Megan's+Journal

Week 1 Questions (Chapters 1-2)

 * 1) Describe your background and history with video and computer games.
 * 2) What are some of the real and/or virtual ‘identities’ you take on?
 * 3) What impact might James Paul Gee’s definition of ‘literacy’ have on your teaching?
 * 4) What experiences have you had learning in new ‘semiotic domains’?
 * 5) Reflections on any games you played or examined during the week. Educational games for the week include://Resilient Planet//, //Evolver//, //Dragon Box Algebra, Fair Play//, and //Ludwig.//

1. I was around my fair share of video games growing up. My sister and I grew up with a Nintendo and would play Super Mario Bros as well as Duck Hunt as much as we were allowed. We were given a Nintendo 64 for Christmas one year and Mario Kart was the new favorite. From there, we purchased a PlayStation and played a number of games. Some of my favorites were Crash Bandicoot, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Spyro, and Frogger. We would always play together and often had to take turns playing as a lot of these games were one player, which often didn't go so well when one of us was doing better than the other. We were never allowed to play any sort of first-person shooter games, it was my mom's one rule in regards to video games. I loved playing videogames and still have my console's and games to this day! I can remember even packing it up for a sleep over one time because my friend didn't own a gaming console and we loved to play. My sister and I also played a number of educational computer games. We played Where in the World is Carmen San Diego and Oregon Trail all the time. After elementary school, I found myself playing less and less. I never upgraded my system past my PlayStation 1. I had a number of friends play video games throughout high school and college (mostly boys) and I would try to play every once in a while but often felt like I didn't know what was going on or how to play. Even now, I find friends who still play video games and computer games regularly, but it is not a part of my every day life.

2. I can't say that I ever remember taking on any virtual 'identity' while playing video games. The games that I played often featured cartoon charaters that I never identified with besides simply just playing the game. I do however have a number of real 'identities' that I take on throughout my life. I find myself taking on the identities of daughter, sister, girlfriend, and friend fairly consistently. I also identify as a student, a waitress, a restaurant manager, and even a teacher when I spend time subbing and in the classroom. In addition to those, I have also had the identity of a basketball player or an athlete for a large portion of my life. In fact, this is the first school year that I haven't been involved in sports since Kindergarten. Many of my identies are differentiated by my personal or professional life.

3. Gee's definition took me by surprise. I have always been somewhat of a traditional student. I like consistency, routine, and to know what is expected of me. Coming from a math background, I appreciate a right and wrong answer.I also like lectures and notes, assignments and tests. So when Gee challenged what the traditional definition of literacy was, he caught me off guard. After hearing him out, I couldn't agree more. It is so important for us as educators not to ceiling our students with what is black and white. By challenging the tradition of the meaning of literacy, he opened up a whole new realm of thinking. Gee refers to literacy as multiple or multimodal and asks his reader to do the same. The biggest thing that I can take away from this as an educator is to know that things are not always as black and white as I might like them to be. It's good to be reminded that there is never a right or wrong way of thinking or in this case being literate. Another thing that I found interesting from his definition of literacy was the point he made about images and visual literacy. This is something that I can definitely utalize as a math teacher. Many students learn and understand better when there is a visual aspect to the lesson. I am eager to learn more about what video games have to offer and how I can appreciate them more and implement them throughout my class.

4. My most recent experience with a new 'semiotic domain' would be moving to Oregon this last week. It actually started when I started dating my boyfriend. He and his family are farmers and it runs deep in the blood. His grandfather began G & C Farms in Silverton, Oregon and it is now a thriving three-generation farm. They farm thousands of acres of berries, wheat, grass seed, and filberts. In addition to the farm, the family owns and operates Willamette Valley Pie Company. My boyfriend is incredibly passionate about farming and would always try to explain the seasons of the farm, the machinerary, the techniques, and everything in-between. I knew my basics about berry farming let me tell you. It wasn't until I moved down to the farm that I fully understood what goes on down here on a daily basis. My eyes have been opened! What I thought were the "basics" were only a scratch on the surface. Instead of just hearing about the machinery, I was able to sit in it and see it in action. There are so many different facets to farming that I had no clue even existed and now that I am living nearby, I am learning so much more. It's amazing how different hearing about something and experiencing something truely is.

