Goals for the Coming Year

Last year was a real challenge for me, and it was a real learning experience. I struggled along with the students. Sometimes we learned in leaps and bounds. Sometimes we learned in baby steps, and it seemed like it took forever to learn something. Either I was on top of the mountain or in the valley. There was no middle ground. But, I learned and lived to teach another day, and i will do better this year.

This year I hope not to make the same mistakes that I made last year. I hope to be more effective as a teacher and more effective in facilitating my classes. I had trouble keeping up with my blogs. I also had trouble keeping up with making comments on the students' blogs at times as well. I came up with a system to help me and hope to use it this year.

I'll continue to have challenges with Flash because it is a complex program that is not easily mastered. But, that is not everything to the program. It does help make the game-making process easier however if you know a lot about it. I do come into this year with more knowledge than last. And, that will help.

I am looking forward to this year. I am excited to begin and hope that we will have a wonderful and productive year!

Playing to Learn Reflections

After completing the playing to learn section today, I think I like the adventure game genre the most, and that will most likely be the genre that I choose. I enjoy that type of game more than the others because it intriques me. All of the game genre are interesting to me except racing games.

I enjoy well-drawn backgrounds and characters and colorful games. The game doesn't have to be high action to be interesting to me. I enjoy thinking about something. Like one of the games we've played in here with the homeless man, Larry. This game isn't high action, but it makes me think about the homeless situation and makes me more aware of this social issue and what I can do to make a difference. I would like my game to be something of this nature that makes someone think of an issue and take action to do something about it.

In this genre there can be a variety of ways to construct the game, so that leaves many opportunities for diversity. I don't know what I might do. After having seen all of these students' games, I feel a little intimidated. My game will have a lot to live up to. I hope I'm up to the challenge.

Mini Game

The mini game seemed soooo much easier this year. I really appreciated the way we received our Flash training this year and then did our mini game. It made things so much better. Last year was such a blur, and we didn't have an introduction to Flash to help with the coding. This simplified the process.

I'm sure that this made things easier for the beginning educators too. The stress level of the academy is high anyway, so this was a good thing. Not to say that I didn't have a few minor problems (or made a few errors in writing the code) because I wrote all of the code this year. Last year I copied a lot of the code and didn't realize what the code was saying. Now I have a better understanding of what it actually means. That makes a world of difference for me.

I commend whoever decided to conduct the training in this way. Way to go!

Mentor Training and Summer Academy

Welcome back to the summer work of Globaloria. I never thought I would be coming back this year as a mentor to new educators. I didn't think I would survive the first year as a beginning educator. But, I did and it was a good year.

Globaloria is a challenging class for the students and the teachers alike. It is a different way to think about education and it takes some getting used to. I have learned to be very flexible and deal with issues as they arise. Things don't always go as planned, and I don't have all the answers to all the problems that the students encounter. That still bothers me, but it cannot be avoided. I just guide the students in the right direction.

I have had a couple of students who have been arrogant about the learning process and thought that they knew everything. This is frustrating. They felt superior to the other students and to me as the instructor as well. Other than this, the teamwork in the class has gone well and the learning has happened by chance or by design.

This year I am hoping that things will go more smoothly. I will have a year of experience with the program, and it will be easier for me to do a better job with my students. We shall see.

New Year--Fresh Start

Year one is in the books, and we're ready to start a new year. There are many changes with the coming of the second year of Game Design at Tygarts Valley. It's been a challenging, but exciting, journey. I have been through the entire spectrum of emotions in teaching this class from utter frustration to extreme joy, but I have survived to live and teach another year. And, from what the "old timers' have told me, next year will be easier, much easier. I am looking forward to this.

I hope I can remember what I learned from the past year. I am going to be a mentor and so the pressure is on. I have to help the new teachers so they will not be so overwhelmed and frustrated. Maybe it's just the nature of the beast. But, what you have learned, you can share with others, and it can be helpful. I still feel unprepared, so I will try again to do my best to teach the class. There will may never be a time when I feel confident with the content. And, I might as well get used to that. I will learn and facilitate and be content with that.

To all Globaloria educators new and experienced, I wish you great success in your classrooms!