Grateful and Encouraged

Since I started this project, I have had the opportunity to meet and get to know some amazing people:  Shane_Danger, Mr. Krispy Kreme, Weirdy Beardy, The Pocket Moon guys (John and Tom), Leklack, the LBP Community team.  You are all amazing and I am blessed to have met you.  Last week something new happened, a website called Little Big Journey, run by PSN screen names ApertureNOBLE and Breezy-The-Pro, did something amazing.  They challenged Little Big Planet creators to take this game we enjoy so much and apply a purpose: learning.

It is an astounding read that truly asks creators, and anyone really, to go beyond themselves and give time doing something that they enjoy to potentially be there to help future generations learn.  I have to admit, I have given consideration to what Little Big Planet would look like if it were applied to education and there certainly is a niche for people who use gaming as the back drop for learning.  If you have never seen it, look at what the people at ExploreLearning are doing by using great games to teach math fluency.  They even apply concepts of leveling, achievements, and use of avatars to encourage students to keep playing. It is brilliant, and my students really enjoy it.

That is the thing.  There is a built-in audience here.  They are hungry to play AND learn.  If we give them something they will do it, and enjoy it.  There hasn't been a day where I plug in one of the PS3's that my students don't say "Little Big Planet, YES!"  They want it and that is what makes this whole thing worth every second.    

Readers, friends, family, I thank you for your encouragement.  Breezy, Aperture, thank you both.  You two are amazing and your web site really cool.

Have a great week, all.

Up Late In the Name of Decimals

Right now, in math, we are working on decimals and I will share with you that place value (knowing the names of each digit and how much that is worth) is hard for 10 year old kids.  So much so that in the fall I made Stop Thief!, my place value game.  On Friday, I told the learners that we would be splitting up in to stations and that we would be practicing decimals in fun ways on Monday.  

Last night, when my wife went to bed, I stayed up to modify the Stop Thief! and I am proud to say that after nearly four hours of work Stop Thief! Decimal Edition is ready to roll.  I even went ahead and published it.  If you have the time give it a whirl.  Any feedback is always appreciated.  I will be back with feedback later next week.

Turning Corners

A few fun stories for everyone on this, Oh So Wonderful Friday!  This week was awesome.  The kids in the club really clicked this week.  It started Tuesday with an EPIC jump that made the other two creators working with karting stop and watch.  We all stood there with huge smiles on our faces as the kart soared across the sky and landed on the other end of the track.  Everyone stayed quiet for a few seconds until the creator of the track broke the silence by proclaiming, “None of y’all steal my idea!”   We all burst out laughing.  Such a great moment.

The girl's favorite kart.

On Thursday, the boys did some really amazing things in LittleBigPlanet 2.  One boy set the stage for his competitive multiplayer bounce fest and next week will be adding moving platforms.  He was originally going to make something completely different, but after seeing the bounce pads has opted to create a cool challenge instead.   Another student was, with some help from a fellow LBP creator named Shade Seeker (thank you, good sir), able to create a vehicle that moves freely in all directions using the analog sticks and launches rockets.  He also taught the other boys that card board blows up rather easily.  This young man was so proud that he ran to get his mom, who also teaches in our building.  She was really enthusiastic to see his work and even more so when we walked her through how he had built it.

Over all, it was a really amazing week where projects really started to take shape.  I look forward to sharing more about the group in the next few weeks.

Lessons From Creation

Two weeks of create in the bag and we have all learned a lot.  Let me begin by saying that this is a blast!  My favorite part so far has been just watching the kids discover things.  Whether it is the Racers making tracks that reach tallest point that they can then plummet to the lowest point allowed in the creation space or watching another young creator place bounce pads at different heights (on pause) just to bounce around and declare it is the most fun he has had with a game.  It has been a joy to watch them play with gravity, paint, track coating, fire, and glass.  I watched my Runners make the same object about fifty times and laugh hysterically when they unpaused it and the objects all fell to the ground. No joke, by the end of their first session, one of the kids had made his name out of materials and triumphantly shouted, “Look!” as he tweaked it to be covered in flames.  This has been a lot of fun.

This is a sample of what one of the students is working on in Karting.

At the same time we have all had to tapper our expectations a bit.  After creating three educational levels (working on my fourth, more on that soon), two regular levels in LBP 1, one unpublished monstrosity, and three or four races in ModNation Racer (from the same people who developed LBPKarting), I had to remember that is was not easy at first, and that is where all my learners are.  Rather than letting them do everything, I am going to have to take a co-creator role.  On an individual basis I am going to have to use the same practice I do when teaching. Model, guide, let go.  There are things that they want to do that I am going to need to walk them through and ideas that we are going to have modify based on what is available in the game and the amount of time we have.  I am still completely confident that they will each make something really cool by the end of the year, but they will need a guiding hand.

Sorry about the dark picture, it was a cloudy day outside.