5. I spent a good amount of time playing Resilient Planet last night and it surprised me how much there was so learn about oceanography through that game. It did an excellent job introducing the importance of the game through a video and then sent me out on a mission to do work much like a researcher would do. I thought it was really interesting to get that perspective and is a great opportunity for a student to take on a virtual 'identity' and learn something new. The game also did a really good job of teaching the player the controls and different aspects of the game - sometimes too much so. I hope to play one of the math games this weekend as well - I've heard really great things about the Dragon Box game. Computer games are an excellent way to get students to practice skills without boring them. Unfortunately, a lot of the math games that I have come across are focused more on younger kids. It'd be nice if I could find one for the middle/high level.

Week 2-3 Questions (Chapters 3-4)

 * 1) How might virtual and projective identities be important in your teaching?
 * 2) Describe an experience you’ve had in teaching a student with a “damaged” identity.
 * 3) 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.
 * 4) Describe a recent learning experience that involved using the probe, hypothesize, re-probe, and rethink cycle.
 * 5) Reflections on any games you played or examined during the week. Educational games for the week include: //ReDistricting Game//, //Mission US//, //iCivics//, and //Quandary//.

1. Virtual and projective identities can be integrated in a number of different classrooms to create a more interesting and safe learning environment for students. It will be helpful for students within my classrooms to view themselves as a mathematician and to take on the virtual identity of a mathematician. Through a virtual identity, students may be more apt to take risks, as it is not their identity that is on the line. They also may be less afraid of failing. I would argue that a virtual identity is especially important in less favored subjects such as math and science, as it can give the students a new perspective on the subject. Once the student has taken on the virtual identity, there is the chance for them to proactively build confidence that they have the capacity to take on the virtual identity as a real world identity. Virtual and projective identities can help a student realize that they are capable of more.

2. Unfortunately, or fortunately I suppose, I have not had much experience in teaching in general. I graduated from George Fox last May with a BS in Mathematics and this is my first term at Western Oregon University in the MAT program. I have spent some time subbing and did interact with an elementary student who may have had a "damaged" identity. He had a hard time during journal time. He felt as though he didn't know enough words to create full sentences and therefore did not want to participate in journal time. He also felt as though he was not able to spell adequately enough and felt that everything he would write would be wrong. I was only in this classroom for one day, but it seemed as though he felt so strongly about being inadequate, that it totally took over his ability to even try.

3. Slope comes to mind. So often students are taught that slope is rise over run, but don't know exactly what it means. A student may be able to graph a line in slope-intercept form or determine a linear slope, but they may only be associating slope with those definitions. By giving examples of slope outside of a piece of graph paper, students may have a better understanding of the topic. Another that comes to mind is pi. Students so often know pi as 3.14 but rarely are able to tell you what that means. By having students take a piece of string and measuring circular objects, they will be able to see that pi is a ratio. If you take any circular object, measure the circumference and then divide by the measure of the diameter, you will always get pi. It is a different way of seeing the number and will help students gain a more embodied understanding of it.

4. Since moving back to Oregon, there has been a constant battle of cards between my boyfriend and his dad vs. his mom and myself. We play a card game called pitch. It is a four-person game that has similar rules to hearts but is played by teams. At first I was very hesitant to be very forward and to bid, as I was new to the game. There would be times that I believed that I had a good hand and would take a chance and bid. After either doing fairly well and making my bid, or completely bombing the hand, I would then reprobe and rethink my hand for future bids. It has definitely been a learning experience, but a fun one at that. I'm not sure I did the best job explaining this situation as I am not 100% confident I could explain the rules of the game clearly, but it is a constant probe, hypothesize, re-probe, rethink cycle, and a fun one at that (we're all fairly competitive).

