Archive for September, 2008

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Victory! (and relief)

Sunday, September 28th, 2008

I’m happy (and relieved) that my stint as a small cog in a large machine has resulted in a victory for our team in Travian on server 4:

Victory at Last!

Travian is web-based, free browser game – and I warn you, it can be addictive. The server I played had roughly 20,000 folks from all over the world and is a good example of web collaboration. Many folks would say that it is a game, and therefore, has no real value – and to some extent that may be true. But Travian does require some cunning, planning, and thinking. There are resources to mine, towns to build, armies to form, alliances to build, diplomacy to consummate, and war to wage.

My capital city: Ire Fodder

My Capital: Ire Fodder

You cannot possibly win Travian on your own. Our alliance, CMD, had roughly 55 members at any one time, all working together towards the end game. Even in the end, we had to join with other alliances to pull together huge amounts of resources all to build one large structure – the World Wonder – at the end. ‘Twas an epic struggle that took months to play out, and though I’m a newbie to the game, I was able to survive and make a significant contribution in the end. (I first tried it out as I was recovering from minor surgery over the Christmas holiday – little did I know I would be engaged for 9 months, with folks across the world, to build our empire.)

So give Travian a try – but beware, it can become habit-forming.

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Windmills or Walls?

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Chinese Proverb: When the wind changes direction, there are those who build walls and those who build windmills.

I’ve started reading Hot, Flat, and Crowded, by Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat.) I’m only done with the first chapter, but already I’m intrigued. I’ve had the feeling that we’ve been very lax when it comes to innovation in the past several decades, resting on our American laurels, and being comfortably numb while walls are built to protect us from the rest of the world’s evil. Now I believe it even more – with some evidence and fact to prove it. I’m not going to get political – I think we should get past that and move on to the troubling fact that we had better start a-movin’ when it comes to developing new energy sources.

Friedman challenges:

“What kind of America would you like to see — an America where there is no big national goal, or a green America, where inventing a source of abundant, clean, reliable, cheap electrons, which could enable the whole planet to grow in a way that doesn’t destroy its remaining natural habitats, becomes the goal of this generation — inspiring young people to go into math, science, biology, physics, and nanotechnology?”

So, with that in mind, here’s a project-based learning idea for your students to chew on that can be applied across the curriculum:

“How would you solve today’s energy crisis? In your own words, original music, photographs, images, art, video or multimedia presentation, explain why or why not you believe we are currently having an energy crisis and how you’d like our leaders to address (fix) it.”

Sometimes we need to remind our kids that we should be building windmills, not walls.

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Kids aren’t the only ones who get distracted

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

Just a few observations — nothing profound, nothing new — but I need to get it out of my system:

  • Teachers are easily distracted when trying to learn in a “Sage on the Stage” classroom.
  • Teachers like to use technology tools to communicate and pass virtual notes.
  • Teachers get tired of being ‘talked at.’ We need to be engaged in our learning, just as much as the kiddos do.
  • Teachers need time to individually reflect on our learning. We cannot consume vast quantities of information from morning to night and be expected to retain it in any usable way.
  • Teachers get tired after six to eight hours of instruction.
  • Teachers need a change of ‘brain state‘ every now and then. (Even more often after lunch.)
  • Teachers need new information in small chunks, then time to talk to other teachers about what we just learned.
  • Teachers need to laugh during training, and be able to have some fun.
  • Just as teachers need these things, our students need them as well.

Thanks for letting me vent. Catharsis is good for the soul.

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K-12 Teaching Tools

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

I’m currently in the first morning of a four-day training session on Intel’s Teaching Tools. So far, this has been a worthwhile session. Already we’ve looked at three tools that are simple to use and powerful for classroom use. (One note: the tools are undergoing a server migration at the moment, so access may be interrupted for a few days. Don’t fret – bookmark them for later examination.)

Check them out – they are well done.
Visual Ranking Tool ›

Identify and refine criteria for assigning ranking to a list; and then debate differences, reach consensus, and organize ideas.

Seeing Reason Tool ›

Investigate relationships in complex systems, creating maps that communicate understanding.

Showing Evidence Tool ›

Construct well-reasoned arguments that are supported by evidence, using a visual framework.

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