Pre-Break Checklist!!!

Attention Globaloria Class - Here is your checklist of things to accomplish prior to break next week.

1. Create a Flash file with the following assets: A title scene, a directons or about scene, and a rudimentary first level for your game.

2. Use the buttons and the timeline with r create navigation between your scenes.

3. Upload and embed any assets that you individually create on your Personal Projects Page on the Wiki. This allows me to see what you have created and give you credit for it.

4. Upload and embed any assets that you create for your game on r Team Projects Page on the Wiki. This way your team progress can be seen along the way.

5. Make sure to embed the SWF files and add a link to the FLA files. If you are unsure of how to do any of this, ask when we have free time.

6. Update your learning log for each day. Specify what you accomplished.

7. Find a Globaloria student in another school and leave a message for them on their wiki.

8. Create a new blog post in which you reflect on the entire year to this point in Globaloria. Comment on number 7 above in this blogpost.

Good Luck!

Team Game Assignment

Here is today's assignment. Please work to complete this by the end of class today. Anything not completed should be completed before class on Friday.

Goals:
1. Make a list of actions/controls you will need for your game.

2. Check off actions you already know how to code, then search online for coding that you don't have yet. Make sure it's as2.

3. Fill out the portions of your Team Projects page that you can at this point. Include any Flash files that you might have.

4. Write a blog post reflecting on your knowledge of coding. Try to find a flash actionscript 2 tutorial online and link to it in your blogpost.

5. Complete your learning log for the day.

HINT - Divide & Conquer!

Progress is cool!

As we complete the first 9 weeks of the 2009/2010 school year, I shall take a moment to reflect on what our Globaloria Class has achieved.

BLOGGING: Prior to this year, only one member of our class had blogging experience. Now you are all on course to be pro bloggers. The ways many of you have found to express yourselves are quite impressive. Check out the Globaloria Class Blog Roll to see the newest examples of your work.

WIKI USAGE: Compared to my experience from last year, this year's Globaloria students are doing exceptionally well. You have done a great job with your profile pages and keeping your projects updated. As a class you demonstrate a clear understanding of the importance in keeping the projects pages up to date with several versions as you make progress on your assignments. This is a concept that we never really got across last year, so kudos to you. Some of you can still do better by posting every new version of your work and commenting on your embedded files.

FLASH/GAME DESIGN: All of you have shown great creativity in your mini-games. Your understanding of Flash basics is developing at a very fast pace. Now that you are in teams and working on Paper Prototyping, I look forward to seeing how you apply that knowledge and creativity to your main game project.

GAME IDEAS: As we talk about games, I've been very inspired by some of your game ideas. Be sure to look at each others' game ideas on the wiki projects page.

NOW - A new assignment: I want each of you to read at least one other team's game idea flash file on the wiki. Then write a blogpost review of the idea. Be sure to let the team know what you like about their idea and give any suggestions you might have for making it even better. Then, send the team members a message on their wiki board with a link to your blogpost so they can check out your review.

Good luck on continued progress!!!

Globaloria in the Home....

Inspired by my classes success with the Mini-Game project, I thought I would try making a game with my 4 year old son Cedric and my 5 year old daughter Ceili.

My kids loved making a game, and kept fighting over who would get to add a feature or test the game next. Here is the final result.


While I had to do most of the art and coding, Cedric developed the concept and Ceili put in her artistic opinion (particularly when it came to the flowers). Not only was this a fun game project, but a nice way to spend time with my kids. My wife does crafts with the kids on a regular basis, maybe I'll start making games with them as my version of a "craft". How cool is that!

Mini-Game Project Great Success at GEHS!

Congratulations to the students in my class for their great work on the minigame project. Our games are coming along very well and many students have started adding more advanced features.

Sam's game is a nice example of original movie clips on a .jpg background.



Nice job Sam! And nice job to everyone who has completed their mini-game project!

STUDENTS: Once you have completed you project, uploaded you files, and embedded them onto your projects page. Then update your learning log showing your progress. Finally, write a blog post on the mini-game experience. Discuss what you have learned from the project and how you think it may help you with future game design projects.

