From Dawn till Dusk – Games and life

Narrative writing this week in Year 6 – a big thank you to @primarypete_ for the ideas and inspiration for my planning this week.  He presented a video at Teachmmet #etru on Wii love learning.

“Wii Love Learning” Mario Kart from Peter Richardson on Vimeo.

His prezi was brilliant on how he has used Mario Kart Wii with his Year 4 class. The one idea that really struck me was using Bowser’s castle for the setting for narrative writing. Pete used it for stories set in imaginary worlds, in year 6 using the new framework,  the ideas are that children should write a short story based on a genre, and quest/adventure stories,

So what have we been doing?

We started with some music! I found a clip on You tube of the music of a lap in Bowser’s castle.  I played it to the children twice and asked them to listen to the music and imagine what was happening? What genre did they think the music applied to – how could you tell?  How did the music make you feel? I then took ideas from the children, all of them said they thought it was an adventure story – possibly mythical – with images of knights riding on horses!

I asked if any had heard the music before – they all said they hadn’t! It is strange when you take music out of the context that the children are used to – although when I asked them to think really hard if they had heard any music like it recently – one child did put his hand up to say- “is is something to do with Bowser’s castle Miss as when I heard it I had a picture in my mind of racing through it! Spot on!

I then showed the children the image here,and used Pete’s excellent ideas of the children building up a bank of descriptive writing to use throughout this week.  We are also going to ‘wordle’ these as the warm up for our ICT lesson tomorrow.

We then looked at the ’structure’ of a story and asked the children where we would be in the picture? I asked them to place themselves in the picture and think about what was happening to them – where would they fit into the story ‘jigsaw’.

The children had some great ideas – they were approaching the castle – looking for treasure/the ‘golden wheel’ (build up), they were at the door but could not get in/had dropped their map/key into the boiling hot lava(dilemma). We then construced a basic flow chart plan of the story and the children – in writing partners set about writing the start of their story.

I found the writing partners to be very effective this week, as the children shared ideas/vocabulary and punctuation with each other. Each day this week we have spent a short time (15-20 minutes) writing the next ‘bit’ of our story. So far we are up to the events following the dilemma.  However, what has surrounded this short focused writing, has also been lots of speaking and sharing and listening and learning.

When I started this blog – one of my first posts was about a very small project that I was starting within the school. The post can be read here. The original plan was to start using the Wii balance board just before the end of November, however due to a range of circumstances, we did not start until just before the end of term.

The project has now been running regularly every week for the last five weeks and last week I spoke to the three children involved in the project and the Teaching Assistant who is running the project.

The first point to emerge was that completing the exercises altogether did not suit all of the children.  I had imagined that they would like observing each other and would make the exercise more social.  However, one of the students found it very hard to focus with the other two in the room, producing markedly different results when she was on her own, as oppose to with the others.

So there is now two sets within the project, to suit their different learning styles and one that I should have given more thought to before the start.

Only one of the group has a Wii fit balance board at home, for the other two it was a new tool.  The TA involved reported that those who did not have access to it at home, picked up how to use it very quickly.  I think that this is part of the appeal of this hardware is it’s ease of use.

She also said that the children ‘enjoyed’ the exercises, although almost straight away she lengthened the time of the session from 1o minutes each to 15 minutes. Even though the three children are now in a 2 and a 1 they still like the competitive nature of the game as they can ’see’ each other in the game.  It was decided after talking to her that she would start questioning the children both during and after using the board, for example, what helped you complete that exercise? How did you feel while carrying it out?  This again may or may not work at focusing the attention of the children – we will see.  She did comment that even after a month – she had noticed a change in the children, in that they were more focused, could complete more of the ‘games’ and were improving their scores.  When we do the baseline test again in March we will see if this translates to an improvement there too.

All the children were unsurprisingly,  enthusiastic about using the Wii Board – and would like to keep using it.  They thought I was meeting with them to tell them that they were going to stop using it. All three commented that it made them concentrate more on their balance and was helping them to get fit! One also mentioned that he was enjoying PE lessons more as he felt that he was improving and wanted to know if this was because he was using the board?

It is early days in this trial/project and we are learning along the way.  We will be running the baseline test again in about 6 weeks and will post again then. For now though, we are eager to continue and see how this develops.

