Double-Entry Journal #14

1. What was the most interesting idea you encountered as you read the chapter?

The most interesting idea that I encountered as I read the chapter was the discussion about success. I found it interesting that Gee believes that there are multiple definitions for the word success.  He believes that different students can succeed at different levels and that the measure of success is depended based on an individual and not on a group of students.

2. What connections can you make between Gee's critique and Sir Ken Robinsons' critique of traditional schooling?

The connections that I can make between Gee's critique and Sir Ken Robinsons' critique of traditional schooling is that they both believe that for students to succeed, they need creativity and innovative teaching methods. They both believe that traditional schooling is taking the creativity out of the school and simply teaching to the test. For schools to succeed, the creativity must be put back into the school systems.

3. How did this book change or support your understanding of good teaching?

This book has supported my understanding of good teaching by allowing me to use the student's interests to help them through the learning process. This book has supported my learning theory that student's learn best when they are given the opportunity to use personal experiences to help their understanding about a particular concept. 

Double-Entry Journal #13

1. Give an example of a "community of practice" in which you are currently participating in.

An example of a "community of practice" that i am currently participating in would be the education program. I am working towards becoming an educator and work along with my host teacher to complete the necessary tasks to become an educator. 

2.Why is the term "community" better defined in relation to spaces rather than groups of people?

 The term "community" is better defined in relation to spaces rather than groups of people because people are not always together within the same groups. Many people have different ideas, views, and perspectives. With that being said, people are not always going to be within the same community because they have different outlooks on different things.

3. What is a "generator"? What is it's counterpart in school?

A "generator" is described as the content. A generators counterpart within a school could be the content, or lesson plans, that the teacher uses.

4. What is a "content organizer"? What is it's counterpart in school?

A "content organizer" is the way that the content is organized within a lesson. A content organizer's counterpart within a school could be the CSO's or Skill Set Standards (Business Education) that teachers use to design their lesson plans.

5. What is a "portal"? What is it's counterpart in school?

A "portal" is anything that gives access to the material being taught. A portal's counterpart within a school is the textbook.

6. What do people have an "affinity" for in an "affinity space"? How does this inform your understanding of good teaching?

People have an "affinity" within an "affinity space" by the endeavor or interest around which the space is organized.” (Gee, 2004, p. 84). This informs my understanding of good teaching because it shows me that to become a good teacher, you must teacher to your students needs and interests instead of teaching strictly to the content.

7. How do "affinity spaces" support inclusive classrooms? Choose two characteristics below to make connections between "affinity spaces" and inclusive classrooms.

"Affinity spaces" support inclusive classrooms by all students are made to feel like they belong. No students are left out based on ability. The two characteristics that make connections between "affinity spaces" and inclusive classrooms are:

1. A Sense of Community - An inclusive school is a school where every child is respected as part of the school community, and where each child is encouraged to learn and achieve as much as possible. In order to achieve that sense of belonging for each child, many schools have found that fostering a sense of community is of primary importance.

 12. Flexible Scheduling - A major challenge is how to manage instructional time in the most efficient way, not only to teach the curriculum but also to build a sense of community. Each successful inclusive school devised various methods to increase flexibility to meet the diverse needs of the school population.

8. How are traditional classroom different from Affinity Spaces?

Traditional classrooms are different from Affinity Spaces because students within a traditional classroom are grouped together based on abilities and disabilities. However, in affinity spaces, students are all treated the same. 

Double Entry Journal #12

1. What is the main argument the author is making in Chapter 5.

The main argument that the author is making in Chapter 5 is that a connection between video games and learning is evident and that good games have the potential to be a huge factor in the progression of learning within schools. 

2. What constitutes a theory of learning?

The thing that best constitutes a theory of learning are patterns and principles.

3. Why did the author struggle to learn to play Warcraft III? What needs to proceed before good learning principles?

The author struggled to play Warcraft III because it was "too hard". To make a good game, it should not be too hard for a player to play that they can't even figure out the first few levels.

4. How would have the authors struggle with learning to play Warcraft III been interpreted in school? 

The authors struggle with learning to play Warcraft III would have been interpreted in school as a failure.

