Eliane's+Journal

Each journal entry should include the following elements:

 * ======//(1 point)// Reflections on any games you played or examined during the week (in or out of class).======
 * ======//(4 points)// In some way address all of the reflection questions (below) for the particular chapters.======

=**Week 1 Questions (Chapters 1-2):**= * Describe your background and history with video and computer games. I've played video games since I was in elementary school. I've gone from games systems such as Nintendo, Sega, and even Play Station. My favorite would have to be the Nintendo and Mario games, just because I like the hand-eye cordinations that is required with it. In addition it is familiar because Mario games are on all the Nintendo game systems.

As far as computer games, I don't do much of that. I find it hard to play using my laptop, even with a desktop mouse. I have however played games in the past on the computer that involved a joystick. That makes it easier for me because I know where I'm moving it, is where my object is going.

* What are some of the real and/or virtual ‘identities’ you take on? My real world identity revolves around being a teacher, daughter, aunt, sister and friend. The main role I take on with all of these identities is working with kids or taking care of somone younger than me. The virtual roles I take on is a student and when my free time increases, a gamer. I enjoy escaping to the virtual world a lot of times, especially when the real world becomes overwhelming. However, both roles involve extreme amounts of enjoyment.

* What impact might James Paul Gee’s definition of ‘literacy’ have on your teaching? James definantly has a different definition than I would have with the basic elementary understanding of reading and writing with words and letters. Clearly there are more elements to that, but as a linguist, James takes it to another level of understanding that I haven't been exposed to. Read=understand and write=produce. I don't think we are necessarily teaching our kids to read/listen and interpret meaning like they should. I believe kids are exposed to that, mainly because of testing, but this concept should be focused on more. The main point that this is proven by is state testing, when students are asked to read a passage and then answer questions that requires them to interpret what they read, they often become lost. James thinks of literacy in a more philiosphical way that requires deeper learning and understanding. Therefore, this impacts my teaching because it bring in a new way to look at a concept and ways to form new ideas and ways to teach.

* What experiences have you had learning in new ‘semiotic domains’? My most recent semiotic domain learning experience would have to be with cooking. I have NEVER been a cook or cared to learned. It has always been a new and foriegn world to me. It's amazing how each different ingridents and the amount of each you use, makes a huge difference. I'm used to eating delcious food with tons of flavor that gets made for me. Because of a recent class project where we had to try something new for the whole term, I decided to take on cooking. I have grown a much higher respect for chefs and their creative abilities in the kitchen. Cooking has different meanings, wether your the person making the food or just the one eating it. There are different levels of apprication developed.

=**Game Reflection:**= This week I played B etwixt Folly and Fate (Colonialism Game) and Ludwig (Physics Game), which were what I anticipated it being, a story telling game. It defiantly wasn't my type of game that I like to play, but I've seen pleanty of gamers love these story themed games. I think this would be a great educational asset because you have to be able, in some sense, read what you are playing to know the different tasks asked of you. It incorporates literacy and strategies into a fun way of learning. What I liked about the Betwixt Folly and Fate game, as a teacher, was that it was about history and told the story through a video game. It reminded me of the old computer game, The Oregon Trail. What I enjoyed about Ludwig was that the dialog was made to be humerous and enteraining to therefore I wanted to continue just to see what the conversation was going to be like. The downfall for both games, as a gamer, was the constant reading. Which in turn reminded me of the Pikmin game James was describing. I'm more used to Mario games where your objective is to beat a level in a fare amount of time without having to read what tasks to accomplish.

=**Week 2-3 Questions (Chapters 3-4):**= * How might virtual and projective identities be important in your teaching? As Gee described, virtual identities allow for students to be more encouraged to try without the fear of failure. Virtual and projective identities allows for the student to play a different role then themselves, which in turn is easier for them to chose for and manipulate how they want. They don't have to fear that it will affect them for the choice they make. There is a sense of freedom to explore, challenge oneself, and try new things. With that said, I believe by having these elements in my classroom, I believe students would be more inclined to participate and think 'out of the box'. Too often students are just doing what the teacher asks of them to complete the task and it's usually a 'hand holding' session. This, I think, will help with self learning and exploration.

