It is time to go live.

Good morning everyone!  I have been busy working on a marketing plan, trying to move ONE SCENE AT A TIME into a card context, looking for for focus groups for LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING and getting ready for Pro Vita at the Berkshire School.  IT IS HERE!

Thank you to the ENTER THE CAVE team (Tim, Steven, Donovan, Tucker, Robert, David, Aether, Adam, Lynne, Jen, and Ken) at the Emergent Media Center at Champlain College for sending me here in such a prepared fashion!  I am getting ready for Day 1 of Pro Vita where we will play LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING and learn a little about game design.

One of my favorite quotes from today's homework "Not only do games let us take risks, but they can make those risks feel real."  (Game Frame, Aaron Dignan, p.45)

If you want to watch the same TED Talk that is homework find Jane McGonigol's 2010 TED talk about game design, and treat yourself!

Time to put on my name tag...more later!

Hello again,  last night I listened to a program that included wonderful Berkshire School a capella groups, and some college groups including CDN.   There are a number of Pro Vita teachers here, including alums.

I have scripted out Days 1, 2, and 3.    Today, I met the seven students who will be having Hard Fun learning about Game Design with me this week.  We played LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING, took a greatly abbreviated look at game design and application and then delved into what these students know about games.  They will follow up by watching Jane McGonigol's TED talk, writing their own backstories and thinking about what skills come from playing games.

Their feedback was invaluable as is my growing sense of confidence.  No one in this group thought playing a game focused on getting ready for a college search was useful.  And, when we began the discussion many didn't think playing sports/fantasy games or fighting/mission games, or even Candy Crush was anything more than amusing and fun.  As we discussed further I could see that playing improves thinking strategically, encourages learning about possibilities and choosing the best.  Playing games sharpens focus.  But, how to make LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING more engaging?

Tomorrow will involve a taste of transforming ideas into "an artificial conflict that results in a quantifiable outcome."  Design means actual people take ideas, sit with them, discuss them, broaden them and then create an actual prototype which is turned into a series of logical steps and art work that leads a player in to the experience of playing the game.

"Not only do games let us take risks, but they can make those risks feel real." (Dignan, p. 45)

It is time to go for a walk, and then to meet more people, listen to Wes Moore.

The team at the EMC has developed an animatic of ENTER THE CAVE, an accompanying presenter's guide and an online survey to help support tomorrow's work.  I am very excited to lay it out and dig in deep.

An Unfocused Inquiry about Teaching

What makes a teacher good?  Simple question, right?  I would like to think that I am and was a good teacher.  In some cases I was, and in some cases I wasn't.  End of story

This question has been coming up a lot; and now I wonder where in the day it is going to pop up.
It is not about kindergarten or college-level classes, or if the curriculum is being handled correctly. Those are all aspects that an adult somewhere has invented for a variety of reasons.

It is not as simple as academics because individuals are forging important relationships with teachers all over the world that are resulting in immense harm or benefit, that have nothing to do with reading, writing and arithmetic.

It comes down to what we each to need to know as we go along our path.

In the past two days I have been privy to multiple stories about good and bad teachers.  Intelligent teachers who have PhDs (!!) but do not know how to engage and pass along what they know.  Parents who are too young to be parents, treating their very small children like throw-aways instead of looking for the special and enthralling characteristics that could help that child achieve huge dreams.  Adults revisiting testing situations that they didn't do well in while in school, but now must pass for their livelihood to continue.  People caught in a terrible national web that doesn't even allow them to go to school.  These stories will keep coming and coming.

I return to my own experience because what else do I have?  Teachers who were not effective for me were very effective for others.  But, that does not soften the bad fit in my case.  So, maybe it is not the teacher being bad or good, but the sensitivity being on or not?  I was a creative, impatient child who wanted to try things myself.  This led to a stint in the corner for taking a chance, and decades later to a letter I wrote to my kindergarten teacher (long dead) explaining that I knew she was a good teacher but even so she had inflicted damage with her lack of recognizing good students didn't always follow her rules and classroom management is a thing of the past.  If we have to MANAGE the classroom doesn't that say a lot about the students?

I digress....

I have seen two reports that made me think more deeply, as I forge ahead on my game design and website development.  Let me just say that trying things out before one has to do them for real is a great opportunity to find what fits, and to have answers for questions that are going to come up.


What Do Teachers Make?

Parking dispute? Why don't we teach how to communicate instead of wasting valuable lives?

Steps can be small but they are still steps

I am trying something new; for those of you on Face Book you can now visit my Community Page:  Small Steps Go Places.  I am testing whether it is valuable to promote what I do in this way.

I welcomed Eva's help today.  She and I talked about what will go on the playing cards for One Scene At A Time, if scoring is a good idea and she introduced a whole new take on the game (more on that later).  Then she plowed into the wording for scenarios.  I can envision my new website's area to test some of this wording.  Relevancy comes from players giving feedback, right?

In March I will be traveling to the Berkshire School to participate in Pro Vita.  I just read through the course book (and found my own course, and all of the other opportunities)) and am looking forward especially to meeting Wes Moore.  I must read more about the other speakers!

