I'll be flying up to Indianapolis a week from Tuesday, so Gen Con 2012 is nigh! My power point presentation is complete, my notes are complete, and the handouts will soon be back from the copier. Wednesday I will present as part of Trade Day, and then I will have four days to enjoy games, seminars, and workshops. O, and shopping! I'm looking forward to seeing the range of presentations about games and educations, a topic long dear to me, on Wednesday and then seeing what's new with games and gaming.
When I return to Atlanta, I will have thirty-six hours to complete my preparations for the new school year, which begins for me and my students on Tuesday, August 21. I hope future Gen Cons don't slide any later into the month!
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
iPad Possibiliites
In addition to planning for Gen Con in Indianapolis and Dragon Con here in Atlanta, the new school year will soon be here! This year my class will have a full set of iPads, one for each student. I received a class set in the middle of last school year, but this year we'll be able to implement their use much better. Earlier this week I attended iSummit 2012, where I learned about all sorts of apps and uses of iPads. The possibilities are exciting, especially having a platform for each of my students to access these opportunities.
Among the exciting ideas is to move my classroom simulations to a paperless format, providing all of the materials through each student's iPad. The original document comes to almost nine hundred pages, much of which is simply printed. This includes the six or seven pages of each character's background and a set of rules and other guides. This is easy to convert.
The tricky part is that each character has a set of cards, which students use and trade to accomplish many of their goals and machinations. These virtual cards would need to be unalterable but destructible, for when a player uses one. It would also be helpful if I could annotate them, but they should not be able to do so. I'm tech savvy enough to have a basic blog, and I've been able to do the troubleshooting for my students' iPads last spring, but I'm not sure how to make this work. I'll be planning with the school's tech people in the coming weeks. If anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate hearing about them.
If you're going to be at any of the same conventions mentioned above, let me know. It would be fun to see you.
Have fun!
Among the exciting ideas is to move my classroom simulations to a paperless format, providing all of the materials through each student's iPad. The original document comes to almost nine hundred pages, much of which is simply printed. This includes the six or seven pages of each character's background and a set of rules and other guides. This is easy to convert.
The tricky part is that each character has a set of cards, which students use and trade to accomplish many of their goals and machinations. These virtual cards would need to be unalterable but destructible, for when a player uses one. It would also be helpful if I could annotate them, but they should not be able to do so. I'm tech savvy enough to have a basic blog, and I've been able to do the troubleshooting for my students' iPads last spring, but I'm not sure how to make this work. I'll be planning with the school's tech people in the coming weeks. If anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate hearing about them.
If you're going to be at any of the same conventions mentioned above, let me know. It would be fun to see you.
Have fun!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Planning for Gen Con 2012
I am currently developing specific plans for my presentation at this year's Trade Day at Gen Con 2012. While much of my past work, especially with GAMA, has been spread widely across many kinds of games, my real aim all along has been to promote roleplaying games as educational tools. During the workshop I am planning to discuss the various frameworks I've used or discussed with other teachers and how to implement them in the classroom, library, or homeschool environment. I will also examine the different needs and capabilities of students of various ages, and I will provide some organizing templates for games, plus resource links and possibilities for further discussion.
Have fun!
David
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Summer Plans
Greetings! The school year is coming to a close. The afterschool games ended well, and the simulation of Empress Wu's court is coming to its intrigue-laden conclusion. It looks like the empress will survive, but it's anyone's guess about everyone else. Everything is in play.
It has come together for me to attend Gen Con this year. I will be a speaker at Trade Day this Wednesday, August 15, the day before the regular convention opens. I will be at the rest of the con though the morning of Sunday, August 19, mostly taking part in various seminars. I hope to get into some games, but you never know at Gen Con. If anyone wants to meet during the weekend and discuss games and education, let's put it together.
Have fun!
It has come together for me to attend Gen Con this year. I will be a speaker at Trade Day this Wednesday, August 15, the day before the regular convention opens. I will be at the rest of the con though the morning of Sunday, August 19, mostly taking part in various seminars. I hope to get into some games, but you never know at Gen Con. If anyone wants to meet during the weekend and discuss games and education, let's put it together.
Have fun!
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Happy GM Day!
