Educational Gaming Commons

I just came from Spanish class and I wanted to write about our experience this morning while it is still fresh in my mind. Our objective today was to learn more about Mayan Culture by exploring the Ruta Maya, a recent addition to the Chichén Itzá Archeological site on Visit Mexico island (sponsored by the Mexican government) and to practice some discrete grammar points that are related to our language studies, namely comparisons and the preterite and imperfect tenses. The students received an information sheet which detailed a walk along the Ruta Maya with visits to four pyramids. In addition, I noted that there were a number of fun things to do in the area, such as swimming near the watrerfall, scuba diving, hang gliding and riding a zipline through the rainforest canopy. The students were to visit four pyramids, read the notecards, do one fun thing and complete a written assignment in Spanish using the targeted grammar points.

I soon found out that I had neglected to mention the fact that that there were also free horse rentals available. A number of students converged on the horse rental barn and soon were exploring the Ruta on horseback. O.k., I said to myself, here is a cultural lesson- a teachable moment. In Mexico, it is very common to rent a horse for a ride on the beach, so I urged the students to walk the horses down to the beach. As I was ruminating on the fact that, yet again, Second Life had provided an authentic experience, the students discovered that they could fly with the horses. Soon the sky was filled with flying horses. For the next twenty minutes or so, we found out that, yes, horses can climb the pyramid steps, yes, horses can hang glide and even get on the zipline platform. I am fuzzy on whether or not they successfully rode the zipline on horseback.

So, in my best professorial manner, I suggested that the students should stay focused on our objectives and remember that they had to complete the written part of the assignment as well. One of the students said, well, can't we write about the horses? Well, what I really had in mind was some explanaton of the archeological site, but then again, why not? What mattered was the use of Spanish.

I am still analyzing the experience. I told them at the end of class, "I am so blogging about you today,"
but what is the lesson here? I was very prosaic in my lesson plan; I had visited the island, ridden the horses and it had never occurred to me to fly, let alone climb the pyramids and hang glide on horseback. Maybe I just don't get it; I get hung up on the authentic experiences and neglect the creative possibilities. It is as if the students had made paper airplanes out of my lesson plans. I need to think about whether or not that is bad. O.K., yes, they probably got carried away, but they were so in the moment, it was a joy to observe. Second Life is about encouraging that creative fervor, that crazy "look at what I can do" spirit that is cetainly missing from most standard classrooms. I am looking forward to reading their written assignments and seeing the results of the turn class took today. Just maybe Mayan culture and the Spanish language can be learned on a flying horse...