Perhaps more than anything else, the English Language Arts classroom is a place of diversity.
There is diversity of academic expectations for teachers. The ELA Common Core assigns literature and informational reading, writing, speaking/listening and language to what is usually a single “class.” This is a total of five extremely broad topics, each of which could more than stand on its own as a content area.
There is diversity of content, where media from two thousand years ago to yesterday, from Gilgamesh to Tupac Shakur, can find a place. This is a content area where students read and reflect, write and discuss, revise and rethink, compose and present, speak and observe — all in the company of some of the greatest thinkers in mankind’s history.
There is also diversity of assessment, where projects, exams, open-response questions, essays, digital products and community projects all vie for a chance to demonstrate what a student understands.
It makes sense, then, that in such a busy atmosphere full of often-conflicting literacies and constant rigor, video games might find an authentic and compelling role.
How can they function?
Read this rest of this article on Terry Heick’s blog at edutopia