Great job! Keep up the good work!

btw: Here is a link on how to embed your .swf into your blog post.

Grades as of Now

Attention Students: Your current grades have been updated to reflect recent assignments. Some of you may be disappointed...

The grades are available now on Edline.

Some of you are doing great! and we will be discussing ways that some of you can bring up your grades through completing assignments.

See you in class!

Mr. Allder

Assignment for Thursday

Students: Here are your instructions for Thursday's class. Each of you should have the following accomplished by the end of class: On Wiki - Upload all versions of mini-game projects in both .fla & .swf formats. Embed all versions of .swf files on "My Projects" page with complete description of what was accomplished in each version. Include links to the .fla files in the descriptions (use the code snippet for external link with different name).

On Blogs- Your assignment is to find an interesting post on another student's blog and comment on it. Then, write your own post reflecting on the other student's post. Include a link to the original post in your post. I will be checking these assignments online.

If you have questions, leave them as comments on this post.

Good Luck!!!

Taking Noses off the Grind Stone - Opportunities for Sharing Knowledge

We all know that there are things that we can learn from others. And, we all have things that others can learn from us. However, many times, we get so caught up in our own processes, our own problems, and our own patterns, that we neglect to see the learning opportunities all around us.

Today, I enjoyed the chance to take advantage of just such an opportunity. Mr. Warfield invited my Globaloria Class to his room to help his students with the customization of their blogs. My students were placed into a position to help mentor the students from Mr. Warfield's class. However, in addition to helping the other students, many of my young bloggers found that they could learn much from those who they were helping!

The students from the two classes created a great synergy as they helped each other try out gadgets, find playlist html snippets, and adjust colors and fonts. Many ended up adding each other's blogs to their blog rolls. All in all it was a very fulfilling experience for me to observe these students sharing knowledge.

My point is, no matter how busy we get, sometimes it's a good idea to get our noses off the grind stone and take a look at what others are doing. All of us have something to share, and we can all learn from other's experiences!

Wiki Progress

It has been a pleasure to see some of the students in my Globaloria class really taking charge with their wikis outside of class time.

In particular SarahEllen


and Dakota


have each made huge progress. Dakota currently has 40 edits, and SarahEllen is up to a whopping 55 edits. This is after being introduced to the wiki three class periods ago!!! Awesome job guys! If you keep this up we are sure to be successful in this class.

I challenge all of my students reading this post to see what you can do to make your wiki profiles and blogs unique and insightful. These areas offer you the opportunity to have true ownership in this process and in the program. The more communication we set up in the blogisphere, and the more time you spend practicing good habits of uploading and editing the wiki, the more success we will have when rubber hits the road with game design!

Great Start!!!

I want to send a note of thanks out to the members of my Globaloria class! You guys have started off the year great. I am truly impressed with how much you have accomplished thus far with completing the survey, setting up gmail accounts and wiki accounts, and beginning to edit on the wiki. Great learning log edits so far!!!

Many of you have continued to update your profiles on your user pages outside of class!


Check out Mark's User Page - He leads the class with five edits on the wiki so far! This is a tremendous start for the year, and we've got much more to accomplish in the coming weeks and months. I look forward to working with you as we make our way through the Globaloria adventure!

Check out the GEHS myGlife wiki here!

A Work in Progress

Reality, for any one individual, is defined by that individual's perception. Therefore, everyone's individual reality will be slightly different based upon the viewpoint he or she has, which is determined by the accumulation of experiences we call life. Life is a different experience for each of us, and, for each individual reality is constantly changing and evolving based on the experiences we have at any given moment.

If I haven't lost you yet, please stay with me...

My point is that life is a work in progress. As people, we are very goal oriented. We tend to want to set goals and work to achieve them. However, imagine if you went through life just trying to reach the end. Consider everything you would miss out on along the way. In life, it's the little things that matter. The people you meet, the unexpected friendships, the tough struggles and the small victories. It is the loss of a loved one and, it is the comfort found in the beauty of nature. It is sharing spontaneous laughter with a group of friends, or maybe even complete strangers. It is all this and more! In life, it comes very natural to appreciate the work in progress...that is all we can do until our time on Earth is up. Then it is up to others to carry our legacy in their memories and in the stories they tell.