I would be interested in your thoughts and also if anyone else is using the board in this way?

This week in Literacy we were looking at instructional writing. We kicked off the week, with a lesson idea from Tom Barrett – You are the instructions, this is another great idea from Tom and a brilliant lesson, which the children and I really enjoyed. It takes the same instructions but in 3 formats to evaluate them and making the children realise the importance of the visual element. The lesson even ended with a ‘fold-off’ a great hour.

We moved on to look at instructions and write our own, for this we turned to games and Ikea!  Ikea because even as adults – yes they have the visual elements that we had noticed from the previous lesson – they do not have the text to go with it – so people encounter problems. So we discussed if visuals always worked.  We also looked at instructions from board games as well as computer games.  Looking at their general features as well as how easy they were to understand, what made some easier to follow than others.

What was interesting in the discussion was that it made the children realise the importance of different learning styles, as some of them clearly preferred certain instructions styles whereas others differed- which took the lesson – for a little while off in a different direction, to the one that I had ‘planned’ anyway.  I like this though – as it means that the children are engaged and discussing what the lesson means to them, and it really meant that the children focused on the different styles of learning and how they could engage with this when it came to writing their own instructions.

This is what they then moved on to – for a ‘game’ of their choice. It was another good week for them and one that focused them on the language involved.

Next week – story writing – looking at Bowser’s castle as setting – thanks to @primarypete_ for idea!

We have been using Mario Kart for the last two weeks. The children in their teams have been racing 1 team per day. The circuit is the same as is the driver and the car, we are using the time trial to race with.  The reason for this is to keep the racing fair. The teams note down their times for the 3 laps and then have to work out their average time – which is then displayed on leader boards. Thanks to @sdidsbury and her blog for the idea – and as you can see replicated her idea in the classroom.

So what does this have to do with DT? Well in a couple of weeks, we will be designing our own circuits – so the children have been observing the the circuits as they race to see how they are difficult and what makes them difficult.  We are also making our own moveable vehicles in DT – again in our teams – this has involved a lot of great ideas as well as speaking and listening and problem-solving as the children work out what will make their vehicle move and how they can get it to ‘move’ faster.  We still do not know as the ‘race’ will be happening next week, but as you can see from some of the pictures they are looking good so far.

As well as DT in the classroom, each class also has time in the kitchen, this session the year 6s are making cakes. Just not normal cakes, they are decorating them with car inspired icing effects – linking back to their launch invitations and thinking about how food is ‘themed’ for parties. I have been amazed at some of their creations and I think the photo in the slide show really captures the work.

On Monday, I headed along to the Houses of Parliament to listen to a discussion chaired by Tom Watson MP on – Taking video games seriously. Tom as I have mentioned in previous posts is passionate about ‘games’ and raising the profile – just before Christmas he set up Gamers’ Voice on Facebook, the group currently has 16,892 members. The discussion on Monday night was another way of looking at video games and why we should take them seriously.

The audience on Monday was a mix of interests – but all – unsurprisingly was pro gaming. The discussion opened with Tom Chatfield - author of Fun Inc. I am in the middle of reading this and it is a very good read and exploration of the games industry. He spoke about the need for a ‘mature’ debate on the nature of games – not the ‘hysterical’ debate that is often seen in certain sections of the media. That we have to come up with a new language for talking about games, very often people assume that games have a ‘magic’ quality that they ‘bewitch’ their users.  This ignores the huge amount of work put in by games developers in order to produce games that actively engage their users. The truly ‘great’ games are few and far between as is the same for the ‘great’ titles in literature.

Game play is engaging, imaginative and social – it is ‘a new refinement of play’. Tom made a very good point in that there is a difference between those we ‘do’ game and those who ‘don’t’ and there is a whole world of rules and conventions that go with gaming. Gamers need to be aware of the need to communicate what is ‘going on’ when playing a game and that they are not just ’sitting doing nothing’ which is often the assumption by those who don’t game.

