Scott's+Journal

=Week One=

//Describe your background and history with video and computer games.// Growing up I guess I can say that I spent a lot of time playing video games. My first introduction to video gaming was with the old Atari playing games like Pong and Frogger. My oldest brother purchased the 1st generation Nintendo which I got to play when he was being nice and sharing. Eventually I co-owned it with my twin brother as a hand me down and I became quite skilled at Mario Bros. (although I don't believe I ever solved it) and Duck Hunt and others. In school, I do remember playing a few games on floppy disk with a computer that floated from classroom to classroom. One was the classic Oregon Trail game and the other had to do with a lemonade stand. Soon enough I did purchase my own game consul, The Sega Genesis which took up a lot of my time in high school. I focused mainly on the sporting games like football and baseball. Although, Sonic the Hedge Hog was one of my favorites. After that, my interest in gaming has dwindled. During under-grad, I didn't own a game consul nor did I get involved in any gaming online. One of my room-mates, Junior year was very involved in a shoot-em' up game, which I cannot recall the name. I remember spending a few afternoons watching in awe as he and a few other friends shot up the world. Since then my gamine experience is very minimal. I have played, a few times, the newer generation consuls like the Xbox 360 (even owned one for about three days before returning it) and the Wii.

//What are some of the real and/or virtual ‘identities’ you take on?// In the virtual world, I do not believe I have taken on any "identities" yet. I did make an avatar in Second Life this past term, so I guess you can say that is my first virtual identity. I have not delved into Second Life much up to this point beyond taking a guided tour with a class last term so the development of my Avatar has been very minimal. In the real world, I suppose there are different identities I take on. When at work I am a fairly different person than I am when I hanging out with a group of friends and again a bit different when I am at a family function. I am not married and I do not have kids so the dad or husband identity are ones I can not relate to.

//What impact might James Paul Gee’s definition of ‘literacy’ have on your teaching?// I think the impact Gee's definition might have on me is to realize that there are way more different literacies to consider when introducing a new subject.

//What experiences have you had learning in new ‘semiotic domains’?// I can think of a few right off the top of my head. While in undergrad, I was in ROTC and later in the Army. If you have never been around the military you might not know that the military and also each branch as it's own set of jargon and values that one has to learn in order to survive. The first two years of ROTC was quite the culture shock and I had a steep learning curve. Once out of the Army eight years later, I entered the world of plumbing. Again, I had to start from scratch learning a new set of ideas and jargon in order to survive in the new world I found myself in. Terms like elbows, nipples, tees, amongst others all had to be re-learned.

=Week Two=

//How might virtual and projective identities be important in your teaching?// Virtual and projective identities can be very important when it comes to teaching. By providing an environment/classroom where students are able to create virtual identities, it will give them an opportunity to take on risks or try things they normally would not do, just like in a video game. A learner who might think as himself as a poor scientist, if allowed to envision a virtual self with little real world consequence may be encouraged to go ahead and try and who know might even learn a thing or two. By creating this virtual learner, which in turns produces this projective identity, the student realizes what Gees say "that he or she has the capacity, at some level to take on the virtual identity as a real-world identity." That is very powerful! The student finds/learns something about him or herself without even knowing it.

//Describe an experience you’ve had in teaching a student with a “damaged” identity.// I have not been in the classroom in over ten years so my experience with real world issues is very limited. My only real world teaching experience has been student teaching experience, which I enjoyed very much. However, I can not recall that I focused on teaching a "damaged" identity. The closest example I can come up with is working with a friend who recently went through a divorce and getting her confidence up in regards to maintaining a relationship. She had been married so long (over 25 years) that her confidence when it came to relationships was shattered. She no longer knew what it meant to have a relationship. The approach was, just like Gee describes in the book about when he first started gaming, was a little exposure, some trial and error, some success, and confidence building.

//Give an example of a situated meaning in your content area, and describe how you might help students gain a more embodied understanding of it.// I am a social studies teacher and I love learning and teaching American History. I feel many of the text books used in schools generalize war and the gloss over real world consequences of war. Students develop a sanitized meaning of war as quick and easy and short and never fully realize how it affects populations or the soldiers fighting in them. So for them 'war' has a very situated meaning. While student teaching, I found a book called "Shrapnel in the Heart: Letters and Remembrances from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial" by Laura Palmer. This book is a collections of letters written by family members to their family members and friends who were killed in the Vietnam war. I took one whole class period and read a few of the more powerful letters aloud to the students describing the feelings and misery and affects the war caused on families. I feel this gave the students a better meaning of the consequences of war and after they were better able to form a more embodied understanding of it.

//Describe a recent learning experience that involved using the probe, hypothesize, re-probe, and rethink cycle.// I recently played (well shot) basketball again for the first time in quite awhile. In some aspects, shooting a basketball is like riding a bike, that is you don't forget how. However, there are some fine tuned mechanics and muscle memory that does tend to diminish after not doing it for an extended period of time. So, after getting the initial stiffness out of my muscles, I began shooting and focusing on my form and mechanics. I would shoot the ball (probe) and depending on the results (usually a miss) I would hypothesize why it did or did not go in. Was it that I didn't keep my wrist straight or jump straight up or flick my wrist on the follow through. Did I take my eyes off the hoop? Many different factors came to mind. I would then shoot again (re-probe) focusing on my previous thoughts about my form and mechanics. Depending on that result I would rethink. Until eventually I made a basket (or two).