Mesopotamia Simulation Review

Mesopotamia Simulation Review

   The 7/8 grade students concluded their Mesopotamian Simulations last week. The process was found to be a great success. There are 13 students and only five computer stations able to play Minecraft in the classroom and I wanted to see how this would work logistically. As for previous activities I usually take the entire class into the computer lab. Rotating 5 stations worked great. Some students were unable to participate as they had not completed their research task, while others opted to create physical projects. From those students a chariot and several clay cuneiform tablets were created.

Among those playing Minecraft I saw a great deal of cooperation as each student assumed their individual caste roles. The trade and work contracts were initially created and were followed through, however as the simulation progressed students needed to be consistently reminded to utilize the contracts.

In the future a student self-assessment/reflection would also be implemented at the end of the activity.

OCT Collaborative Project

As the midterm for my Online Collaborative Tools class, I had to be paired with another student, whom I have never met face-to-face, and collaboratively create an artifact about how online tools could aid in making a school environment more creative. The most difficult part was creating a project idea, as the online brainstorm discussion took several days due to our busy schedules. We ended up combining our ideas into a collaborative Wevideo project that can be viewed below. There was some confusion on what the objectives of the project were, but were luckily clarified by the instructor. Ultimately, my partner and my ideas were found to be similar and we created a great little video.

Educational Design

This week we discussed the ADDIE (analysis, design, develop, implement, evaluate)  model of instructional design. I found this systemic approach to designing courses extremely interesting and relevant. I find that too often school systems settle on buying packaged curriculum without going through a coherent and structured system of design that addresses the needs of their specific students and school climate. The ADDIE model offers an important scaffolding for making curricular decisions.

From my own experience, I've found than introducing any element of change will somewhat mimic the ADDIE system as that's just the nature of the thing. But, without any type of structure as a guide, initiatives can become overwhelming and implementation chaotic. Or once implemented the initiative is never evaluated again and redeveloped. It's important to consider the design process as constant and ever evolving and changing with the times. Education is fluid and as time progresses so need the system.

Week 7 Reflection

I began my minecraft simulation this past week. There were a few hick ups at first. Some of the students were not following their roles. After another round of instruction and discussion they were off. I noticed some great collaboration using the work and trade contracts. Some of the students chose not to play minecraft and instead created a few acrostic poems and cunieform clay tablets. I think I might let the simulation go one or two more days to see what else develops.

It was also good to read about the networked student model as I realized I'm already kind of doing that. There's more structure and still traditional instruction at times, as I think that's necessary with a younger age group.

Reflection Week 6

This week we practiced using the WeVideo editor tool. It has a familiar and simple interface. I was surprised by some of the advanced features such as green screen and text/annotation overlays. I did find the overlays to be a little finicky and did not match up to the exported video. It was somewhat challenging to figure out exactly what to create. I spent the majority of my time waiting for the muses to guide me toward a project that would be fun, engaging, and ultimately not too overwhelming. I settled on keeping it simple and wrote a short poem revolving around the theme of things that are green... not really deep, I know... but I did not want to see anything more sophisticated spiraling into a huge project.

I think this can be a great tool for students and teachers to use a means of presenting various projects. Perhaps illustrating narratives or in the giving of reports.

Post a  reflection that  includes some information on the tools we practiced this week.  Which parts were new?

WeVideo Creation

Here's a video I created using the WeVideo editor. I chose to write a short poem about the color green.  

Mesopotamia Simulation