Gaming, gamification, game thinking--what fertile ground for our teaching!
In my words, what is Gaming vs. Gamification?
Gaming-Taking existing curriculum and applying it.  Taking game mechanics to a non-game environment.  Leverages badges and elements for reward.  Provides choice in learning path.

Gamification-Actual curriculum that is designed.  The learning comes from playing the game.  It promotes critical thinking and problem solving, and can be non-digital.

What am I playing? What are my students playing?
I enjoyed being able to try on some different tools that are out there,
I was first introduced to gamification when I took on supporting the implementation of iRead.  It is a HMH/Scholastic product that systematically teaches students early literacy skills.  ln my mind it would be considered gamification, because it is actual curriculum which provides a path for students to master reading foundational skills.  It is adaptive, provides badges, and allows students to customize their avatar continually throughout the process.  We have seen some great success with this tool in K-2.  As teachers is hard to constantly reach students at their many different levels to support their learning and progression of early reading.  iRead is a tool that can provided the independent, systematic direct instruction to support the teacher's first instruction and small-group instruction.  When used together and at the right time, the student is able to leverage iRead as the mortar to the big bricks of foundational skills.  Creating a tight understanding of decoding and then can more forward in now understanding what they are reading.

I have also worked with Imaging Learning English, ST Math (Jiji), and Dreambox.  These are other gamification like programs we use in the district, and to varying degrees provide our students with that specific independent instruction.  As with anything the key here is to utilize these tools in the RIGHT way.  They are not babysitters for students, they need to be used at the right time and support the learning that is already happening in the classroom.  I think the biggest key to this is that teachers use the data from these "games" to inform and support what they are already doing.  If you don't make the link for students then I believe it won't be as successful.  

I am currently out the classroom to support teachers with ELA/ELD K-5.  A lot of my work is to support the above programs we have in place, and work with teachers to leverage them in the best way possible for students.  I love the idea of gamification, and believe, like with anything, there is a balance.  You need to be able to connect the knowledge they are building through a game-like experience with their knowledge they gain in other ways throughout their day.  If you don't do that you are losing a valuable learning opportunity.  To quote the research from John Hattie (yes, again!), feedback has a very high effect size, and for the student to know that you know what they are doing in that software reinforces that feedback.

I look forward to more conversations in our class to better understand other thoughts on how to bring gamification into what we are doing in a meaningful way.

​

The flipped classroom model provides more processing time, and more time for quality face to face collaborative learning.  In my current job I am working primarily with adult learners, and have been exploring a blended learning model this year leveraging our new district wide tool, Edivate.  In theory a great idea, but the actual tool PD360, Edivate is a bit antiquated.  But, we are working with what we have.  

This class session gave me an opportunity to explore several other tools mentioned in the iCare.  There are so many great options, I hope to utilize with our Lead Teachers next year. Specifically, this session I enjoyed exploring different ways to share information with teachers and students.  I have explored EdPuzzle, Vocaroo, and Adobe Spark. 
Thoughts on...

EdPuzzle
Ed Puzzle is AMAZING!  Wow, such an easy user interface and the fact that you can do it with any video is great. Within Edivate I have been building out courses and am struggling with building in questions throughout videos and easy voice over.  So, now thinking I would like to create in Ed Puzzle and then upload...my question, will it be able to download into an MP4?  As for use within my Prototype...I am thinking incorporating quick videos that showcase different strategies, that will provide the "What" for teachers.  Such a quick and easy way to share information, and leverages that "flipped learning", which allows teachers to chose what they want to learn more about.  I used Edpuzzle for my flipped classroom lesson, which I will share with K-2 ELA/ELD Lead Teachers next week during our last lead meeting that is focused on writing.   

Vocaroo
I am exploring how to use Vocaroo for students to hear themselves read, or to hear an audio recording of a more complex passage of text.  This supports my driving question of: What is the impact of focused language instruction when leveraging the feedback of a comprehension tool?  I look forward to including this as a resource for teachers to use with students struggling with complex text.  This will enable them to focus on how they can comprehend the text, vs. just struggling to decode it.  I might also include some of the "flipped learning" aspect, and record some snippets to include as well.

