Joe's+Journal

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Background with video/computer games
My parents certainly did not see the value in a lot of video games, and it wasn't until I was 12 (1997) that I was even allowed a console (N64), and then I was limited to a maximum of 1 hour a day. Similar restrictions were put on the computer (we had an older computer for as long as I can remember, no internet). This idea of limiting the amount of video games I play (and allow my kids to play) still dominates my impression of video games.

With that said, I REALLY enjoy playing video games. Because of the limited time I had to play them growing up, most of the games I got into were games that you could start/stop easily, like sports and racing games. I played SimCity and Command and Conquer as well. In my late teens, I started to get into more narrative, RPG-style games, and played many hours on Baldur's Gate (D&D RPG), as well as the fantastic Disney-based Kingdom Hearts for PS2.

When I started balancing married life/fatherhood with work and school, video games took a backseat to a lot of other ways to spend time. Most of the games I would play would be social (Mario Party, Rock Band, etc.), or simple games I could play with my kids (Wii Sports). In the past 8 years, I've probably only played 2 narrative-style games to completion or near-completion: Neverwinter Nights (D&D RPG) and Zelda: Skyward Sword, which I played with my oldest son and daughter, taking turns.

Basically, I love video games. I just rarely find the time to play them, except as a way to spend time with my kids!

Real/Virtual Identities
Everyday, I teach, and to do that, I have to step into a certain identity, one that is quite a bit different than my actual identity. The controlling aspect of being a teacher is my least favorite part, but to do my job well, I put on a tougher, more rule-orientated persona than I actually have. My other "identities" (father, husband, son, etc.) I see as genuine, but "teacher" is definitely something I need to "play."

As far as virtual identities, creating characters in D&D-style games is almost as fun as playing the game itself. After some experimenting, my character almost always is a human fighter/barbarian, hopefully wielding the largest 2 handed sword possible (no need for a shield!). For this character, I draw on a my Norwegian heritage as well as how I enjoy playing these games (hack and slash). I also enjoy being a character I'm not in real life (not exactly a bodybuilder). I do believe that this "persona" has affected the choices I make in the real world, however.

Impact of Gee's definition of literacy on teaching
I teach social studies, and the idea of a //literacy// being particular to a study makes a lot of sense. It's not necessarily a new idea to me, although Gee explained the term very nicely. The best example of Gee's definition being widely used is the phrase "Financial Literacy," which means understanding the language and how to think/act in the financial world. Historians have their own literacy as well. This literacy is what I should be teaching in class, teaching my students how to think, act, read and talk like a historian, as well as understand key words/phrases/ideas that are going to be present in historical discussions (i.e., objectivity, critical research, reliability of sources, etc.). This is much more important than teaching facts to students.

Experiences in learning new 'semiotic domains'
Being an educator is probably the most obvious semiotic domain that I've had to learn. The number of buzz words and acronyms that you have to learn alone (the vocabulary) is quite daunting at first. Learning to belong to the "affinity group" of educators took longer for me than others, I believe, because quite a few of my years as an educator were either at a single-teacher site (2 out of 5 years) or at sites with less than 5 teachers (1 out of 5 years). This is actually only the second year I've taught at a "large" school with more than 10 other teachers. I'm probably more aware of this semiotic domain because, as I mentioned earlier, I often feel like I'm "playing" the role of a teacher, and fitting in to this affinity group/semiotic domain is part of this.

Another semiotic domain that I've slowly and more naturally learned from is the general domain of academic learning, being able to speak, think, and act with somewhat increasing proficiency. This becomes obvious when I'm in "academic mode" and I start talking to someone who isn't part of this domain. I think this is a good way of knowing when you've become "part" of these affinity groups; you start talking to someone who isn't a part of the group, who isn't //literate// in that sense, and they are not understanding you. For instance, after 5 or so terms in the MSED:IT program, I start saying things like Web 2.0, widgets, and WYSIWYG to those outside of the domain, and I get confused stares, then realize that I have to step back and start explaining what I'm talking about in "layman's term's", or in terms that those outside of the affinity group will understand.

Game Reflections: Betwixt Folly and Fate and Dimensions U
As a history teacher, I really wanted to play Betwixt Folly and Fate, but had quite a bit of trouble getting it to run on my OS X (Mavericks). The game would download fine, but would crash. I finally had to download a program (Wine) that allows Windows programs to run on a Mac, and then it worked pretty well.

