A great experience ! (Final Reflective Post)

During a short period of time I had the chance and the opportunity to practice, explore and learn a game. Like I had mentioned in my blogs my game was not that easy, due to the amount of steps and energy that is required. While playing and learning my game and reading the Gee's book and the articles assigned for the class I had the opportunity to grow as a player. I have learned what's right, wrong, positive and negative in my game. I have learned how much you could get out of a game. While learning my game I had the opportunity to interact with my son and he was able to teach me a lot that I never thought that he was able to do. Throught my game I have gained experience as a player, as a parent and as an educator. I'm able to to understand more about how our children play, what they are being exposed to while playing video games.

The important thing that I got from my game was that I never thought how much a game could teach us in so many ways. A game can teach socialization, language, violence and positive and negative attitude towards a player. Through all these weeks I really had a chance to go above and beyond as a player. I never gave up even though I got headaches, was upset a couple of times and it was not easy to play a game when I was never exposed to playing games. I am so used to playing preschool games as a Preschool Teacher. I never went that intensive with a game. It was a great experience to have an opportunity to learn and to teach at the same time. Like I mentioned before my game was a Christmas present that I had purchased to my son. The only thing that I knew about the game was that it was a wrestling game

Now I'm able to describe what this game is really about. I am able to describe how negative it is. Wrestling is often viewed as a a violent, negative activity. However, because of my research, I do agree and disagree in a few ways. While playing the game I had the opportunity to really explain to my son with details how violent the game is and the violence is not good or necessary in real life. Also that violence has serious consequences. I wish that every parent that purchased this game explained to their children the positives and the negatives about the game. Not every parent knows what they are buying and then they don't know why certain violent action happen with their child. Even though my game is violent it teaches the player rules, vocabulary, thinking skills and solving problems. It is great for gross motor skills and good as a sport.

It is not a game to bring to a preschool classroom but maybe to a 3rd classroom and above where you are able to explain the purpose of the game and teach consequences while playing the game. I would recommend my game 100% as a player, parent, and as an educator. I'm thankful to Dr. Dana for having a great idea for this class such as choosing a game and learning about it. In conclusion, now I will play more, search and be aware of what's new on games, what's coming up and what is important to know about games. I really enjoy and have learned a lot through this game. Learning through play is the key as well as learning through failure. I wish that everyone had fun and has learned a lot about their games.