Minecraft Memories from 2012

This past week was actually kind of busy. I spent two days at the Ontario Library Association to help add content to the Together For Learning website, www.togetherforlearning.ca and on the day this week that my children attend their comic design workshop at Little Island Comics, I had a meeting with amazing educators Denise Colby and Liam O'Donnell to discuss the TDSB Multi-School Minecraft Project.

We met at Snakes and Lattes, an incredible cafe where you can play any board game imaginable while you sip your beverage; it was a testament to how engrossing our conversation was that we never got around to playing any of the board games there! We discussed what worked with the TDSB Multi-School Minecraft Project, what didn't work, our next steps for September, and the future of GamingEdus. Our GamingEdus group will be presenting three times in the next twelve months (Academy of the Impossible = August 2012, Educational Computing Organization of Ontario = October 2012, Ontario Library Association = February 2013) and we'll need to plan for those presentations, but those talks don't stress me out - we've done the TLCafe and TeachersTeachingTeachers webinars together, as well as a Toronto Comic Arts Festival (although that was on comics, not Minecraft, but we definitely squeezed in some Minecraft references).

At one point in the conversation, Denise joked that she remembered griping in teachers' college about all the reflections they forced us to complete; "when will I ever do that when I'm really teaching?" We all laughed at that. This group reflection time was so beneficial to all of us. I know I learned quite a bit as we reminisced and recounted some of the events from this year's club experiment. Here were some of my personal "ahas" during our Minecraft Meeting.

1) Collecting / documenting evidence can be both easy and tricky.

We have a variety of artifacts to demonstrate the authentic learning and the benefits. The students wrote on the wiki, http://minecraftclubhub.pbworks.com. Each educator kept their own journal (I kept two - one on the Minecraft Club Hub and one on the GamingEducators wiki). We took screen shots and photos and made audio and video recordings of the conversations that went on during club get-togethers. Considering that we only really got started playing in March, we have quite a bit of data. The challenging part is how and where to share. Liam, Denise, and I have tried to be as transparent as possible but sometimes there are some anecdotal records that might reveal too much about the students behind the avatars - how do we share that kind of information?  Do we need to code our evidence, to show that sample X demonstrates an increase in literacy skills / numeracy skills / social skills? Is the type of evidence we have collected persuasive, or do we need more quantitative information?

2) Sometimes, disasters are good. 

We had some great moments of inter-school collaboration, like when we all teamed up to defeat a horde of ghasts someone had spawned, or when two individuals from separate schools played with red stone switches together. However, we also had moments of conflict, like when one student asked to share their house with someone from another school and when they agreed, the newcomer hit the home-owner (in-game) and took some of their stuff. Trying to take a group photo of all the players on the last day of the club was another challenging endeavor. These moments of strife were actually just as educational, if not more so. I can't share more details about the first situation, but it led to some good conversations with students at both schools. I learned about myself that I tend to step in immediately (sometimes too soon) to "fix" the problem but there are many reasons for actions and many solutions to problems.We could use our moderator powers to restrict what gets built where and what gets destroyed by whom, but (and thanks Denise for writing this down as a "Diana quote"), although that would be the easy way out, "it's not the learning way out".

3) Never underestimate the impact Minecraft has on players.

I knew the students enjoyed Minecraft Club, but I don't think I realized how important it was to them.
One of my students wrote for his grad comment in the yearbook ""Appreciation to Ms. Mali for starting Minecraft Club - it was fun and helped me develop my teamwork.". Students have written on the wiki that Monday was their favourite day of the week because that's when Minecraft Club was held at their school. A group of students came to see me in June to beg that they be allowed to continue in the Minecraft Club next year and offered me money so they could buy their Minecraft account. Another group made their own server and invited me to visit - a huge privilege, in my books. These are students that I wouldn't normally get to converse with on a level like this. They've taught me so much and they know so much; it's a shame that traditional schooling does not honour this sort of knowledge and skill set.

4) Rather than fight the people who are "doing it wrong", show the route we are taking.