Adobe Spark 
What a tool, and free.  I am exploring this tool in my other class, as my partner and I are creating a video for our book study, Visible Learning for Literacy.  We are finding limitations with the graphic orientation, having to create visuals in other products.  I do like Spark Post, which isn't all that different than the other info-graphic sites I have used.  I hope to use the videos I am creating in this class with our Lead groups, and also leverage it for short videos that give a small amount of content to teachers in a "flipped way".  I am working to explore different ways to deliver content in a digestible way, that then allows teachers to use their face to face time to collaborate.  I look forward to "playing" with this tool more.

Barriers for teacher use?
I don't see too many barriers, but like any tools they need to be used in the best way possible.  Many of the comments that I have had for teachers, is that we need to make sure and build in a level of collaboration.  I want to hear what my fellow teachers have to say, and ideas they have, how best do I do that?  To me, that is including google classroom, and now that we can utilize that in the district I am eager to explore using that as a collaborative method more.

Video used as an assessment?  
Absolutely.  These tools can provide a quick, formative assessment for teachers after processing through some content.  I have been exploring using Edivate and their reflection questions with Leads, but I loved how Edpuzzle allows you to pause the video as ask specific questions, such as what do you notice the students doing?  Are they engaged?  I love this idea, and helps me process even more.​

Social Media, the greatest invention of our time, or is it?
Social media is an untapped resource in my  mind, that said you need to understand the best way to use it.  To date, I have really just used social media as a means of communication with friends and family.  I have also found the pitfalls in it, with those who project a "social media image" that is very different from their reality.  

Only through this program have a I begun to use it as a tool for communication and collaboration.  I am now on Twitter #mrslitearcy4fun, and I am gaining so many new insights from other teachers and leaders in education.  In my mind, the greatest downfall with teachers, is that many times we just shut our door and get to teaching.  We don't share those resources we have developed, found, and spent hours refining.  Social media is a perfect way to do that.  I have used Teachers pay Teachers, and I have used Pinterest a lot, and both of these tools have started to break down those walls between our classroom.  But what I find very interesting about Twitter is the educational background that is missing in those tools. I am a WHY person, and Twitter is a perfect place to find that why, and maybe even the how.  So far I find it a lot like Wikipedia, you look up and all the sudden an hour has passed and you clicked through 10 different links.  A good kind of rat hole!

Some of my colleagues write educational blogs on a regular basis, and I have thought about that because it is a great way to share out thoughts on best practices etc...That said, it is a lot more time and energy that I don't have know. Twitter, because of the constriction of 140 characters or less, provides a place for some quick concise sharing with a link to more if you want to explore.  
What are the critical issues for using it as a tool in education?  Well, I think like anything, some of it you want to hear and some of it you don't.  Find the people and organizations to follow that will give you that information, and block the others.  I also think, like many things on the internet, we have to be cognoscente of digital rights.  As teachers we "bend" the rules a bit too much with using information, images, graphics from the internet.  We have to be a model for what a digital citizen looks like, and to me that is attending to others rights, images and information can be copyrighted and we must adhere to those rules and quote/cite source where appropriate.

Now, switching gears...what if I were to come across an inappropriate post made by one of my students outside of the school?  
First, I won't handle it online.  Providing a post in response only perpetuates and validates it more.  I think addressing it with the student in a safe, respectful manner is the best.  Depending on how inappropriate the comment, I would first ask the opinion of some of my co-workers, then would share with the Principal.  If it is something that is really blatantly inappropriate, I think talking with the student first and then potentially having them share it with parent would be best.  It needs to come from the student, they need to have some accountability and understanding of their digital footprint.  I would begin with a co-worker to first ask another opinion, and make sure that someone else is involved in the conversation.  To me, this makes it safer in that you aren't handling it yourself, and allows from any biases to be removed.

Now after this post, you can see when structured the right way, I believe social media can really be an angel for us tired, multi-tasking teachers!

