...ViDeO GaMeS...

In our class discussion about Gee's book, there were two claims that I felt really strong about. One claim was that classrooms are not challenging enough where children enjoy going and learning and the other claim was that video games are changeable-similiar to culture we live in.

I agree with the first claim...teachers in classrooms tend to always take the easy route and teach out of the book and expect their students to be excited and intrigued by the information. WRONG! Students love to be engaged and have hands-on activities. They love to see visuals and see how things work and don't work. This is why video games are so fascinating to a child's mind. Graphics, music, mazes, and "cool" moves and secret places makes a child think, imagine, and create a world of their own. If classrooms were just more creative, I strongle believe that students will love to learn and go to school. Teaching is more than just textbook material, especially with all the kinds of technolgy that has emerged over the years. We must learn how to use that technology and "textbook" material and combine it, so that our passion for teaching shines through and our students see that learning can be fun and challenging just like their video games.

On the other hand, I disagree with the second claim. In Gee's book, it mentions that video games are changeable similiar to the culture we live in. Although it is true that we can change our character's appearance on a game by changing their clothes, hair, gender, and race; we can't do that in real life. Wait...we can change our clothes and they style of our hair...but we can't choose what racial background we are. If I were to move and "start my life all over" again, I couldn't imagine changing everything about me. My true character will tend to come out through me emotions, my feelings, me concerns, my fears, and etc. We can't change ourselves. We are who we are and I don't think that can change similiar to what we can do in video games.