EDLD+5364+Week+5+Reflection

The majority of the focus of Week 5 was on assessment. As always, I enjoyed the clips from the Edutopia.com. In the segment about grading with games, James Paul Gee points out that games are nothing more than a series of assessments. He states that in games, if you succeed you move on; if not, you fail and try again. (Edutopia.org, nd) If school could be more like video games, solving problems through immediate feedback and assessment, students would indeed be more motivated and interested in their lessons. But, the reality is that students must still learn straight facts in order to move on to higher grades and, most importantly, pass the state mandated standardized tests. Some information, such as multiplication facts and basic rules of grammar are still very necessary for today’s young learners to become the productive citizens that we strive to make them.

A very serious problem that many teachers seem to be having is motivating their students to learn. If the information does not seem valuable to students, motivating them to learn it is almost impossible. Pitler recommends that we use technology to define effort in the form of a rubric, and to help students make the connection between effort and achievement. He states that "A powerful way to convince students that effort is truly tied to achievement is to show them data-not just data on themselves, but also combined data on groups that they associate themselves with" (Pitler 2007).

The aforementioned video and article are two very strong philosophies that, combined, could lead to the solution that teachers are so desperately seeking. Students must be motivated to learn and put forth their best effort when doing all classroom activities, from note taking and memorization to collaborative projects. Technology can be the common factor in each scenario and the motivation that the students are looking for.

Edutopia.org (nd). //Big Thinkers: Paul Gee on Grading With Games//. Retrieved on March 28, 2012 from [].

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M. and Malenoski, K. (2007). //Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works.// Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.