angry birds in the classroom

The little red angry birds app. is more popular than t.v. at my home. My four year old has passed all the levels from the free trial version and he did this faster than I could! As an educator and mother of three, I refuse to believe that technology dulls our children’s brains. On the contrary, their higher order thinking skills are enhanced by apps. on the iPod and iPad, learning videos and games from educational websites such as www.starfall.com and www.brainpopjr.com. Now, getting back to our topic of angry birds…what could one possibly learn from these virtual stuffed flying puppets? First of all, I learned persistence. The average person will find it difficult to pass a level in just one try. For the first few days that I played, it took me five to ten attempts to move on to the next level. I admit that I could mad and quit for twenty minutes and decided that angry birds was just plain strange. Then, I kept trying with the side by side tutoring by my four year old…and then, I mastered the game! Lastly, the little red bird taught me that there is more than one way to solve a problem (knocking down monkeys and pigs with hats). If I aimed high, I would catapult too far and not hit my goal. However, if I aimed at the bottom, I could knock down many blocks and sticks and wipe out half of the green pigs. Each time I played, I became a better problem solver! So, if egg dropping birds can teach a thirty-two year old how to be more persistent and become a better problem solver, than what could it teach elementary students? Well, check out this image posted on facebook by a student from Pakistan. His teacher used angry birds during math class to teach several concepts. He met the students where they were at in their learning. In these students minds, they probably were thinking about angry bird strategies during math class instead of listening to a lecture. So, my friends, will you be as smart as an angry bird and meet kids where they are at to teach them? Will you allow an inanimate figure to teach you?