Leigh's+Journal

Describe your background and history with video and computer games. When I was younger I was very into the N64 and the Oregon Trail game on my computer. I have never really been a big gamer. My boyfriend in high school tried to get me into Halo but I could never get the hang of it. Because Halo took up most of his free time I became a little prejudice against games and gamers. However, as I continue to teach I am finding that gaming is a growing population I figured I would jump on the band wagon and look into this gaming life.

What are some of the real and/or virtual ‘identities’ you take on? I don’t have any virtual identities that I take on other than that of Facebook, but I feel like that is a fairly accurate representation of who I am. As far as real identities go, the most important identity I feel I have is that of a person of love and that transcends into all other identities that I have. Showing love is the most important aspect of living I feel and I try to do it on a daily basis—it is quite challenging at times. This fits into the other main identities I have: sister, daughter, friend, and teacher. Love is involved in all of those things.

What impact might James Paul Gee’s definition of ‘literacy’ have on your teaching? When most people think of literacy, they seem to have a very narrow understanding of it—especially if it’s in the field of language arts. Literacy does not just mean to be able to read and to understand what is read or to write. Literacy as communication, which is what Gee describes, is something that we as teachers need to be looking with more concentration. Literacy should be conceived as being multiple. There is more and more research being done on what multiple types of learning, so why shouldn’t there be multiple types of literacy? I have to be very creative when it comes to multiple literacies when it comes to language arts because there is still a large emphasis of on the traditional idea of literacy. This is when I feel like I really have to emphasize communication in a variety of form so that my students will be able to communicate in most situations.

What experiences have you had learning in new ‘semiotic domains’? The most recent experience I have had with learning in a semiotic domain is in the Masters program. The learning curve, I feel like, is almost vertical. We are constantly being inundated with new information—from our professors, students, mentor teachers, administration. It is a never ending cycle. However, on a different level, I lived in South America (Paraguay specifically) for four months and I virtually knew no Spanish when I left the states. Being placed with a host family with the only way being able to communicate in Spanish, you again have a vertical learning curve. However, it is the most efficient way to learn Spanish that I have ever found—I did take five years in high school but that means literally nothing in the real world.

Chapters 3 and 4

How might virtual and projective identities be important in your teaching?  Virtual identities are important while teacher because they allow the student to express themselves in a different manner than their real identity. Students in high school and middle school are trying to find themselves and this searching and trying out new/different identities can be difficult. By allowing students to have a virtual identity, they can explore themselves in ways so that their peers do not judge them. Gee has two definitions of a projective identity, one of which is easy to wrap my mind around and the other one not so much. The first one is “to joject one’s values and desires onto the virtual characters” (p. 55). This is one is easy for me to understand because I see that students are projecting different aspects of themselves all the time (who they are around teachers, other students, the parents, administrators, etc.). The second definition is a little more complicated and harder for me to understand and to apply to teaching: “seeing the virtual character as ones’ own project in the making, a creature whom I imbue with a certain trajectory through time defined by my aspirations for what I want that character to be and become” (p. 55). While I understand that the aspect of creating something it itself is important for students to demonstrate I do not understand how that identity can be applied so much to teaching.

Describe an experience you’ve had in teaching a student with a “damaged” identity.  I had a student in the middle school level that you could say had a damaged identity. He had no father (which is where a lot of young males draw their identity from) and he was diagnosed with ADHD but he no longer wanted to be on his medications. He was trying to find his identity without it. However, this proved very hard because his symptoms are so bad. I worked with him one-on-one and took time with him to develop some strategies that will help him focus better in class. When I left, he was still incredibly torn between his identity with ADHD symptoms and his identity with his medications.

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.  In Language Arts, there is a lot of situated meaning especially when dealing with vocabulary. Ambiguity and homophones/homonyms and two examples of situated meaning. There is ambiguity in many different texts, the most recent one I’ve come across is when Mercutio says in //Romeo and Juliet// “dreamers lie.” Now because they are talking about Romeo being that of dreamer (falling in love) lie could mean telling something that is not true. The other way it could be interpreted is that dreamers, people who are asleep) are lying down. Both interpretations would work in this instance. Homophones are when you have more than one word with the same pronunciation, for example, hair and hare. These two words are very different in meaning and when hearing them be said you need to pay attention to the context clues around the word to figure out which one is being used. Same thing with homonyms, but it is a word with the same spelling or sound.

Describe a recent learning experience that involved using the probe, hypothesize, re-probe, and rethink cycle.  This may not fit this example to a T but I think it is pretty close. I am currently teaching what is called a literacy lab which focuses on prepping students to pass their OAKS. When told that I was teaching this class I was at a loss for what to do and did a lot of random lessons before to try and see what worked with the students. I finally hypothesized that looking at how they scored on each individual section of the OAKS (vocabulary, read to perform a task, demonstrate general understanding, literary texts, informational texts and develop an interpretation). By looking at the scores, I say that a lot of people struggled with literary texts. I have been slowly teaching the class different literary terms that they should be familiar with as juniors in high school. While I have not yet completed the rethink cycle, I am planning on creating a game/quiz that will help decipher whether they know the information or not.

