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Children have been bringing video games and other distractions to schools for decades. For me, it was my Game Boy. But everything from the rise of Tamagotchi in the 90s to Magic the Gathering and Pokémon cards has been honored in colleges and high schools. However, high school kids have grown up with games on smartphones, and these games are following them in class as my Game Boy would have never been able to.
Fortnite is huge, as few games have been, and its audience is talking about it and playing it in a different way from most other gaming communities. You can take Fortnite – with your profile and all your recordings and content purchased – with you anywhere you can go. This includes the classroom.
The second half of this last school year saw the schools prohibit Fortnite dances and even inspired by Fortnites. This was happening even in the spring of this year and continues even after the summer break. Teachers have even extensively blogged about the opportunity to integrate play with lessons.
You can probably guess what kids are thinking about it, but what about teachers? Fortnite lasted until the end of the summer and shows no signs of slowing down as the holiday season approaches. I've talked to high school teachers and rural and suburban school educators from across the country about their experiences with Fortnite in class – both of the type that resulted in the revocation of telephone privileges and more positive situations in which students have incorporated play into their curriculum.
The fortified effect
When you find the right game, it gets in your head, unlike other media. This is the Tetris effect. You see yourself playing the game even when you are not. It's hard to ignore and it creates an interesting dynamic between the player and the game.
When I looked at it, I realized that he was on the phone. He could not put the phone to present …
"When [Fortnite] was released for the first time over the phone, my students were trying all sorts of ways to be devious, "said a Grade 10 teacher in the suburbs of Minnesota (which we'll call Lois). The students were very distracted by the game of not hearing instructions or getting work. "
Lois reached new heights for Lois when a student was in front of the class, during a presentation, unable to focus on his own project.
"When I looked at it, I realized that he was on the phone, he could not put the phone to present and had to continue playing Fortnite even when his rating was in play", said Lois.
Lois, who has taught just about every school year from Grades 6 to 12 in the last 10 years, later added that it was not her phone, but that of her friend – something for avoid the risk of confiscating your phone as a punishment. This kind of antics has led school administrators to block Fortnite's wireless network from the school.
With Fortnite, more and more students are arguing or trying to negotiate with me to play in class.
"In the past, if a student was distracted by his phone, it was very easy to redirect him by either standing next to him or asking him to put away his phone," she said. "With Fortnite, more and more students are arguing with me or trying to negotiate with me about classroom games. Parents told me that they had to close their children's phones at night to force them to go to bed. those who would not crash during the school day. "
An English high school teacher in California (we'll call her Mary) said the students themselves often recognized the impact of Fortnite distractions on their homework. Tom Kersting, a licensed psychotherapist and New England-based school counselor and spokesperson for Zift (a parental control app), said some of the students he talked to will find a small gap in which to play, whether during the few minutes between classes, or stay up until "2 or 3 o'clock in the morning".
Kersting says that even children whose parents ask them to finish their homework have their homework affected: when Fortnite calls, the temptation to run through tasks is strong. This has been a bit of a staple of video games as far as Space Invaders, but few games now seem to have the same power to stay.
Parents told me that they had to lock their kids' phones at night to force them to lie down.
"Many children recognize in their written reflections [which are effectively assignment post-mortems between teacher and student] "They did not put so much effort into their mission because they were distracted by Fortnite," Mary said. While she said that she appreciated the students' frankness, "the process of reflection does not seem to encourage them to work harder next time." This teacher stated that she had seen at least one student move from one grade to another. A to a note of D.
Kersting said that Fortnite's presence at the school was not so simple, but that she was simply distracting in the classroom.
"The game has such appeal, so much so that children can not get enough of it." The problem with this stimulation during lunch is that stimulation persists between them in the 6th or 7th period, preventing them from focusing on the subject. 39, history or maths, "said Kersting.
Fortnite against the Internet
Although Fortnite is a distraction in itself, for a Californian teacher, he still does not hold the candle to the monster monster that is the social media. This teacher, Melissa, recognizes the level of distraction Fortnite has become associated with in schools, but has described social media as addictive.
Students assume that because I am a player, it does not bother me if they play Fortnite in class.
Other teachers have echoed similar sentiments. Miranda, a teacher who works with grade 7 and 8 students in the Pacific Northwest, said the Fortnite attraction was not much different from the ubiquity of games like Call of Duty or Minecraft. Kelsey, who teaches English in a small community in Wisconsin, says that Fortnite has lasted longer than most others, but that playing fast games like Flappy Bird is not a problem in class. These games open quickly and have short game times, allowing students to easily slip into a session. Of course, Flappy Bird burned hard and fast, while Fortnite turned out to be effective. Raymond Steinmetz, a Rhode Island-based mathematics educator, also called Call of Duty specifically.
"[Fortnite], went one step further and just took over. [It] really dominated all the discussions between the kids. It was not like a group of boys had played Call of Duty the night before talking about it, it was the whole class talking about Fortnite and [doing the dances]," he said.
From some conversations I've had with high school teachers, it also seems that class level influences Fortnite's distracting force. Adam, a high school teacher in Minnesota, says his AP-level courses remain unchanged. However, in his reading class, he sees students talking about it and reiterates what others have said about Fortnite's presence longer than other games.
[Fortnite] Helped them bond, which makes it easier for them to work on group tasks – they suddenly have something in common.
Kelsey echoed Adam's experience with AP students, but noted that a teacher's play habits may also play a role.
"The students think that because I'm a player, I do not mind if they play Fortnite in class.The situation is even worse with the release of PUBG Mobile," he said. she declared. Kelsey herself plays at PUBG and stated that, in her class in particular, the students assumed that she would agree that she would dive into the game, regardless of their luck. . Teachers who are unfamiliar with the culture of the players do not see the students pushing their limits as much as they experienced, Kelsey said.