5. What kind of learning experience might be better suited for at risk students?

The learning that would best be suited for an at risk student would be a horizontal learning environment. This allows at-risk students to be in a motivational environment instead of a classroom that has made the material "easier".

6. Why does the school-based interpretation of "at risk" lead to bad learning?

The school-based interpretation of "at risk" leads to bad learning because the students are not learning at their full potential and are not engaged in challenging instruction.

7. What do schools need to do to function more like a good game?

For school's to function more like a good game, they will need to make school more motivating and engaging as video games do. When a student plays a video game, they are engaged and challenged to complete a task. Students need hands-on learning, not worksheets.

8. What is different about how good games and school assess learners?

The difference about how good games assess and how schools assess learners is that schools assess their learners based on cumulative and standardized testing. Good video games assess learners by allowing them to assess themselves based on things that they do and do not know.

9. What are the attributes of a  fish-tank tutorial that make it an effective learning tool? How is it different than school-based learning?

The attributes of a fish-tank tutorial that make it an effective learning tool is that they are an easier version of real-world events and environments. This is different from school-based learning because information and material is given in different varieties of learning through the fish-tank tutorial. 

10. What is a sand-box tutorial? Why is effective? How is it different that school-based learning?

The sand box tutorial allows a player to feel more free to explore what the game might be like. This allows the player to figure out what is occurring and make discoveries. This is effective because the player has an opportunity to figure out what is expected of them before continuing. This is different from school-based learning because schools only teach to the book and not to the students needs.

11. What is a genre? Why is it important for good learning?

A genre is the type of what something is. They are important for good learning because many different things are learned in different ways. Not everything can be taught in the same way as something else.

12. According to the author, what to learning and play having in common?

According to the author, learning and play should always be fun, motivating, and engaging to the student.

13. How are the skills test in good games different from skills tests in school?

Skills test in a good game is different from skills tests in school because skills tests in school are not developmental or evaluative.

14. How does RoN support collaborative learning?

RoN supports collaborative learning by creating a social space where people can communicate based on the same interests as others who share the same knowledge.

15. Match at least one learning principle of good games (on page 74) with each the following learning theorists you have studied in 3352:

Dewey: #17

Vygotsky: #12

Piaget: # 5

Gardner: #14

Bandura: #9

Skinner: #15

Double Entry Journal #11

1. What does the author mean when he says, "Learning doesn't work well when learners are forced to check their bodies at the school room door like guns in the old West."

When the author says "Learning doesn't work well when learners are forced to check their bodies at the school room door like guns in the old West", he means that students are not encouraged to learn by doing but that they are taught to learn by just listening. It is crucial for students to use real-world experiences and interactions with peers to advance their learning abilities. 

2. According to the author, what is the best way to acquire a large vocabulary?

According to the author, the best way to acquire a large vocabulary is to "have experienced the "worlds" to which these words refer." (Gee, 2004)

3. What gives a word a specific meaning?

There are many different ways that words are given specific meanings. Words can gain meaning within the context that it is used and also by the experience that an individual may have witnessed dealing with a specific word. Almost all words have different meanings to different people.

4. What does the term "off the hook" mean in each of these sentences?

a. My sister broke up with her fiance, so I'm off the hook for buying her a wedding present.
It means that she does not have to complete the task of buying a wedding present.

b. Them shoes are off the hook dog.
It means that the shoes are cool and hip.

c. Man that cat was fighting 6 people and he beat them all. Yo, it was "off the hook", you should have seen it!!
It means that the cat fight was crazy that the cat beat 6 people. 

5. According to the author what is the"work" of childhood? Do you agree?

According to the author, "work" of childhood is play. I agree and disagree with this statement. Play is key to childhood. However, children also need to have an understanding of when it is time to be serious and complete work.

6. Why is NOT reading the instruction for how to play a game before playing a game a wise decision?

By not reading the instruction to how to play a game before playing a game allows the player to

7. Does knowing the general or literal meaning of a word lead to strong reading skills?

Knowing the general or literal meaning of a word does not lead to strong reading skills. Just because a child can define a word, it does not mean that they understand the phonics of the word.