* Describe an experience you’ve had in teaching a student with a “damaged” identity. The experiences I've had I wish would be less then the actual reality. Many times, and in fact, too often, students come with a preconcived idea that they aren't smart enough and can't do it, therefore causing a damaged identity. When students start out with a damaged identity, they don't even want to try, let alone put any effort, and therefore can't manage any meaningful success.

My lastest experience was with a 2nd grade ELL student who wanted to at one point read a 'higher than her level' book just because she noticed that other students were reading higher fluency, word recognition, and comprehsion books, which in turn allowed them to see her at a lower level. Because of the 'feeling' dumb and peer pressure of the other students, she immeditatly lost interest and was 'scared' for this experience. Her effort to try completly dropped to nothing and her lack of motivation has caused her to fall even more behind than everyone else. She initially didn't start out damaged, but this experience lead her to that point, which isn't easy to turn around from....with that said, I believe all experiences start out fresh and with an open mind, until a incident occurs, therefore causing a 'damaged' identity.

* 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. If I understand this corretly, its the same idea as scaffolding. In order to learn something you have to be given a little piece each time and build on that knowledge. The simple fact of knowning the term and it's definition will not get you to actually understanding and applying it. An example I've had of a situated meaning is trying to teach my 4th grade students about the Rain Forest. It's a big topic to cover with elements like the layers, animals, people, resources, issues, etc. I think the way to help these students embody the understanding of it is to break each lesson down and scaffold it with one another, in addition to having students constantly, after every daily lesson, show they can successfully apply the knowledge. Applying the knoweldge can be done in different ways, such as quizes, projects, and questions by the teacher. The most useful and benefical would be for the students to apply it thru a project that they lead and chose which will show me their understanding of the term and concept(s). The key to showing understanding is to have it be student lead on how they would like to demonstrate their understanding in mutliple ways.

* Describe a recent learning experience that involved using the probe, hypothesize, re-probe, and rethink cycle. I've gone thru this cycle when learning a new program that I have never encountered before on the computer. Last term I had to take a class that introduced me to a program called Animaps. Since I had no clue to work this program at all, I first had to start off by probing around to see some it's features and what the program had to offer. I would then hypothesize on what certain elements of the program would do and by reprobing it made me try it out. Once I figured out how it worked I would rethink the cycle for that particular element and then restart the cycle with another aspect of the program. Animaps is a program that helps you create a timeline map presentation with the use of pictures, text, and videos.

Another way I connect this concept is with my newly born nephew who is now 7 months. He is constantly going thru this cycle with life. Everything to him is new, especially when he goes into a new location. He probes by sticking his hands everywhere and gazing into the object. He hypothesizes by trying to see what the item will do while keeping his safe distance, (sound, movement, etc) and then check the item out again to interact with it more.

=**Game Reflection:**= This week I played the games, Mission US (US History Game) and Fold It (Organic Chemistry Game). The Fold It game was totally out of my range. I had no clue what any of that meant. I do know how it all related to cells and such, but it was confusing to not know how they fully work and understand the underlying concept. The only chemistry classes I got in HS and college are long forgotten. I also played the Mission US game and focused on the 'Fight to Freedom' section of the game. Here there were multiple tasks to accomplish, much like the history game presented last week about slaves. What I liked about this game was the audio addition to it and the multiple choices to each task. Depending on what you choose, depends on what you will earn and the next task that will be asked of you. This reminded me of a part in this weeks reading where Gee discusses about one of the games he plays and the end results depend on what you choose. The Mission US game would have to be my favorite for this week because I understood it and found it educational and interesting. I believe they did a good job at protraying history and how it was for the slaves back then.

