Lisa's+Journal


 * Week 1 Journal**

In grade school I played video games when I visited my friends. In middle school my parents finally bought my sister and I a Super NES. There were numerous summers when I should have been playing outside, but spent my days playing Super Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda. As an adult, I have played a few games on the Wii and Nintendo DS. I don't play a lot of video games now and I never play computer games
 * Describe your background and history with video and computer games. **


 * What are some of the real and/or virtual ‘identities’ you take on? **

My real world identities are student, mom, wife, and small business owner. My husband and I have started a small web design business. My virtual identify is when I play games online.


 * What impact might James Paul Gee’s definition of ‘literacy’ have on your teaching? **

I found James Paul Gee's definition of literacy quite interesting. Gee explains that individuals read and interpret information differently. While teaching it's important to remember that everyone comes from a different backgrounds and will understand information in their own way.


 * What experiences have you had learning in new ‘semiotic domains’? **

An experience I have had learning a new semiotic domain was when I first started as a recruiter for at the global headquarters of a drilling company. While I had experience talking to people on the phone; I had no experience interviewing, or about interview techniques and I didn't know anything about drilling or what was required for the drilling positions. I had to learn fast and sometimes on the fly to keep my job. I had three days training and was then thrown in. I also had to learn how to enter information in applicant tracking systems, how find a pool of qualified candidates to keep in the "pipeline," as well as HR and drilling jargon.

** Games played reflections **
The games I played this week were Fate and Betwixt Folly. I have never been a huge fan of story-telling games, but my friends love playing them, so I thought I would give them a try. When I was in elementary school I played the Oregon Trail game during recess, and these games reminded me of the Oregon Trail game. They seem like fun games and can be used for teaching because you have to read to play.

** Weeks 2-3 Journal **

 * 1. **How might virtual and projective identities be important in your teaching?

I think virtual identities are important while teaching because virtual identities allow student to express themselves in a way that is different from their identity in real life. Depending on the class, educators can request ask students to take on the role of a scientist for an assignment when in real life the student might not feel like a scientist. Projective identities are also important because it allows students to see themselves as the kind of person who can learn.

2. Describe an experience you’ve had in teaching a student with a “damaged” identity.

I haven't been a teacher yet, but my son experienced having a damaged identity when he switched schools in 4th grade. Before 4th grade he was the smartest student in the class and he was known as the smart kid by everyone. When he transferred to a school with a more advanced curriculum he was no longer felt like the smart kid and assumed the role of the class clown.

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.

My field prior to this program has primarily been in HR. An example I can recall of situated meaning actually pertain to the Human Resources name. Most employees think human resources is a department that advocates for the employees. Unfortunately, that isn't the truth. The human resources department HR deals with issues relating to employees but ultimately, HR aims to benefit and protect the employer not the employee. One way to solve the confusion is to define what the role of HR is to new employees during orientation and to clarify that the role isn't the same as a labor union, which does advocate for the employee. During a group orientation, employees could discuss their understanding of the material with one another to ensure full understanding.

4. Describe a recent learning experience that involved using the probe, hypothesize, re-probe, and rethink cycle.

I have been trying to learn how to use Photoshop and I had never used a sophisticated photo editing program before. Before reading anything about it I tried to click on the icons that I thought would work out, and it didn't. So I watched youtube videos to learn how to use the software program and finally figured out how to resize my photo.

5.Reflections on any games you played or examined during the week. Educational games for the week include: //ReDistricting Game//, //Mission US//, //iCivics//, and //Crazy Plant Shop//.

The game I played this week was Mission US and I thought the game was okay. I think it would have been a better game if I had had more control over where I could go. I also found the game to be really slow, but could see the education value for younger students, especially because the vocabulary definitions were available.

Weeks 4-5 Journal
1. Give an example of 'Just in Time' information presentation in a classroom activity.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">An example of Just in Time information is in a home economics course when students are learning how to cook. With baking, it's important to measure ingredients precisely because baking is science. Most students forget to level the dry ingredients, so right before students measure the flour, remind them to level the measuring cup.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">2. In a content area of your choice, how might you incorporate teaching in a 'subdomain' of the 'real' domain?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">When I trained new student services employees the sub domain involved role playing with one another before interacting with students. The role play was the sub domain and the real domain was working with students.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">3. 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;">When learning how to use the web design software program dream weaver it's important to know the markup languages HTML and CSS. After learning HTML and CSS then the student can build on that foundation to make more advanced web pages with Dreamweaver. You have to know web design fundamentals before you can use the web design program.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">4. 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;">At one of the colleges I worked at we had a very strict rule about not using the internet for personal use. While I understand not checking your email during company time, I didn't understand the issue with checking your personal email during lunch or after work was over. Management made it clear that this was against company policy and I had to adhere to the policy as well as train my employees not to use the computers for personal use. When asked why by my employees I could only respond because it's against company policy because I really didn't see the issue and couldn't come up with a better explanation.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">5. 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//.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I only had a chance to play Villaniy Inc and I thought that the videos in the game were pretty long and there was a lot of reading, but I did find the directions to be clear. It didn't hold my attention well. Overall, I found the game pretty boring.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Weeks 6-7 Journal
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">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".

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">An example of an affinity group is a swim team. All members of the swim team must show up on time, wear the proper swim gear and work their hardest. Because the group has to wear their swim cap, swim trunks and goggles to compete this enforces the teams patter of ideal norms.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">2. Describe a classroom activity where students are able to 'leverage' the 'distributed' knowledge of their peers.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In my son's class to handle a fundraising effort they split the class into different groups so they could focus on different elements of fundraising that they are good at. Some students handled door to door fundraising. Other's updated the website. Another group had was in charge of managing. This allowed everyone to collaborate and experience the benefits of group work and learning how to raise money for their school.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">3. How might you give students more direct control (as an 'insider' or 'producer') over their own learning?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">You can give students more control over their learning by giving them an assignment but allowing to choose which medium they use to present the information - such as a paper, a powerpoint, or a skit.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">4. Which Principle of Learning do you feel is most-applicable to your teaching, and why?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The learning principle that I felt was most applicable to my teaching is the insider principle. I think when people have the option to also teach the information they learn better and retain the information more.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">5. Reflections on any games you played or examined during the week. Educational games for the week include: //Peacemaker Game//, //Global Conflicts: Palestine//, and //On the Ground Reporter//.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The game I played this week was On the Ground Reporter. I felt like there should have been hints if you got stuck on a difficult level, but I did enjoy playing the game. The game definitely built a feeling of suspense, which I think would motivate students to keep playing.