5. I played Mission US this week. There were different Missions that you could play - each dealing with a different time of history. I chose to play Mission: For Crown or Colony. It was a game that placed you to be Nat Wheeler, a 14 year-old apprentice in 1770 Boston. As you play, Nat interacts with a number of people around town and the game illustrates the tensions before the Boston Massacre. In the end, you decide the fate of Nat by how you interact with the people he comes into contact with. To be honest, it wasn't my favorite educational game. I enjoyed playing Resilient Planet more than Mission US. This game was harder to navigate and allowed for a lot of choice. One thing I did like about it was that it allowed the person playing the game to get a first person experience with history. This game is much more enjoyable than reading about 1770 Boston from a textbook. I can definitely see how teachers would want to supplement their lectures with this game. It presents history in a much more enjoyable way. I look forward to trying some of the other games out, hoping I will like them better.

Weeks 4-5 Questions (Chapters 5-6)

 * 1) Give an example of 'Just in Time' information presentation in a classroom activity.
 * 2) In a content area of your choice, how might you incorporate teaching in a 'subdomain' of the 'real' domain?
 * 3) Describe a technique that you might use to help students 'transfer' early learning to more complex problems.
 * 4) Describe a learning experience you've had where one of your 'cultural models' was challenged.
 * 5) Reflections on any games you played or examined during the week. Educational games for the week include: //Villainy, Inc.//, //CSI: The Experience//, //Oncology//, //After the Storm//, and the //Sports Network//

1. "Just in Time" information can refer to a number of things, especially in teaching as well as coaching. I played basketball for a good portion of my life, and I can think of a number of just in time information instances. One that specifically comes to mind is when working on learning a new play. Our coaches would not tell us all of our plays at once and expect us to remember them all, but instead they would teach us specific plays based on who we were going to be matching up against or playing that week. If the opponent we were facing had a particular weakness, we would then add a new play that would exploit that weakness. If the coaches were to just teach us all of the plays at once, there is no way that we would be able to remember them and effectively execute them when the time came. In teaching, the same is true. We don't teach everything we need to know about math in a year at once, but rather teach just enough for the students to learn the subject before moving on.

2. I feel like teaching in a 'subdomain' of the real domain can be complicated. In one sense, it can be as easy as providing examples and practice questions in class. The practice questions won't be graded so there really isn't any pressure or consequence for a mistake - at least not like on homework or on an exam, but I wouldn't say that the learning is done without the student noticing. That is where it gets tricky. It is very hard for teachers to teach students without them thinking what they are doing is learning. I may be a skeptic, but I don't know if that is possible to do in a math class without the help of an educational game?

3. I'm not sure if this counts as a techinque, but while reading about the idea of 'transfer', I immediately thought to the Geometry class that I observed this last winter. Before starting a new unit or subject, there was an Algebra review for the students to complete. This was supplemental to the daily homework they received, but it was an opportunity for them to review what they learned the previous year. The Algebra review tied in to what they would be learning in that unit for Geometry. It allowed them to see the connection from Algebra to Geometry, something that is not always clear.

4. The learning experience that comes to mind was in highschool. I took a Street Law class and we often had mock court cases and debates. There were times when I was asked to defend the side of the arguement that I didn't necessarily agree with. It challenged the way I thought and exposed me to different ways of thinking.

5. This week I played After the Storm. It reminded me a lot of the game I played last week. Instead of being an apprentice, I was the boss of a newspaper and oversaw a number of different employees. It was a first person game, and it was interesting to play and see what it might be like to work at a newspaper. It did a really great job of challenging and prompting writing skills/opportunitites. There were times where it would ask you to edit pieces that had been written or chose the correct word based on the context of the piece. I thought it did a really good job of engaging the player.