The game was mildly fun. I liked that the game immersed students in some aspects of what colonial America might be like. I personally didn't "learn" anything about the colonial world, but someone with no concept of what it was like might. As far as game play, it was basic but playable. I was actually quite disappointed that I couldn't do the jobs that the carpenter kept getting hired to do; I wanted to play the mini-tasks of repairing a chicken coop, etc. I really think this took a lot away from the gameplay. All that it became is going around and talking to people; the rest of the game (the tasks the people want you to do) wasn't even featured.

I couldn't get to the demo of Evolver, but I did download a 14 day trial of the Dimensions U suite (who makes Evolver) and sampled a few of the other games. They struck me as being like the multiplayer shooting games (Unreal Tournament, Half Life), but obviously nowhere near as fun ;-) They were mildly entertaining, and I thought that, as opposed to doing basic drill and kill worksheets, the games were much more entertaining. The games did, however, remind me of [|this article by Semour Papert]that suggest these types of games take the worst parts of school (practice/drill worksheets) and just make bad video games with them. I'm not sure how much students actually learn, and they probably could be having more fun (and learning more in the sense that Gee defines learning) by actually playing Half-Life.

Virtual and projective identities in my teaching
I see virtual and projective identities as being essential for taking learning outside of the classroom. In a way, taking on identities of specific content areas //is// learning. In order for students to play "historian," they need to adopt certain skills, like critical reading of non-fiction text, research and synthesis, recognizing trends in history, etc. If these things are just skills and information that exist for them in the history classroom, there isn't really any point to their learning. Projective identities help them take the skills outside of the classroom and apply that identity elsewhere in their lives.

For instance, when it comes to politics and choosing new leaders, students who feel capable playing "historian" will be able to look at policies and rhetoric from the viewpoint of broader historical trends. When entering a new field like computer science, someone who can easily tap into the identity of "historian" can enrich their understanding of the field by researching the history of the field; playing a "historian" also can become valuable in many other fields more directly when the skill sets match up, like becoming a lawyer. To move to a more general example, a "historian" can use research skills online to find answers to questions and make reasonable decisions on the validity of information.

Again, someone who has come into my classroom and has established the identity of "historian" with some level of success and feels adept at it can apply this identity, bridge a gap, so to speak, to many other aspects of life. It becomes another "tool" in their skill set. This type of learning is much more valuable then recognizing the importance of the date 1066, but is also a much more difficult type of learning to foster. Shifting my paradigm on a "high school history classroom" to a model that fosters this type of environment is difficult, but promises a lot more reward.

Teaching a "damaged" identity
I'd say that on a low estimate, half of my students have a damaged identity when it comes to being a student. The possible causes of so many of my Native Alaskan students having a negative perception of both school and their role as a student are numerous; suffice to say that, by the time they reach high school (or before), many see the system as oppressive and one that they are bound to fail in (perhaps even //should// fail in).

I can't say that I've made great strides in fixing their "damaged" identities, with the exception that in my classroom, I've been able to separate myself from the perception of teachers being part of a control system in their lives. Simply put, I don't get upset at the students (at least, I don't show it at all). They cannot play the "bad" student when the teacher won't play the game and get mad at them. Even when I have to doll out punishments, like banning a student from the computer for a week who found a proxy to get on Facebook, I don't lecture them or tell them I'm disappointed in them. The punishment is simply a consequence of their action. This isn't how I normally teach students, but it's had a "calming" affect in my classroom. And the students, even those who are failing academically, can't continue the identity of "opposed to the system" in my classroom. Hopefully (I'll have many of the same students next year) I'll be able to translate this into more students "buying in" to education next year.

Situated meaning in social studies
Nationalism: a feeling that people have of being loyal to and proud of their country often with the belief that it is better and more important than other countries OR a desire by a large group of people (such as people who share the same culture, history, language, etc.) to form a separate and independent nation of their own ( [|http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nationalism])

So I don't do vocabulary in my classroom (something that I'm expected to do, I just fly under the radar and don't). We recently started talking about nationalism in regards to World War I. Taking on the two different definitions of nationalism, however, would be a great "embodied" classroom discussion for my class, if the students wanted to talk about something so close to home (often they don't). I live on private land owned by a mostly Athabascan Native corporation (not a reservation, Alaska has a much different system). This land in Fort Yukon is the traditional land of the Gwich'in people. So the "embodied" discussion could be along the lines of what type of nationalism they feel most strongly towards. Nationalism towards the United States, as a part of the United States? Or Gwich'in Athabascan nationalism (wanting to be independent from the U.S.)? This could be a quite interesting classroom discussion; there is a lot of "Native Pride," but at the same time this doesn't necessarily translate into anti-American sentiment. I'd be curious to see with which definition each student's feelings of "nationalism" lies (or if they have any at all).