Why is it then, that in many project based settings, we tend to be afraid to show our work in progress? I think for many of us, it goes back to the old saying "You never get a second chance to make a first impression". As a Band Director, I often feel the pressure of performance. And many times my band and I are thrust into a position where we must perform whether we are ready to or not. I know that I personally want to make the absolute best first impression possible, but sometimes you just have to take the leap and say "it is what it is today - a work in progress" The best way to make that great first impression is to do what you know, the best you can, and hold your head high in the process. Appreciate the journey, because, just as in life, the end always comes too abruptly to truly enjoy.

For students and educators involved in Globaloria, it is important for us to remember the work in progress philosophy. Our journey will be filled with excitement. We will have frustrating struggles and taste tid-bits of success, we will make friends, and sometimes find ourselves in fierce competition. We will share "ah-ha" moments after being baffled over a seemingly unsolvable problem.

As we take this journey, all of us should be encouraged to cherish these moments. Celebrate the small victories. Share them with others in our school and extended communities through posts on the wikis. Reflect on them and savor them by posting on our blogs and commenting on our peers' and colleagues' blogs. Enjoy this adventure we will share together....In the end it will be over all to quickly.

Getting Practice with the Flip Cams!!!

With any skill you want to use proficiently, practice is the key to success. Practice not only helps us decide what works best, but it also establishes healthy patterns of actions, leading to good habits.

Over the course of the last few days, I have been working at the WV State Fair supervising GEHS Band and Choir students as they man the Free Parking Lot. This has also given me time to start establishing a pattern of using my new Flip Cam as a class resource. Each day, I have taken time to interview students and get to know them better. The potential benefits for Globaloria, especially when it comes to building a sense of community and responsibility are obvious.

One thing that has helped keep up morale is the "Random Question of the Day". This is usually an off beat question that gets a humorous answer. I have found that students really look forward to the question of the day as something that helps pass the time more quickly.

Here is an Example:



Perhaps the funniest thing that has occurred while practicing with my Flip Cam was running into someone else who was also practicing the same skill:



I hope everyone is having as much productive practice (read - fun) with this as I am!

Raising the Bar

I once told a group of students "This year guys, I'd really like to raise the bar!" One student responded with complete sincerity: "What's the bar?" TRUE STORY

In all seriousness, the bar is definitely being raised for Globaloria this year. And it is being raised by all of us. The presentations of the games were fantastic - Particularly those done by the new educators.

"Newbies" - You guys are doing an awesome job. You are catching on and running with the program much quicker than I ever did last summer. And from talking with other veterans from year one and two, this seems to be the consensus.

Globaloria Staff - THANK YOU!!! This is one of the few organizations I have been affiliated with in which the input from the veterans is actually considered and used to improve the program for the future. Lot's of people in management positions say they plan to do this, and few ever really do. YOU DO AND IT SHOWS!!! I truly believe that the secret to the success we are seeing right now (besides the fact that the new educators are AWESOME), is that you have listened and adapted the program based on what you have gathered from the year one & two educators. KUDOS TO YOU!!

So....Two guys walked into a bar, then year three Globaloria folks came along and raised the bar so the third guy didn't have to duck....

"I love it when a plan comes together!"

This was the famous line of Hannibal from the A-Team (as opposed to Hannibal the cannibal Lector). However, sometimes the plan just doesn't come together. And that, my friends is when you must make the most of the situation. As a member of Team Mountain Dew, I admitted that my time between training sessions was limited with band camp and rehearsals occupying almost every moment. Therefore, I decided to limit my "game-improvement" involvement to the soundtrack development for "The Ultimate Lunch Tray". All seemed to be on track until at the last moment, I found that I could not open the .fla files that my other team members had posted on the wiki. Duh-duh-DUH!

So to make a long story short, I have soundtrack files and my team mates have published some great changes to the game - check them out on the wiki! - But, the plan didn't come together.

Now, every situation presents a learning experience that we as teachers can process and then use to help our students as they experience similar situations. So what have I learned from this situation?

