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[inneri]

"A reluctant reader in other contexts, in this context Dumptruck is motivated to see out, coordinate, and marshal online text resources not because a teacher or parent requires it of him or because ‘‘he really has to'' (Dumptruck, interview 07.25.07) based on someone else's demands but for his own intentions, as a means to achieve in the game." This is one of my favorite things to notice when talking to kids - the skills they utilize when they really want something! You'll easily find kids that hate math, but are routinely calculating how many blocks their Minecraft house can be and how much stone they need to craft in order to build it.

Digital literacies for the disengaged: creating after school contexts to support boys' game-based literacy skills

[inneri]

Without an understanding of procedurality, of how code operates as an expressive medium, new media scholars are forced to treat the operation of the media artifacts they study as a black box, losing the crucial relationship between authorship, code, and audience reception. Code is a kind of writing; just as literary scholars wouldn’t dream of reading only translated glosses of work, never reading the full work in its original language, so new media scholars must read code, not just at the simple level of primitive operations and control flow, but at the level of the procedural rhetoric, aesthetics and poetics encoded in a work.

Procedural Authorship: A Case-Study Of the Interactive Drama Façade

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(from Kotaku) Um...can I have a Redstone PC please?  I don’t really have a need for a new computer, but this does look awesome :)

[inneri]

Not related to education technology 😁. Just an image I'd made in Paper one day. I'll try to keep most of my posts about Ed tech, computer science and gaming...but every now and then some personal posts will probably slip through. Hopefully this won't bother too many people or distract from the conversation I'm trying to enter into. Let me know if they get too distracting. I haven't drawn in quite some time. I was never really any good, LOL.. But it was fun and I do miss it. Actually, I'll probably be doing a little more of it now that I'm working on a little project. I'll share more as it develops 😊. Until then, onwards toward my goal of becoming a dominant force in education technology, gaming and entertainment! I hope you'll join me!

[inneri]

(from TouchArcade) Speaking of Five Nights at Freddy’s - this response from creator to his haters is a masterclass in humility and a great response to share with your kids about how to take the high rode.  This would make a great discussion topic!

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While I'm not one to say we should always and without hesitation jump on the bandwagon, I feel like as educators it helps to stay abreast of what your kids are into. You don't have to like it. You don't have to use it. But it helps to be familiar. I think this is especially of interest to those of us designing educational software. Again, I'm not advocating mindlessly following trends and neglecting your own original ideas and innovation, but there's nothing wrong with borrowing good ideas and putting your own spin on it. The social aspect of FNAF (and Minecraft BTW!) might just be something we need to see more of in ed tech.

[inneri]

My first Disneyland trip in 10 years - and it was amazing 😊

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Pictures from my first ever E3. All thanks to Disney Infinity! 😁

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It’s 9:41 PM and I am privileged enough to get to spend two weeks here at my favorite camp in the world! :). I have missed this place. I’ve missed the craziness, the running, the silliness, the feeling of…belonging.

Even if this is my last summer here - I’m so glad I got to come. It’s tiring - I’m already sore and there’s a headache on the horizon But it is so worth it.

[inneri]

A very poignant account of what it means to be a teacher. We'd all do well to remember that just like every job, it's not as easy as it sounds.

Every job has misconceptions, but the "teaching is easy, you get off at 3 and you get summers off and holidays there's nothing to it" one seems to be passed around a LOT.

What it truly means to be a teacher

I haven’t posted in nearly 2 years. But after a few stressful weeks at work, I was inspired to write this when I got home today.

I read about teaching constantly in the news, and it doesn’t seem to reflect what I experience each day. It’s been increasingly frustrating to me. While it’s very difficult to express in words what a teacher’s day is like, I gave it an honest shot here (warning: there is a little bit of profanity). 

What it truly means to be a teacher

12:45pm. I am teaching a 7th period class; we are focusing on the costs and benefits of British rule in India. The students are working on a t-chart on their own, referencing a textbook.

A girl in the front looks upset. Her eyes are glassy. She is finished the assignment far before the others because her reading level is on grade level while many of the students in the same class are still struggling at grammar-school reading levels (I teach 10th grade). She is drawing circles on her paper.

