Using Video Games as Text with Zachary Hartzman Transformative Principal 314

Zachary Hartzman is a high school Economics & English teacher in New York City.

• Taught many different social studies classes.
• International and transfer school. 100% immigrant & ELL students.
• Passionate about videos games.
• Getting kids to interact with games
• Florence - great app for relationships.
• Using games to deal with discussing heavy issues.
• Whenever I teach one of these lessons, I write a post showing how it went.
• It’s been really hard to find engaging content that
• 3 days a week, I teach an ELA course using video games as the main text.
• Gone Home
• What Remains of Edith Finch?
• One student playing while everyone else is talking about the gameplay.
• Regents exam required for graduation - read a text and identify the central idea, so we use the videos games to focus on those literary events.
• You have to give them time to learn how to use the controller.
• Positive outcomes: Whenever I teach with a game, there’s never a head down that day.
• Expanding the curriculum, but would love to get more science and math.
• How to be a transformative principal? If a teacher comes to you with a potentially wacky idea, hear them out.

I'd love to work with you! To learn more about working with Jethro, go here.

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