Video Games and Ratings

I was searching for more interesting sites to see provide me with back up that video games should be used in the classroom and I stumbled across a web site called. http://www.artificialwisdom.com/ that claims to rate games by how much your student can learn from them. The reason I liked this web site so much is because they were not your ordinary games that you would only see on a classroom computer like "Math Blaster" or something along those lines, rather, the games you find on the site are actually main stream games!  For example, a popular title "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" has a rating of  a C+ because although the game is fictional, it takes place in a fictional reenactment of our current world and can be used for geography. Also, another game such as "Assassin's Creed 2"  received a B because it takes place in Italy during the Renaissance and can be used to show students culture in these certain parts of Italy during that time.
     Now, I do believe that some mainstream games can be used in the classroom like "Assassin's Creed 2", but a lot of mainstream games are just made for entertainment and nothing more. It is important that if you are using video games in the classroom, use them for the right reason and not just to mesmerize your kids.

Video games in the classroom

Here is a project I have been working on to include video games into the classroom. check out my blog http://shlappy12.blogspot.com/2011/09/learning-by-playing-video-games.html

Learning by playing video games

I read an interesting article about a year ago in the New York Times online about a teacher who designed a video game with his middle school students to teach about enemy formations. After I read the article, my eyes opened up to new possibilities. For one, I love video games and I would proudly consider myself a gamer. Two, I love education and helping students grow. Before this article, I never thought to put the two together to form a fun classroom experience for the students.
     I currently teach 6th grade world history and I am working on a project to use a video game in the classroom. My students will be covering ancient Rome in a few weeks, so I started working with the game "Rome:Total War" in order to create reenactments of famous battles. I pitched the idea to my students and they are excited. The article that changed my perception can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19video-t.html.

"Did You Know" response

    First, let me start this post by saying that the "Did You Know" video was pretty eye opening! Even though the video was more of a glance of Iowa public schools, I believe Florida public schools can learn a thing or two from the video. It is true that in this day and age of technology, it seems that education has taken a step back. Personally, I try to incorporate technology into my classroom as much as I possibly can, but without enough funding and  one tech guy with what seems to be a million tech requests, it is hard to keep up with the students idea of technology.
    In regards to the discussion, "Are we doing what is best for our students, or are we doing what is most convenient for us?",  I have two things to say. One, I am in my first year teaching, which means I am bright eyed and my youthful idealism is still intact. With that said, however, it sometimes feels that administration is trying to snuff out that flame of excitement by dumping more and more nonsense on a newbie trying to stay afloat. I am not "administration bashing" because we all know what rolls down hill and they have to do what they have to do, I just wish there was more of a fight then everyone worrying about the guy on top saying "your services are no longer needed". With the amount of work that administration has to do and the amount that educators have to do , I can see how doing what is most convenient seems like the logical choice in regards to our sanity. As fellow educators and administrators, I believe that we need to reshape our focus and do what is best for the students and step away from what is best for the "State".
      Number two, tying this back into our course on technology, sometimes technology can be used as the more convenient way out of a lesson. For example, for those of you who have a smart board, it has a lot of bells and whistles and sometimes for the kids, that is all it takes to keep them behaved. It is important to use technology in education for the sole purpose of helping students become critical thinkers and successful individuals.