AT Week 9

Here is the link to my screenr of my Avatar
The program was giving me fits and i never could get it to publish after starting over 3 times! So here I am, not exactly me, but a fun likeness!

http://screenr.com/Ews7



I am pleased to say that I am not totally stuck on the idea of dislike anymore, some of what we have talked about and read is helping me to see both sides of the fence.

Possibilities-Virtual World= i do love the idea of the avatar- I also like how brooks-young brought up the point that this is a great opportunity to address web safety as well as address the idea of image. I feel like this would be a good time to team up with the counselor at the elementary level and have her do some focused lessons on both prior to students building their avatar. The Avatar I built wasn't my favorite or as user friendly as I would like for my elementary leveled students, but I think will some searching there might be easier to use programs. This would be a great time to discuss how appearance is self expression at it's best, especially with my 5th graders. Whyville sounded like a great way to connect the students while they are in a very education friendly environment with great curriculum related choices.
Gaming="Students believe that there is value in using gaming technologies in school. The top reason they give are that games can be used to teach difficult concepts and that they are engaging." (Brooks-Young 89) The structure of a game closely resembles the structure of a well designed lesson plan. This is an interesting thought to me. It is true, a great lesson gives a prompt, challenge, and feedback just as a video game does. I think the instant feedback caters to this need for instant gratification that our youth have today. I like the idea of role-playing with games. It would be cool to have students role play with their avatars maybe as the artists or the teachers, teaching other avatar students about the art subject/artist of their choosing.
Limitations-Money, time, Internet access (things are blocked at school), permission- Once you get past these limitations that I typically face in my school, there are other limitations that any teacher could face. I also feel a huge limitation is that my students are computer savvy to an extent, but i wonder how well they would do with making an avatar. My thought is, there is 25 of them and only one of me for 50 minutes, which is not a lot of time to solve problems. I think to alleviate this problem I would have to make step by step instructions with pictures for each student to follow. Potentially get a volunteer to help in the computer lab during this time. I know that time is a big limitation. My students see me 50 minutes a week. We get around 40 meeting times a year. It would be nice if I could teach them how to do it, and then assign the play for homework, but due to district policy, my students are only give grades as follows: Plus or minus for behavior and effort. I highly doubt many of them would do this homework in 5th grade. I wish I could say that parents value the arts enough to have their kids do it for homework, but its all I can do to get them to finish their yearbook cover contest homework once a year. Sad but true. It was interesting to read the "common objections to classroom use of online and video games" section. It was like finding the suggested answers to every question I was thinking!  I still feel that even with the offered suggestions, this would be a bit of a hurdle to implement, if I can get over those hurdles, it would be a fantastic learning opportunity for my students as well as myself. And hopefully some bonus points.