Well, first of all, I must admit that procrastination played a part on my behalf (see the next post down). I have all sorts of reasons for not checking out these files earlier, but as the saying goes "In life you can have reasons or results. Reasons don't count." If I would have tried opening the .fla files a few days ago when they were posted, I would have discovered the problem earlier and had a better chance of solving the problem.

I think that my second pitfall was the fact that I missed my team conference session last week. (For anyone who is counting reasons, my wife got called into work an emergency case at the hospital at the last minute and I was alone watching my 4 year old son and 5 year old daughter). Good reason, but I still missed the session and the opportunity to possible catch my problem early enough to solve it.

So what can I take from this as I work with students this coming school year? I think I can sum it up in the following way: Stuff happens, and the "plan" doesn't always come together. However, by taking an account of your progress on a regular basis, and building in time for the unexpected, success can still be achieved.

Come to think of it, this is a great moment for teaching about the importance of blogging. By keeping a regular blog, we (teachers as well as students) can reflect on where we stand within a given process. Through this reflection, we can see how far we've come, how much work still remains, and maybe, just maybe, we can catch life's little pitfalls before they get out of control. This way, instead of writing a ridiculously guilt filled blog post about their failure to meet their goals, our students can be sitting back with a smile on their faces saying "I love it when a plan comes together!"

The Procrastination Vortex of DOOM!!!

So, for a while now, I have been wanting to write a blog post on procrastination. My reasons were sincere in the beginning. I have felt that I, more often than not, end up finishing projects at work and at home at the last possible minute. To be truthful, I am still in the midst of an internal dilemma regarding whether or not this is true procrastination, or just a result of my jam-packed schedule. Alas, I will put this philosophical discussion off for another time. (Yes, I know....)

The irony is, after wanting to write this post for weeks now, I am just now getting to it. Even more ironic is the fact that as I started researching for the post, I found myself reading theories about procrastination, then getting distracted by them and following link after link to more and more information about procrastination. I was putting off blogging about the topic which I was researching because I was performing the act which I intended to blog about. If your mind has just exploded, I sympathize. I think mine may have as well.

So, as I write this, I am finding myself continuously looking for ways to make the post better, and usually deciding that the options I consider are not really what I want to use. Like for example, some procrastination theorists argue that procrastinators are really perfectionists. Blahhh...!!! what kind of nonsense is that!

I found this really cool procrastination flow chart. By embedding it here, I can put off ending this post at least a little longer.

I guess my current image of procrastination is that of a swirling vortex of doom. Like when you connect the video out from a digital camera to a tv and then point the camera at said tv. You will see on the screen the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder.....well, you get the idea. I was getting tired of copying and pasting or else I could have put off the next example a little longer.

I am also reminded of a scene from a warped movie from my childhood. I will refer to the scene as "the last visible dog". It is from the animated film "The Mouse and his Child". Go to the 52:30 mark to see what I'm talking about.

Procrastination is the act of putting things off until the last minute. Often procrastinators will find some other activity to occupy themselves when they could be completing the task at hand. I will leave it up to the reader to determine whether I have successfully written a post on the topic, or if I've just been procrastinating this entire time.

The Digital Divide - How will the new online "meritorcracy" of the 21st century impact socioeconomic class mobility in a capitalistic society?

Wow, that is a huge question! And it really leads us to a tangled web of continuous questions (it ironically takes place on a "web" as well).

While I certainly do not know enough about this topic to speak with authority, I do have a couple comments and questions to pose:

1. I love the fact that thanks to Web 2.0 technologies, we are now more than ever, on an equal playing field when it comes to creating and contributing to the global online culture. And this WILL effect offline culture. In many ways it already does.

2. While most of us have access to this technology, regardless of our socioeconomic background, many in rural, urban, and other impoverished areas have not had the support system to understand and use this resource to their ultimate benefit.

3. As a human race we have come so far in the past 100,000 years (a blink of an eye in the history of our planet). For many years, people were concerned with preservation of the species and themselves rather than "contributing to society". Although it's not always considered, many people in the lower strata of the social structure are still in this mode. Who has time (or motivation) to learn to be an online "creator" when they are working in back breaking labor just to pay the bills, heat the house, and put food on the table? Not to mention that they often have to choose which of these three will be their priority for the current paycheck...