Learning with the probe, hypothesize, re-probe, and rethink cycle
Recently, I decided to try out the open-source, Linux-based operating system CentOS. I have no previous experience with Linux, and quickly found out that it was much different than Mac OS X (and probably Windows, but I haven't used Windows in a decade, so I couldn't say for sure). I downloaded a program called DosBox, which was going to allow me to play nostalgic games like Wolfenstein 3D. DosBox downloaded in a compressed .tar.gz file (called a "tar ball," if you're interested). I "probed" it by double-clicking on it. After all, with a compressed Mac file (.dmz), I double click an application and it uncompresses, then I double click on a package icon and the Installer launches (or I just drag an icon to the Application section of Finder). However, this didn't work. Hypothesize: I have to do something else. I'll google it. Google: Use Terminal and commands to install programs. Read the included "Read Me" file for instructions. Re-probe: Opened Terminal and started typing in commands. Read the "Read Me" file. "Read Me" file did not explain how to install. Rethink: Perhaps the Install text file has better instructions (it did). Follow those (probe again). An error arose, so I googled that, came up with a new hypothesis, tried that, and the cycle continued. In the end, I //almost// installed the program, but not quite. If I take the time to attempt this again (probably won't), I'll continue with the cycle. In fact, I already have a hypothesis on what might work next time, even if I don't actually try it out.

// ReDistricting Game //
I had a lot of fun re-drawing district maps to secure my party's power! I'm pretty familiar with the concept, but it seemed to me to be a very simple game that would help students get the issues. Initially, I had a hard time understanding how to move the borders around, but after about 5 minutes, I was pretty proficient at it. I even "learned" a bit; my initial gerrymandering plan was rejected by the courts, I'm assuming because of its odd shape, so I learned to make the shapes more geometric. I like these simple games; students won't play them over and over, but I think they will keep their interest enough to get the point across.

// Mission // US
Even though I couldn't freely walk around in this one, I still had fun with it. What intrigued me was that it appeared I had some control over what side I aligned myself with in the beginning. I didn't play long enough to find out if I was going to be "forced" to be a Patriot, but it at least //seemed// like I was choosing to align with the Patriots (as opposed to not having any choice), which made the choices of what I said and did more interesting. I was able to stay true to the Patriots while being kind to the girl that worked in the shop being boycotted by the Patriots. Simple choices like that made the character more "mine" than just a character that was developing in a certain way regardless of what I chose.

The story moved along quickly; I didn't have a lot of time sitting around wondering what I was supposed to do. However, it did seem to go a little too smoothly/quickly. It's always a fine line between making things too difficult and too easy, and this game was a bit on the "too easy" side. Still, I enjoyed it, and I learned a bit, and I felt that I had some control over the outcome, so a pretty good educational game.

// Crazy Plant Shop //
I wasn't "crazy" about this one. For one, I didn't like the set up of the game. I didn't want to sell my plants in the "machine," but it seemed (I think) that, when it went to filling an order, ALL the plants were available to sell, including those in the machine. I had to check back and make sure I wasn't selling one that I wanted to keep for growing plants. Also, it wasn't incredibly clear to me how much I was being charged for growing the plants. Finally, since the Punett's Square is filled out for you, I'm not sure how much learning students will get from this. I love BrainPop's cartoons, but not this game.

Give an example of 'Just in Time' information presentation in a classroom activity.
I taught Statistics for one quarter to a class of mixed Junior and Seniors, and in figuring out the number of ways a group of things can be ordered, you need to use factorials. If you have 4 things, to figure out how many different orders you can make, you times 4 by all of the numbers less than it (4 x 3 x 2 x 1). This is fine for 4 things, but what if you have 34 things? (34 x 33 x 32 x 31....this can get quite long). When teaching students this, at this point I will (re)introduce them to the symbol "!" in math, which means exactly that, multiplying a number by all of the numbers less than it. So (hang with me here, we're getting to a point), 4! = 4 x 3 x 2 x1, and 34! =34 x 33 x 32 x 31... At this point, if students haven't noticed, I showed them where the "!" key was located on their graphing calculators. When figuring out the possible orders of a group, you have the choice of punching in all the numbers manually in the calculator, or you can simply use the "!" key. Students that cared about doing their work were more than happy to remember exactly what the factorial (!) key did and where it was located. What I think is key about this is that they likely learned how to do problems like 5! in the past, but re-learning what that meant in Statistics when it suddenly means something and is instantly usable (Just in Time) made the learning much easier and impactful.

