Hello, I'm Joe Granato.

I began my teaching career at Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore City, the very same school that was, only a year earlier, subject of the HBO documentary Hard Times at Douglass High. To say that it was a challenging position is an understatement. Many students had no real home support, lived in destitute conditions, had severe deficiencies in their learning to that point, and had an existential perspective about the value of their own education. And here I was, in that context, recruited to teach frivolous courses about making video games. 

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My first month was filled with personality conflicts and all out class mutinies. That was, until the students and I began to find common language and a way to relate through video games. We found connection through shared experiences, and a mutual trust was built on that foundation. It grew until I had students jockeying for coveted spots in voluntary after school Advanced Concepts classes. It blossomed into confidence and community as collaborative groups, celebrated for intellectual achievement, brought home state-level SkillsUSA awards for their video game and animation projects. It culminated when multiple students came to me to celebrate passing their High School Assessment exams, citing similarities between questions on the math and reading portions on these standardized tests and lessons we’d learned in the frivolous “video game class”. 

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I carried those experiences with me when I accepted a position at Ringling College of Art and Design. It was there where I began producing software to help others learn how to develop games and began hosting annual game jams to energize a community of young, aspiring game designers, many of whom have gone on to work for AAA studios on major commercial projects. I continued this work when I moved to Rhode Island, when I worked with Skills For Rhode Island and New England Institute of Technology to lead a high school internship to create games around the concept of wellness, and when I made the decision to leave a Director level position at Roger Williams University to open a private studio where I teach young people game developing in a manner comparable to music lessons.