I started thinking about what makes these games “addicting” for me.  What keeps ME coming back?  How can I harness this addicting quality and bring it into a classroom?  While the debate over the positive and negative effects of video games continues, most researchers agree that video games are powerful.  The National Institute on Media and the Family reports that there is an addiction that can occur when experiencing video games.  “Initial reports suggest anywhere from 5 to 20 percent of gamers are addicted. This is a gigantic number considering the millions of child and adult gamers.” Researchers also point out that boys and men are more likely to become engaged in online interactive gaming than girls and women.  It may be presumptious of me, but I will offer up my thoughts on why today’s video games have become somewhat addicting and suggest a way to capture that quality and apply it into the structure of a classroom.

Halo was the preferred game of Dave (a friend of mine.)  He introduced me to the game, and I played with him online for a while.  However, when Call of Duty 4 (COD4) came out, I couldn’t stop talking about it.  He had not yet purchased the game, but when he finally noticed that I wasn’t spending much time with him and Halo, but instead was playing COD4, he reluctantly bought the game and began playing with me.    At first, he hated the game.  He couldn’t get the hang of it…the controlls were different…and it frustrated him.  However, he did like it when he saw progress.  The game has built-in “rewards” or “perks” for gamers as they continually improved.  Gamers are given “challenges” and are rewarded when those challenges are completed.  Additionally, points are rewared for individual matches, and an accumulation of points means moving up in level.  Call of Duty 4 provides gamers to move up in rank from a level 1 to level 55.  Even after level 55, players can opt to go into “prestige” mode and start all over.  Dave loves the game, and we occasionally meet online to play and compete with each other.

I love the structure of the game.  I like the fact that I can earn “perks” for my online soldier.  I like the fact that I can “level up” after I’ve earned enough points.  I think these qualities of the game is indeed partly responsible for the game’s success.  How about taking that concept and applying that to a classroom.  What if students were given “challenges” and could “level up”?  Designing rewards and perks for the classroom could motivate the student who is seemingly stalled at the desk.  Types of rewards can vary, and if you’d like, you can look at Chris Bateman’s defined reward types in his article “Designing Rewards in Games“.  Points, Currency, Rank, and Toys (to name just a few) are among the most desireable to gamers, and I would propose, can also be motivational to students.  Bateman also looks at HOW those rewards can be earned.  In the classroom, students can earn perks or rewards for reading, behavior, attendance, homework…..Teachers could add icons or avatars to teacher websites for student performance or achievement.  Don’t think that those tangible, extrensic, and sometimes costly rewards are best.  “Children who are motivated intrinsically exhibit a desire to learn. Usually they pursue a subject for the pleasure of learning or for a feeling of accomplishment. Intrinsically motivated students tend to prefer challenging tasks and to understand information in depth. They are more likely to choose projects that demand greater effort than extrinsically motivated children who usually work to receive some reward or to avoid a penalty.”  (Rewards in the Classroom, Davies) 

I’d love to see a classroom designed with a continuum of challenges, perks and rewards like many of today’s video games.  I believe that teachers who provide the positive reinforcers and motivation for students will find more success, will reach more students, and will become a more effective educator that those who do not.

I really want to help my kids by teaching them the value of work.  I thought about what my daughter could do (age 5) and about what my son could help with that day.  Our kitchen cabinets had just been installed the previous day, and there were LOTS of cardboard boxes that needed to be taken out to the street for the garbage pick-up.  That, I thought to myself, sounds like a job for the boy.  As we sat in the front room, I revealed to my son that I had a small project that I needed his help with.  THAT was enough.  It was all over.  Let the complaining and griping begin.

“What?” he protested.  “More work?  I’ve been helping you guys all day!  Eyebrows set deep, he firmly dug himself in for a battle.  He was NOT going to do ANY MORE WORK that day.  Surprised, my wife and I asked for clarification.  “Helping us all day” we asked.  “What have you done?  What WORK have you been doing ALL DAY?”  (mind you, it is just after 10:00am.)

I guess sometimes I don’t realize the stress and responsibilities that I place on my own kids, something I’m really working on.  I do get accused of being unempathetic sometimes.  His response gave us quite the kick in the gut.  “I already picked up my pillows and blankets ’cause you guys made me,” he explained.  “AND, I changed the channel on the TV because you couldn’t find the remote!”  (yes, he said that.)

My wife and I got quite the laugh at this, and things eventually got better as the day went on.  I ended up compromising on the cardboard boxes.  They make excellent forts when taped together with masking tape.  Two days later, just before trash day, he did move them up to the street.    But this whole incident got me thinking…have I neglected to start my children down the path of responsibility, family contributions, and competency? 

I’ve done some reading in the area of getting children started on helping out around the house; doing household chores.  Studies have shown that children who initially become active in helping mom and dad out around the house at the early ages of three and four tend to be more ‘successful’ as they enter the work force.  Additionally, children who prolong this entrance into household responsibilities are ‘less successful’.  This study comes from the University of Minnesota and is available for you to read online.

I also found hints and suggestions about when to start children doing chores, what type of chores to have children perform, what to expect as parents, and why chores are important for children.  “Involving children in household tasks at an early age helps them learn values and empathy as well as responsibility. It is important for children to internalize values when they are young because household responsibilities continue to play a significant role throughout one’s life.” (University of Minnesota, Research Works”)

So the next time you ask your child to do some tough chores like picking up toys in the bedroom or sticks in the yard, or maybe even…changing the channel on the TV using…a…finger (gasp), remember that it will be beneficial in the long run as well as in the short run.  I would urge you to google “children and household chores” to read more about this valuable lesson for children.