In a content area of your choice, how might you incorporate teaching in a 'subdomain' of the 'real' domain?
One aspect of being a Historian is having your work peer-reviewed and critiqued. One great way to create a real "subdomain" of this that can be run from the classroom with less pressure than someone would experience actually submitting writing to a peer-reviewed journal would be to do some secondary research on a topic and then submit it to Wikipedia. For instance, students in my school could do secondary research into Fort Yukon School and create a Wikipedia page for the school (the school's basketball team was the focus of a fairly recently published book, which might pass the bar for the page being "relevant"). Then they could monitor the "peer review" the page receives through edits (or outright page deletions) as a guide to how their work has been received.

Describe a technique that you might use to help students 'transfer' early learning to more complex problems.
The transfer of learning that Gee describes happened very organically; he is put in a situation in //Return to Castle Wolfenstein// that resembles, at least in regards to the situation, //American McGee's Alice// enough to allow the transfer of knowledge from the //Alice// situation to the //Wolfenstien// situation; however, the situations are not identical, meaning Gee has to adapt his knowledge gained from //Alice// to the new situation. Replicating this organically in the classroom is difficult; really, the connection needs to be made by the student, in my opinion, to be the most valuable. However, the transfer won't always happen when, as a teacher, you see that it needs to. I think the best technique to use, then, is to let student know that they should be trying to "transfer" knowledge from one area to the next, simply by asking "Where have you seen something like this?" or "What does this remind you of?" or however the question needs to be phrased for the moment. For instance, going back to my Stats class example, in some Algebra class (pre-Algebra for me), I learned that 4! meant 4 x 3 x 2 x 1. If I wanted to make the learning I talked about in the first question more memorable by asking the students to do the transfer, I could present the permutation formula (N x (n-1) x (n-2)...), give a few examples, (4 x 3 x 2 x 1, or 7 x 6 x 5...) and ask "Where have you done a math problem like this before?" I'd be fishing for someone to have remembered the factorial symbol "!" from previous math classes and to then realize that, hey, there's an exclamation point here on my calculator, can't I just use that? Giving students minimal support, really nothing more than prompts that they should be trying to transfer knowledge, may allow the "transfer" to be more organic than instructed.

Describe a learning experience you've had where one of your 'cultural models' was challenged.
For someone who believes in a created universe, the evolutionary aspects of Biology in high school were always a challenge, probably more so because our teacher made it clear that evolution wasn't something that was going to be debated at all, and any discussion of creationism on the test would likely get us a failing grade. I seem to remember having to circle "Whales evolved from common ancestors of wolves" (the current belief while I was in high school, although that has altered slightly, I believe) being a bit of a moral and intellectual dilemma for me. Continuously, as something of an "academic" (at least academically minded), my faith-based beliefs often appear in conflict to my more scientifically minded beliefs, and reconciling the difference (or perceived difference) between the two can be challenging. However, I find this challenge rewarding in the long run, just as I do generally whenever I challenge my view with the viewpoint of others.

=== Reflections on any games you played or examined during the week. Educational games for the week include: // Villainy, Inc. //, // CSI: The Experience // , // Oncology // , and the // Sports Network 2 //. === The games this week were a sharp contrast from the more engaging games I played the last few weeks. To me, this collection of games (note: I did not get to play //Oncology)// represented a failed model of "edutainment." On a very holistic level, all of the games suffered greatly because I found myself incredibly bored while playing them. Even as a graduate student, I had to push myself to pay attention and finish the first module of each (some I didn't even make it that far). It's been a while since I've had to subject myself to so much busywork in school.

All of these games suffered from being very text-heavy, with the exception of maybe //Villainy, Inc.,// which had incredibly long videos. There was just so much reading to do in these games. The tasks you were asked to do were quite dull. //CSI// tried to make textbook learning more interesting by adding some mundane tasks like clicking on a test tube and dragging it to a machine. Yes, it probably was a step up from a textbook in terms of learning and visualization, but textbooks aren't great stand-alone learning tools, anyway, so this isn't saying a whole lot. //Villany, Inc.//, which actually turned out for me to be the most interesting of these games, had very contrived math problems that would be unlikely to happen in the real world, even if you accepted the scenario of the game. For instance, in trying to figure out the cost of materials for a multi-million dollar job, the company would just give you an estimate. I did not make it very far in //Sports Network 2//; at the point that I had to read through a long e-mail and match something to the tips my journalist friend was giving me, I got bored and found something else to do.

These games represent using video games to do the exact same thing that students were already doing, except with more moving images and in front of a computer. Given the amount of distractions that the computer represents, there just simply isn't enough benefit from doing this type of busywork in front of a computer instead of a textbook to justify using these games in class. I'm glad to have sampled these games; it makes the educational games that I sampled previously really stand out as a much higher quality in terms of engagement and learning than these types of "edutainment" games.