This isnt 8-bit Mario. Thank goodness. Because remember what happened? Everytime you died, you had to go all the way back to start. All that work. Struggle. Skill. Boom. Gone. And there was only one way to go. One way to find that flag and save the Princess. Unless you just died everytime and gave up. [Cue the ending music. You know you remember it.]
We all grew up playing that game, but this is a whole new game. The levels never end and you’re not the only person holding the controller. You’re connected, drawing on other’s strengths with every challenge, every jump, and every mushroom that falls from a cloud. Now? We’re designers of the game. Builders. Creators. Makers.
We are no longer isolated in classrooms, with tools that are stagnate. We are part of a living, breath ecosystem where learning is a globally connected experience. We are in the midst of a movement that holds the promise to unlock the imaginations of kids that have been buried in piles of testing papers and standards. The tools that are now available to us and to our students open up possibilities that our generation could have never dreamed of. It’s all about dreams. Do the impossible. Believe in it. Create it. Collaborate. It’s a world of learning, one in which we are all ready to make school more.
We are no longer just sitting back and playing 8-bit Mario. And as much as I love those classic pixelated graphics and the joy of that theme song, I’m more excited about what lies ahead for us all.
Mark Hatch writes, “The Maker Movement will be bigger than the internet.”
And all I can think of is, um. Whoa.
Think of just how the internet has changed the world in so many ways. We all need to brace ourselves for what’s coming. Because it’s not going to be about a test, a bubble to fill in, or a standard to check off. That’s just a game in which we’re bystanders filling in things. A game that’s going to have to eventually see Game Over, because our society won’t outlast what it’s doing to our thinking.
This? It’s more. Build. Create. Design. Make. Change the world. And I think we are all ready to play. Even if a spiky turtle falls on our head, it’s going to be worth it.