Next up on the panel was Phillip Oliver -he is the CEO of Blitz games one of Britain’s largest independent developers.  He talked of games being the ‘Hollywood of the 21st Century.  Not surprisingly for a business man – he spoke about the need for support for the games industry and encouraging children to become games developers and for them to see this as a potential career. I agree with this point, that as an industry within the UK it does need to be given the prominence that is deserves. He also spoke for the need of developing games to engage children, missing I feel the point. The reason that consumer of the shelf (Cots) games are so popular is that the children can relate to them, and teachers are able to creatively use them in their classrooms ensuring that, yes, they may engage the children but also most importantly that they enhance their learning. Using software like 2DIY, children are already developing and reviewing their own games and understanding the elements that for them make up a ‘good’ game, even being able to move on to use action script to produce games that are more complex.

Next up from the panel was Sam Leith – who also spoke about games needing to move more into mainstream that the reaction of observers watching people ‘game’ is that they are ‘physically there but mentally absent’. Should be watching from behind the screen and look in – to see the faces that are being made and the concentration exerted.

After the three panellists the discussion was then open to the floor – with interesting points being made re classification of games and new Pegi system and also the roles that games can play in education.  Derek Robertson spoke about the fantastic work that Consolarium continue to do in Scotland using off the shelf games. Graham Brown Martin – organiser of this years Games Based Learning Conference also highlighted the fact that Scotland have an organisation like this but in England and Wales there seems to be no national recognition or support for the work that schools are doing with GBL.

This is a point that resonates with me hugely.  Yes I use games in the classroom, however I do not use them for every lesson- there are other tools in my teaching tool box.  However, it is a tool that I find greatly enhances the learning that takes place.

There are more and more schools using GBL within their classrooms, however practice and ideas at the moment are shared via Twitter, Teachmeets and Blogs – yes this is fantastic, but would be great if there were regional centres, if national, is not possible that can collate ideas and best practice.  Most schools are financing the games and consoles themselves out of their own budgets, which could inhibit some schools from taking the ‘risk’ of buying consoles just in case they don’t work for them.  If there were a way for schools to ‘borrow’ equipment, from a regional or national centre,  to see the effect it had on the learning before they bought, then this might enable more to put GBL into practice. This is what happened at the school I work in -  nearly two years ago – we borrowed a set of consoles for a term and looked at the impact it had and we have not looked back!

For me it was a great evening, a chance to meet some fascinating people connected with the games industry and to share ideas and thoughts, and for the future – who knows? I think, quite rightly that GBL is here to stay, personally I would like to see regional/national centres that promote GBL in English/Welsh schools, time will tell…….

This week in Literacy as part of our topic – Cars and Karting, Forces and Friction.  We looked at formal and informal writing and related it to the Race to Learn software that we are using. This encourages the children to work in teams throughout the tasks. So far the teams have come up with names for their F1 teams, designed logos and have begun to work on a theme tune for their team.

The next lesson  within this is all about the driver, what qualities a driver needs, the task suggested is to write an advert and contract for the new driver for their F1 team.  We decided to take this idea a little bit further and relate it to our formal/impersonal writing unit.

We started the week by looking at examples of both formal and informal writing, asking the children to note down the similarities and differences in the writing.  We made a list of the features and began to build up a ‘bank’ of words that we could use.

We then spoke about the new F1 teams that they had all created – and that we needed to tell everyone about it. The class decided that they would hold a launch party – the task was that the children had to write an invitation to the launch, they had to decide on venue, time  and use formal language. The teams really enjoyed this, with Venues from Silverstone to Wembley and dress code including smart dress to the colours of the team. At the end of the lesson we realised that we would all want to go the parties that we were invited to.

The next day we evaluated what we had as ‘teams’ and realised that we had not come up with a car or driver, so we went to work on finding a driver.  I gave the class a selection of adverts first for ‘real’ jobs to look at.  The aim was so that they could see generally was was included in an ad. We then watched the teaching screens from the Race to Learn lesson – about the driver and made a note of the qualities of a racing driver.  The children went to work in their teams creating their adverts – again using formal language and concentrating on the WILF:

A- Attention (had to get the attention)

I- Interest ( keep people interested in the job)

D- Desire (make them want the job)

A- Action ( what do they need to do next).

The lesson ended with the adverts being read out and the children evaluating them against the WILF – they did a great job.  Salaries were competitive, the job gives a chance to travel the world and being able to drive was essential!!

Moving on to the next step – the Interview.  This gave us the chance to recognise the difference between open and closed questions and why an open question was better in an interview process.  The teams then set to work on creating their top ten interview questions.  We then used one of my favourite drama activities – ‘hot seating’ and members of the class were interviewed. The children enjoyed stepping into the roles of the driver and all the teams asked their questions with some improvising them, depending on previous answers.