8. What does the author mean by the terms "identity" and "game". Give an example of 3 "identities" or "games" you play?

When the author describes the terms "identity" and "game" he means that a person's identity are the different roles that the person plays and game are the surroundings that help the person maintain their identity. An example of my identities would be a student, a child care worker, and a girlfriend. 

9. According to the author what is good learning?

According to the author, good learning is learning through experiences or real world issues.

10. How does understanding that being able to build a mental model and simulations of a real-word experience is closely tied  to comprehending written and oral language support of change the way you think children should learn in school?

By allowing students to create models and simulations of real-world experiences we, as teachers, are giving the students the opportunities to take their learning experiences to a whole new level. Students in today's world need the hands-on experience to be able to relate and understand the concept that they are trying to learn.

11. Why is peer to peer interaction so important for the language development of young children? How does knowing this support or change the way you think children should learn in school?

Peer to peer interaction is very important for the language development of young children. In my clinical class, the students are encouraged to ask their peers for help on something if they don't quite understand. In my Business Computer Applications I class, if the students don't completely understand a specific topic that we are covering, it is sometimes easier for them if a peer explains it to them. In many instances, peers use language that is understandable to other students. By knowing that students sometimes learn best from other students supports the way I think children should learn in school because it allows the students to become educators as well. They sometimes need a peer to explain it to help understand.

Fostering High Quality Formative Assessment

What is formative assessment?

Formative assessment is the feedback students receive—timely, specific, and task-focused—from teachers or other adults, peers, or through structured self-assessment, not the absence of grades, that makes formative assessment high-quality.

What is the CENTRAL purpose of formative assessment?

The central purpose of formative assessment is always putting student learning at the center.

Connect a best practice in formative assessment to one research-based strategy.

An example of connecting formative assessment with a research-based strategy would be providing feedback. To use formative assessment, the teacher could provide feedback to the students work or leave comments to allow the student to understand what needs changed or fixed.

Give an example of how a specific assessment can be used formatively and summatively.

An example of how a specific assessment can be used both formatively and summatively is the use of a rubric. The rubric allows student to know what is expected of them and lists criteria that needs to be included in the assignment (formative) and the rubric can be used summatively to assign a grade to the project.

Give an example from your field placement related to formative assessment and timing.

An example from my field placement that is related to formative assessment is step-by-step projects. In Business Computer Applications I, the students work on step-by-step projects. The instructions clearly describe how the project should be completed and the students know exactly what is expected from them.

What are some strategies to help formative assessment be more effective when providing students with feedback?

Some strategies that help formative assessment be more effective when providing students with feedback include:

• Emphasize the quality rather than the quantity of student work
• Prize giving advice and guidance over giving grades 
• Avoid comparing students in favor of enabling individual students to assess their own learning
• Foster dialogues that explore understandings rather than lectures that present information
• Encourage multiple iterations of an assessment cycle, each focused on a few issues
• Provide feedback that engenders motivation and leads to improvement

Name two advantages to high quality formative assessment.

Two advantages to high quality formative assessment are helping teachers identify students who are struggling with particular tasks or operating under misconceptions and fosters student motivation, on-task behavior, and self- awareness.

 

What are some challenges to implementing high quality formative assessment?

Some challenges to implementing high quality formative assessment are distinguishing between high-quality formative assessment and assessment that is under-conceptualized or not fully developed and developing mechanisms of support for teachers who employ high-quality formative assessment in their classrooms.

Double Entry Journal #10

1. What are the features of the forms of language that are spoken in a home environment that align with academic varieties of language?