I have personally spoken with people who claim that teaching is easy, anyone can do it, and that ANYONE can do it better than who is doing it now.  Obviously, those people are NOT teaching, would never attempt to teach, and could NOT teach (even if they had a degree….IN education.)  Others have told me that teachers lack committment, aren’t in teaching for the right reasons, don’t enjoy working with children, or shouldn’t be teaching because of some personal or educational deficit.  To be honest, I have met teachers who lack committment…who aren’t in it for the right reasons…who don’t enjoy working with children.  It is true.   Unfortunately, these FEW teachers (and I do mean FEW) go out into the public and talk.  They chatter.  They reveal to their friends, neighbors, mechanics, or  pastors their entire outlook.  These are the teachers that give the cynics their fodder.  However, I have met more teachers with passion, with love, with patience and with diligence.  These teachers rarely get noticed, and rarely make the news.  They’re too busy to get noticed.  That being said, we (taxpayers and stakeholders) want to know if the students are getting a good education…are the tax dollars being spent wisely?  So “Yes”…accountability is a must.  But what do we measure?  Who are we holding “accountable?”

Recent political emphasis has guided states to push for QUALIFIED teachers in the classroom.  I was shocked to find that when NCLB was made law, my qualifications had changed.  The six o’clock news teaser:  “Are your children going to school with ‘qualified’ teachers?”  Of course they were…but now teachers had to prove that they were “Highly Qualified”…a term created for the purpose of addressing accountability.  States would now be able to say that measuring teacher quality was a way of insuring accountability in the educational systems.  Thousands of educators like me then rushed out to take and pass a test that would FINALLY PROVE (cough, cough) that it was OK for us to be in the classroom.  What about the question of data collection?  Where is the data for our accountability?

Most people look at student performance, right?  Look to make sure teachers are QUALIFIED to be in the classroom, then look at the scores on students’ standardized tests as a measurement of teacher performance.  Unfortunately, there are some organizational concerns in the world of education that most non-educators fail to look at.  Teachers  get little control over may aspects that will have direct influence on their ability to perform the job of teaching:  classroom size (physical size and student enrollment),  textbook adoption,  course schedules, expenditure of funds, district and state policies.

Richard M. Ingersoll says it best…”If teachers have sufficient say over decisions surrounding those activities for which they are responsible, they will be more able to do the job properly.”  For example, if I’m a landscaper, and I’ve been told to plant some shrubs, I might be able to accomplish the job quicker, better, and more effectively if I am permitted to choose the tools and materials with which to work.  As a professional, I know that a shovel and a mattock would be best, and I will need some mushroom compost and soil conditioner to mix with the native soil where I’m planting the shrubs.  Additionally, I must plant the shrubs in a location where they will receive proper sunlight, make sure the soil is of the proper composition, and water the newly planted shrubs.  But, if someone tells me that I can only use a screwdriver and a crowbar as tools, I can only use sand and moss as additional materials, and tells me to plant the shrubs in deep shade in soggy soil, my task becomes more difficult.  After three weeks, the shrubs have died.  My evaluation comes in, and to no one’s surprise, I am termed “unfit” to be a landscaper.  Ingersoll goes on to say that “it makes no sense to hold people accountable for something they do not control or to give people control over something for which they are not held accountable.  Accountability without commensureate power is unfair and can be harmful.  Likewise, giving teachers more power alone is not the answer…changes in both accountability AND power are necessary to accomplish the larger systemic goal –ensuring that there are high-quality teachers in every classroom.”

Read more… “Short on Power, Long on Responsibility” by Richard M. Ingersoll, Educational Leadership, September 2007 Vol. 65 No. 1

Keynote speakers Ewan McIntosh and David Jakes drew in the big crowds as they spoke on the new emerging technologies and the “Global one-room school house”, but participants also explored a variety of additional sessions.  Personally, I thouroughly enjoyed Kevin Merritt’s preconference session on Geocaching.  I know, geocaching has been around for a few years, but have you ever actually participated in a geocache hunt?  I’m telling you this straight up….students are going to LOVE geocaching.  And, it is SO simple for teachers to incorporate into lesson plans.

Other sessions such as School News programs, blogging / vlogging, various levels of shooting and editing video,  photostory, digital storytelling, Promethean Board, iPods / MP3 players, and technologies for students with disabilities were offered.

My thoughts on the UTC…well, you should have been there if you weren’t.  I believe that more teachers, especially here in the upstate, should be cutting-edge when it comes to technology as a tool in the classroom.  Don’t get me wrong…we have some talented and hard-working teachers who go above and beyond when it comes to integrating the use of technology as instructional tools in their classrooms.  But we need MORE teachers who are willing to venture into this highly-motivational new age of instruction and learning.

I also presented, and was glad to do so.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that some former colleages of mine showed up and were willing to expand their techno-comfort zones.  My BASIC video sessions weren’t filled to capacity, but I was so excited to see folks with ZERO knowledge of video editing / video photography getting the basics, and eager to do so.  Yippee.  Again, if you missed it, you should have been there.  You’ll get a chance next year.  Until then…try something new.  Try something fun.  Try something techy!