4. The above concerns relate to the United States. What about 3rd world countries who don't have our bountiful resources and opportunities?

I guess when it comes down to it, I wonder (not with any distrust or paranoia, just pure wonder!) where the path will lead. Will the online social meritocracy and capitalistic society float through the future in parallel harmony? Will there be a point where fiercely competitive commerce chokes out the unprivileged individual's access to open source opportunities? Will the online meritocracy find hold in the physical world and transform our socioeconomic (as opposed to just social) hierarchy in ways we don't yet envision? Or will we see an evolution of social and economic factors which is driven by a fusion of the needs, desires, and possibilities of our new and ever changing world?

Here is a Blogpost that I found on a similar topic.

A Valuable Learning Experience

In 2005, about 6 years into my teaching career, I met a man that transformed the way I educate and inspire young musicians.

You see, I have always been a teacher who has been willing to surround myself with others more experienced or more talented. There are two reasons for this in my mind. Number one, it exposes my students to a much broader spectrum of learning possibilities. And, number two, it allows me to learn and improve my teaching skills. So when my drumline instructor Mike told me about his college friend Keith who had 12 years experience teaching band in public schools, had just finished Grad school and hadn't yet found a job, I quickly agreed to bring him in as additional help for our band camp.

This was one of the best decisions I have made for the band program at Greenbrier East High School.

Usually, when we have clinicians or instructors come in, they are great when it comes to the hands on experience with the kids. While Keith excelled in this area, he was much more than this for me. He was a true mentor, more so than anyone to that point in my professional career. Through observing each other, we were able to open up a dialogue with one another which helped me discover simple (yet not always easy) ways that I could improve. In addition, Keith always found a way to point out the things I was doing well, in some cases better than he was as someone with more than twice my experience.

Having the opportunity to have Keith come and work with the band has had long lasting effects. It's been a couple of years now since Keith has been able to come and help out our band program. Life moves forward and he now has responsibilities as a husband, father, and business manager in coastal Virginia. But his impact on the students has been passed down from veterans of the band program to the rookies each year. And my teaching methods are forever changed for the better because of his influence.

To gain some more insight into Keith's teaching philosophy and how it has effected the band program at Greenbrier East check out his List of Cliches and Commentary on my GEHS Band Blog.

Trying to Improve Blogging

Learning to blog is a process that like many other skills, develops with practice and experience over time.

Personally, I am beginning to analyze my blogging to make it a more enriched experience for the reader. Check out my most recent posts to my Greenbrier East High School Band Blog . Here you can see the evolution of the blog I post on the most.

At it's earliest incarnation, the band blog was simply about announcements and passing my thoughts to the reader. As the blog has developed though, I have introduced videos, links, and other media which can allow the reader to interact with the blog and have more personal investment in the experience.

As a way to promote my band blog, I have registered it on the Blog Top List site. The theory is that registration on this site will allow people who search for blogs related to my discussion topics to easily find and read my blog. Since it has only been registered recently, data is not yet available as to the effectiveness of this service. I'll post later about my findings in this experiment.

Blogs that I've added to my blogroll

I had the opportunity to check out a couple of blogs of interest today. They seemed pretty cool so now I have them listed in the right hand side menu.

One of them is about music used in games. It has some nice videos embedded of live performances of orchestral arrangements of the music used in several iconic games.

Another is a blog featuring guitar lessons and tutorials. This is a great resource for me as a guitar teacher as well as my students.

Check them out, along with the other links in the menu.

Blogging Lesson

Right now, Rachel, the Globaloria Blogger is giving us a lesson on blogging. She is inspiring me to post on this blog which I've not done in a long time. But...to see an example of the blog I have been working on, check out my Greenbrier East High School Band Blog.

By the way, Rachel if you read this, give me an evaluation of the Band Blog and what you think could make it better.