=**Weeks 4-5 Questions (Chapters 5-6)**= * Give an example of 'Just in Time' information presentation in a classroom activity. When I thought about how I incorporate 'just in time' information into my lessons I overlooked how I write and demonstration my lesson plans. I believe the 'just in time' information comes into play when the teacher is teaching the material right before the students get the hands on experience. It's a way to guide students to help them accomplish the task they are just about to do. Example I can think of would b a cooking class. In the summer I am the lead teacher of a camp and for one of the weeks we learned how to cook different foods. If I would have presented information that was NOT 'just in time' the recipe could have turned out to be something totally different. You don't want to add ingridents with each other that aren't suppose to be put together until later on in the recipe. Another example is when conducting a science experiement, you can't skip a step or move forward without successfully completing the others first. 'Just in time' information is gathering information for the exact time that you need it.

* In a content area of your choice, how might you incorporate teaching in a 'subdomain' of the 'real' domain? Too often in High School my math teacher would say, to a student that would ask why we are learning this certain material, its because you will need it in real life situations, such as the grocery store. Now I honestly never remember having to find the angles or completing the algabraic equation to figure out my cost for bread, but I would have maybe done that if I became a carpetner or a field that required those skills. I think everything we teach should have a 'real' world domain or it will become irrelvant and unused. I believe the easiest 'content' to teach is social and behavior skills, because it is something students can use in and out of the classroom and will be useful in both domains. Now if I were to choose a content subject area, I would use math and incorporate the basic functions into grocery store settings and so on. My teacher had her point, but not everything was relvant to that paticular situation.

* Describe a technique that you might use to help students 'transfer' early learning to more complex problems. I believe this is a hard technique because to often students rely on full support until the finish line. At times teachers get caught holding the students hand throughout the whole process making them more dependant than they should be. The most usefuly technique I have seen used is the teach and model approach where teachers lecture on the subject, show how to do it, and then require the students to do something different in a similar way. Students need to go through the tasks to create a product with guidance and then need to know how to do it by themselves. This is what we need to do when approaching state testing strategies, students need to transer that information, knowledge, and skill ability into a new situation that is presented differently. Therefore my technique would be to demonstrate how to solve the situation/problem by modeling it and then making sure they can successfully do it on their own. Letting them manipulate and experience it for themselves will require them to be in charge on there own learning and then the teacher can go and see what areas need further help.

* Describe a learning experience you've had where one of your 'cultural models' was challenged. One of the 'cultural models' I grew up with is having to eat at the table with the family for meal times. This was always the norm and I didn't know different. Going to different friends houses and experiencing their lifestyles and how they ate meals sometimes threw me for a loop. I would go to certain friends houses who would eat in the living room watching TV with no social interactions among themselves. This challanged my view because I was used to eating and carrying on conversations with others and it was hard to do when all the attention was on the TV and noone was talking. I didn't disagree with this culture, I just wasn't used to it. Another example is when I went through grade school, I remember the constant 'drill and kill' technique to memorize and master a concept. I don't necessarily see that happen a lot anymore, but still used for certain subjects and concepts. It's more focused on modeling and individual ability to produce the same results.

=**Game Reflection:**= This week I played the game Villainy and was very pleased with it. It's a mathmatical game that incoporates a lot of math elements that I normally wouldn't expect, such as, data representation. Data to solve problems were shown in multiple ways, box and whisker, pie charts, histograms, multiple step equations, and so on. I really enjoy math and games like these make it fun to play. I played Mission 2, where it was about fast food meals and the evil doctor trying to take over. I was impressived with the tools they supplied the gamer, such as caulator and two 'helpers' that you could pick from a group of people. These helpers assisted you in completing the tasks throughout the game. For one of the tasks I choose and clicked on my robot and he gave me the equation for the math problem I needed to figure out. As the game went on, the tasks got progressivly harder. It will defiantly be a game I show my students and have them play because I believe you really have to know your math skills to complete the tasks. In addition, it incorporated literacy skills by having the students look at the words while the computer read it to them and they follow along.