Games I have played:  I recently tried playing Golden Eye on the Wii again. It did not turn out well for a second time. For some reason I don’t think I am physically capable to do two different motions with my hands and do it with good coordination. I spent most of the time spinning around in a circle and shooting in the air because I could not control my character. Needless to say that I have given up on this game and will stick to the good ol’ N64 version of it. Sometimes you can’t teach an old dog new trick. I am a little disappointed because I really love that game.


 * Weeks 4-5 Questions (Chapters 5-6) **

Give an example of 'Just in Time' information presentation in a classroom activity.

 Right now we are reading Romeo and Juliet in my English 9 class. One of the essential standards that we, the teachers, are responsible for teaching a variety of different terms that apply to dramas: dialogue, soliloquies, asides, character foils, and stage directions. While I presented all of these terms at the beginning of the unit, it is hard for the students to really understand what they all meant without showing them specific examples. So when Mercutio has his long Queen Mab speech, I explained how it is a monologue because while there is only one person speaking, there are other people on stage. So when we come across an example of each term I would bring up that term again and teach the concept while we came across it. This has really helped for students to retain comprehension of the vocabulary.

In a content area of your choice, how might you incorporate teaching in a 'subdomain' of the 'real' domain?

 In language arts, much of what we do is in the subdomain especially when we deal with writing. We do a lot of practice writing and breaking down the structures of how good sentences are constructed. Teachers can’t expect that students will write perfectly without good practice.

Describe a technique that you might use to help students 'transfer' early learning to more complex problems.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> One of the things that I do to transfer early learning to more complex problems is that I start out with basic knowledge and then move to comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. This is also known as Bloom’s Taxonomy. Blooms Taxonomy is an excellent tool for building understanding and comprehension of a topic.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Describe a learning experience you've had where one of your 'cultural models' was challenged.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> When I was a junior in college I had the amazing opportunity to study abroad in Paraguay for four months. During this time period I was also able to visit Peru and Argentina. This whole trip changed my outlook on the world to be honest. Spending time with my host family and with other students really gave me a lot to think about as far as how we identify ourselves. It was clear that I my identity was chosen for me the moment my host family met me: I was the white American girl who was to be their daughter/sister for four months. Watching them learn how to deal with a sister/daughter was a very interesting experience because I had been in the role my whole life. Watching someone learn to incorporate another person in their family is a very interesting thing. It is not as simple as one might expect. Adding a new person into a family greatly changes the dynamics which is something that people identify themselves with.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Video game reflection:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Okay, so this may sound totally lame but all I have played this past week is Bejeweled. I have been very stressed out and anxious and Bejeweled is one of those games that just calms me down. I like it because it is rather mindless and simple. There aren’t really any tricks to it and you can certainly improve your skill but I think that there is a limit on how good you can get, just like Tetris, you can only go so far.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">EXTRA CREDIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!


 * 1) In a content area of your choice, give an example of a way in which the 'affinity group' “enforces certain patterns as ideal norms.”

This concept is very true for band. The group has many shared things: the goal of being a better musician, the goal of working together along with many other endeavors. If you have ever been in a band classroom, there is very much a connection between all of the students and the director—the group is bonded through striving increase their ability and the love for music.


 * 1) Describe a classroom activity where students are able to 'leverage' the 'distributed' knowledge of their peers.

I think that almost any group game would have this affect because there is pressure from all the students to do well and work together. It also promotes students to work together and to collaborate. While I find that language arts is very important, the aspect of working together and collaboratively are skills that are much more important.


 * 1) How might you give students more direct control (as an 'insider' or 'producer') over their own learning?

For my Romeo and Juliet unit I am having my students do a layered project. There are different levels and students get to select a set amount of projects/assignments in order to get a certain grade. This assignment is designed for students to pick and choose their own task in a way in which they learn best (art, essays, music) under a subject that everyone is studying. For example students can do colorful bookmarks in which they put the character, main problem, the reaction, they result, and a quote. The students are able to be artistic while learning.


 * 1) Which Principle of Learning do you feel is most-applicable to your teaching, and why?

I think that the Principal of Learning is most-applicable is “Psychosocial Moratorium” Principle. First of all, my classroom is a very safe area in which no one gets made fun of for mistakes that they make. Also, I like to use a lot of authentic texts and the use of them.

The game I played this week was Mahjong. This is a game that I love and that my family plays all the time. This game is just a matching game that you then remove the tiles once they are matched. This game may sound easy but it requires skills in order to match up the most beneficial tiles to reveal more tiles. It is a very relaxing game but can be frustrating at times.