Chapter 7 and 8

In Chapters 7 and 8, I discovered the importance of learning games. The authors explain "Digital games  for learning (also known as serious games) are computer and web-based games that have been designed  with educational rather than entertainment goals in mind" (171). Admittedly, this is a tricky area to navigate as a teacher. When I was in Rome, I worked with students in the Roma community, who did not attend school regularly due to political discrimination. Specifically, I worked with a child named Leonardo, an eight year old who had problems focusing. I would try to introduce typing on the computer on a Word document but he could NOT focus. Whenever I brought out my computer, all he wanted to do was watch youtube videos on car racing. It made for a couple of frustrating months before I figured out that I could use my computer to engage him in interactive lessons online. When I introduced typing games in which he could race against the clock typing out words, Leonardo was so engaged and he kept wanting to do more. This was an important lesson for me to learn; I cannot expect my students to be involved in a lesson that is boring both to them and to myself. Once I found something engaging in which he could still use the computer to complete the assignment, he was happy and was striving to do better. This theme resounds in chapters 7 and 8 as the authors introduce fun activities that students can complete and in which they are learning simultaneously.