This is a tough lesson for me. Many people are interested in games in education, but to learn more, they are turning to people and groups who are more into gamification (the "Frankensteining" of certain elements of games like badges, levels, and rewards, and applying them to lessons or units, which demeans both games and education). I've tried to dialogue with some of these people in a respectful way, but I either get ignored or indirectly criticized. (Trust me, it's hard not to name some of the culprits here, but I don't want to start a flame war!) Liam suggested Tweet Deck to sort my contacts and lower my blood pressure, and he recommended that my time and energy would be better spent demonstrating how allowing students to take the lead in determining what to do in-game and how to play, rather than micro-managing their activities, provides greater learning opportunities. We'll be having a GamingEdu open house in August so educators can have a chance to play themselves (a key foundation of the Gaming Edu philosophy), so stay tuned.

Thanks again to Liam and Denise - this is a true Professional Learning Community, one that I'm proud to be a part of. I'll play with posting reflections here as well as on Gaming Edus, Minecraft Club Hub, and Family Gaming XP (but I don't want you to get Minecrafted out!).

Yes, I own a Minecraft creeper head. So?

Repeat anew (redoing the Bee Unit)

It's been a whole week that I've been on vacation, but the musings will continue to come. I've been trying to take it a bit easy this week and the three main things I've been up to have been sleeping, eating out (a particular vice of mine), and reading (the Patricia Briggs "Mercy Thompson" series). I did go in to school to clean up a bit before the caretaking staff come to do their big scrub and I found some drawings from a recent unit that I co-taught with a very talented kindergarten teacher who has transfered schools to be closer to home. I'll be sad not to partner with her, especially because this teacher and I worked so well together.

Open flexible partner time gets booked up pretty quickly and we were only able to slot some time to work together this year in June - yes, June, the hectic winding-down but still going full-throttle month filled with graduation rehearsals and more. We decided in our all-too-brief planning sessions that we'd re-do our collaborative Bee Unit. We co-planned and co-taught this set of four-plus lessons before with a great deal of success. It was an integrated unit encompassing Language, Science, and Media Literacy. (I promise you that it wasn't a "garbage-in/garbage-out" set of teacher-focused tasks that pretends to be "research".) The end-product was a movie the kindergarten students had created using Pivot Stick Animation - each group shared a fact on either a section of the bee's life cycle or an interesting fact about bees that they deemed important and each subgroup made a cartoon that was strung together to make a psedo-documentary. The movies were burned to DVD and are some of my most treasured examples of student work.

Mrs. K and I realized pretty early on that what had worked for the students in her class a couple of years ago was not going to fly with this current particular group of kids. There was no chance at all that we'd get to the stage where we were making movies. Even though we were supposedly "repeating" a unit we had both already taught, it was a brand new experience, shaped by the kids. In fact, it was one of the junior kindergarten students that formulated our new final task. Old resources were traded for new resources and a particular book caught this one boy's fancy enough that during free time, he chose to draw it. When HK told me about her observations, it clicked for both of us that we should change gears and incorporate it into the other lessons. In the end, children drew three bee pictures: a non-fiction representation, a fictional version that promoted a "good bee" message, and/or a fictional version that promoted a "bad bee" message. This altered task garnered more success than the original end project for this class of kids.

I guess this is why I'm not morally opposed to reteaching a lesson or unit - with the caveat that something change from the last time, be it an improved marking scheme, an added lesson to improve comprehension, a new strategy incorporated into the tried and true flow. I probably won't get to teach this version of the Bee Unit again (I'll make it available on http://mzmollyTLsharespace.pbworks.com if it's not there already) but I wanted to say thanks to Mrs. K - an amazing teacher, flexible, and kind. We'll miss you, but enjoy the shortened travel time!

Plagiarism Teaches the Teacher

School's out for the summer, but my mind's still humming with all the things that occurred in the last three months. AprilMayJune feels like a single month that flies in the blink of an eye. I suspect JulyAugust will go just as quickly. I have lots of reading to do, pleasure reading, in addition to The Choreography of Presenting by Kendall Zoller and Claudette Landry (thanks Moses for the gift!), Evidence to Action by Karen Hume (which I won ages ago at a Hume workshop), and Literacy Smarts by Jennifer Harper and Brenda Stein Dzaldov (courtesy of Jennifer Dinsmore over at Pembroke Publishers, who heard from Dr. Elizabeth Lee and Mary Macchiusi that I might like this book). I've got writing projects to do for Together For Learning as well as my research study, and I've got tons of scrapbooking to keep me busy. While I scrapbook, I reflect on the events. I didn't take a photo of this particular event, but it did make me think.