I know she was supposed to audition for the X-Factor, a TV show, yesterday; she had been excited about it for months. I heard through the grapevine that her dad wouldn’t let her go. I kneeled down. “Are you okay?”

Another student shouts from a few rows over: “Ms. D, I need you to show me my grade.” (Yesterday, as I tried to get him to start his work, he told me to shut the fuck up.)

I ignored him for a moment to see if he would notice I am mid-conversation with another student. She nods and says, “I’m fine” unconvincingly.

Again- “My grade Ms. D, I need to see my grade.”

“I’ll show you your grade after class- I’m trying to talk to another student right now.”

“I need to see it though,” he insists. “Is this good? Am I done?” He holds up his t-chart. I’m still kneeling in front of X-Factor girl as she absentmindedly traces the already-drawn circles on her paper.

“Ms. D,” another student shouts from across the room. “Can I stay after class and see my grade too?”

It’s been 1 minute.

1:01pm. We have 4 minutes in between classes and the bell has just rung to mark the end of 7th period. My 8th period class is honors-level and they are preparing for a debate. I need to move the desks from their standard position in rows to 2 large groups before too many students file in. I start in the back and manage to get 2 desks flipped around.

A girl runs in who should have been in my 7th period class but wasn’t. “I came to say bye, Ms. D. I’m not gonna be here anymore.” She’s standing by my desk at the front of the room.

“What?” I ask, not fully processing what she’s said.

“I’m not coming back,” she repeats.

I walk up to my desk. My 8th period has started to file in. “Guys, if you could group the desks into your 2 teams, please,” flitting my hand at them since I’ve been pulled aside.

“My foster mom kicked me out and I’m going to a homeless shelter,” the student continues. “I can’t go to this school from there.”

A student I advise in NHS comes in. “Ms. D, I need to see the papers I gave you earlier today- I think I stapled something to them that I wasn’t supposed to.”

I reach for the file of papers that I had put hers in earlier that day. “You can’t come to CHS still while you’re at the homeless shelter?” I’m flipping through the pages.

“No,” the homeless student says. “Ms. M says I can’t until I’m placed, then maybe I can get transportation.”

I hand the papers to the NHS student that she’s requested. “I need you to sign these- they’re from the donation drive,” she says. I put them on my desk and sign quickly, looking over them to make sure they are what she says they are.

I turn to the homeless student again, not sure even what to say. “Do you have paper? Will you keep in touch? Call me if you need anything? Please?” I write down my phone number for her.

NHS girl waves a paper in front of my face. “Do you need this to verify my hours?” I shake my head.

“Ms. D, I have a question!” calls a student from across the room. I walk over.

The bell rings for 8th period to begin. I turn around and the homeless girl has disappeared; I didn’t even get to truly say goodbye.

It’s been 4 minutes.

  1:20pm. My honors students are in their teams, preparing for their debate. There was tension in this class yesterday; the teammates weren’t getting along well. One of my students approached me in the morning saying she felt as if her team was not taking her comments seriously.

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[inneri]

I absolutely love it when teachers do things like this.  SO much more engaging than your standard textbook and a great supplement (how many kids would rather do this than filling in a worksheet?) to learning physics/math!

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iD Tech 2012

Having the time of my life! Wish you were here! :)

[inneri]

Just keep swimming

Been a long time since I got a chance to post. I I've just been really busy these last few days. Studying for the GRE (love you, math, but I'm so terrible at you), getting ready for iD Tech (cannot wait!) and trying to do some big things at work. It's been tiring. Kinda fun. But certainly tiring. I've been doing more "advanced" things lately at work, like custom coding scripts in Excel and stuff like that. Trying to do as much problem solving as I can, trying to become as comfortable as I can with the idea of coding a solution. Being able to think through a problem and find a way to solve it. After all, if I want to go back to school, get my Masters in Computer Science and work for Apple, I need to get my but in gear. I need as much practice as I can get. Computer science doesn't come naturally for me. But I love it. Much like math. So I'm going to keep at it. I'm going to get this degree. Hopefully I live through the process. :-). Keep the faith, y'all (I mean in yourselves...though if you want to keep the faith in me, that's fine too) :-)

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Made with Paper

[inneri]

Made with Paper