The week ended with a Letter to Inform, the team writing to their successful interviewee with the news that they had got the job and next steps. Again the use of formal language was stressed and the children had to think about what the applicant had to do next – provide copies of driving qualifications was deemed essential by the children.

This was another good cross-curricular unit with Literacy and also gave the children a real life context and audience for their writing, which I feel is important for them to have.

On Tuesday 8th December,  I went along to my first live MirandaMod an ‘informal, loosely structured unconference of like-minded educators to share ideas about the use of technology to inspire others.’

I had attended one of these virtually via a flash meeting in the past, the topic was, ‘Mobile learning; Handheld learning? ‘What do we mean?’

A topic that I am interested in, as we look to extend our handheld learning within the school.  Before the MirandaMod there was a seminar and round table session, details can be found on the Wiki. I managed to get there for the last of the talks from Graham Brown Martin who is the founder of Learning without Frontiers, the organisation behind Hand Held Learning Conference and Games based Learning amongst others.

Graham spoke about the growth of mobile/hand held learning seeing the rise in delegates to HHL rising from an anticipated 50 in 2005 to 1760 this year! Once again Graham provided interesting questions:

* Learning is mobile and it’s mainstream!

* Conversation not about the devices we are using, but how it is impacting on our learning?

* should Mobile Phones be called phones – as we can do so much more than ‘just’ talk!  Quoting Ray Kurzweil – ‘ mobile phones are misnamed, they should be called gateways to all human knowledge’

I feel that this statement is true, and there has been a great deal of debate about the use of mobile phones in schools – as there does tend to be a fear amongst many that the children will use in the ‘wrong’ way. Ollie Bray wrote a fantastic piece on his blog in November on the issue of using Mobile technology in the classroom.  I agree with the points that Ollie made.  A lot of these points were also raised during the Miranda Mod that:

* a lot of children have this fantastic piece of technology in their hands but are not allowed to make use of it in school

* teachers who want to use these devices creatively in their class – should be given the support to do so.

For me, at a primary level the use of mobile devices is a different issue as not all of our students have mobile phones.  We have this year bought a small set of ‘recycled’ PDAs to use within the school and outside on trips etc, and I am keen to develop the use of these.  One thought was possibly recycling mobile phones for use in class – however then there are issues with providers, cards etc.  Apple with the iTouch have created a great mobile resource for use in schools, although still disappointed that this does not include a camera, although the range of apps and pod casts available make it a great learning device – if we had the money. So the debate continues, and one I think should. One of my pupils commented on using the DS console in the class that:  ‘the learning is in our hands’ This is the main message I think – ensuring that the learning is in the hands of the learners.

So the debate continues, and that is what was so great about the Miranda Mod – listening to the views and opinions of those both in the room and who were attending via the flash meeting.

The next Miranda Mod is the 9th March with the title:

Computer games, learning and the curriculum: uneasy bedfellows?

Another subject that I am interested in – and once again I will be attending in person.  If you would like to join in the debate then follow the link – look forward to seeing you there.

Last November – we were invited to be part of a network with  QCDA on developing a new curriculum incorporating e- technolgies,  the vision of QCDA was to create a world class curriculum that will inspire and challenge learners for the future. Something that we all aspire to.

The meeting in Birmingham enabled me to listen to and share other schools ideas on how they are incorporating technologies in their schools and also meant that I got to meet @chickenman who blogged about this meeting here as well as those great people from Futurelab. Futurelab were discussing and presenting Beyond Current Horizons

Since November we have been reflecting as a school how we embed technology across the school as part of our review of the curriculum and moving towards a more ‘creative curriculum’.  This has been very useful for myself as ICT subject leader but also for the rest of the staff.

As part of this, we were asked if QCDA could come in and film us at school – this took place today and it was great. They spent the day talking to myself, the Head Teacher and a parent and most importantly the children. They observed them using Tutpup in the suite, DSs in pairs using time lapse and individually and also the Wii – Mario Kart.  They also spoke to the children about how they felt the use of this technology was helping them to learn.