The wind is screaming here and the sky is filled with clouds.  I think we are headed toward more frigid weather -- good for staying inside reading and typing.

I am curious about challenges that students from places outside of the United States find when coming to the U.S. for college.

Numbers are just the tip of the iceberg


How about some vocabulary for starters?

I have made something worth talking about

I am sitting here at my somewhat disorganized table feeling happy and anticipating what the next leg of my journey is going to look like.  I am laying out the steps to the journey but I have no idea the ins and outs.  I know I will be amazed, startled, overwhelmed, proud and frustrated.  And, that is all okay.

On my assignment list is learning about marketing.  That is kind of open-ended.  But, with my usual "figure it out as I go" method I am reading All Marketers Are Liars (The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World) (Seth Godin).  This is a great book.

The amazing Alisa suggested reading some Seth Godin already and I found I really liked this title, especially "authentic stories" and "low-trust world".  It makes so much sense to connect what my games mean to real concerns and people,  and what better way than to spin some yarns.

I am astounded at where I am right now.  My team at the Emergent Media Center at Champlain College is working on translating scenarios and the current structure of ENTER THE CAVE into an animatic to use and collect students' observations and suggestions, when I go to the Berkshire School in March.  With the priceless assistance of Ray, and observations of Kendall and Eva ONE SCENE AT A TIME is blossoming.  I can actually see how it is going to become a product.  And, with the faith and generosity of Pauline, I have developed LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING.  Nick took a player's suggestion and made it 3D which has changed the way I will use the game.

The story is simple.  Students who have attended high school or who are home schooled and want to go beyond to a deeper study must look at options.  The first question:  IS GOING TO COLLEGE A GOOD FIT?

If that is the path to take then doesn't it make sense to hone a sense of focus?  It is not just about grades and test scores.  I invite players to climb the pyramid and LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING.


Then there is an area of finding that place, that college.  I think a game may grow here, but I have lots of resources for the meantime.

Once a students makes a choice it is time to get ready for the leap into college.  Some would call this transition, or getting oriented.  I would say you are going to ENTER THE CAVE.  The CAVE is both familiar and unfamiliar, scary and exciting.  And, to enter successfully you need to practice using skills you probably already have but haven't brought fully out yet.

Beginning college will present new territory.  When you are trying out for a play, isn't it better if you have read through the acts first to consider how you will interpret the characters and deal with the scenes?  As a player you will benefit greatly by playing ONE SCENE AT A TIME.

I need to offer the opportunity for maybe 100 players to play these games so I prove they are relevant and valuable.  Everyone is SO BUSY.  I will figure out how to do this.


I can see that I  need a website where I can offer more of an interactive experience to all of you wonderful people, and have the blog be a part.  Wouldn't you like to be able to play, comment, find connections to others or to information, or just share listening to some nice music with me?
I am putting the structure of my blog SMALL STEPS GO PLACES on a storyboard, and seeing where my creativity takes me.

Connected We Are: Do you want to Learn How To Select a College?

This week is going to be busy!  Like that is new, ha ha ha..

I am having an adult focus group tomorrow with a group of wonderful adults who have been in this adventure from the beginning!  One is a documentary filmmaker whose work I need to put up in my list of useful links.  One is a homeschool mentor, who is positive and peaceful.  One has ended a career as an education reporter.  One is a skier and game maker.  One is a journalist.  One is a strong, articulate person who makes me marvel at whatever she does.  Everyone is a parent and someone who helps the world evolve toward a better place for all of us to be.

Our work tomorrow is to play the most recent incarnation of One Scene at a Time, formerly Risk It.  We will learn how to play it, rip it to shreds, talk about it and I will try to find college students to give it a go, as they are the ones who I would want to use this.

Later, I will have a catch up Skype call to learn about my Emergent Media Center team's work on concepts for Enter the Cave.

And, now I am looking for focus group participants for Look Where You Are Going.  It is for high school students who think college would be a good direction.  And, that is where a new idea has been planted!  I got an email from KHAN ACADEMY.  I have been invited to become a Khan Academy AMBASSADOR!!  No matter that this offer has probably been sent out to a few others; the important thing is that it was sent NOW to me.  What a wonderful connection!  So, I have decided to offer a class called LEARNING HOW TO SELECT A COLLEGE through Khan Academy.  The lovely thing about Sal Khan's creation is that anyone with a computer can use it, right?  So, if you know someone who is interested in taking LEARNING HOW TO SELECT A COLLEGE, please open a Khan Academy account and find:

Class code: 78VR3J

It may work more easily if you go onto www.khanacademy/a/genevievegriffin

Oh yes, then I just finished reading TRIBES by Seth Godi.  Are you, dear blog reader, a member of my tribe?  I believe everyone has a right to education that has a good fit.  My thinking is a bit out of the box.  I love listening to people's stories.  I believe we are all connected.  I have little patience in doing something just because we are told to, unless I can unearth the reason why.  I believe we are connected by that reason, why.

