Say It Aint So Joe!

Wrap-Up

2007-05-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

I found the majority of the assignments we had this semester to be helpful in determining how I might do things in my own classroom some day. The digital learning assignment was definitely a new approach to an assignment that could be very generic and unoriginal. I had fun doing this assignment, had it been in the form of a paper, I think that it would have been dry and not very personal. I think everyone had a creative way of approaching this assignment. While we probably should have spent less time on it so we could have got on with the rest of the semester, I did feel like it connected with James Gee's book. I felt like the Gee book was dry and hard to get through, especially for those of us who are not into video games. However, I give credit to Gee for coming up with an original concept to present the ways that children learn.
The memorandum assignment was very helpful as it demonstrated the type of paper work we'll have to deal with as teachers. Of course it was tedious, but I was delighted to be working on an assignment that actually applied to the work I will be doing some day.This also the case for the writing assignment sequence project. The sequence project was interesting because it was the first time in my college career that I was actually exposed to lesson-plan making. I wish I had more of that training, but this project was definitely helpful in establishing that for me. Harvey's book, Nonfiction Matters, also was a helpful source in finding appropriate projects for the students. I was happy that she included real-life examples to help us understand her assignments. I always felt that non-fiction was much harder to teach, but I've taken enough from this assignment that my opinion has changed slightly.
The wiki project and the articles were also helpful in figuring out the best ways to approach teaching children. It was also interesting hearing other people's responses to the articles to hear different takes on the same material. The blog entries were also helpful tools for reflection and collaboration.
Overall, I feel like this class provided the most real-life examples of the profession that we all are planning on entering into out of all of the other college courses I have taken thus far and I am grateful for that experience.

Memorandum Reflection

2007-04-23T22:06:00.000-07:00

Overall, I think that the memorandum assignment was very beneficial for all of us in this class. Despite the fact that the majority of my peers are going for jobs as elementary school teachers and I'm going for a secondary school position, I think this project covered both ends of the spectrum. It set up a basis for arguing our points and for reccomending new cirriculum. It was also effective in tying in the article assignements that we have been working on. These two projects provided me with a wealth of new knowledge on how to approach obstacles as an educator. The individual reccommendations in the memorandum were probably the most helpful. I was able to sum up my argument first so I knew where I was headed and then go back and give it supporting evidence. Usually, I work from introduction to conclusion but working backward in this case, was very helpful. This project familiarized me with the structure and the vocabulary that is essential in this field.

Correctness

2007-04-11T23:15:00.000-07:00

Grammar is essential to writing. It is one thing to be able to write out your thoughts but it is a completely different thing to get people to actually understand what you are writing. Fragments, improperly used words and poor punctuation can all hurt your arguments. Often these problems impede on the reader's learning of the subject matter. If they don't understand what you're saying because of all the grammatical errors, you are never going to get people to understand your thought process. Poor grammar can also reflect poorly on the author's credibility.

There are a variety of words such accept and except that sound similiar and to make it worse, spell check ignores improper uses of these words most of the time. The difference of these words can change the meaning of an entire sentence and therefore alter your argument.

Relating Articles.

2007-04-09T17:02:00.001-07:00

Overall, I think that the articles that we all read demonstrated that the first principle of getting student to write is to make them interested in what they're writing. Gone are the techniques of the past that encouraged students to do a watch and repeat method. By incorporating their own experiences, students are able to get past the difficulties of understanding the subject matter and are just able to learn how to write. I think all of the articles encouraged a one-step-at-a-time method. Basically, let's get these students writing but let's start with something they understand. Learning how to read more effectively comes along with learning how to write. Writers pick up new vocabulary, new methods of approaching ideas, and figure out how to put it all together so it makes sense. All of these articles presented the fact that writing and reading abilities are conjoined in a way. A student who knows how to write effectively can probably pick up reading material outside of their own lives easier.

