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.