One of the final assignments for Grade 7-8 Media Literacy was a Photoshop assignment. This was the description of the task on our division wiki:

The TDSB ICT strand for Term 2 2011-2012 is "Creativity and Innovation" ("create original works as a means of personal or group expression, such as photo editing ...").

Your job is to create an image, using Photoshop or related software, that is "fake".

You can make it related to your fake website assignment or something just of personal interest to you (e.g. you hanging out with One Direction).

This task will be marked out of 10. The rubric and mark scheme is below.

You can see some sample Photoshop mash-ups from this link that relates to the recent flooding of Union Station.

http://www.blogto.com/city/2012/06/a_roundup_of_union_station_flood_funnies/

Category	Level 4	Level 3	Level 2	Level 1
Creativity /5	Digitally altered photo is very creative. - atypical or amusing - very enjoyable to admire, expressive of views/feelings	Digitally altered photo is creative. - somewhat unique or amusing -  enjoyable to admire	Digitally altered photo is somewhat creative. - typical topic - slightly unexciting to view	Digitally altered photo is slightly creative. - Photoshop previously by others and mimicked - boring to view
Technical Prowess /5	Digitally altered photo is expertly composed  - very convincing (cropping hard to see) - colours, backgrounds, layers, all work together	Digitally altered photo is composed well - quite convincing (cropping only seen through zoom) - some parts of photo work together	Digitally altered photo is composed moderately well - slightly unconvincing (can see where inserted / altered) - some parts work against the message	Digitally altered photo is composed poorly. - very unconvincing - clumsily executed

Please post your Photoshopped images on the "Grade 7 Photoshopped Images" or "Grade 8 Photoshopped Images" page on the wiki. 

I was really pleased with the quality of the work that students produced and shared via the wiki. There were some rumours floating around that some of the submitted assignments were not made by the students that shared them. I did some investigating and it turned out that three assignments (two for this task and one for a separate Media Literacy task) were plagiarized. Thankfully, it was quite easy to prove that the images were stolen - a simple Google Images search turned up the evidence - but it was disappointing to see that some students decided to take this course of action. I met with the principal, classroom teacher, and student and different consequences were administered (based on the TDSB progressive discipline model of scaffolding punishments). All perpetrators received a zero on this task. As we met and discussed this infraction, I thought about the part I played in this: was there anything I could have done differently to prevent this? I cynically joked to my principal that "this teaches me not to differentiate my learning tasks", but in all seriousness, I think there could've been a way for me to design this task to reduce the possibility for plagiarism.

• I could've asked for the two individual photos to have been submitted, in addition to the final, merged product
• I could've insisted that a picture of themselves had to be incorporated into the final Photoshopped product (because how many items would have them directly in it?)
• I could've narrowed the focus for the topic or insisted that a few sentences that explained how the product was "a means of personal or group expression"
• I could've taught a few more lessons on digital citizenship and the ethics of using other people's work (not just text, but images and sound) without permission - actually, this would be good for staff too, since some adults involved in the consequence delivery didn't consider this kind of plagiarism as "serious" as if the students had copied and pasted text

Although I'm not happy that some students cheated, I'm glad that I learned something from the experience that I can apply to future task designs. 

You reap what you sow

A story from New York State has dominated the news lately: a bus monitor was taunted to the point of tears by some young teenagers, who taped the bullying and posted the video. A Canadian viewer was so appalled that he created a campaign to donate money for the woman to go on vacation. One version of the story can be found here. Funds donated have grown exponentially. An interesting follow-up to this story: the four 13-year-old boys that actively participated in the verbal assault are now themselves targets of death threats and have to have police protection. I neither watched the original video (because I knew that the scene would upset me too much), nor do I condone sending death threats to the perpetrators, but it seems the old adage applies: you reap what you sow.

The next three stories will be deliberately "vagueified" to protect the identities of those involved, but the end message is the same as the above extreme example.

At an elementary school with which I am familiar, a particularly troublesome student was not allowed to play a key role in the end-of-the-year talent show because his/her behaviour did not merit this sort of reward. From what I understand, this pre-teen has been rather disrespectful, and unjustifiably so, to his/her peers and teachers. None of the consequences given for the child's actions prior to this seemed to make a dent or difference in his/her conduct, but this denied privilege may have an impact. You reap what you sow.

