*Cartwheels in as her sixteen year old self wearing a pale pink leotard and tutu, runs and does three backflips and lands next to Mr. Blog, turns fifty-three again and hugs him gently before lying down*
Hi Mr. Blog!
Did you miss me?!
I sure missed you. I got really nervous before going into the high school to make an appointment with the driver's ed teacher for a meeting. I have gone to most of the community centers around Pahoa previously and left cards and met with office managers to generate business for Nixpix.
I had heard the students in the Hawaii public schools are unmotivated and that the public schools weren't very good. I have no idea if this is true or not.
I went to the Pahoa high school office Tuesday morning and the office manager
directed me to the room where they teach driver's education.
Before the trip I had removed the test question page numbers that correlate
to the Washington state driver's manual and added the Hawaii driver's manual that I had picked up last year. I think they are the only state that charges for the driver's manual and I had to pay five dollars at the Hilo Long's Drugstore for a copy.
It had something that the other manuals didn't have.
pages focusing on the colors of the signs and significance of knowing them.
That is very interesting and out of the dozen manuals I've read online and half dozen that people have mailed me, Hawaii is the only state with it shown so graphically.
The federal guidelines each state must incorporate must be in better alignment Mr. Blog.
Driving is way too dangerous for this piece-meal approach.
I should know! I read so many crash articles in the paper and online researching the first edition of the game that I was unable to drive without being terrified for a year!
So back to Pahoa. I found Mr. Suisui's room and talked to him about my game
and he said he was interested. I was very relieved!
I went back Thursday with the sample copy and he was in the middle of a class and I didn't want to disturb him. I saw three boys sitting on a staircase and sat my butt down and asked them if they were driving yet or not. One said he had his license and one said no and the last one said he drives without a license. That perked me right up and I asked them if I could show them my game. Nothing creates improvement better than hands-on feed-back Mr. Blog!
The boys were intrigued that I had created it for my own fifteen year old son.
Two of the boys were fifteen and one was sixteen. They liked the fact that
the rules and spinner were right on the game board. They were surprised to see the test questions under the flaps and more surprised that I had bought a Hawaiian driver's manual for cash and included it in the game. I was very very happy they would share their feedback with me. One unexpected aspect of this game is it promotes literacy in an unusual way. You HAVE to read the driver's manual to play the game and to eventually pass the test. Technical manuals are written in a factual adult-level reading format that many young people never are exposed.
While I have toyed with changing the national version to an online/phone ap game only, there is much merit for literacy enhancement for the hard copy game.
I mean think about it Mr. Blog. When you think of literary genres you think of
fiction, non-fiction, et cetera. But have you ever thought of technical reading
as a genre?
Neither has anyone else!
Yet, look at how much in our adult lives we need to follow manuals!
From assembling cheap bookcases from Target to our swing-set;
I had to read and follow directions from the manuals. Dry, factual texts
that enable you to create something from a pile of nuts and bolts!
Well, my brain is swimming thinking about all that Mr. Blog.
The important thing is the three boys at Pahoa high school
liked my game and wanted to play it.
And the biggest of the three wanted the Nixpix tee-shirt I offered
which means I now have another walking advertisement in Hawaii!
The boys were going to give the game to the driver's ed teachers
so that they could see how it worked for them.
I am waiting to get feed-back from them as to any
suggestions they might have for improvements.
Time to go work on my sign for the street fair next week.
Ciao Mr. Blog!
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