As their teacher, I was incredibly proud of both their enthusiasm and their attitude towards the learning.  To them, the use of the games and the technology isn’t new of gimiicky – but real – a real resource that they use all the time that helps make their learning fun! They spoke about relating all the parts together, engaging with the tasks and joining up their learning – their words not mine.

Today was a good day.

I AM A GAMER!

It's only just beginning

There you go – I said it out loud.  I enjoy playing games on the computer, I use video games in my classroom and promote the use throughout the school! However, this has not always been the case, it wasn’t that I was against the use – they just never were on my ‘radar’. Yes I had an Atari and a pac man so I suppose have always dabbled!But, I would  not say I was a ’serious’ gamer.

My interest in all things gaming however has increased over the last two years, I now game, read gaming magazines, blogs, watch programmes about games and am looking forward to receiving Fun inc by Tom Chatfield which looks at why games are the 21st Century’s serious business and why play is the 21st Century’s most serious business. I have read lots of reviews about this book – all of which speak highly of it’s absorbing nature that deals with the ‘cool-headed’ facts.

Chatfield suggests, our hunger for playfulness is actually a positive sign: in these imaginary worlds we can both escape and strengthen ourselves. The games we create can be both “a critique of what is lacking in many lives”, and “a channel through which those lives might be changed”. (The Guardian 17/1/10)

This channel the one which I aim to use in class through teaching and it is one that I have found to be both engaging but equally enhancing not just for the learner but also the teacher.

We welcomed Tom into our school last year to see how we were implementing GBL in our school, following the inspiring work led by Derek Robertson et al from the the Consolarium, this was mentioned in an article today in The Independent entitled ‘How computer games discovered virtuous reality’

I am also looking forward to attending a discussion next Monday, chaired by Tom Watson MP and featuring Tom Chatfield, Philip Oliver and Sam Leith.  The title of this blog post is taken from the discussion title and more can be found out here.  I’m looking forward to the discussion as  I really believe that we need to look at this in education so that the use of games is not ‘just’  seen as   GBL   ( games based learning) but  as part of the learning process.

So do you take games seriously?

This week we began our new Topic in earnest. Cars and Karting – Forces and Friction is the title!. We are going to be using Mario Kart and Race to Learn software over the course of the term.

Unfortunately due to the snow – the planned trip to the Transport Museum to kick start the topic could not happen – however this has been re-scheduled for February.

Last week we were looking at persuasive writing – we started off the week by telling the children that I had been sent an e mail from The Nintendo Magazine ( the school appeared in the December Issue – so the children believed this to be true). I went on to explain that the e mail asked if we could come up with an advertising campaign for Mario Kart on the Wii as they were looking to re launch after Christmas. (Thanks to my Twitter PLN for suggesting this idea )

We started by looking at a range of adverts from a selection of media to pick out the main themes of what they felt a ‘good’ advert should contain, before moving on to focusing on Nintendo adverts and looking at Mario Kart on the IWB .

The children then brainstormed in groups what they felt were the key features were of the game and looked at key words and slogans that they could use. The first activity was then a draft paper version of their advert – a little bit like a mood board before moving onto a final paper copy. Following on from a paper copy and mood boards we moved into the ICT suite and as part of our ICT lesson – the children in pairs decided on what publishing package to use and how to design their ‘joint’ advert.

There was some great discussions around this between the children from the merits of the publishing software to use, to ideas on slogan and placement of the pictures.

 Persuading Mario on PhotoPeach

Wednesday we moved on to the radio and started by listening to several – we used the radio advertising hall of fame to choose our adverts to play – a neat little site.  The children listened to the adverts and made notes on how they were constructed and the messages given! This time the children worked in groups of 4 to come up with a radio advert for the game – they had to write the script, use percussion instruments for the jingle – if that is what they wanted to include and then present. These were then recorded using the easi-speak microphones and reviewd by the class.

Finally the last task of the week, was to write a letter to persuade. They had to write to Nintendo Magazine persuading them to choose their advertising campaign.

The children were really engaged with the work throughout the week and admitted themselves that they have started to look at adverts differently – even coming into school in the mornings asking if I had seen a particular one or talking about one they had heard in the car on the way in!

Yes they used a ‘game’ but this was as a focus for their writing not for playing – and it is part of a cross-curricular topic that will last the term.  Thanks to @primarypete_ and @sdidsbury for their suggestions and blogs on using Mario kart in their classrooms.