Pokemon GO or How Toys Can Be Toys and That's Okay

Img Credit: http://www.wsj.com/articles/pokemon-go-why-you-should-play-1468430960

(see Doug Robertson’s post on this topic here!)

There are times in our world that we are lucky enough to have titans unite for events of unprecedented awesomeness. Batman v Superman (well, maybe awesomeness is too strong a word). Cookie dough and fudge brownie fro yo (Half Baked by Ben and Jerry’s). Laverne AND Shirley!

And now this: #weirded - father of the irreverent, topical, challenging, fun educational twitter chats is teaming up with #totallyrossome - derivative, irreverent, seeker-of-balance, pop-culture-infused educational chat to bring you a special two-night event.

It’s just like when Horatio got to come to New York and see Gary Sinise whenever CSI Miami needed a ratings boost from CSI New York. (So you’re aware - a typo whilst writing this gave me an idea for a hip TV show about challenging work with students featuring Child Study Teams from different geographic locales!)

But I digress - Doug and I want to know about toys and play. Specifically, we’ve been discussing the move to make Pokemon GO an educational tool. The one idea that we keep coming back to is -

WHY CAN’T A TOY JUST BE A TOY?!

I look through the apps on my phone, and I have some great stuff for my edtech side. I have some great organizing tools, and I have SimCity Build It, Clash of Clans, and Words With Friends. They’re not work. I can argue that they have value in terms of city planning, resource allocation practices, and developing my near-thesaurus-like mind further, but I know the truth. They’re my games. My distractions from the work.

Students need that. They need something that’s not for us. They need something that we’re not attaching standards to and trying to jam into place so that we can write a new blog post or a book or do an edcamp session on. They need the ability to just be a kid with their new toy. And so do we.

So that’s what we’re talking about this week. Both chats will feature different questions with the same overarching theme. Come to both and receive your limited edition #weirdlyawesome commemorative pin! (Due to lack of supply - pins may not be available at time of chat. Or in reality.)

• #totallyrossome is Tuesday nights at 9 PM EDT/6 PM for our friends on the west coast.
• #weirded is Wednesday nights at 10 PM EDT/7 PM PST.