Video Games

After reading the first chapter of Gee, I started to really think about the idea of video games and education. I have always wondered how people can play video games for hours on end and get so into them, when they truly seem so confusing and complicated. I know so many people who play video games and get very dedicated to them, even when they do require lots of time and work to get through. Although, I knew that video games were challenging prior to this reading, I never really thought much of the idea of looking at them as a learning tool for students. However, after thinking about video games in a different light, I have become quite interested in this point of view. I definitely agree that we need to make education in our schools as attention grabbing and motivating as video games and can actually learn a lot from them in terms of how to do so. Video games are fast paced, challenging, involve imagery and technology, fantasy, and motivation. These are all characteristics that we need to think about when designing curriculum for our future students. During this day in age students are definitely interested in these way of learning, much more than the traditional pen and pencil writing assignment or math problem. Knowing what modern students are interested in and how to use that information as a beneficial teaching tool would definitely be something worth while for teachers to look into. I hope in the future chapters of the book Gee gives some examples of how we as future teachers can incorporate some of the video games appeal to our curriculum to get our students more involved with their learning, and have fun while doing so!

Learning about racing

I am currently in the process of learning about racing. This may seem weird because I am not at all into sports, let alone into getting dirty or working on cars. However, I have been with my boyfriend for a little over three years now and he has been racing cars since he was eight years old. When I initially began dating him, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when it comes to this hobby of his. ( I mean that in a good way) I have never seen a person more dedicated to something like this before. He has now begun to race a much larger car called a sprint car and therefore I have begun to learn about racing. I have now been going to the race track almost every Friday night for the past three years where I have gotten to see first hand what this sport is really all about. I have learned about what it takes to maintain a sprint car, including the maintenance of the engine, the tires, the frame, the paint, and all the parts in between. I have also learned what a great deal of time and energy it takes to obtain sponsorships to fund his racing hobby. Overall, I have been pleasantly surprised at how much fun it can be to learn about racing. I normally would not consider myself to ever be interested in a hobby such as this, but I am glad that I am and truly have learned a great deal from being involved in with racing. Overall, I feel that I have gained some interesting knowledge about the sport of racing, but also about what it truly means to have a passion for something and my boyfriend definitely has demonstrated his passion for racing.

My First Posting

This is my first posting in a blog.