Let It Go

I just finished meditation, along with working on LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING.  Today's centering thought:  I manifest desire easily and naturally.  My journey has been gaining momentum.

In the past few weeks,  I went to the Emergent Media Center at Champlain College to attend the kick-off brainstorming session for the EMC's work on ENTER THE CAVE.  It was a stupendous meeting, where I met ENTER THE CAVE's team, both observed and contributed to discussion about the purpose of the game, who it is serving and what form it might take, and generally glowed.  This meeting pushed me to let go of what was only an idea in my mind not that long ago.  Arriving to find posters advertising the meeting and hearing people talk about ENTER THE CAVE was exhilarating and startling, too.

I have turned RISK IT into a card form and am putting together more focus groups to see where that form will take me.

When I was at the EMC I introduced ENTER THE CAVE as the second in a three game series.  Where did that come from??  Well, it makes sense.  And, LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING is the first with RISK IT being the third in that series.

LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING is an opportunity for high school juniors to begin the college search process.  High school juniors must work hard to do well in school and on those pesky standardized tests.  Don't they deserve to play around a bit?  LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING is going to be a game inviting players to group things and answer funky questions, like "what did you want to be when you were little?"

Back to MANIFESTING EASILY AND NATURALLY...

I wish I could say it is time to get this party started, but the party has been going on for awhile.  How about, let me get out of the kitchen and ask someone to dance!  I am getting the manifesting down; it is the believing I have manifested something valuable and getting someone to play that I am stumbling on.  Maybe it is not Let's Dance; maybe it is Let It Go!


Let it go
Let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go
Let it go
Turn my back and slam the door
And here I stand
And here I'll stay
Let it go
Let it go
The cold never bothered me anyway

Uncomfortable Questions, Tough Decisions, and Awkward Discomfort

Today is a good day to tackle the question, why?  I woke up to read an article in The Wall Street Journal about a second nurse possibly being infected with Ebola, on American soil, and the many gaps in the Texas hospital system that is one example of our great, western safeguard against things like that.  WHY did that happen?  It sounds like American policy makers and those who find themselves in charge would rather not ask uncomfortable questions or make tough decisions if it would cause awkward discomfort. (WSJ Push to check spread of Ebola article)

So, let's go with those phrases:  uncomfortable questions, tough decisions, awkward discomfort.  Those phrases kind of sums up some aspects of my almost ten years of homeschooling.  Not running away from the questions, decisions and discomfort gave me a gift earlier today.

I needed to get business cards.  I am tired of trying to put people's information into the already overloaded contacts on my IPhone.  I want something concrete to hand to people, something that represents me.  I have not been able to clearly explain why I blog or design games or care deeply about the education system.  However, I found some of the answer in the business card design I ordered this morning.

Humans know what they need and I believe that children know what they need educationally.  I also recognize that children do not have all of the maturation needed to put the foundation into place to succeed in the world we adult humans have created.  But, ultimately, I choose to trust that children know what they need educationally.  A disconnect happens when this knowing is stymied by the roadblocks set up in the way of "getting it."

My own children's teachers, including me, is a good place to look for roadblocks.  Let's go back to uncomfortable questions, tough decisions and awkward discomfort.  I love options and the chance to delve into areas of interest in all of the ways we have.  So, studying about American political history in the early part of the 20th century included Teddy Roosevelt, the National Parks system,

the stock market,

and yellow fever 

  We used books, websites, videos, wrote papers, visited places.  And, none of this will be on the popup quiz, exam, or standardized tests necessary to gain admittance to a great school.  I cannot give much credible evidence of neatly maintained grades, or that I was always making sure our math was plodding along, or that we studied the right type of science for the right number of hours.  I asked no one to memorize dates or historical figures.  It becomes very uncomfortable when another student can speak in specifics about any part of this grand journey.  But, I know my children will probably never look at a mosquito the same, or that they understand how difficult it is to bring people who have so many different motivations over to the idea that nature must be protected for a future that no one could visualize.  They know about the high of the giddy devil-may-care attitude that eventually led to the devastating down of the stock market crash, and how money outranked humanity.  And, was I a roadblock?  Oh yea.  Do my children know what they need educationally?  I would have to say yes on most days.  They do not easily go along with "that's the way it is" or worse, they are devastatingly realistic about what has to be done to succeed.

Too much professional attitude, expectation and organizational structure separates the teachers from their students and the love of learning and spark that can really help connect all of those interesting things with getting it:  how to use the things we love to learn about.

And so, I proudly post a photo of a compass, below SMALL STEPS GO PLACES. I enjoy the thought of sharing my business cards when they arrive.  It is no fun to keep walking around doing creative things if I do not know where I am headed.  And, when I offer my games or tools to students, it will be with the goal of leading them outside of themselves and then back inside with more of a compass, too.

Let's hear it for uncomfortable questions, tough decisions and awkward discomfort.  Let's hope we all have the guts to employ them when it is necessary.

BONUS:  The Baseball Majors!