Alison B

2007-05-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

Looking back at all the readings and writing I have done over the semester I have come to realize I have learned many new things about teaching literacy. I learned a great deal from Gee's book and the multimedia project about how to teach literacy in different ways. Knowing the different multi modal aspects may help a student with literacy and have them form strong affinity groups with others for community support. From the articles about teaching writing and the memorandum project, I have learned much about how to view literacy in a different light, and how to teach it to various types of students. I really found the information on socialization while reading and writing to be of particular interest. I do believe allowing for discourse is something a lot of teachers are afraid of because they feel students may get off task, yet I feel discussing concepts with others is a great way for thinking up new ideas. I also liked the information on allowing for student choice and letting students reflects on their social literacies so the writing makes sense to who they are as a person. From Harvey's book and our writing sequence I have come to learn some interesting pieces of information about how to use reading materials to solidify a writing assignment. I really found the information on highlighting texts and having anchor texts to be useful.
Personally, as a learner myself I have really broadened my knowledge on how to teach literacy in the classroom. I really did know what approach towards reading and writing to take prior to this class; however, after all these resources I have great background in literacy theories and research, which I definitely will use in my future classroom. A huge thing I learned about literacy is it is not something that only high school students use when writing huge research papers or reading novels, but that all of this research can be used in any grade and will really help even a first grade with novel aspects of literacy. As a reader I feel I read much more for content rather than to just get through the reading. Because I found so much of the readings useful if makes me want to be a better reader and thoroughly read from now on. As a writer, I feel like I can write much stronger pieces because I know how to use reading as foundation and the handbook with be something I keep forever for a great tool. The major idea I want to remember and use when I am a teacher is the idea of making writing relevant to the students show them that writing is not just a 5 paragraph essay, but has many different genres and that it can be a great outlet for creativity and expression. although, I really want to implement all the aspects I discussed above through out my reading and writing curriculum. Overall, I found this class to be extremely useful for my future teaching career. I have learned so many new things about how to teach literacy and how to become an effective teacher in this domain. I truly found this class to have opened my eyes on how to be a better teacher of literacy.

Reflecting on the Memorandum

2007-04-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

Learning how to construct a proper memorandum was something I thought was going to be incredibly challenging and unuseful; However, after writing this paper I feel exactly the opposite. After Professor Kittle described exactly what was expected for this project I felt a ton of weight lifted off my shoulders. I felt the initial handout explanation was confusing, yet the Professor made it much clearer. When I sat down and began this project I found it to run very smoothly. Having read four of the articles used as discussion in this paper I felt like I had great background knowledge in this topic. Not to mention hearing about the other twelve articles from members of our inquiry groups. I think reading the articles in advance and critically analyzing them for salient points really helped when trying to write the discussion segments of this assignment. The three section introduction was the most difficult for me, but was manageable thanks to Professor Kittle's "tips" on the handout. Overall, I think this assignment was very useful for a couple of reasons. First, I feel it was great to have us read informative journal articles about effective teaching, since we are all future teachers. Secondly, incorporating this into an assignment that could be something that we actually might need to construct when we are teachers is useful. I had never previously seen a memorandum, nor know the structure or process of one. Learning how to write this academic paper will really help me if I am instructed to do so in my future career. All in all, this assignment outwardly appearing quite daunting, yet proved to be very useful and informative.

