Reflections

I'm back. I figure that I haven't blogged in a month and quite frankly it's been a relief. I have been finding that the weekly posts have been consuming huge amounts of my time and I have started the resent the time it has been taking. I need sleep, I need fresh air, I need to keep house, cook, exercise, visit my children, read, do homework ... Spending hours on the computer to write weekly is not an option at this point. So I have decided to ease up and only write when the mood takes me.
I have learned a whole lot from writing this blog. The most important is that I can write and I think that I can call myself a writer of sorts. Secondly, writing this blog has confirmed to me that writing is hard work. It's no wonder our students resist writing - to do it well requires effort and time. Thirdly, writing is thinking. If we need students to be good thinkers, problem-solvers and creators, then I think that writing is one of the most important things we need to focus on to help students be successful in the 21st century.
So I leave you today with an interesting link to a Kyle Mawer's wiki that uses gaming to help ELL students read and write - I'm thinking that the lesson may also work with applied level and locally developed level classes as well. One of the games has a complete lesson that integrates writing with the game. It's called Grow Cube. I played it just for fun, but I can certatinly see how it can be used as a writing lesson.
Have fun!