This is the season for graduation celebrations. At another elementary school I know, they had their graduation ceremony last week at a banquet hall, and afterwards, there was a dinner and dance. To keep the students from becoming bored or restless before the dancing began, there was a post-dinner activity with prizes to be won: each table had to choose a favourite or memorable moment from the school year and act it out for everyone present, with the table of teachers determining the winning group. When it came time for the presentations, three out of the four tables performed scenes in which they recounted how a particular teacher interacted with them. For the majority of the adult viewers, it was a very clear message. It was reported that the teacher in question did not interpret the performances in the same way that the rest of the table did, unless the teacher's external reaction covered up the actual reaction.If true, that would be a shame because it could have been a valuable lesson learned. You reap what you sow.

And finally, a personal recount. I noticed on Saturday that Dolly, my daughter's pet bunny, was running low on food, so I went into her cage to fill it up and Dolly scratched and bit me! I read online later that rabbits can be very territorial about their cage and it is best to refill bowls when they are outside their cage getting their exercise, but I was pretty mad at her for a while and don't plan on giving her extra treats if I can help it. You reap what you sow - oh wait, I think the more appropriate saying for this incident is "don't bite the hand that feeds you".

Teaching Dynasties

It was several months after the arrival of our new principal that I realized that his name matched the plaque on the wall of our school commemorating its opening. My current principal's father was the superintendent at the time our school began, which made my principal's appointment to our specific location extra special for his father (so happy belated Father's Day to him and all other fathers and father-figures!).

It made me realize how many families I know for which education is the family profession. I know of many husband-and-wife combination in which both are teachers, but I also know of many others in which both parents are teachers and siblings are in the education field as well. I was going to type that I wasn't a part of a long line of teachers, but then I realized that both my mother-in-law and sister-in-law are teachers.

What are the pros and cons of having teaching as the family business? As far as I know, this has never been studied and all my points are unscientifically generated from my biased imagination.

Good Things

• family can understand what you are going through (e.g. report card writing, concerts, etc.)
• contacts can help you get your foot in the door for a job (networking)
• relatives can share resources and tips

Bad Things

• family might not consider/value other job options
• contacts can help you get your foot in the door for a job (nepotism)
• individuals may have a sense of entitlement

I'm sure I'm missing several points. I shared my list with my husband, who commented that dynasties of any sort aren't healthy, be they political or educational. Is there a dynasty-in-the-making at my house? I don't know what my own children wish to be. Actually, let me correct that statement. I just asked my daughter, who said she wasn't sure but was leaning toward becoming an author. My son told my husband the other day he wants to be either a video game designer or a comic book writer. Did I mention that their father is a writer? I guess it's only natural for children to emulate their parents (at least when they aren't making choices diametrically opposed to their parents). 

Oh, and even though this has NOTHING to do with today's topic, as promised, here is a shot of my version of Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games. File this under "the crazy things some teachers will do".

SYTYCD & BYOD

My school library is used for many more purposes than merely a quiet place to read or research. I consider it a Learning Commons in progress. Because of the size and the supervision (big for the former, available long after hours for the latter), it's a popular place for students to practice their routines for our school's annual So You Think You Can Dance celebration.

SYTYCD is a bit deal at AMPS. The junior-intermediate classes all require their students to create and perform a group dance as part of their curriculum. The best two dance teams from each class are invited to share in front of the whole school at a half-day assembly. Three staff members take on roles as famous celebrities from various talent / TV shows and provide commentary after each act. Last year, we had Jennifer Lopez, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Sue Sylvester as guest "judges". It's improvisation at its best and most challenging, because all comments must be rated G and be positive. (For the record, I was Sue Sylvester for two years and Simon Cowell for the previous two years. This year, because I am the junior/intermediate chairperson, I will be taking the much more sombre role of MC.) Students coordinate their outfits, use elaborate props like confetti cannons ... it's a huge extravaganza. Everyone really enjoys the show.

