Dan Meyer has a great approach to lessons that we as teachers can learn from Angry Birds. Check it out: http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=9797 . The moral/summary of the lesson is in the last paragraph here. (Scroll down and skip the tangent used for self-reflection/exploration.)
I think that this has become an obsession for me since I constantly find myself re-evaluating my whole teaching career--yes all eight years! LOL!!!
This all started while working on my masters and has become more completed (and a source of anger) as not only my son struggles with poorly written assessments, but also with the fact that my husband can't understand it (or refuses to try) from my perspective. It is hard to watch a child who for two years teachers begged me to move up a grade, while my gut told me to hold him back. Now I find that there are gaps in his education and obviously with the lack of time spent teaching science and history-there are bound to be many more. Furthermore, it hardens my heart to hear from various students that a particular educational system failed to prepare them for college level content and fear that due today's emphasis on certain skills our educators are compromising sound instruction with shortcuts and a watered down curriculum. There is a part of me that was so inspired by a blog entry I read a couple days ago about a lady to dreamed of a better school and actually went out and started her own school. To add to this... I dreamed a dream (literally) of a better school--one that was interdisciplinary and a combination of old school and new! One that hadn't forgot that teaching students why something happens before teaching a shortcut was important...one where teachers like me need to learn to let kids explore rather than over control.
Ever since these two experiences I have thought that I can create a better learning environment...but then could I? I think there is enough money out there to do it... (see I just found out I got another grant today!) and enough businesses to partnership with/support such as endeavor...but what would it look like? How the day be structured to not only address learning standards but also life and discovery? This dream is still formulating in my hear, but definitely one I would like to pursue. The more I think about it the more I realize people like my husband are no good for me...they stifle my creativity and crush "dreams". They can't see beyond today and forget to live life in the moment. It makes me wonder if these people ever find joy in the day to day events? Meanwhile, people like me are too busy planning that they fail to see what is directly in front of their faces, fail to act spontaneously and often fail to find joy in the ride. This person materialized in the dream I dreamed and reminded me that labeling our students (or children) is wrong. Before we do that we need to begin looking at ourselves. Ultimately...I have come to hate the LAZY and my spouses voice. There is more to life than working...there has to be some play as well.
So where does that leave me...? That leaves me with this...angry birds isn't just a "game". Depending on how you look at it and use it--it can be a valuable lesson not only in the classroom, but also in life. I appreciated how this blog showed that angry birds can teach us 5 ways to be better teachers: 1) Make it easy to start a task; 2) Show, don't tell; 3) Give useful and immediate feedback; 4) Make it easy to recover from failure (opens up a new can of worms--debate the importance of grades and assessments); 5) Complicate the task gradually. I find that these five truths have a lot to say about good teaching. Words of wisdom--all from ANGRY BIRDS.
Now on another note...I am still searching the net for the math and science lessons I have heard so much about. They will be attached soon!
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