I decided to take an hour to myself in order to get in the right headspace. FAIL. See, I discovered this unusual game called Bejeweled and quickly decided that this is the cause of my soul…
I’m being dramatic, of course, but I was drawn to this game. Spatial awareness is a skill I’ve neglected for some time now and Bejeweled is a low-impact way to work on the ability to see and make visual connections. It is crazy addictive. I played for the better part of 30 minutes and gained the awesome level of ‘Beginner’. Needless to say I have a lot of work to do on the game. I gotta say that I truly enjoy learning–especially when it comes in the form of a game.
Experiences like this serve as distractions from the every day world, but they can also be valuable learning experiences. I’ve redesigned my classes following this principle of fun and distraction. As always, it is about the skills you learn more than it is about the classical classroom experience of ‘Sage on the Stage’. I want the students loud, rowdy, hard working, and driven to be the best in class.
What you see above totally describes the Bejeweled experience. I’m learning something new. I’m being challenged in a way that shows me that I’m making gradual improvement without feeling shamed by the experience–maybe frustrated a bit. Still, its a great way to learn and the way all learning should be — fun and rewarding.