I was watching the students rehearse in the library out of the corner of my eye while I marked work and I noticed something very interesting. A dedicated group of Grade Eight girls and boys were practicing their dance. They played their song on their iPhones and danced. Then they had a small group perform a specific section of the dance that they were concerned about and they videotaped the portion on their iPhones so they could all watch it and see if they were synchronized properly. To make their performance unique, they decide to add a modified voice file to a part of the act, so they recorded their lines on their iPhones and then they changed their voices to sound like chipmunks on their iPhones to add in later at home. Then they called home on their iPhones to tell their parents they were on their way. See the trend? Now, I'm not sure that these were all iPhones, but they were all portable electronic devices with multiple purposes - kind of like a school library / Learning Commons, n'est-ce pas? Despite the much ballyhooed news that TDSB was allowing cell phones in schools, (the famous / infamous Bring Your Own Device move) there are still a lot of restrictions surrounding their use. In the school library, they are allowed to turn them on and use the school wi-fi *IF* they are working on school-related tasks first (because let's be serious, we know adults that use school computers to check their Facebook and Twitter, so as long as the students have done their work, why deny a quick email check?) I was really impressed with how they were fluidly using their tools for school. It would be really neat to move beyond dance class to see how this would work in a math class, or language class. It'll be another great show this Wednesday.

Sex and the Twilight Saga

I've been composing today's post in my head for several days, judging my words carefully. This is not a post about Bill 13, the "Accepting Schools Act", legislation debated by the Ontario provincial government regarding anti-bullying measures including section 303.1(1)d which specifically mentions "activities or organizations that promote the awareness and understanding of, and respect for, people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, including organizations with the name gay-straight alliance or another name". This bill is very controversial. I myself am quite torn on the issue - am I allowed to say I support both sides?

The main reason I mention Bill 13 in my preamble is to demonstrate how sensitive certain issues are, especially ones dealing with human sexuality. It is around this time of year (the late spring / early summer) that most teachers I know choose to teach their "sex ed" units; I suspect because it's one of their least favourite subjects to teach. It can be awkward, the students can get silly, and educators become concerned about what kind of information is too much, too little, or just right to provide.

I have a very librarian-y solution that I happened to stumble upon: the use of fiction.

My daughter is currently in grade 6. She is a voracious and proficient reader but we still enjoy having bedtime reading time. We've done the entire Harry Potter series, the Hunger Games trilogy, and right now we are reading Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the Twilight saga. Long-time readers of this blog from the time when it was hosted on the Library Network Group site will remember that I'm a pretty big Twilight fan. This is my seventh time reading the books from cover to cover, but the first time as a read-aloud with my girl. It's been a different experience. My dear friend Wendee and I talked about this and she hypothesized that because many of the books consist of Bella's internal thoughts, having them said aloud makes them sound excessively dramatic in some sections and overly fawning in other parts. I think she has a point. My own private dialogues in my head can veer to hyperbole (e.g. "my husband is the most perfect person on this planet and I just don't deserve to be with someone this intelligent / kind / good-looking / fill-in-the-blank").

Because I'm a fan and the movies are so ubiquitous, my daughter knew about the basic plot long before she read the books. She knew that Edward and Bella get married and have a baby in the last book of the series. (The author, Stephenie Meyer, is a Mormon and I think this impacts how she writes - the scenes of intimacy aren't graphic at all, even the honeymoon section.) The great thing about reading this book together is the conversation we have after reading a chapter or two at night. I won't go into too many details because I want to respect the privacy and sanctity of our discussions - how would you feel if your mother blogged about a "birds and the bees" talk she had with you? The nice thing is that our chats aren't just about the "birds and the bees"; they can touch on all sorts of different aspects, from the mechanical to the emotional and ethical. Because we are talking about fictional characters, we can get into detail without the "ick" factor kicking in - the only question that ever veered into the personal was when my girl asked about my emotions on my wedding day. It's a super opportunity to share our family's values regarding certain subjects but also expose her to different points of view. Literature can bring us understanding to situations beyond us, like Finnick's horrible abuse by the Capitol in Suzanne Collins' series, in ways that make us care more than by reading a non-fiction text on consent and coersion. Focusing on the story grounds us and leads to more choices for discussion.

This post is long enough, so I won't go into the interesting but lengthy anecdote about a Grade 6 teacher reading Veronica Roth's Divergent to her students. (Maybe I can return to it if I run out of topics for the blog during the summer.) The long and short of it is that Breaking Dawn has provided a wonderful opportunity for me to talk with my daughter about sensitive issues; thanks Stephenie!