Never Give Up! Never Surrender!!! (with apologies to the intrepid crew of the NSEA Protector)

As a Sci-fi nerd, I always chuckle when I think of the 1999 comedy movie Galaxy Quest.  Especially the catch-phrase that the "captain" of the ship says when he and his team are under the most stress and danger...

It's a great message!  A message that I have tried to imbue to all of my students over the last 30 plus years.  When things are not going well, don't give up!... persevere and amazing things can happen.  

What a message!

Sometimes we don't ever know if our heartfelt pleas ever make it through to the students but in this case... Well... Can I "shep some nachas" here? (Yiddish expression that means to derive pride and joy).

You may recall my blog of 11-08-18 where I write about my son, Tuvia, and a classmate of his, creating a multi-user video game that they posted on STEAM.  

Well, after spending all of that time and really putting themselves "out there," his game was trolled, trounced and trashed by the "Blog Vaders" of the game platform. I have to say that some of the comments were just downright nasty. Instead of giving up, Tuvia took the segments that were valid constructive criticism and began creating a brand new game! 

Yep, that's right, he never gave up... he never surrendered!

With the help of his creative buddy next door, they designed a new character (the new game will be Sci-fi based so this player is a cyborg)

and a whole new list of game-play elements. 

Now, to test his new code in a live environment, Tuvia created a very truncated version of the game and turned it into a creative assessment/quiz for his Tanach (Hebrew Bible) class.

As an homage to the "Twilight Zone," he even prepared an intro cutscene that is just awesome! (Some understanding of Kabalah - Jewish mysticism - is helpful but not required)

(click this link to view video)

While his final game will be nothing like this assessment/quiz that he made, it will give him a chance to test his code in a live environment.  

When the actual game is released, I will be sure to post the URL for everyone to try it!

So, how about you?  Do you have a story about a student(s) who didn't give up?  Please share it on the blogsite so that I can pass it on!

Regards!!

Yossie

YossieFrankel

Director of Technology


Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy  
9120 W Olympic Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
310.276.6135
www.hillelhebrew.org