Tervis Limited Edition 30oz. Stainless Steel Tumblers

John got an e-mail a couple weeks ago that he was not sure it was legit. He was like “I got this e-mail from some cup company. I don’t know anything about them. Have you heard of them?” I was thrilled when he said the company was Tervis. I am the caffeine queen, mainly through the heavenly vehicle of iced coffee. I have many different brands of 30oz. tumblers and I never turn down trying another. I’m a 3rd grade teacher IRL, so I have been gifted ALL the cups over the past 18 years in the classroom. Tervis contacted him to see if he would try their special, limited edition (numbered to 500) Dungeons and Dragons 30z. Stainless Steel Tumbler and review it prior to it’s release. I told him that yes, he would be happy to. (IE: I would love to.) He responded back to them in the affirmative and so we waited for the delivery. The box arrived just a few days later and it was quite a large box. We were expecting other deliveries so I gently shook the box to determine what was in it. I heard metal, so I placed the box to the side for him to open when he came home from his merchandising job. When he got home and opened the box, much to my surprise, there were two tumblers! One for him, and one for me! I wanted the D&D Master’s Guide design, because it is done in a vibrant purple etching, but John loved that design so I got the D&D- Monster Manual design. This is a teal and gold etching design. Both designs absolutely pop off the dark tumbler. We washed them up (hand wash only) and began trying them out. John filled his with ice and water and drank from the tumbler on the podcast. When he came back up after recording, he filled the cup again and left it to sit overnight with ice, to see if the drink would remain cold overnight. It performed very well, just as we expected. The water was ice cold, and there were even some pieces of ice still in the tumbler. I used mine to take my iced coffee with Pruvit ketones mixed in, to a socially distanced breakfast with some friends. The 30oz. volume was just perfect to fill 3/4 of the way with coffee, add the powder ketones, and fill the rest of the way with HWC. I used my stainless steel straw to mix my caffeinated goodness up. Even while sitting outside in the heat and humidity for a couple of hours, my iced coffee stayed cold and yummy. We both highly recommend these tumblers. The weight is a great feel in your hand and the lid is made well for either drinking from directly, as John did, or using a reusable straw, as I did. The one drawback for me is that I can’t just throw it in the dishwasher. That being said, hand-washing the tumbler is quick and easy.

Tervis will be releasing these particular designs Wednesday, August 26. Subsequent designs will release each Wednesday thereafter. To date, Tervis has released tumblers in Marvel- Spider-Man 1962, which has expired; Marvel- The Avengers ‘90’s Comic in limited edition of 1,000; DC Comics Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth, which has expired; DC Comics- Batman Comic Art limited to 500; and DC Comics- Wonder Woman Comic Art limited to 500. The Wonder Woman tumbler is calling my name, so I feel like this will be added to my tumbler collection quite soon. At $44.95 per tumbler, you are getting a quality product with an awesome design and functionality. You can visit the Tervis Fan Shop to view the upcoming designs as well as what has been released.

Thank you to Tervis for sending us these tumblers to review!

East Coast Game Conference 2014

I had the opportunity to attend the first day of the East Coast Game Conference 2014, held in Raleigh, NC on April 23 & 24. I am not a serious gamer, nor am I employed in the gaming industry. I originally looked at this as a day away with my husband. However, I discovered that many of the sessions that were offered appealed to me. I am an elementary school teacher and have become interested in taking on more of a leadership role within my school.

There were two sessions I was particularly interested in. The first, entitled "Gamified Talent Management: Using RPG design to motivate employees and redefine work" was led by IBM'er, Phaedra Boinodiris. Her presentation was called "Improving Business Engagement & Process With Gamification". This was an amazing look at how IBM has developed training sessions that use gamification to "hook" employees in to continuing education and training. I was blown away! All I could think of is how this technology could be used in the educational realm. It is used in business to group people working together toward a common goal or project. I related this to education by thinking of how this could be used to group teachers into effective instructional teams. On a student level, this technology could be used to group students into effective learning teams. However, public education simply doesn't have the funding that would be necessary to implement this product effectively. I think this could be a great opportunity for IBM to reach out and impact STEM instruction in our public schools.

Also, students are becoming more and more immersed in video games. A day doesn't go by that my 3rd graders don't talk about this or that in Minecraft, COD: Black Ops, or the latest edition of Grand Theft Auto. How enticing would this "gamification" be to a student? Imagine you are a bored 3rd grader and your teacher says you can play a game where you grab answers to multiplication facts with a net instead of using paper flash cards to learn your facts. Trust me, I would have a lot more students memorize their facts in a shorter time frame! There are some great educational websites available for free use. www.coolmath.com is one, www.multiplication.com is another. However, these only work if you have an internet connection. I teach in a very low economic area. Many students don't have internet connections at home. They have iPads, other brand tablets, iPods, etc. How about an app the teacher or parent can download to their device that doesn't require them to always have an internet connection? This wouldn't just be for math. This could be used for spelling activities, as well as reading comprehension. Ask any 3rd grade student or teacher in NC right now if reading comprehension is important. We are in the midst of "high-stakes" testing. If a student doesn't pass the End of Grade (EOG) test by the end of the school year, or meet a few other exemptions, they are forced to go to "Summer Camp", which is just summer school with a fun name. If they STILL do not pass or meet the exemptions, they will be retained in 3rd grade. Thank your NC lawmakers for this bit of educational ingenuity. But I digress...

There are many ways in which gamification could be used EFFECTIVELY in education. I just need a programmer to help me out...

The next session I attended was entitled "What Makes You Think You Know What a Leader Is?" presented by Keith Fuller. Honestly, I've attended better presentations. However, he did make some very valid points. His key points included: 1. Good leaders engage their employees. 2. Employee engagement is the emotional commitment an employee has to an organization and their mission. 3. When employees are engaged (they care) and they are willing to use "discretionary effort", which is essentially working on their personal time, without feeling bad about it. 4. A good leader objectively improves the business and does so by supporting the people (employees). 5. Have an open dialogue with all stakeholders and be open to stakeholder's suggestions.

The keynote address was on "Game Pitches" and was presented by Ken Rolston. He was a former teacher and that was apparent. His presentation style was engaging and entertaining. 

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the panel discussion on April 24th, entitled "Panel: Serious Games for Serious Students". I am hoping to find a video of this!

I would definitely recommend attending an ECGC event in the future, especially if you are interested in game design. I will certainly keep my eye out for next year's session offerings, to see if they apply to my chosen field. If so, I will get to spend another day with my husband. And those days can be few and far between!