Figure 1.
The hand-drawn game sheet is titled Play Critically. It says, A game for reading this special issue. Play alone or with others. No experience required. Choose a Role includes Oldtimer: Knows the discipline, but is skeptical of change. Administrator: Understands institutional goals, but is accountable to them. Enthusiast: Eager to try new things, but may move on too quickly. Gamer: Draws on lived play experience, but may struggle for critical distance. Teacher: Knows students and contexts, but works with constraints on time and resources. Insider: Fluent in gaming discourse, but less attuned to institutional pressures. Inventory, what you bring along, lists personal play experiences, classroom context, research, theory background, observations of others, for example, your kid playing Minecraft, and Other. Choose a Path says, You do not have to read in order. Try a path. Context Explorer: Compare how gaming operates across settings, early childhood, classrooms, online communities, etcetera. Theory Machete: Read theory pieces first; use them to inform empirical work. Implication Hunter: Track what each article suggests for practice. What matters for you? Next Generation: What uncharted waters will you explore in your own research? Encounters says, Each article is an encounter. As you read, ask: What is being challenged? Who benefits? What becomes possible? Play Moves lists Roleplay: read through your chosen character’s lens. Scavenge: seek connections across articles, shared citations, ideas, etcetera. Chat: Ask friends a no-context provocative question about what you read. Fanfic: Imagine these authors talking to each other. Comic: make a meme about your meaning-making. Tag hashtag E T P C, hashtag literacies. The bottom line says, Play to grow, grow by learning, win by playing, change the game. V K L.A game for reading this issue