Chapter 7: Knowing, Making, and Playing
Questions - How can we bring play into the classroom and still make it educational? I can have my students play clash of clans all day and they would do it, and learn something from it, but it probably would not be science related.
Connections - I made a connection to my 20% project. In order for me to be able to be successful on my project, I had to go through gathering information, making a plan, and playing it out. Even though I spent hours on research on the topic, I got more out of the experience in the 5 minutes I was in the water, than I did gathering the information.
Epiphany/Aha - Just how important playing is for human existence. We play all the time, even when we do even realize it. Children play more because they do not have all the experiences that adults have. Somewhere down the line when students start growing up and finding out the playing is not cool, we lose that part of ourselves, at least in formal education. In an every changing society, we better learn to get play back, and teach our students that it is okay to play in the classroom, it is still cool to be playful.
Chapter 8: Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out
Questions - How can I incorporate my own technology base community in my classroom? My worry is doing so not all my students will have access to it.
Connections - I connect this chapter with our Google+ community. I can see myself slowly, and i do mean slowly, away from the hanging out part, just trying to find myself within the technology based world, into a more messing around stage, just trying thing out. As I find myself messing around with the community, sharing thoughts and ideas, I know that I will be able to transition to creating my own communities from which my students will be able to participate in.
Epiphany/Aha - The community is not a place to sit and watch, it is a place where you need to participate and experiment. For the most part, there is no judgment of failure or doing something wrong. You just have to do it, learn that it will not bite back, and adjust your own thinking about it. In other words, just play around with it, you might like it and learn something.
Chapter 9: The New Culture of Learning for a World of Constant Change
Questions - How can I incorporate games like World of Warcraft to encourage self-learning in my students?
Connections - My connection is with my 20% project. There is research done online, like with gamers, but until you try it, or play with it, you will never know if you can complete the task at hand.
Epiphany/Aha - I will admit, I play World of Warcraft and was one that would do research and theorycraft. I never thought of it as a way of learning because it was fun to me. Now, after reading this chapter, I know it is a form of learning, and it was meaningful learning to me.