Although each of the teachers I spoke to experienced how Fortnite can be a distraction, they mostly sang the same tune when I asked about the positive effects of the game.
Building a community
Melissa's high school students speak more.
"This brought together a number of students who had rarely spoken before," she said. "[Fortnite] Helped them bond, which makes it easier for them to work on group tasks – they suddenly have something in common.
Other teachers have experienced similar positive results.
"I saw more students talk to each other than they would normally do. [Fortnite] has built a community that has gathered more students. Even when they play against each other, they are not angry when their players are killed … they just can not wait to play again with their new friends, "Lois said.
One thing I find surprising is the diversity of students who play it. Students from almost every clique play it.
That Fortnite lends itself to a more friendly gaming relationship is an interesting point. Fortnite (and Royal Battle Games in general) have a different pace than other popular multiplayer games. With Fortnite, there is no time to stop. You have one life and once you are eliminated from the match, you can move quickly to the next. And when you lose, surviving for an indefinite period can often be felt as a kind of victory, given the nature of the last kind of men standing up. Fortnite also lacks the linear progression we see in other multiplayer games. There is no upgrade of your character or weapons to which you may be attached or salted. The fact that children have chosen game-specific dances that have become a cultural memory of their own lives does not detract from the more positive engagement and associations that children have with play.
"One thing that I find surprising is the diversity of the students who play in. Students from almost every clique play it, and that gives some of them some ground of understanding that they do not have. Had not before, "Kelsey said.
Kersting considers a disadvantage of this connectivity.
"The children playing there are somehow hugging together." In the dining room, during recess, they play at Fortnite.It's a problem because, in my opinion, the recess and the hour Lunchtime is often the only time off that children have at all That day, it's a very important communication and a very important social life, "said Kersting, though he admits that this is beneficial for some students who might have more difficulty socializing otherwise.
Another obstacle comes when parents decide to give up. Fortnite is a T-rated game about photographing people – even though it's pretty caricatural – making it inappropriate for younger children. Kersting relayed a case where this became a social problem.
The argument from the mother is: why do schools even allow kids to play these games while they should socialize?
"[One mother]The question was that his son – because he did not have the appropriate age, under 12 years – [isn’t allowed to play] Fortnite, "says Kersting. All of these other parents let their kids play it, so she's the one who has resisted. But the problem she's encountered, confronting school officials, is literally that all of her son's friends play it during recess and no one sees it as a problem. Because he's not allowed to play it, his son feels sort of left out. The mother's argument is why schools even allow children to play these games when they should socialize or play kickball. "
Steinmetz (Rhode Island math teacher) had a particularly transformative experience during a field trip.
One of Miranda's students wrote an essay on the fact that Fortnite was more important to him than his grade in history.
"At the end of the seventh year, we are still going to the park.Last year, we are in a bus [for] two hours to go to a park of attractions. Of course, we have all these rules, no mobile phones and all that. However, we have allowed them for the last 20 minutes so that people can get a call home, "he said.
"I was in this bus with these kids for about two hours on the way home, at 20 minutes we gave them their phones and everyone started playing at Fortnite." You could hear a pin falling. world collaborated, [kids who normally wouldn’t leave each other alone, who had been making fun of each other] – now they collaborate, the friends of everyone. "
Miranda told me that she had seen a huge spike in homework among boys in her class as a result of Fortnite. One of Miranda's students wrote an essay on the fact that Fortnite was more important to him than his grade in history.
"It was an interesting conversation with her parents," she added.
Other students also used Fortnite as an entry point for classroom work, in order to achieve better results. One of Melissa's students used Fortnite to explain her reflections on Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. I bet neither Epic Games nor the Bard saw it coming. The students even tried to play Melissa, a player herself.
Gingery also used Fortnite dance music as a rhythmic exercise, applauding the rhythm as a student plays the melody.
Erika Gingery, a music educator in Philadelphia, uses Fortnite to engage her students.
"I often write a simple piano version of a pop song for my high school students," she said. "They love it and it keeps them interested, Fortnite had a great opportunity to do it, believe it or not, some of my students really enjoyed learning the main menu theme and sharing it with their friends! positive is often the best way to motivate music students. "
Gingery also used Fortnite dance music as a rhythmic exercise, applauding the rhythm as a student plays the melody.
"It's very difficult, but again, students think it's fun. Music pedagogy for teens is a constant challenge … but I still enjoy such an opportunity to enter their world and teach it there.
Diana Graber, author of Raising Humans in a Digital World: Helping Children Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology and Digital Literacy Teacher for Grades 6, 7, and 8 in California, said Fortnite was, to a certain extent measure, identical to any other social group. platform, acting as a relatively safe way to connect with peers. But for his classes, this is also a crucial starting point.
Fortnite is everywhere, so it's inevitable that teachers will meet him. But the response of our educators is as varied as that of the players.
"Since I taught digital culture, having a common place where students congregate online allows us to use it as a basis for many of our conversations," he said. Graber. "For example, we talked about coping with cyberbullying or cruel online behavior, and discussed how they would react.We talked about the technological overuse and the gameplay mechanisms that keep them from to disconnect Fortnite has also led to conversations about violence and guns Some children – believe it or not – do not like games involving gun violence. "
Fortnite is everywhere, so it's inevitable that teachers will meet him. But the response of our educators is as varied as that of the players. This can be an academic distraction or a much needed moment of calm. He can dominate chatter in class or help re-launch important conversations. This may seem more important than school or give teachers a way to connect with young minds. Teachers and students are unlikely to be face-to-face in classrooms, but one thing is clear: Fortnite has entered its own Royal Victory in the battle to attract student attention, like no other media.
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