Today
is the official day to celebrate the hard work of our many game masters. Of
course, in today’s Internet age, any of us can create an official day of anything,
but I think it is a good idea to have a day to acknowledge those that referee
our many stories. For all of the people that have run games for me to enjoy,
THANKS
My
own games in my classroom and after school continue apace. In Tang Dynasty China,
the swirl of conspiracies around Empress Wu grows stronger. My real life math
game for the fifth graders has a new cupcake bakery, and after school the kids
continue to explore Second Age Glorantha.
Today I mostly want to share some interesting links and possibilities I’ve come across. The
Youth in Gaming column at RPG.net recently had an interesting entry aboutrecruiting people for a game. The comments are great for thinking about new
young people in gaming, but they apply equally well to new gamers of all ages.
Wizards
of the Coast is hosting a new site called D&D Parents. It includes several
columns and blogs, resources, and photos to lend support to parents bringing
their children and their children’s friends into the gaming fold. Again, while
some of the discussions invoke the play of Dungeons and Dragons, many work for
all kinds of RPGs and other games.
April 28 is Creative Play Day,
designed to encourage getting games into the hands and minds of youngsters. It
doesn’t have to be just one day each year, so do what you can to support the
cause in any way you can!
Have
fun!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
February Updates
2012 is off to a good gaming start! I'm running three games and playing in three games. My classroom simulation of life at the court of Empress Wu of China continues to be a soap opera of intrigue and discovery. Our empress is asserting her power a bit more, and two executions have occurred since I last wrote about the game here, both for treasonous behavior. Those students have returned as the empress' son and daughter-in-law, much to their delight and to the drama of the game. Everyone plots and plans. More than in many past years, these students are looking up information about their characters and times. They delight in both matching and defying the known facts.
After school on Fridays, I have the second term of a gaming group for kids ten to eleven. Some of them are in my regular classroom, but many are from other fifth and sixth grade classrooms. Mostly, it is the same kids as first term, but we have a couple of fun, new members. One of them is a boy that also studies Mandarin with me on other afternoons. It's fun to see his whimsical side manifest in the game group. All of the kids in the game really thrive on the activity.
I'm running a weekend afternoon game set in Glorantha, for which I've enjoyed the chance to write lots of new material. My game runs for five or six weeks, and then three other GMs run their games in succession before mine comes around again. This lets us all be players too and takes off some of the pressure of running a game every week. It has also been a wonderful opportunity for me to learn from other storytellers.
I'm making early plans to participate in some of the summer game conventions. I may have a workshop at Gen Con, and I'm hoping that I'll again be running lots of games at Dragon Con. I'd like to get back to Origins again, but that's probably asking too much of life. If you think you'll be at any of these, let me know.
Have fun!
David
After school on Fridays, I have the second term of a gaming group for kids ten to eleven. Some of them are in my regular classroom, but many are from other fifth and sixth grade classrooms. Mostly, it is the same kids as first term, but we have a couple of fun, new members. One of them is a boy that also studies Mandarin with me on other afternoons. It's fun to see his whimsical side manifest in the game group. All of the kids in the game really thrive on the activity.
I'm running a weekend afternoon game set in Glorantha, for which I've enjoyed the chance to write lots of new material. My game runs for five or six weeks, and then three other GMs run their games in succession before mine comes around again. This lets us all be players too and takes off some of the pressure of running a game every week. It has also been a wonderful opportunity for me to learn from other storytellers.
I'm making early plans to participate in some of the summer game conventions. I may have a workshop at Gen Con, and I'm hoping that I'll again be running lots of games at Dragon Con. I'd like to get back to Origins again, but that's probably asking too much of life. If you think you'll be at any of these, let me know.
Have fun!
David
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Review: Game Design in the Classroom
David Niecikowski has written and wonderful and helpful book in Game Design in the Classroom. When I was first leading conversations about games and education, back in the 80s at Gen Con, I speculated about various degrees of game integration into a school ranging from afterschool groups and clubs all the way to a classroom curriculum built around games of all kinds, as an actual focus of study. David Niecikowski has now written that curriculum. Even better, it is delivered in many forms, variations, and units, allowing teachers and homeschoolers to experiment with it in many ways.