The kids have also had a bit of a realization.  For the kart racing team, they have played with the track editor and enjoyed themselves.  Now is the tricky part; taking the nice tracks that they have built and turning them into actual races or getting down to business with their ideas for arenas.  For the LBP2 kids it is the realization that this may not be as easy as it all seems.  This is going to take a while.  Fortunately, we have a while.  3 months to be exact.  It will come together, or at the very least we will have something that resembles their ideas to share.

Tearing Ourselves Away

Story Update
This afternoon, over at the Media Molecule blog, winner were announced!  And we were one of them!!!  The running teacher picture was selected as a winner in the contest.  We will be receiving a signed picture from the Creative Lead of Tearaway, Rex.  When that happens I will have pictures of it in our classroom and   a thank you from the class.  YEAH!!!

This past week I shared the trailer for the new Media Molecule game, Tearaway, in my classroom.   The kids got really excited about it, and rightfully so; it looks amazing.  During the week, Media Molecule was running a contest where you take a picture wearing the mask of the Wendigo (one of the enemies in the game).   For fun, I shared this information with the students and let them all make masks as part of their morning work and during indoor recess if they chose to.  They worked hard.  On Thursday, at the very end of the day we took these pictures.

Thus far they have gotten a great response from some friends on Twitter and also the Tearaway design team.  I was talking to our music teacher about it Friday. I laughed and told her that I am the right combination of nerdy and ambitious.  She quickly replied, "Yeah, but they love it!"  I just wanted to share these with everyone who stops out at the site.  Don't ever be afraid to be silly, it can make an impact.

Oh, That's It!!

While Tuesday's belong to my Racers (LBP Karting People), Thursday's are all about my Runners (LBP2 People).  This is a great group of creative and intelligent young men.  I am excited to see what they are able to come up with and how they will assist one another once they get rolling.  For now it is a matter of getting to know Little Big Planet 2.

Last Thursday, one of them was out completing a test for the next level belt in his martial arts class.  The two that were there opted to play two player.  They worked their way through the second world of the game.  One of the things I have really enjoyed about this club is that the kids get so much joy out of the game.  At one point they were trying to throw a ball of jelly at a button to open the door to the next section, but they kept getting in each others way.  While you could tell they were a bit frustrated, they were also laughing as they occasionally tossed one another off the train.  It was fun to watch.

The kids will be playing for the next few weeks, then we will start working on designs and creating in the game.  I will have much more to share once we shift gears.  For now, enjoy the pictures.

The boys are getting a taste of the sweet goodness of puzzles in Little Big Planet.

Sometimes working together, other times, not so much.  However, they were having a great time.

The music in Little Big Planet games is so very good. I hooked the system up to an old stereo to enjoy it.

It is a bit make shift, but the sound is so good.  

Oh, and two quick things.  First, our other Runner did not get to test for his belt because of bad weather.  I am told he will go for it in February.  He did, however, make up his LBP time by playing Little Big Planet Vita, a great handheld version of the game.

Second, and the last picture reminded me of this, if you want to see another amazing aspect of Little Big Planet, head over to youtube.com and search for Little Big Audio (or just click the link).  There is a music generator in Little Big Planet 2 and several creators have taken the time to upload over a thousand songs, all created in the game.  It is another really cool project that is worth your time and attention.

3, 2, 1, GO!!!

Whoa, it has been a crazy start to 2013.  If you haven't heard, I had the privilege of being a guest on episode 34 of the Pocket Moon Podcast.  If you'd like to listen, that link is here or subscribe to Pocket Moon Podcast on iTunes.  It was a great experience and I am really grateful that Tom and John are part of the Little Big Planet community.

This week kicked off half of our LBP Design Club.  The Racers were first.  The Racers are the group of kids who are primarily focused on making tracks or arenas using Little Big Planet Karting.  In our first meeting we talked about what the kids wanted to do with the game.  They all expressed a desire to make something.  I explained to them that my goal for them is help them find what they enjoy doing most and encourage them to focus primarily on that.  Little Big Planet is such a vibrant community of people that really do so many different things. I would like to see these students try out the different parts of create mode and then really focus on what they like best.

Our first meeting was a lot of fun.  We watched a couple of tutorials and talked about what the different things meant.  I don't want to throw all of the tutorials at them at once, so we are kind of dipping our toes in and then playing around for now.  The focus on these early meetings is letting the kids play the game to get a feel for what they like and don't like.

My two girls tackled the game running on the projector while my lone boy in the Racers set out on his own on another television.  They all had a good time commenting on the "awesome" big jumps, short cuts, and music, which I pumped through an old stereo in my room.  When we finished I told them to think about what they liked and didn't like about what they played and how they might incorporate those thoughts as they start putting their ideas together.

Sadly, because of the winter weather we got Thursday my Runners (Those working primarily with Little Big Planet 2) were forced to wait another week.  Overall, it was a good start for this group.  We will be playing for a few more weeks before we really sink our fingers into create mode.