Importance of Correctness

2007-04-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

After reading from the book, Rules of Thumb, I have come to answer many questions I have had about correctness. Right away I found a quote to be very interesting, "don't let the fear of errors dominate the experience of writing...(yet) basic errors in writing will distract and turn off even the most determined reader". I found this statement to be of interest because I have let the fear of making errors in grammar, punctuation, etc. take over when I am writing and then I get so stuck I can't move on. I eventually get so frustrated I don't even know where to begin. However, some new tips and tricks on how to remember correct use of punctuation, grammar, and spelling has already reduced some of my anxiety. The most puzzling question I have had, and even discussed with peers with no help in finding an answer, is when you stop writing the number in written form and when you begin to just write it in numeric. I finally found an answer from this book; although, the rule for this changes from professor to professor, the idea of switching to numeric form once you have three or more words is a big help to me. Another issue of correctness that I have over came thanks to this new book is the spelling of some "tricky words". I am world's worst speller and in this book it has a list of "tricky words" and the word "definitely" is on that list. I was almost relieved to see this, because I always misspell that word, I always write "definately" and my spell check always picks it up and I end up feeling like a dumb little kid who never learned how to spell correctly; however, after seeing it classified as a "tricky word" I felt a bit relieved. On a different note, when I was reading over how to use "me or I" I felt a lot better. I always remember the trick, "if you can take away the other name and it sounds correct then you have used to right one" and I always do that and so far have had no problem with that. A final interesting comment about correctness I have is about when to use commas. I think I have been taught the proper way to use a comma about a million times, yet I never can remember; however, having this very handy book will greatly relieve some stress on that topic. Overall, I truly found this book, Rules of Thumb, to be a huge help. I am definitely keeping this a great tool for writing!

Reflecting on Readings About Literacy

2007-04-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

Thinking about the various articles I have been reading about literacy and teaching writing in the classroom has brought up some ideas. I have read three different journal articles so far and two of them have been written by actual teachers themselves. I really enjoyed these two articles the most. I think giving examples from experience in the classroom makes the information presented much more significant to me as a future teacher. The articles I have read mainly talk about the idea of giving students topics to write about that are relevant to them, that pertain to their lives so they want to write and do not view it as something that is horrible. The idea of discussing topic ideas in groups prior to writing has also been a topic of interest in the articles. I definitely agree with this notion that having discourse about what is important to the students or something they feel they can elaborate on is a great step towards developing creative and intellectual writers. Discussing with students that not all writing is boring topics that must be done for a test, but that writing can be a way to vent feelings or ideas on may have is an idea I will definitely use in my future classroom. The authors new ways of teaching literacy helped make their students want to write outside of the classroom, which is something I hope to create in my students. I think reading and writing instruction in classrooms today needs to be looked at differently, and I think these ideas presented in the articles are great ideas for how the change can occur. The various ideas the authors suggest to create better writers are definitely useful and will be tools I remember and use when I teach literacy in the classroom.

Behind the Scenes of Cat Caregiving

2007-03-08T11:20:00.000-08:00

Well I am finally all done with my multimedia project. My topic was learning something new: cat care giving. Initially I went through all my pictures of my two cats and compiled them. I then sat down and tried writing my narrative. I must admit this was more tough than I imagined it to be. I wanted to start off with something catchy and that's when I remembered an Oprah special she claimed she had a secret, that she was a mom. It caught my attention because I didn't know Oprah had kids, but when you actually watched the episode you realize she is a mom to her dog Sophie. So I thought that was great catchy beginning and I adapted that for my introduction. It was fairly easy to come up with the basic background of how I came to be a mom and so I wrote that first because I felt audiences need to know where my story started before I talked about my learning experience. I then came to the tricky part of telling my story of my learning experience of raising two male cats. I wanted it to be fun and entertaining, yet show that it is a learning experience, although informal. I also wanted to use some of Gee's terms because I felt they could explain some of my aspects of my project well. Once the narrative was complete I went back through it and made various changes so it was well balanced with interesting topics and learning experiences. The next thing was to record my voice so I set up a gabcast account and recorded my voice. however, I could never figure out how to download the audio to my computer so I ended up going to BestBuy and purchasing a microphone. I must have spent three hours at least trying to save it to my computer from gabcast, but never ended up being able to. Once the narration was record I had the task of timing my narrative with my pictures. This took me days. I had to search for more pictures and I knew I wanted to add fun clip art to help tell my story. I then tried searching on podcast for songs and like Mr. Kittle I spent over an hour listening to various songs. With no luck I decided no music for me. This project was fun, but definitely a labor of love. I strategically chose certain Gee topics to use in my project that didn't sound too technical so that if other people who have not read his book would understand his principles through my project. I hope it works! Well after listening to all that has gone into my multimedia project I hope it explains the purpose of why I used different things in my work and how it all came together. When I watch my video I see all the hours I spent rerecording my voice so my tone in synced with my pictures, or how the pictures are specially ordered and transition at certain places in my narrative, or how I specifically chose certain vocabulary from Gee to work in my project. In the end, I feel like this project turned out well and I am proud of all my dedicated work I put into the finished product. I just hope others now understand what this project truly entails.