David Niecikowski begins with an account of his own history in gaming and schools and that of gaming itself. He then follows with his first unit, a series of interview forms to help students (or anyone) define favorite games and their history. The first two, for students and for them to interview others, are great introductory activities at any level, but the third, an initial research project on the history of a game, would be a challenge for most primary and secondary students and require significant adult guidance to direct their work. If I were using this with my own students, ten and eleven year olds, I would wait until later in the year, when the students would be familiar with games, game companies, and sources of information.
This book then describes in detail the many benefits and applications of games. He draws on his own observations of classroom games and those of others, and he also points out a number of studies and articles on the positive roles games can play in learning. The research cited focuses primarily in the areas of math and social skills. There is also a chapter on accommodations for special needs students, helpful for a variety of contexts.
The book then moves to the implementation of games in general. These include games as tools for skill development, enrichment, fostering community, intervention, literacy, and assessment but also game use for small groups, large groups, centers, thematic instruction, and even lending libraries. These articles give anyone the basis for experimenting with games as educational materials and methods.
David Niecikowski then discusses the elements of teaching, modifying, and selecting games and has advice for parents and for those interested in running a game event or hosting a school club. There is also a short but valuable chapter on game etiquette and the behavior to expect and model for young people playing games.
What follows is the richest part of the book, Niecikowski's discussion and directions on leading students to examine published games rigorously and design their own games carefully. He has loads of helpful advice, work sheets, exercises, rubrics, and game-piece templates to aid teachers and students in their work. The elements he discusses work for students of all ages, from limited applications with the youngest students to full-blown research and development from middle primary grades and up. These chapters could form the basis for a major curriculum, or they can be used to create a briefer unit, still with potent possibilities. I look forward to using many of these ideas myself!
The book ends with interviews with hobby industry members of various backgrounds and forms of work and even ideas for publishing games. David Niecikowski has cast a wide net and found bountiful results in his work. Though my focus in this blog is on role playing games, I admire greatly what David Niecikowski has done and know that it is a great boon to all gamers interested in the educational applications of games. There's something for everyone in this book. Check it out! Use it!
Have fun!
David Niecikowski begins with an account of his own history in gaming and schools and that of gaming itself. He then follows with his first unit, a series of interview forms to help students (or anyone) define favorite games and their history. The first two, for students and for them to interview others, are great introductory activities at any level, but the third, an initial research project on the history of a game, would be a challenge for most primary and secondary students and require significant adult guidance to direct their work. If I were using this with my own students, ten and eleven year olds, I would wait until later in the year, when the students would be familiar with games, game companies, and sources of information.
This book then describes in detail the many benefits and applications of games. He draws on his own observations of classroom games and those of others, and he also points out a number of studies and articles on the positive roles games can play in learning. The research cited focuses primarily in the areas of math and social skills. There is also a chapter on accommodations for special needs students, helpful for a variety of contexts.
The book then moves to the implementation of games in general. These include games as tools for skill development, enrichment, fostering community, intervention, literacy, and assessment but also game use for small groups, large groups, centers, thematic instruction, and even lending libraries. These articles give anyone the basis for experimenting with games as educational materials and methods.
David Niecikowski then discusses the elements of teaching, modifying, and selecting games and has advice for parents and for those interested in running a game event or hosting a school club. There is also a short but valuable chapter on game etiquette and the behavior to expect and model for young people playing games.
What follows is the richest part of the book, Niecikowski's discussion and directions on leading students to examine published games rigorously and design their own games carefully. He has loads of helpful advice, work sheets, exercises, rubrics, and game-piece templates to aid teachers and students in their work. The elements he discusses work for students of all ages, from limited applications with the youngest students to full-blown research and development from middle primary grades and up. These chapters could form the basis for a major curriculum, or they can be used to create a briefer unit, still with potent possibilities. I look forward to using many of these ideas myself!
The book ends with interviews with hobby industry members of various backgrounds and forms of work and even ideas for publishing games. David Niecikowski has cast a wide net and found bountiful results in his work. Though my focus in this blog is on role playing games, I admire greatly what David Niecikowski has done and know that it is a great boon to all gamers interested in the educational applications of games. There's something for everyone in this book. Check it out! Use it!
Have fun!
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