Quote: “Riddles make sense only retroactively”. This summarized the book for me, because it is now starting to come together, at the end.
Question: One question you have based on the chapter.
Connection: I love the quote, “All systems of play are at base learning systems,” and it reminded me a lot of both EDL621 and this course. The freedom to play around or complete assignments within a game like system are an inherent way for people to operate. I think about how most students in elementary school tend to have a positive attitude until middle school or high school, which, coincidentally, is when school get more “serious” for the sake of rigor, but maybe that doesn’t have to be the case.
Epiphany: I love the idea of “Knowing, making, and playing.” It’s a concept or structure that I’d really like to incorporate into my lesson and unit planning.
Ch.8: Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out
Quote: “...the process of knowing stops being about one’s relationship to others and becomes about one’s relationship to the environment.” I took this to mean more of a focus on the collective itself. Perhaps members come and go, which is something my students are used to, but the collective still exists. Collectives can be fluid and changing.
Question: How can educators teach to this”hanging out, messing around, and geeking out”?
Connection: Geeking out takes time and I wish I had more opportunity for it! Our minimum days were largely taken away this year, which makes staff development, planning and exploration hard. I wish I had more time for playing and making and geeking out on all these resources I’ve been finding, rather than just a few.
Epiphany: I think it is so interesting that young people have created this culture of connectivity, so much so that we are reading academic writings about “geeking out” and “messing around”. I think the acceptance and study of the shifting culture is great though, as that is the only real way to help them be successful in a changing world.
Ch.9: The New Culture of Learning for a World of Constant Change
Quote: “And as the game gets larger and more complicated, the new culture of learning works even better.”
Question: How to bring all teachers, and admin, up to speed?
Connection: As more people have posted in this cohort’s collective, it has become more and more useful and enriching.
Epiphany: This whole book should be required reading for beginning teachers and veteran teachers alike. I wonder what the varying opinions are.