Directions - Student Work - Rubrics - Standards - Kamoo Link - Review Puzzles - Teacher Tips

For a Word document of these Teacher Tips, click here. To download Lesson Plans for the Rome Kamoo, click here.

1. Access to the online version of the Aeneid. It can be found at: http://kamoo.dragonangel.net/~marie/kamoowbpg/aeneas1.htm
Per the reading "guru", Kate Kinsella, it helps student reading fluency if they have a proficient reader read aloud as the students read with their eyes. To facilitate this, teachers could show the chapters of the Aeneid on a large screen projector (with a computer hooked up to the video projector and connected to the above website), and the teacher could read the Aeneid aloud to the students as the students read from the screen. It is easy to see if students are off task because they will not be looking at the screen. If a large screen projection is not available, teachers can print off the chapters for the students to read. If a lab is available, students could read it from online.

2. To experience the virtual world environment, teachers need access to computers that connect to the Internet (at least one for every two students).
3. The teacher should go to the virtual world at http://kamoo.dragonangel.net and log on as Jupiter. The teacher's password is sonnet. Practice looking at your possessions, opening containers, removing items, paging others, etc. Print out the Student Directions (Word document) so you have a copy of the kamoo commands at your fingertips. Other characters log in with their character name and with the password of student.
4. Contact Marie Sontag, creator of the Rome Kamoo, and let her know when your class will be logging on. Only two classes can be on per gaming session. One class logs on with the characters' names, the other class logs on with the characters' names and then the number 2 after the name; for example, Venus2.
5. Contact Marie Sontag when you are finished with the gaming session. The "coins" must all be reset to their original locations before another group can play. If they are not reset before you start your session, let Marie Sontag know and she will reset them. For example, Venus should not have anything in her possession at the beginning of the game except a sash. If she has any coins, they must be returned to the location where they came from.
 
6. You may want to have a "practice" session with your students, showing them the Kamoo on a large projection screen. This will help familiarize them with the environment before they actually jump in.

7. When the gaming begins, the teacher logs on as Jupiter. Some situations call for players to page you. For example, Juno and Mercury can discuss online ideas they may have for preventing Aeneas from getting to Italy. If they both page you with these ideas, you will award them with a power coin for each of them. (Type look me on the Kamoo, and you will see a list of items in your possession.) Juno and Apollo can also page you with their ideas of how to help Aeneas get to Italy. Move around in the various locations to see the conversations students have. Remind them not to take more than ONE coin per location. If they have more than one coin from the same place at the end of the game, they will not win!

8.If students are in a lab setting, place name cards with the students' virtual world name on top of their computers. Seat the Trojans all in one area, the gods and goddesses in another area, and the rest of the class in a different area. You could even put signs on the wall such as Mt. Olympus, Latium, and Trojans to help orient students to the virtual world environment.

9. For added fun, you'll see in the video clip that the teacher dressed up in a pilot's uniform. When students entered the computer lab there were two students inside acting as a steward and stewardess, giving the incoming students snacks as if they were taking an airplane flight. The teacher told them she was flying them back in time to the period when the Aeneid took place.