the sims

I've spent the last several days playing "The Sims." I am still not a big fan of games and am frustrated with the amount of time it takes to play Sims, but I am determined to be successful at it. As of right now, my characters are out of money, too depressed to find jobs, and living in too small of a space. Somehow, I have to fix their situation. Once I get that far, I'll be able to quit wasting my time with it.

not a gamer

I realized today why I am not a proficient gamer . . . . I don't like to play computer/videos games! I spent all of yesterday evening trying to figure out and play "The Sims." I've spent all morning "working" at Farmtown. I found myself getting bored and frustrated. When it comes to children, I have mountains of patience, when it comes to computers, programs, and equipment, I have no patience. I realized that I find hours of "tedious" computer time exhausting and painful. After a while, the on-screen movement of games makes me nauseous. I don't like sitting still for so long when I have mounds of house work piled aroune me and a child that is demanding my attention. I am not discrediting the educational value of games and simulations. I am certain of their contextual, educational value for those who enjoy them. There are many discussions and debates on instilling a love of reading in children. The bottom line is that no matter what we do, some people will NEVER love books. We must still teach those children to read, but we cannot expect them to embrace a love of reading and books. While I believe children need to be exposed to games and simulations for the experience and educational value, I also recognize that just like with reading, we cannot expect all children to find such activities enjoyable and beneficial. It boils down to what quality educators have known for years . . . .you have to know your students, you must know how they learn and what makes them tick, and then we must use that knowledge to give our students the quality education they deserve.

After taking an entire day to play "catch up" with my classes, I am still behind (although the gap is closing!). To relax this evening, I worked my farm in "farmtown." I had left my fields empty when school started so that I wouldn't lose any crops. All of my fruit trees were ready to harvest. This is probably the closest thing to a video game addiction that I have. Farmtown is seemingly the only place I can keep things neat and accomplished. I realized as I was working my farm tonight, that this particular simulation could be very educational in the right setting. To own a farmtown farm, you must create an avatar and begin building your farm. Through the course of the game, you plant, harvest, and sell your crops. You can also choose to purchase buildings, fence, animals, etc. You select "neighbors" and visit their farms to help them work and earn points. You really have to think about what crops you plant, when you harvest, etc. There is also an option to work at other farms for money. You can be hired to plow and harvest at others' farms. The competetiveness of this game depends on the player. For some people, they have to beat their neighbors level on farmtown. For me, I love pushing myself to the next level so I can have more choices of crops and plant and buildings to purchase. I can see this being used in an economics class to reinforce learning about money managment, spending, and developing economic communities.

resource

Tonight, I discovered a new gaming resource - my sister-in-law! Apparently she is an avid gamer. When I asked her if she coul tell me anything about Sims, she produced several versions of the game that she owned. She was also able to give me quite a bit of background about the game as well as offer suggestions for several other games I could try. I am feeling so incredibly overwhelmed with this class, and it was slightly reassuring knowing I had someone to ask for help. I feel overwhelmed with the idea of gaming. It has been such a mental block for me that I am REALLY, REALLY struggling to find and play games. Even the universal gaming computer has been a challenge for me to navigate and understand. Evidently I'll be learning far more in this class than I bargained for!

class chat

Yesterday the following question was posed toward the end of class:

"Do your classes reflect these ideas? fast paced, interactive, more tech, more digital lessons, use games, engage, less paper and books, more hands-on, make classes look like internet cafes, varied instruction, demonstration of content through tech"

While my classroom does reflect those ideas at time, I do not consistenly demonstrate those elements in teaching. At the first grade level, it is easy to incorporate more hands-on activities, use more technology, and use a variety of instruction. It is difficult to create a fast paced learning environment when there are so many other needs among my population of students. We are busy dealing with major behavior issues, students who cannot write more than the first letter of their name. While my students are "digital natives" with a lot of game experience, I am finding that 30% of my class has little to no computer experience, so we spend a lot of time learning how to turn on a computer, log in to programs, and navigate through the choice of games. After reading Prensky's articles, I am developing the belief that I need to differentiate my computer instruction and adapt technology use in lessons to reach those that are strong digital natives and those are a form of digital immigrant.

play station 2 experience

I finally succumed to the pressure and played my husband's play station 2. We had a very limited selection of games at our house: basketball and football. Biggest problem: my husband. He just couldn't stand it that I didn't invite him to play along with me. He was insistent on showing me how to play the game. While I appreciate his efforts to teach me, he didn't seem to want to give up the controller. Because I was learning the controller (which is another issue entirely) I played rather poorly, and he simply had to keep taking the controller back to try to improve my score at the game. I didn't truly get a chance to practice and learn the game until he left the room. When it comes to games, I think he is more of a digital native than a digital immigrant. I, on the other hand, am an immigrant still on the arriving ship when it comes to games!

I've been thinking about how digital immigrants can come from such different cultures. No matter how immersed we may be in technology there are times when our first culture rears its ugly head. Today we had a "cultural" battle at my house. To understand, one must first have some background on the digital immigrants in our home and the cultures for which we emerged. I grew up in a home where video games were strongly discouraged yet we had one of the first computers in our area. My dad had a career in electronics and was always on the 'cutting edge' of computer literacy and technology. In our home, we were taught to embrace new technology and make it work for us in the best possible way. My husband grew up in a home where gaming was a family event but computers were considered a little frightening. He spent most of his time with his grandmother who to this day cannot work a calculator no matter how many times we try to show her; DVD players and VCRs are incomprehensible to her. In my husband's home, the general idea was to fear all technology until it had been thoroughly read about, and used by a variety of users in a variety of circumstances. Today, our culture of origin reared its ugly head and drew our battle lines. We purchased a new riding lawn mower. I am ecstatic about this and have had to do some fast convincing to even get my husband to the store to THINK about such a purchase. My digital immigrant husband has never been on a riding lawn mower in his life and the jury is still out on whether or not he'll get on our newly purchased lawn mower. THe mower was delivered a week ago. Since delivery, my husband has poured over the instruction manual learning about all the various features and how they work. Today was th BIG Day - we were going to break in our new mower. I jump on the mower having no idea where anything actually is planning to learn as I went. (because in my culture, you always made a good, healthy attempt before reading any instructions) My husband stands over me with all the instruction booklets in hand declaring that he is certain he will cut his foot off with this thing. Needless to say, I initiated our new mower today while my husband is still pondering if this was a safe purchase. Do digital immigrants exist? Yes, come spend a day at my house. Is there a vast range of cultural differences among immigrants? Asolutely, not everyone has embraced the technology movement with open arms. Can two digital immigrants of varying degrees still raise a digital native? That is yet to be seen . . . if my daughter can find a balance between her technology fearful dad and her "know just enough to be dangerous" mother, she just might turn out to be an ok digital native.