Some of the features of language spoken at home that are similar to academic language are:

• Turning an everyday event into a literary story. (Announcing the beginning and ending of the story and an overview of what the story would be about)
• Adopting a frame that mimics a story book reading. (You can read aloud in your story book, etc.)
• Offering a title for the story. ("How the friends got unfriend.")
• Using syntactic structures that are typical of literary books. (Once upon a time)
• Using a lot of literary sorts of repetition and parallelism. (Boys play transformers, girls play with Cabbage Patches and "punching, pulling, banging)
• Using sympathetic fallacy. (Fight between the boys and girls is followed by the dark sky)

2. What are the features of Leona's specialized form of language?

Some of the features of Leona's specialized form of language are the use of vernacular language. She grouped her lines of her story into stanzas where each line had a parallel structure with other lines in the stanza and o match them in content. She also used complex parallelism, repetition, clear structure, generic summary statements, and evaluation.

3. Why is Leona's specialized form of language not accepted in school?

Leona's specialized form of language is not accepted in schools because this form of language is not what many teachers are used to listening to. Many teachers are only concerned with listening to the language that they are expecting and used to listening to. They do not realize that the form of language that Leona is using is a form of language that many students at this age don't even understand. 

4. Explain the contradiction between the research conducted by Snow et al. (1998) and the recommendations made by Snow et al. (1998).

The research that was conducted by Snow et al. (1998) says that they gap between the blacks and whites in reading test scores was beginning to close significantly between the 1960s and 1980s. However, the recommendations made by Snow et al. (1998) suggests that the improvement of reading test scores was higher than the phonemic awareness training.

5. What other factors besides early skills training will make or break good readers?

The other factors that will make or break good readers other than the early skills training include engaging and exciting forms of language. Many students become poor readers because the types of literacy that students are made to read are not engaging to the students. Students need to be able to relate to the material that they are reading.

6. Why do some children fail to identify with, or find alienating, the "ways with words" taught in school?

Many students struggle to identify the ways with words taught within the schools because this language is much different than the language they are used to hearing within their homes. Students listen and gain literary knowledge within their homes at young ages. Once they begin school, the language completely changes and they begin to feel alienated and singled out.

Student Interviews

When I began interviewing the two students that I chose, I realized that they had more in common than I had realized. Both students were very involved in athletics. I was also shocked by some of the answers that the students gave for the questions. The struggling student showed me that he excels in almost every class that he has been in. However, he sometimes struggles in the class that I observe. He informed me that he is not a very good at typing on the computer and that is what they majority of the assignments within this class contain. I really enjoyed interviewing and getting to know these students a little better.

• Do you enjoy school?

HP: I usually enjoy coming to school but, sometimes I'm tired and don't want to come.
SS: No. The teachers are too strict and assign too much homework.

• What kind of student are you?

HP: I would say that I am a loyal and honest student.
SS: I am usually the class clown and I like to goof off during class. 

• What do for fun outside of school?

HP: I usually hang out with my friends or play sports.
SS: After school, I go to practice or go to one of my friends' house to hang out. 

• How would your classmates describe you?

HP: I think my classmates would describe me as being outgoing and fun to be around.
SS: My friends would probably describe me as being annoying. I never shut up and I get on their nerves.

• What do you and your friends do together?

HP: Go to the movies, go shopping, or play sports.
SS: Play sports.

• Tell me a good memory you have about school? 

HP: I don't have many good memories about school. Well, I guess when one of my teachers let us take our                  shoes off and relax one day would be a good memory.
SS: A good memory that I have had during school was when I got a 100% on an Algebra Test.

• Tell me a bad memory you have about school?

HP: A bad memory that I have about school was when I was in middle school and I had a bottom locker. One              day I bent down to get something out of my locker and my jeans ripped. I was very embarrassed. Another              bad memory that I have is when I was taking the West Test and was sick and threw up all over the test.
SS: During my freshman year, I stayed up until 3:30 a.m. working on an extra credit assignment that my teacher          didn't even grade.

• Describe a "good" teacher or tell me about a favorite teacher you had in the past.

HP: A good teacher to me would be a teacher who likes to joke around but, can also be serious when needed.
SS: I like teachers who have a sense of humor and like o have fun. I also like teachers who are organized and            have all of their work finished on time.

• Would you consider your learning experience throughout high school as being motivational and engaging? If not, how could it be more engaging and exciting?

HP: No. I wish teachers would make their lessons more hands-on.
SS: Yes.