After the Academy

Its the day after the August Globaloria Academy and I am so stoked! I am really looking forward to mentoring my fellow teachers, I have several ideas for my own class, and I think I have a good idea for revamping my own game. Thanks to all the members of Globaloria and the WWWF tea for reawakening that!

A VERY BRIGHT FUTURE

Hey Globaloria Gang! Just wanted to post how thrilled I was at all of our presentations today. I had expected the more experienced users to shine in their talents, skills, and presentations (and that definitely happened beyond my expectations) but the best was the presentations of the self-titled "newbies." Looking and listening to their presentations was amazing and uplifting. I can remember the first year of Globaloria and the presentation we made. These guys blew us out of the water. It is great to see such wonderfully devoted and talented people joining in on Globaloria. How can this project do anything but succeed with such an assemblage of educators. WE ROCK!!

The Insights Provided by Blogging

A piece of sad news this morning provided a reminder of the great opportunity blogs give us to see inside each other's minds. George Sodini, the man who entered an aerobics class in an LA Fitness center and shot and/or killed several members of the class before killing himself, had apparently kept a blog. According to the new reports, the Mr. Sordini's blog mentioned his own date of death (the same as the shooting) and even mentioned loaded guns as early as January , 2009. As teachers, blogs give us an opportunity to see life through our students eyes. Even if it is through the construct of a class like Globaloria, we should take the time to read our kids posts sincerely. Apparently no one was reading Mr. Sodini's blog. Hopefully, all the blogs that we read will be of a much lighter note but even so, just reading and commenting on our students' blogs is one way of showing our support on their sense and feeling of importance in a world that presents some of them with more than their fair share of pain, shame, and loneliness.

Be the Turtle!

PBS' Nature has another game that I really thought was a good match for Globaloria. Its the Turtle Voyager Game. It has great yet simple graphics, good user controls, goals that reflect a strong social statement, and multiple levels. Not quite sure if its Flash but it has a great and strong Flash feel. Give it a try.

Some inspiration to kick off the new school year...

Hey guys, just thought I would post some information about a game that falls right along with Globaloria and science. It is dear to my heart as I have recently been made very aware of the plight of the genetically-challenged cheetah population. The name of the game is Toki's Survival Challenge. This is a great illustration of a game with key control of a character, challenges per level, and a social issue. I can see something like this being created by our students. Enjoy!