The power of positivity!
Friday, August 24, 2007 at 06:45AM Earlier this month, Adam Janowski, media specialist extraordinaire from Naples, Florida, wrote a guest blog entry on computer gaming in libraries. Sadly, in a follow-up comment to his defense of games, he wrote:
"Oh, how things can shift in days. Our superinendent was sacked yesterday, and today I get a message from our principal say NO to games.
"No discussion. Just an ultimatum.
"Such is life in a public school."Happily, here is the rest of the story which is less about games and more about proactivity. - Doug
I will start this post with an anecdotal story. For three years now, "Edison", a junior, has been the first person I have busted for playing Internet games on the computer. This year he said, "But Mr. J., this is an educational game!" It was. Very much like "Lingo" if you are a Game Channel addict. "Edison, for three years now, you have tested me, the rule is still the rule, "No Games"!
Some of you know from an earlier post that my principal had issued and edict banning computer games in the LMCon the basis that they violated "academic integrity". No discussion, that's all I had requested. After much back and forth, she told me that I could bring it up at our school Leadership Council meeting, but that still bothered me. I did it, but then tabled it. I wanted to talk about it first.
Someone who responded to my post on your blog, led me to a great article in support of gaming. I also contacted our District Coordinator, who told me there was no district prohibition on Internet games, and that they were, in fact, reviewing a Math gaming program to be implemented district-wide.
Today my colleague and I had an informal meeting with the principal in our office. We plied her with freshly-brewed Colombian coffee and home-made (I made them) pecan sandies. We brought up the issue of gaming. We gave her the article. We talked about the fact that we were not "normal" librarians, and that we were leaders in the field, that we had one of the few high school Reading is Fundamental (RIF) programs in the nation, that we were one of the few libraries that embraced a totally paperback fiction collection, that we had implemented an Information Commons to encourage creativity, and that we were recognized nationally for our innovations. I told her that we were tired of being the "games police" and that students would still play games, but just close windows as we came close. It was only the slower students that we caught. We told her that we were just encouraging students to become more sly, not a good thing.
Still, she was not convinced, until I pulled out my trump card! She still wanted it to go to the Leadership Council. But as she read the list of reasons that Doug Johnson posted about gaming and came to "Kids might be finding school fun and we all know life isn't about fun," she laughed out loud and said "OK, I give, it is really your room and you should set your own rules." "I just don't want them playing violent or inappropriate games. Let's try it as a pilot program for the semester."
At lunch today, I told Edison that we had persuaded the principal that games would be OK as a pilot program. We played his "Lingo-type" game together and he and I were able to advance to the next level. He said he had never been able to do that before as he "High-Fived" me! Life is good!
Adam <okadam (at) comcast.net>