Another main concept that has come up over and over again is the fact that students that are struggling with English are not going to suddenly become geniuses at it over night. They need positive reinforcement and need to be given assignments that they can do. ESL students will pick up more if they understand how things relate to their lives.

Finally, reading and writing instruction needs to change with the times, as all other things do. Teaching for the soul purpose of getting students to do well on standardized tests is helping no one.

Relating Articles.

2007-04-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

Extra Credit

2007-03-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

This is Joe's roommate, Hillary. I watched his movie for class about mixing drinks. It was very creative and funny. I just wish he hadn't put a picture of me in it!

Digital Project

2007-02-26T23:01:00.000-08:00

I'm not yet finished with my digital learning project. However, I've made progress in understanding the movie maker program and have signed up to the website that Kittle discussed in class to find music. So far that site is not working for me.

I had a hard time determining what topic to use for this assignment. I wanted it to be interesting and engaging so I ruled out learning how to budget and learning how to scrapbook. Plus I was dreading the comparision to an old woman on the latter idea. Finally I just decided to choose the topic I started out with, which was mixing drinks.

I've found this project to be quite frustrating at times. I've questioned its worth as well. However, overall I'm finding that it is interesting and that it is helping to improve my computer skills. I still need to overcome my shyness and my unwillingness to want to speak on film however. Tomorrow I will be playing around gabcast and working on what I'm going to say while the pictures and videos are running. This project has however helped me find a wealth of sources online for future projects. These sources include gabcast (since I don't have a microphone) and the music site (if I can get it to work properly).

Situated Learning

2007-02-08T00:56:00.000-08:00

I agree with Gee that situated learning is an essential practice for anyone that wants to remember what they've learned or apply what they've learned to their own lives. I think for the most part, people tend to apply everything going on in their lives back to something that has already occurred to them or something they've already learned. The traditional method of learning where students are just required to spew out facts they've memorized on to tests is outdated and with the practice of inquiry becoming popular, it is already starting to disappear. However, with tests like the CBEST and SATs still being required, this method of cramming will most likely always exist.

I see how video games like Deus Ex help kids apply material back to their own lives. However, this information they're taking in and applying back to their lives is basically useless information. Gee talks about cheat codes and fighting techniques in this chapter quite a bit and how learning this information is a form of situated learning. I agree that it is but I still think this information is useless other than for entertainment purposes. Basically video games are a good example of how situated learning works but that doesn't mean there aren't better methods out there to teach kids how to learn this way.

Video Games

2007-01-31T22:13:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be writing about so I'm just going to write about what I've read so far.

So far I agree with most of Gee's claims-
1. Video games need to be challenging to keep players interested but not so hard that they can't understand it.
2. "Visual literacy" is important in understanding concepts where both pictures and words work together. (However, I don't think video games are the only source for this learning, in fact there are far superior ways of achieving this, but that's just my opinion).
3. Video games are confusing to older generations because the modern technology presents new challenges and ways of learning that were not accessible to them in their younger years.

However, I'm still not convinced that video games have much to teach kids, but I will give this book time as I'm only on chapter 2.

Learning Something New

2007-01-24T21:37:00.000-08:00

Recently, I've started to learn how to mix my own drinks. It is much cheaper than going out to bars every time my friends want to get together and since I'm a college student, I am frequently low on cash. A few years ago, I started learning how to mix drinks when I was hired as a bartender at my friend's parents' 4th of July party. It was my first experience with making drinks, so I had to frequently look up requested drinks in a handbook my friend's parents gave me. More recently, my friend's excellent pina colodas inspired me to learn how to make them as well. I'm not very useful in the kitchen so this experience is actually making more interested in cooking and baking for myself as well.The pina coloda experience allowed me to become familiar with a blender, something I've never used in the past. Overall this learning experience has been helpful as it has saved me money, made me more interested in cooking, and I've learned how to make some delicious pina colodas.

Amber

2007-01-23T12:02:00.000-08:00

is pretty awesome