (June 20, 2008). Children at School [Online Image]. Retrieved from flickr

 

 

Barttmoni. (November 22, 2009). Children at Computers [Online Image]. Retrieved from Wikipedia

Welcome Digital Learners

Hello digital learners, my name is Michael F. I have recently enrolled in consecutive education at Brock University in the junior/intermediate stream.  I will be posting digital resources to this page that I find in my studies and experiences.  I will also be posting to my twitter a few times a week about my class reflections and any interesting resources that I find.  I look forward to getting some in class experiences as well as learning about some new tools for teaching.

I was a history undergrad at Brock University and studied a wide variety of topics such as Medieval/Renaissance studies, European history, African history, and East Asian history.  My personal interest most heavily lie in Sino-Japanese history.  If you are interested in finding out about some of my hobbies and interests you are welcome to check out the All About Me page on my Pinterest.  I'm really excited for teachers education, but if you're finding that you're lacking motivation for classes enjoy this short motivational speech by Hollywood star Shia LaBeouf.

Introduction

Hello my name is Michael and this is my blog.  I will be blogging all about my experiences in consecutive teacher education at Brock University.  This blog will include posts for multiple courses such as teaching mathematics and digital learning.  My subjects of study are largely focused on history, geography, and politics.  I hope to expand my knowledge while enrolled in education to areas that I might be weaker in such as maths and sciences.   

I completed my history undergrad at Brock University where I graduated with honours.  During my history undergrad I studied a wide range of topics such as Medieval and Renaissance history, Canadian and American histories, East Asian history, African history, and European history.  Though I would have to say my knowledge primarily lies in European and East Asian history, specifically during the nineteenth to twentieth centuries.  

 I am aiming to learn about how to manage a classroom, construct lessons, and methods to best engage students.  I firmly believe that teaching is a very significant profession because it gives the knowledge and tools that a future generation needs to become productive and successful members of society.  This blog will help best illustrate my professional growth to becoming an effective and confident teacher.