Double Entry Journal 13

Community is better defined in relationship to spaces because it does not label people, but if defined in spaces you can break that down even farther to see what different people are doing in the space given. A generator is whatever it is that gives space a content, a generator in school could be a textbook. The content organizer is how the content is designed, using the textbook example, a content organizer in a school setting would be how the author of the textbook organized the content in the book. A portal is anything that gives access to the content and this could be the teacher in a school setting. According to the author people have an "affinity" for "the endeavor or interest around which the space is organized" or what the space is organized for rather than the people that are also in the space. This shows me that the true focus of "affinity spaces" are the content rather than the people. Affinity spaces, like inclusive classrooms, give people a sense of community because while the most important part of the space is not the other people, the sense of having things in common among one another gives a sense of community. Affinity spaces also lead to a common vision for people in the space. In the example in the book all the people shared a vision of making the AoM website helpful and informative.

Double Entry Journal 12

The main argument the author makes in chapter 5 is that video games incorporate good learning principles. The author also argues that video games do better with the learning principles than current schools. The author struggled to learn to play Warcraft III because the game did not motivate him to take the time necessary to learn the game. He states that before learning principles the game has to motivate you for an extended engagement. He also notes that in a school setting his experience with Warcraft III would have been simply seen as a failure. One learning experience that is good for "at risk" students is what the author calls horizontal learning which allows students to get their feet wet and when ready move into vertical learning. The author states that the schools view on "at risk" learning is to dumb down the curriculum to try to help, where instead it could be looked at as a learning experience to help them in the future. If schools could create the motivation for extended engagement like a game can, then learning would increase. When it comes to assessing in schools it is often looked at as you pass or fail while in games you are assessed and put in the proper skill level where it will be just challenging enough.The fish tank is when a game, RoN in this case, first begins by providing the player with choice from the beginning and no matter what choice you make it allows you to learn the basic skills to start playing the game and learning from playing. A sand box tutorial is one that is supervised but the environment is there for you to explore but the environment does not need to be as clean and planned as that of a fish tank. A genre is a certain type of something, for instance if I say I am playing a video game I could be playing a number of different types of games and Genre is used to classify each game. The skills tests in games are used as a development tool which ,according to the author,usually is not the case in school. RoN allows collaboration learning by allowing players of the game to engage in competition and you learn from those who have beaten you, and you can see the strategies they used compared to your own and simply learn from the experience.

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment is assessment for learning rather than assessment of learning. The central purpose is to help teachers effectively respond to students learning needs. In formative assessment it is important that we, as teachers, provide our students with feedback that will give students clear suggestions about what can be improved. As stated in the article these assessments can be used in a few different ways, "For example, a rubric that lists criteria for evaluating writing can be used formatively to help students understand.what is expected and summatively to assign a grade." One strategy to help formative assessment be more effective is to stress the quality of the students work rather than focusing on the amount they have done. Some advantages of formative assessment is that it allows teachers to identify students who are struggle and make the proper changes to help and it also, for students, increases both confidence and the feeling of control. Challenges in implementing Formative assessment arise when it becomes hard to distinguish between high quality formative assessment and assessment that is not fully developed.

Double Entry Journal 11

In the statement "Learning doesn't work well when learners are forced to check their bodies at the school room door like guns in the old West." the author states that learning as a cultural process involves the bodies and we learn better when we have experiences that facilitate learning, not just memorizing words. The author states the best way to acquire a large vocabulary is by experiencing the worlds in which words refer to. A word gains a specific meaning by the word it is used in. One example of this from the book is when the author talks about power ups in games. While power ups have a general what a power up truly is, differs from game to game. So what gives power up a specific meaning is the game you are playing. Off the hook has different meanings in these three sentences. My sister broke up with her fiance, so I'm off the hook for buying her a wedding present. Them shoes are off the hook dog. Man that cat was fighting 6 people and he beat them all. Yo, it was "off the hook", you should have seen it!! In the first one it means no longer required to, in the second it means cool or really nice, and in the third it means amazing or awesome. The author states that the work of childhood is play and I tend to agree with him because play is extremely important to children and is helpful to their growing. Not reading the instruction before playing a game is a wise decision because unless you have played the game it will be hard to understand the ways with words used in the instruction manual. The author argues that knowing words at the general or the literal meaning is "useless" and that you need to know the specific meaning. The author states that good learning is learning in which we learn by the cultural process and make a personal connection to. Peer to peer interaction is important because in those situation many words gain the specific meaning referred to earlier. In my experiences I have been lucky enough to see some great group work and I truly believe that the students can learn a lot from time with their peers but it also has to be done a certain way for it to be a good learning experience. 

Double Entry Journal #10

The main concern when looking at early literacy development are social practices. These social practices are written and oral forms of language when around other people. Leona's specialized form of language features groups of lines which she puts in stanzas. Each line tends to have a parallel structure with other lines in the stanza and matches them in content. Leona's specialized form of language because it does not sound like an early prototype of academic language to teachers even though she uses a complex structure and has learned meaningful language skills. the Snow et al (1998) contradicts itself by stating that we need to improve children in poor areas initial reading skill and then showing that regardless of initial reading level they fall further behind. Some factors that make or break good readers are factor such as racism and power. Some students may dis identify with the teacher based on these will make the learning environment non productive for the students. Some children have a hard time identifying with the "ways with words" in schools because they find other specialized languages more interesting and focus on those.

Double Entry #9

The author states that the strange fact is the majority of students who have trouble with reading come from poor families or minorities and have faced oppression and prejudice. This fact is strange because being in a particular social group or being poor should not have an affect on ones ability to read. School separates students into different groups, the author calls those who enjoy and excel in school the "school club". Traditionalists advocate a skill based approach while more progressive educators focus on meaning making. According to the author reading is not a natural process like learning to speak. A natural process is something that just happens such as learning ones language. An instructed process is something we must learn through skill based approaches such as learning physics. A cultural process is one that a culture values so much that they ensure that everyone who needs to learns it, reading should be considered a cultural process according the author. Humans learn best through cultural processes but reading is taught in schools using the instructed process. The author attributes the "fourth grade slump"to the fact that the students can not read for understanding but can read in the sense of decoding. A better predictor of reading success is language ability. The parents of the child are not to blame because it is more than that. According to the author reading is a cultural process and as a cultural we need to make sure all of us can read. I struggled at certain parts of the chapter and I would say it was due to my unfamiliarity with the specialized language used throughout the chapter. 

Double Entry Journal 8

In Situated Language and Learning, by James Gee, the main challenge being addressed is the tension that everyone faces when dealing with "academic jargon". The author talks about "ways with words" which are the different types of words and structure that we use. One "ways with words" is academic while another is a students out of school language. The author states that the core argument of the book is that people learn new ways with words only when they  find the worlds in which these words apply compelling. I am into video games so one variety of language I have learned outside school is one that I learned through video games. The best way to learn a specialized language according to the author is when we are interested in the world that these "ways with words" are associated with. To be successful in the 21st century we must be "shape-shifting portfolio people" or people with different kinds of experiences that are able to adapt. I do agree with the author, while academic language is still important but in today's society you also need to know many other specialized languages. Many types of language are out in the world and if you don't learn these types you will be unable to communicate with other. Any job you get usually has a specialized language that is not academic language and in order to do the job you must know the language. After only reading the Intro I am still not sure what I personally think of the authors "way with words" but he does a good job of switching between academic language and language everyone could understand.