Reflecting on Digital Document

2007-02-26T22:04:00.000-08:00

After working out some of the basic details of my digital document I have really begun to get a handle on this project. I must admit when first given this assignment I was skeptical in thinking if I could handle to what seemed like a momentous task; However, after finding out how to work with Windows Movie Maker and how to upload pictures, audio, and video I am much less hesitant. I have now to begun to actually enjoy this movie making process. Writing the narrative portion of my digital document have proven to be a bit time consuming, but after I complete a thought I record it and piece all the digital "fun" stuff together to coincide with my audio message. So far I have a great start on my narrative and have the beginning of my media section synced together. However, I must admit I still have a great deal of work to do before I would consider it a masterpiece. Hopefully, Professor Kittle will remember that flexibility is key and take into consideration our efforts and push back his final due date. Overall, I feel this project has been very informative and is a great way to apply Gee's learning concepts into a fun multimedia or as he would say "multimodal" learning opportunity. I hope my finished product comes out as planned. So far, so good!

Cultural Models, Learning, and Action

2007-02-14T22:29:00.000-08:00

After reading chapter six in Gee I have learned a lot about his ideas about video games and cultural models. I find it very interesting when Gee discusses how "video games are just as easy to design to allow you to play a sinner as a saint" (141). The idea that when you play video games you are taking on different roles and have to live life through out the game in these various cultural models. Some games allow you to choose if you want to be on the "dark side" or the "good side" and you get to experience the game from two perspectives. I think this point Gee makes is a good one. Children should get a chance to experience school from various perspectives and when doings so they get a chance to appreciate the opposite side of things and understand different viewpoints better. Getting to experience different cultural models is important because you then get a chance to find out about what others consider to be "typical" and realize that "different cultural models are associated with different groups in the larger society, though some are also shared widely by many". After Gee's discussion about cultural models in video games, I find his statements about cultural models in school to also be of interest. I think that it is interesting to learn his idea that children "adopt different models of content of learning in school" and that some may be right or wrong and teachers need to be aware of this and students need to think about why they have these different views. This is what Gee says good video games do, they "have a way of making players consciously aware of some of their previously assumed cultural models about learning itself" (162). That struck me to very interesting because I think that is so important for children to think about when they come into a classroom already assuming things that may deter or attract them from wanting to learn, maybe they need to rethink their cultural models for some of their learning cultural models and give new ones a chance in order to give learning a fair chance.

