Teach. Learn. Share. Play. Repeat.

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Fortnite

                                                                                       


I attempted to download Fortnite, the widly popular multi-player online game, the other  day during lunch. I was sitting “alone” in my classroom with a couple dozen loud youngsters ignoring me like they should while they were eating, laughing, looking at themselves in front-facing smart-phone cameras and other weird and joyful things. The volume was high. Someone must have noticed that I was fumbling through the setup of the game.  It wasn’t hard to notice, because I was looking at my laptop, but my large classroom TV behind me was mirroring my screen.

      I noticed a  change in the noise and became aware that a large contingent of the crowd was moving in my direction.  The gamers approached me and seemed giddy. They were belly-laughing and doing their versions of old-man back-slapping. I was receiving rock star like attention with cameras held high trying to capture me interacting with all things Fortnight. They kept announcing to everyone within 50 yards that I was about to try Fortnite! I was quickly whisked away from the keyboard as they rapidly problem-solved at a rate I had never seen before in humans between 14-18 years old.  I was given micro-lessons in Fortnite history, operations, strategy, communication protocols, hand-eye coordination hacks and current pop-culture status of Fortnight. These were communicated with levels of enthusiasm that I had never observed before in the wilds of the classroom.

      I plan to check out (at home) the craze and find a way to bring that fervor for teaching and learning that those gamers had for the subject matter (Fortnite) and the student (me). I know this will be short lived…remember Pokemon Go? I am definitely not going to tell these kids that I played Pong on a Middle School “date” and thought I was cool and a real techie.
  NOTICE: If you are an IT dude/dudette from the District Office this post should be read as if it was a game and not taken seriously and/or used to banish me from the InterWebs…

  Anna Kyle Elementary’s Science Camp in the Redwoods          “Topaz” led us up the hill, in the dark, to explore sight, sound, touch, tast...