[p4k] P4K Week 3
The Playing 4 Keeps program finished its third week in Canarsie on Thursday, and it’s more popular than we ever hoped for. Twenty-seven students came out last week, a mix of relaxed, capable juniors and seniors, and enthusiastic boisterous freshmen and sophomores. Many of the students are avid gamers, and some are also budding illustrators—creating their own manga comics from stapled together notebook paper. We deffinately have the right mix of skills to make this project a success this year.
On Monday we played Gonzalo Frasca’s excellent Madrid Game. Everyone worked hard for a half hour trying to devise strategies to win the game. In the discussion afterwards, you could almost hear their brains humming. The initial comments were frustrated, but as we moved from thinking the game was “really hard” to understanding it was intentionally impossible, the potential for serious games began to sink in. The students had nuanced comments about what a never ending game about terrorism could mean, and what it was trying to express to players. By the time our afternoon ended, it was clear the students had a clearer understanding of games as pedagogical tools.
Thursday we had technical issues that prevented us from playing any games on the computer, but we’ll adapt to the Department of Education’s internet filters. The class was still energetic, and students devised their own games for us to play using the chalkboard. We’re having some difficulty keeping such a large class focused, but I’d never trade a big enthusiastic class for a small, disinterested one.
