My name is Julianne Calvi and I am a Grade 5 Teacher at Cromer Public School. I graduated uni in 2007 and began my career at Cromer, teaching year 3 for two consecutive years. I attended the University of Technology Sydney and completed a couple of computer based learning courses through the 4 year degree. I am now teaching my first year 5 class in 2010 and am involved in the MacICT Game Design Project.
I have grown up with Super Nintendos, Game Boy, computers, the birth of the internet, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and use mobile, email and facebook as main communication methods. However, I have no prior experience in game design and am very fortunate to work with and learn from the experience of Anthony and Cathie with my year 5 students.
A term into our game based training and I am impressed at how engaged and motivated the students are to solve problems and create their own games. I find that walking around the room to assist students, that they are infact the ones that are assisting me and teaching me new skills. You can either see this as discouraging that the roles are reversed, or as I see it, empowering to the students that they have the opportunity to share their knowledge, teach concepts they have learned and gain confidence.
I look forward to seeing what games the students will design and implement in this game design project! It is a great experience and I encourage all teachers to get involved, even if you have limited experience using any computer technologies, you'd be surprised what the students can teach you!!
Good Luck!
Thankyou so much Julianne for being the very first brave teacher to post on our new Game Design blog. I am so excited to have you on board with the project and value any feedback you can give us on the project. I look forward to reading your future posts!
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