Gamifying Education

   It was my senior year in High School. I'm walking to my first period English class. As I round the last corner to the hallway, it hits me. I have totally forgotten to write my essay due today. There is no viable excuse that I can come up with for this blunder, and I am going to fail this class. My thoughts race as panic set in. I walk into the classrom dejected and sit down at my seat. I look up on the board and there it is, my saving grace. The due date of the assignment has been moved to the next day. Whew!, that was a close one. Anyone else ever have a similar situation? Well here is the great news, those kinds of days are over because the future of education is here. The future of education is Gamifying education.

   Gamifying education is a fantastic alternative to the somewhat disheartening current teaching styles in education. Setting up and applying education as a game has many great and unique benifts. The switch of watching my grade rise with every completed assignment, instead of fall is very emotionally fulfilling as well as intelectually rewarding. It gives me a real sense of accomplishment and belief in myself to know that if I put in the effort my grades will reflect it, and I can make my grades rise as high as I want them to. It essentially puts all of the control into the students hands, my hands. We as students can also clearly see what assignments to do next in order to reach the next level and that makes it of  fun as well. Though more confidence is gained with each passed level, we also find that when a certain level is not achieved, it is not discouraging. It simply involves trying the level again and finding an alternative way to pass it. This builds courage and determination to not be detered by any failure but to find a way around the problem to reach the intended goal. With this, critical thinking skills have to become more developed, there is simply no way for them not to be. Also having the option of rewards for doing more that the status quo of required work, is another great way for the building of and application of a critical thinking skills.

   The greatest asset and benefit to this education style is the group communication. My grade benefiting for helping a classmate and vice versa is a great way to build team work and create an atmosphere of idea sharing. If I have a strong background in one area, but I am weak in others. I still have the opportunites to gain useful insights and help from my fellow classmates, and if needed, them from me. We all become a collective body of individuals with a common goal. This is powerful, as well as really unique in this "me generation" we currently live in. I think that I will love this class because frankly, I already do. And since I love it, I know that my mind will be more open to learning more, yet another positive benifit in the category of Gamifying education.

check out my chogger comic I made

http://chogger.com/comics/aC5To/the-progression-of-great-thinkers    Please lemme know what you guys think :-)

Roost sucks, Rocks hurt, But 2 seconds of Flight is Freedom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1fQQCfNJCo

   This video was taken with my Gopro Helmet Camera last year. About 2 weeks later, I had a major crash while practicing for an upcoming race at this very same track. I was apparently knocked unconscious and unresponsive for over 2 minutes. By the time the track's EMT got to me,(he told me later on that) my pupils were unreactive to light and that I had possible(apparent) Agonal respirations (being an EMT myself, I've had the training to understand that these are very bad signs.) He was most concerned though, and very upset when, after being loaded into the ambulance(at this point conscious again), I decided to refuse transport to the hospital, unstrapped myself from the spine board, left the back of the ambulance, and then ultimately proceded to drive myself home. The Track's owner threatened to ban me from riding the track for life when I did, but his threats didn't deter me. In hind sight, it was very reckless both for myself and the public around me, to take the risk of driving home with a possible major head injury(I did seek medical attention the next morning when my signs and symptoms worsened.) I suppose we all have to live and learn our own lessons in life, sometimes the hard way. A facial bone fracture(Handlebars to the goggles), fractured ribs, abbrasions, lacerations, a bruised body, and a bruised ego later, and I'm still here living this awesome life!

   I met this band AWOLNATION (that I used the music for this video), when a friend of mine and his Band opened a show for them at the Marquee Theater in Tempe, Az. It was one of the greatest live shows I have ever been to. The energy was palpable, intense, and electric. I could tell that the band truly lives by the music that they write. Lyrically speaking, the entire song strikes a chord with me on a deep level. The Lyrics inspire me that no matter what happens in this life, even the things that may not go the way I want or wish they would go.That I owe it to myself, those who preceded me, and those who will bury me, to live my life to the fullest and to the greatest potential that I can. So that on that unknown date, when it comes for me, that I leave this beautiful, wonderful, sometimes crazy place with no regrets at all.                          



(no copyright infringement intended or implied for music used in this personal video, and I have no affiliation with the band AWOLNATION)
  

GOOGLE is sketchy at best

   Does anyone else find it weird that Google wants so much personal information from us? A cell phone number to sign up for a blog, really? like when Google's girlfriend breaks up with them they can call me in the wee hours of the morning just to have a friendly chat? bend my ear about heart break and that jerk Yahoo who stole his chick. How when she left facebook for him, that he thought she was a changed person, and would never leave him. No way, cause Google is the go to guy right?, Always has all of the answers?

   Get real! that, coinciding with every link I click on, every new page that I'm sent to once inside, practically forces me to sign up for google+,  makes me start to think that maybe google's ex has it right, and leaving that dude was the right move. Besides all of this "needed" info they require from me, for seemingly obscure "security" reasons, I don't really have time to think of clever quip's to impress my "friends"(some I've never actually met in person) and stroke my own ego, everytime I have a free minute in my day. If I had a turkey or a ham sandwich for lunch, it should be between my digestive system and I,  and of no consequence to anyone else. Though obviously my mentality about social media may change within this current semester. and who knows?, maybe after all of this is done. I may just rejoin the herd.