Situated Meaning and Learning

2007-02-07T22:17:00.000-08:00

After reading chapter four in Gee I have really started to think a bit deeper about the concept of situated meaning and learning. I must admit it is difficult to understand some of the concepts and ideas Gee discusses in his book, but after you read over them a few times and figure out the important terminology it makes the chapters much easier to comprehend. This chapter was especially interesting to me because I believe in what Gee states. I find it interesting when Gee claims that learning should be when "people actually know what they are doing in a domain and can do more than mindlessly repeat words and other symbols that they cannot situate inside any real practice" (pg. 84). For me this sentence really explained what he means by situated learning, that students often learn words and symbols out of context and therefore have know idea what they mean in a real situation, nor how to use them in such situations. I really like Gee's statement about students learning; Gee writes, "students would have only general and/or verbal meanings, not embodied ones that they can customize to and for different situations of actual practice" (pg 86). I think this point made by Gee is very important and valid. Today students may learn a lot of "general" knowledge, but can not apply it to various situations, therefore making the knowledge almost useless. I find his connections between video games and learning to also be interesting because I can see what he is trying to get across. Video games encourage situated learning, and our school classrooms usually do not. Making our classroom curriculum incorporate situated learning would greatly enhance student learning and desire and motivation towards education. Another part of this chapter which I found very intriguing is when Gee discusses how he often gives lectures about video games to teachers and he gives them the manual and asks them how much they understand and the teachers are irritated because "they have no experience in which to situate the words and phrases of the texts" (pg. 102). Gee then states this is how students often feel in a classroom setting, which I completely agree with. Overall, I think this chapter on situated learning makes a lot of sense when it comes to trying to understand why students are so disconnected with their learning and why the actual concepts seem so confusing. Taking some pointers from Gee's video games analysis may actually do some good for us future teachers, because I definitely feel students have a tough time with learning information that is taken so far out of context that when placed in a situation that uses the information a student has no idea how to use their knowledge. I relate Gee's "situated learning" to the idea of hands on learning, which I have learned about in past psychology classes. Becoming engaged in your learning makes is more appealing and meaningful, therefore you gain much more out of the experience rather than just memorization skills for a test or something. Understanding this new concept of situated learning is truly a useful notion.

Video Games

2007-01-31T21:03:00.000-08:00

After reading the first chapter of Gee, I started to really think about the idea of video games and education. I have always wondered how people can play video games for hours on end and get so into them, when they truly seem so confusing and complicated. I know so many people who play video games and get very dedicated to them, even when they do require lots of time and work to get through. Although, I knew that video games were challenging prior to this reading, I never really thought much of the idea of looking at them as a learning tool for students. However, after thinking about video games in a different light, I have become quite interested in this point of view. I definitely agree that we need to make education in our schools as attention grabbing and motivating as video games and can actually learn a lot from them in terms of how to do so. Video games are fast paced, challenging, involve imagery and technology, fantasy, and motivation. These are all characteristics that we need to think about when designing curriculum for our future students. During this day in age students are definitely interested in these way of learning, much more than the traditional pen and pencil writing assignment or math problem. Knowing what modern students are interested in and how to use that information as a beneficial teaching tool would definitely be something worth while for teachers to look into. I hope in the future chapters of the book Gee gives some examples of how we as future teachers can incorporate some of the video games appeal to our curriculum to get our students more involved with their learning, and have fun while doing so!

Learning about racing

2007-01-24T18:46:00.000-08:00

I am currently in the process of learning about racing. This may seem weird because I am not at all into sports, let alone into getting dirty or working on cars. However, I have been with my boyfriend for a little over three years now and he has been racing cars since he was eight years old. When I initially began dating him, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when it comes to this hobby of his. ( I mean that in a good way) I have never seen a person more dedicated to something like this before. He has now begun to race a much larger car called a sprint car and therefore I have begun to learn about racing. I have now been going to the race track almost every Friday night for the past three years where I have gotten to see first hand what this sport is really all about. I have learned about what it takes to maintain a sprint car, including the maintenance of the engine, the tires, the frame, the paint, and all the parts in between. I have also learned what a great deal of time and energy it takes to obtain sponsorships to fund his racing hobby. Overall, I have been pleasantly surprised at how much fun it can be to learn about racing. I normally would not consider myself to ever be interested in a hobby such as this, but I am glad that I am and truly have learned a great deal from being involved in with racing. Overall, I feel that I have gained some interesting knowledge about the sport of racing, but also about what it truly means to have a passion for something and my boyfriend definitely has demonstrated his passion for racing.

My First Posting

2007-01-23T12:03:00.000-08:00

This is my first posting in a blog.