Kist (Blog Check 2)

First, I'd like to comment on this article: I heart Novels.  It seems crazy to me that this girl typed on her cell phone because she was bored, and out popped a novel.  Perhaps the use of technology made it easier--first because she was simply texting out of boredom, and secondly because she had a small audience who asked her for more.  She had readers as she wrote the novel.  This idea could definitely be integrated into a classroom, even simply by requiring students to have a blog or an online journal rather than one kept in a notebook or folder, as we are doing in this class.  I especially like the idea of having some sort of online forum for students to write in.
In the case of the girl and her cell phone novel, it does not seem overwhelming to text thoughts to cyberspace while a few people read and comment on them as it would to sit down and consciously write an entire 300 page novel.  This idea of not getting overwhelmed with a task, and breaking it down into small, manageable pieces can be applied as well.  Thinking back to the idea of an online journal--asking students to sit and write out a 6 page paper seems overwhelming, but students' journal entries may amount to about 6 pages of text when they are finished with them, also blogging adds a more modern feel to homework.

Next, I looked at the article Learning by Playing: Video Games in the Classroom. I found the article both exciting and scary. As i have expressed previously, I think it is an awesome idea to put educational video games into lesson plans--perhaps one day there could be different games created to meet certain standards and indicators, especially in math.  I love the idea of centering lesson plans around certain video games, but I still think that some of the old methods need to be kept in practice.  One guy mentioned in the article that learning to write is not as important--I wholeheartedly disagree.  People should not have to 100% rely on technology for every aspect of their lives, but incorporate it.  As the article mentioned, the study of video games in the classroom is still in its infancy, but I am very excited to see where this can go.  Something to consider, however, is whether the implementation of this new technology will further the gap in success for students across the country--countless schools struggle right now to afford athletic programs or music classes and could not afford this technology.  Perhaps creators could take a Google approach and make the educational video games free online so that every kid with internet access could benefit from them.  There is a lot to consider and discuss with this topic, and I am definitely going to be keeping track of the research's progress!