Rebekah's+Journal

__**Week 1**__


 * Describe your background and history with video and computer game?
 * I actually have pretty limited experience with video games and computer games. I do remember playing Oregon Trail on our old computer when I was a kid. I liked the game and I did spend quite a bit of time playing it now that I think about it. We also had a game about the stock market where you basically tried to get rich playing the market. What I learned from these games is that you'd most likely die of cholera on the Oregon Trail and lose all your money in the stock market. :)
 * What are some of the real and/or virtual ‘identities’ you take on?
 * Real identities I take on are many and varied I guess. Sister, daughter, aunt, teacher, single, traveler, neighborhood association chair (reluctantly!), friend, food critic, blogger, reader, etc. I do have a couple of online identities as well. I write for a local food blog and I go by just my first name there, but on my twitter account, which many of the local foodies are on, I go by salemrebekah. I did make an avatar on Secondlife last term, and I used my other online persona, techbek. Actually, its just the name I assigned my avatar, so I can't really say its much of a persona right now. :)
 * What impact might James Paul Gee’s definition of ‘literacy’ have on your teaching?
 * His definition of literacy is much broader than most people use. I like it. I have always thought that there are so many different literacies. I have students who read years below grade level and can't seem to pass standardized tests, but can rebuild an engine, master a video game, and make their way through cyberspace with no problems whatsoever. Drawing on those other experiences can really enhance their ability to master reading.
 * What experiences have you had learning in new ‘semiotic domains’?
 * I recently jumped into the world of city politics. Wow. Small town politics are...crazy. There is a language that goes along with it, history, interpersonal relationships to navigate, and codes and ordinances to learn about. It's a bit daunting, actually. I'm finally getting to a place where I can actually hold my own and not feel lost at every meeting I attend.
 * Video games I experienced this week
 * Well, other than Rock Band, which I'll go into more in my report, I also played around with a couple games in class. I did NOT like the underwater game. I felt like it was too slow and too preachy. It kept trying to tell me what to do instead of just letting me do it. Usually I am a research type of person, and I like to know all about things before I get into them, but this was just too slow for me and bored me to death. I moved on to the history game set in early America and that was much, much better. In fact, I really wanted to try it and figure out how to get the money which the young character needed for his mother's rent so she didn't get evicted. I was very motivated to figure out the best way to do that. I think I just liked the interface better and there was interaction between people. I could choose my own path and pick what I was going to do next.

__**Week 2**__

How might virtual and projective identities be important in your teaching?
 * One projective identity that is important in my teaching is my identity as a blogger. I am actually a blogger in real life, but obviously it is an identity I mainly use online. In my classroom I use blogging as a way for students for practice real-world writing. I can use my own examples and blog along with the students as we all become bloggers for a little while each day.

Describe an experience you’ve had in teaching a student with a “damaged” identity.
 * Pretty much all of my students have damaged identities as students and readers. I teach remedial reading students aged 16-21 who read at a middle school level. Most of them come to me hating reading, and feel like complete failures in school because of their inability to be successful at reading. For the most damaged identities it can take up to 3 weeks to even get them to read "for real" instead of just turning the pages of the book. And during that time, I have to be very careful not to call them on their pretending to read strategy. Eventually, once I have their trust, I can guide them to a book which I think will interest them and they generally end up reading quite well eventually. Some of them even become voracious readers. The number one thing that makes me feel like my job is worth it, is when a student who started out "hating to read" can't put a book down, borrows books from me, and tells me they are getting teased at home for reading all the time! In fact, over Spring Break I was at the public library and ran into one of those former non-readers checking out books. Yes, checking out books on their own time!! That makes everything totally worth it. :)

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 my classroom even the word "reading" has a situated meaning. Most of my students come into my class reading at a middle school level, so they can definitely read. By no means are they illiterate, but in this case they need to improve their analytical reading skills. I talk about different types and uses of reading in order to help them understand that there are different levels of reading ability. Academic reading, which is what they will need to successfully finish school is different than reading a recipe or an instruction manual. We practice all different types of reading and practice analytical skills with the academic types of reading so that students can grasp the differences in the multiple reading styles.

Describe a recent learning experience that involved using the probe, hypothesize, re-probe, and rethink cycle.
 * Recently, I've been trying to re-design a blog and it takes quite a bit of knowledge that I actually don't have much experience in. I had to do a lot of what I call trial and error with the design, but that does fall into this category. I try out one idea, figure out how it might effect the look of the blog, try it a different way, and then often start all over with a different look. It is a lot of probe, thinking about how it will work, then trying again. I think it would fit that cycle quite well, actually.

Video games I experienced this week.
 * I played around with the two games in class this week in addition to one on a website about Colonial Williamsburg. I really liked the immediate feedback from the redistricting game. As soon as you moved a boundary, you could see the numbers change and that made me keep going to try to get to the best solution. The other game was a little slower, but I did sort of like the narrative quality of the game. I enjoy games where there is social interaction with other characters, I guess. Even though it is scripted, there was enough flexibility in the conversations that you knew there could be different outcomes depending on what you chose to say to the other character. The Colonial Williamsburg game was actually an interactive game where you were supposed to play the part of a historian trying to find out the real story of the first Thanksgiving. It was pretty well done and had lots of different options for getting information about the experiences of both the Native Americans and the Pilgrims.