=**Weeks 6-7 Questions (Chapters 7-8) *Extra Credit***= * In a content area of your choice, give an example of a way in which the 'affinity group' "enforces certain patterns as ideal norms". In the content area of literacy and in paticular reading, the affinity group sets and models the practices, tasks, and goals that everyone else should be accomplishing. The problem with this is not everyone is at the same level so it's hard to be 'outside' of the affinity group without feeling like you can't match where everyone else is at. Affinity group sets the general stage of the point where the majority of the class is. There will always be some beyond and below that point. Therefore the affinity group helps by setting the pace of what and how the content is being taught and grasped. In reading there are certain skills you have to master before being able to read, letter recognition, letter sounds, letter blends, and so on. It is normal for students to struggle with this certain concept more than others, is another pattern the affinity group establishes. Right now in a certain kinder class they are focusing on the letter 'L', the way they use it and work with that letter is affecting the patterns of the ideal norm. Students bring in new ideas to the table that directs new tasks and goals.

* Describe a classroom activity where students are able to 'leverage' the 'distributed' knowledge of their peers. In my classroom we often play competitve games like Jeopardy, Family Feud, and other group based games that involve subject content material. Therefore I think competitive game activities like Family Feud is a great example of how students are able to leverage and distributed knowledge between themselves. The goal of this game is to answer the big question, but in order to do this they have the ability to ask each other in there group what the answer is. They can work together and feed off of each others knowledge. Some may know it and others not, but they can work with each other and certain students will end up answering certain questions and are more of an expert in a paticualr themes of questions. For example, if I were to answer a question about Brasil because I knew a lot about that country I would be sending my knowledge to my peers. Where as another question came up about Science that I had no clue about, I would be able to gain knowledge from my peers.

* How might you give students more direct control (as an 'insider' or 'producer') over their own learning? Allowing the students to take control over their learning and making it more student focused is the ideal way to make learning a more direct control for students. The most beneifcal ways I have encountered so far is projects and online classes. The more projects you assign students, the easier it is for them to take learning into their own hands. They being to research, explore, and engage with the material so they become masters of it. They are weeding and looking through the information they want. They are in the control seat and not set back with restrictions on how to accomplish tasks, however, of course there would be requirements for the projects that the student needed to accomplish. Online classes I have found give students the driving seat into their education. Often in the classes I have taken the material is presented and then the requirements of the project or homework task is listed and class is over for that week. This allows the students to accomplish the task on there own with little guidance, unless needed, but in turn, taking the learning into their own hands.

* Which Principle of Learning do you feel is most-applicable to your teaching, and why? "Probing Principle: Learning is a cycle of probing the world (doing something); reflecting in and on this action and, on this basis, forming a hypothesis; reporobing the world to test this thpothesis; and than accepting or rethinking the hypothesis."

I feel the most applicable principle to my teaching is the Probing Principle because I allow my students that individual self exploration time where they take learning into their own hands and try to figure out things for themselves with some guidance at first. I believe that if you truly want to master something you have to fully engage and be able to teach it yourself. My students are constantly trying new things and being pushed to their potential abilities that they may not have been before. I've created an environment for them to know that it's okay to make mistakes and try again, that's the part of self exploration and what gets us to the 'right' answer.

=**Game Reflection:**= This week I played the game, On the Ground Reporter (Darfur Conflict Game) which was very interesting to say the least. At first it looked like a really neat game that I would actually be learning a lot about this place and culture. I did a little bit and really enjoyed the "live" video shots implemented into the game which brought it to another level. However, the game was very planned out where the player had to do each step in a certain order before moving on to the next. It was structured so that you would have to play based on how the story was told. It became challenging at times because you would constantly have to find the right person to talk to and at one point had to remember some guys name and type it in correctly before he would "trust" you. I knew right off the bat that this would be a high school game, if not older. There was a lot of reading, questionable language use, and scenarios that younger students wouldn't be able to comprehended and solve. I got to a point in the game where I didn't know what to do next, there was no one left to talk to and I was clicking on everything I came across. Another issue I had with the game was that there was a ton of background noise of people talking which made it hard to concentrate on the reading that needed to be done. I do believe this would be a great geography game to introduce the culture and people of a different part of the world, but I wouldn't take it past that. Not sure I would recommend vary many of these conflict games.