Video Game Design/Developers

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  • 1.  Wednesday Discussion - Exceptional Students

    Posted 10-16-2024 11:42 AM

    What sort of accommodations and adjustments do you make for students with previous experience or exceptional ability?

    I have had students that came from camps or their own exploration that had a pretty big leg up in my classes. I generally make them do the same basic things, but then have them come up with a way to extend whatever we are doing. For example, I have a student who has a fair bit of blender experience who wants to really stretch out into some different topics than I cover, so right now they are tasked with finding out what's out there in terms of extensions and procedural generation so we are come up with a plan for them.



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    Brian Bautista k12teacher
    Citrus Heights CA
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  • 2.  RE: Wednesday Discussion - Exceptional Students

    Posted 10-16-2024 12:28 PM

    Most of my assignments are open ended. Allowing students to create a degree of "Wow" or creative Agency. (Don't know why but the word "Agency" always takes me a while to bring to the front of my brain.) Students are asked to prove they have met the minimum requirement, but there is always room to grow and they can choose what they learn if there is time after my assignment. Most of my assignments allow for 1 week to complete, so for those who can there is a lot of extra time for growth, and for those who struggle there is time to get the most out of the time as they can learn with a little less stress.

    I have credentials in GATE and have worked with SpEd for MANY years (as we probably all have), I try to only create assignments the allow for flexibility of ability, and exploration. I also have several assignments ready (for those who need more) that will allow for extra credit or make up credits (on my website).



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    Melanie Honeycutt k12teacher
    Lompoc CA
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  • 3.  RE: Wednesday Discussion - Exceptional Students

    Posted 10-16-2024 12:56 PM
    Same, I keep assignments pretty open in terms of no ceiling.

    We are currently doing a "Solo Showcase" project where I have students individually creating a project that has:
    1. Multiple scenes with UI and buttons to navigate from main menu to each scene and back
    2. Particle effects
    3. Transform scripting (back and forth, scale, rotation)
    4. Tilemap
    5. Shooting Projectiles
    6. Animations
    7. Raycasting

    I give students a walkthrough of a basic version of each of these, but with no upper limit.

    My best students make each scene a little interactive or minigame, often combining a few topics into one. For example: tilemaps + animation + shooting projectiles

    I set up my classes so I have a basic step-by-step walkthrough safety net for struggling students, but there is no limit to where they can take it. I also called it Solo Showcase to encourage adding your own flare.

    The rest of the year, my class is mostly open ended group collaborative projects over 4-8 chunks. The top students are usually spread out at the start to each group has some, but later on students get more agency in picking their teams. Then these kids might gravitate together and make amazing projects together.