Saturday, August 14, 2010
Cricket magazine
Many magazines out there are filled with advertisements and pictures of celebrities having a good time. Not many of them focus on good stories and help make realistic stories fun for kids to read. Cricket Magazine does. As I began reading the fictional story on how an angry man upset at the hot California weather tried to blow off a chunk of the sun but ended up blowing up a glacier in Alaska, I noted that there were few ads and lots of good stories. I ended up reading a story called "Why is it so Hard to Get Ketchup Out of a Bottle?" I'll give you one guess what it was about. The interesting thing, however, is that I really wanted to know... so I read the whole thing. From ketchup to quicksand, this article explains why it does what it does. It is definitely worth checking out. Cricket also encourages kids to read and write with contest in both categories/
The Sweet Suite Life of Zach and Cody
I am notorious for being super critical of shows and role models targeting children that are irresponsible. One show, however, that I really enjoy and approve of is The Suite Life of Zach and Cody. It is one of the funniest kid shows on TV. The best part is that everyone plays their roles well. What I mean by that is Zach and Cody's mom is a good mom and wants the best for her kids. She denies them things they want when they haven't earned it and she shows them that hard work can pay off. The kids get into trouble by cheating or doing something they know they shouldn't and there is usually a moral message. The episode "Dad's back" briefly shows the difficulty and challenges of separated families and it's effect on the kids.
I like this show. I think there are many shows that are similar, but I appreciate the moral message of the Suite Life.
Lady Gaga? No thanks.
Lady Gaga is the number one most viewed video on Youtube. Considering that the upcoming generation, the tweens and teens, is is often called the youtube generation, I am fairly confident that many of those 200+ million views comes from kids ages 8-14. A website called Adelaide now, an Australian publication, reported on a recent concert put on by Lady Gaga. They reported that children as young as 7 were attending. They also reported that Lady Gaga spouted expletive after expletive as well as spewed vulgar, sexually explicit language at the crowd.
Lady Gag... er Gaga is looked up to by tween girls and is undoubtedly an object of sexual fantasy for tween boys. Is this the type of role model that will instill principles into the rising youtube generation? Sadly, no.
The Role-model
I once heard a quote from basketball player Charles Barkley saying, "I am not a role model". Funny. When I was younger I looked up to Sir Charles as being a pretty cool player. Someone I wanted to be like. I just read an article in the May 2010 Sports Illustrated for Kids about Kobe Bryant and his "Drive for Five", looking for his fifth NBA championship. I really liked the article and heres why. Kobe is a great player... one of the best in the NBA. One of the reasons that he is so good is because of his dedication in getting better. The article also focused on how important it is to surround yourself with people who are as dedicated and hard working as you. Kobe has been under a lot of heat in his personal life. His unfaithfulness to his wife has put a shadow over his whole career. I like that, too. The article shows that hard work and dedication will bring success and Kobe himself shows that we pay for our actions one way or the other. Kids need to see that.
Boy's life
I am a huge fan of scouting. I see it as a wonderful tool to help boys grow into adulthood. I was reading through the Boy's Life magazine when I saw some interesting things. First, they were sponsoring a reading contest. The requirements were to read a book and write a 500 word essay on what they read. The winners received gift certificates. I am not sure that we have enough of these incentives to get kids to read. I know that if I could have made some money by reading and writing a report that I would have been interested as a kid.
I also noticed that scouts often has the stigma of being boring, or that scouts are goody-goodys. The Boy's Life makes learning these skills seem like the cool thing to do. I am sure that Boy's life would be an excellent resource in helping tween boys find some direction in life.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Last one I promise... WoWinschools
So after having spent much time reading about the WoWinschool project I have become very intrigued with the concept of teaching with video games. I viewed a video documenting the feelings of several of the students in the WoWinschool program and how they perceive the learning they have taken place. Several topics including communication, community, reading, mathematics, leadership, etc were covered and the students shared the experience that have had. In further reading about the tasks the teachers have charged the students with I can more clearly see the application of this game to improve tween and teen skills in a way that is fun for them. Some talk has been had of using the game Starcraft to develop focus and performance under pressure. I can see how this "training" would be useful in times of emergency. If a student had trained in a high pressure situation in a video game does that translate over into their real life? Can someone who saves the day in a game by acting fast and decisively do the same in real life? I don't know, but I am becoming more and more open to the possibility.
Referenced from http://wowinschool.pbworks.com/
Friday, August 6, 2010
World of Warcraft
After I read the post on what some schools and professionals are trying to do with World of Warcraft I spent some time reading the wowinschool website. One video I watched was of Jane McGonigal, a game designer and expert in teaching skills through video games, and she extolled the virtues of the feelings of success that video games give you. She explains that this success in game, also called the "epic win", inspires confidence in ones ability to accomplish anything. Just as a tidbit of background information I have played World of Warcraft over the years a total of 3 months worth of hours. It has been a long time since I have played but I am very familiar with the game and I have contributed my fair share to the 6 million years that game has been played since it's inception. In the forum discussion I was a little harsh against WoW, and video games in general, as a medium for education. I just tend to really think they aren't. They haven't been for me and I see the world through my own eyes after all. But, after watching McGonigal's speech my mind was taken back to a principle my dad taught me about guns. "Guns", he said "can save as many lives as they can take, it depends on the motives of the finger"... or something like that. A gun can be a weapon or a tool and which incarnation it takes depends on how it is used. The same can be true of video games. I have seen a lot of people waste their lives away as slaves to video games and rarely have I seen the opposite. But, as I have pondered the people I admire in my life, I am surprised to find that many of them are awesome gamers and I can't help but wonder how those games have contributed to their skills. If Jane can engineer it correctly it is an exciting concept for people who love video games.
Referenced from http://wowinschool.pbworks.com/
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