Spring Break

Well, here we are with our miniature spring break - the weekend + Monday & Tuesday. My wife is having her tonsillectomy today, so I'll probably be waiting on her hand and foot over the next couple of days. If I get the chance, I plan to spend some time playing with ActionScript for the Beowulf game to see if I can come back to school with a solid plan for the team to finish up their project. We're getting pretty close.

Most is Good with Team AllGood (for now)

Hi everyone,

I know I've not been posting much recently, but I do have some exciting news to talk about regarding team AllGood at GEHS.  The team's Beowulf Awesome game is on the verge of being a complete playable game.  We have a hero (Beowulf) who can move around in a scrolling "mead hall" level.  His enemies include various monsters who he battles along the way ultimately getting to fight Grendel at the end of the level.  It will only be one level, but I think it will be pretty cool.  

The next steps will include cleaning up some coding and figuring out the most efficient ways to script for the fighting scenarios.

GOOD LUCK TEAM ALLGOOD!!!

Breakthroughs Today!!!

We had great breakthroughs today with the Beowulf Awesome game by team All-Good.  We have a good start on a scrolling background; Kenna Hintersteiner and I worked on getting that going.  Jessica Tuckwiller made great progress on coding enemies for the first level.  Garret Vess created some really cool characters that we will hopefully be able to plug in next time.

GREAT JOB GUYS!!!

Presentations that did not happen

Well.....Yesterday, we were supposed to have our groups present their progress to Maitreyi for the mid-year evaluation.  However, with forecasts calling for bad weather, she requested to postpone until next week.  This ended up being a blessing in disguise - we had several of our students out sick.  I feel like we are fairly well prepared for the presentations and a couple of extra days won't hurt us to polish and get ready.  I just hope we have everyone in attendance for this important occasion.

I'm looking forward to it!

ActionScript, Principals, Fire Drills, and Appointments

Yesterday was an eventful day for Globaloria at Greenbrier East.  First off, the students made huge progress in understanding the ActionScript coding that Brian showed us at the Workshop.  They now each have mini-games which include all of the features we learned except for score keeping (we'll teach that next class).  We did not have time for them to post the games to the wiki, however they will be spending most of the next class posting and updating with their mini-games and other artifacts they have created.  I was able to give the students a review of how to imbed their swf files as opposed to just linking them on their projects pages so we should see alot more content on the wiki soon.  

Perhaps the best moment of class yesterday was when Mr. Bryant, our head Principal entered the class for a surprise visit to see the kids (as well as Abbie and me) fully engaged in the lesson.  He was very impressed with the level of the students' performance and was blown away by their knowledge in an area which he has little comprehension at this point.  It was very gratifying for the students and teachers.

Our class was cut short due to a fire drill...oh well.  AND, I had to miss the web workshop with Brian due to an appointment I had yesterday evening.  But the good news is, I will soon have Verizon DSL at my house (by Feb. 20th, supposedly).  This will allow me to attend webinars from home - YAY!!!  

That's all for now....

SNOW DAZE

Well, not much to report other than that prior to these snow days (tuesday and wednesday this week), we have not been able to have continuous progress in class.  However, I am happy to say that our students are much more comfortable with actionscript 2.0 after Abbie and I shared what we learned from Brian at the workshop.  Also, we have had several of our students imbedding more of their work on the wiki, so that is a plus.

That's all until next time...

January 29 Yeah!!!

Today our students made great progress using the actionscript we got from Brian at the Workshop.  They seem to think that the coding will be very useful to them in their games.  However, the Wiki was down and we were not able to get alot of the progress posted today.  Hopefully we'll be able to do more of this next time.

Until Next Time....

Getting Better at Flash

Well, I was inspired after the Globaloria Academy workshop this past weekend and decided that I should see what else I could do using Flash.  So, I went home and had my 5 year old daughter and 3 year old son tell me what they would like to have in a game.  My daughter suggested a butterfly that could land on a tree branch...and with the ActionScript that Brian walked us through on Saturday, I was able to make a little flash game that my kids ask to play over and over.  Pretty cool.  Also, I showed some of the students, and they are pretty excited to apply the coding into their own game designs.  THANK YOU WORLD WIDE WORKSHOP TEAM!!! Especially Maitreyi, Steward, Jeff, Lee, Shannon, and Brian.