The biggest question of our time as educators to me: How do we fit it all in, and how do we make it relevant and meaningful?  
Like anything, Digital Literacy needs to be tied into what I am already teaching to make it relevant, and not just one more thing.  In my current position, I support Academic Specialist and teacher leads in how to bring it all together.  To begin thinking about how to incorporate Digital Literacy, we need to think beyond "substitution".  In reviewing the SAMR model, I also found the RAT model (Replace, Amplify, Transform) RAT (Hughes et al, 2006). This model has been used for pre-service teacher education and I believe might support my work with professional learning.  Teachers learn about technology in close connection to subject matter content, making it relevant.  Having a tight focus or problem of practice, which many PLC/sites have in place, gives a place to start exploring digital technologies as possible solutions. In order to do that they need to begin with Digital Literacy, the foundation.  Like with reading foundational skills, writing, speaking and listening, these need to be explicitly taught.  I have continued to review the Common Sense Media scope and sequence and resources as a place to begin with these foundations.

Our district has worked with Michael Fullan a lot in the past few years, and I found this quote very relevant to our discussions in this Masters program.    
"Many of the innovations, particularly those that provide online content and learning materials, use basic pedagogy – most often in the form of introducing concepts by video instruction and following up with a series of progression exercises and tests. Other digital innovations are simply tools that allow teachers to do the same age-old practices but in a digital format. Examples include blog entries instead of written journals and worksheets in online form. While these innovations may be an incremental improvement such that there is less cost, minor classroom efficiency and general modernisation, they do not, by themselves, change the pedagogical practice of the teachers or the schools." (Fullan M & Donnelly K, 2013, p25)

​Using and incorporating new technology tools won't be effective or relevant unless we change our practice alongside.  We have to be intentional about how we teach Digital Literacies, and they have to be taught explicitly, as Mr, Marsden said we cannot rely on them being "Digital Natives".  Students have to be taught the foundations of what it means to be a digital citizen, and how we need to operate and interact with technology is a safe and respectful manner.
I look forward to incorporating pieces of this throughout the content we are already focused on with professional learning.

With this generation of students being Digital Natives, they begin at a young age.  When my youngest was two years old, she picked up a picture frame and tried to swipe to see the next picture!  They know at a very young age how to work a tablet and even a computer.  Knowing this, I think it is very important to begin with the end in mind.  They need to know the basic safety for the internet, which I thought about and incorporated into my Digital Citizenship lesson, but then the next thing is to get them to think about digital communication.  There is so much power in how we use technology to communicate these days (Email, Skye, Blogging, etc...), all provide different viewpoints for students.  But with this, comes the respect piece.  
Three specific examples of on how I can make digital citizenship personal for my students.  The first thing for me would be grounding it in the BEST rules they are already familiar with: Safe, Respectful, and Responsible.  They need to know how to be safe in the digital world, which I addressed above and in my lesson plan, next, they need to be respectful.  What does it mean to be respectful in the digital world?  Much of this goes to to their digital communication, and their footprint.  Beginning to understand the idea of "privacy".
I specifically identified with the REPs (Respect, Educate and Protect) as a way to teach students about digital citizenship.  Breaking it further down into Digtal Etiquette (respect yourself and others), Literacy (Educate yourself/connect to others), and Rights and Responsibilities (protect yourself/protect others).  These to me would be the "foundational skills" I would want my students to learn.  All lesson would touch back to these REPs.
As I think about the scope and sequence for K-2 students, it really begins with the safety and works from there.  The ISTE Standards for Students has Creativity and Innovation, Communication and Collaboration, Research and Information Fluency, and Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision making. Really focusing on the first two, how to use the internet and get comfortable with the creative and innovative element of that.  Also, really attending to the SAMR model, being intentional about it not just being a substitution.  The Communication and Collaboration piece is a nice beginning for primary students, how to share their thoughts skype with other groups of students, and craft an email or blog.  This begins to get them thinking about their "Digital Footprint" and what they want to put out there.