Lesson Plan https://niallmcfadyen.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/mcfadyen-game-media-analysis-lesson-plan-2021.pdf Media Analysis Concept Map Instructions https://niallmcfadyen.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/mcfadyen-media-analysis-instructions-updated.pdf Narrative Documentary Organizer https://niallmcfadyen.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/narrative-documentary-organizer.docx Game Report Framework https://niallmcfadyen.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/game-report-framework.pdf Game Report Video or Podcast Script Organizer https://niallmcfadyen.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/game-report-script-organizer.pdf Slides Presentation https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tCV-O4YRVS66NyHXsv0tMxXMA-t4se0DvGConr6fF_c/edit?usp=sharing
In-Person Classes in 2020: Masks, Tech, and Constant Cleaning
If you were to walk into my classroom a year ago, you would see students gathered together creating multimedia projects with cameras, computers, and microphones. Over the past 7 months, with the Covid-19 worldwide pandemic, I have had to make significant changes to the ways that I teach. From March to June, I primarily taught... Continue Reading →
Personal Films In The Time of Social Distancing: Narrative Montage Film Assignment For Students
This is a project that I have assigned as an options for some of my students to complete. It is essentially a short film or video that is made up of 10-15 short video clips explaining what you are up to in your days. One of the keys to this is that the clips should... Continue Reading →
How Do You Bring Board Games Into a Middle School Technology Class?
Gaming is a powerful tool that can be harnessed by teachers and educators in different ways. Over the past few years, I have become increasingly interested in the pedagogical approach of game-based learning. I was fortunate this school year to be able to access some additional funding to bring some extra tabletop/board games into my... Continue Reading →
Game-Based Learning with Table Top Games-Exploring the Research and Literature
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A Teacher’s Guide to Personal Devices in Class
Anything can be a distraction in class, but one that has received a great deal of attention has been personal devices and smartphones. I purchased my first data activated smart phone about 11 years ago when I was in my mid twenties. Now I see students who are younger than 10 years who have a... Continue Reading →
Stone Age Personal Finance Lesson
For a presentation I did at Red River College in Winnipeg, I put together a lesson/activity plan for using the board game Stone Age which is a resource management worker placement game where you are performing actions to help develop your tribe. You can download a PDF version hereDownload The details are also below, but... Continue Reading →
The Photo Story-A Middle Years Multimedia Project
As classrooms get more and more diverse, it is important that as a teacher you have projects that are accessible to everyone but also allow students to go deep and push their learning past expectations, standards, and prescriptive outcomes. This means you need activities that are rich, meaningful, open ended, and flexible enough that a... Continue Reading →
Breaking Down My Book Cover Challenge
The “Book Cover Challenge” is a challenge that has been going around Twitter in 2019. It basically is a week long process where you post the cover of a book that you have enjoyed without a review for seven days while nominating someone else to do the challenge each time that you post. I was... Continue Reading →
Board Games
It’s a cold winter Saturday night in Winnipeg. The hometown hockey team, the Winnipeg Jets are not playing, with the Saturday time slot on Hockey Night in Canada usually taken by the Toronto Maple Leafs and other Canadian NHL teams. At my kitchen table sit a couple of teachers, a welder, an accountant, and a... Continue Reading →