Memorandum

I thought writing this memorandum was rather ironic. Here I was telling a pseudo principal how it is important for children to understand the genre in which they will be writing in order to produce quality work, all the while not understanding the genre I was, myself, writing in! I felt, however, that I gained a great appreciation for writing skills instruction in researching various methods currently implemented and theories about future methods. I don't know if I did the assignment correctly, style wise, but I do feel that I was able to really think about the writing process in a different way. I liked how the reading was divided up and that we could access our groups annotated bibliographies as references for our own readings. It made this assignment easier to tackle and understand. I think in the future it would be advantageous for P Kittle to spend a little class time going over the dynamics, styles, rules, etc of a memorandum. I felt not knowing the genre really hindered my memorandum in the beginning. I felt that this assignment was really helpful and meaningful. This was one of those assignments that I was really able to see the point of.

Correctness

I work in the writing center as a writing assistant, and one of the most common concerns we see in the center are students worrying about correctness. In the writing process, I feel like the very last step should be worrying about grammar and aesthetics. However, this is a very hard value for many students to accept--even by a student who understands this. Often, students receive papers back from teachers so heavily marked up with grammatical and aesthetical corrections you can't even see what the original paper had said. It is rarer to see teachers comment on content, depth, and meaning. Of course correctness is very important and cannot be overlooked, especially in academic papers, but it should not be the primary concern when writing. In Rules of Thumb, a Guide for Writers, part one covers: commonly confused words, spelling, capitalization, run-ons, fragments, grammar, style, syntax, morphemes, and verbs. Nothing is mentioned about substance, strength, or significance. I feel that stress should be placed on these qualities and by doing so, we can help shape more quality writers.

Update: Inquiry into Teaching

So far I have read the first three articles. The first article was confusing and seemed rather pointless until I talked with Kittle about it. Article one's main concentration was on genre theory. Article two talked about limiting writers creativity based on cultural taboos. Article three was about empathizing with students. All together they seem to mold a way of teaching that will be productive for the student as well as the teacher. Gunther Kress, in article one, discusses the importance of knowing the genre in which one will be studying/writing. If one does not understand the genre of the novel or a business letter, for example, they will have more difficulty reading the genre and even more difficulty trying to recreate their own work within that particular genre. Kress opts for genre theory which teaches students all about various genres, however, I think this would be a colossal waste of time. We need to introduce students into respective genres as they arise. Jennifer Schneider goes into limiting what the students are allowed to write, based on teacher and administrative bans on certain taboo subjects. Violence seemed to be the universal ban within student's writings. Sometime students use writing as an outlet to express themselves or vent out frustrations. If we strip them of total creativity, we take away their voice. Schneider talks about the power of coercion teachers use to control students writings. One teacher talked about giving too much freedom. I disagree. I believe topics should be given so students have a guideline to help stimulate motivation and direction, but once a topic has been given, we should allow children creative freedom. Of course there are those instances where a child may write about abuse at home, and we, as persons left to control the safety and well being of students, should report it to the correct authorities. However, we should not stop the student from using his or her gift of writing as an emotional outlet. Schneider go on further to discuss other taboo issues like homosexuality which some teachers addressed based on their own morals. I believe students need to be given the freedom to write, regardless of the teacher's personal feelings. One year a student may have a liberal teacher, the next a conservative. We cant ask them to continually switch back and forth, constantly trying to figure out what their teacher wants...not what they want. I RAN OUTTA TIME! Article three by Judith Jester talks about being empathetic to the students plite with writing because we've all been there. We've all looked at a blank page or a paper desperatly needing revisions and frozen. Jester just asks us not to forget what it was like to be a student.

Digital Documentary

ARGGG! So I am totally loving the idea of the project way more than the actual work going into it. I am still working on my narrative, but I keep getting distracted by all the technological difficulties I keep experiencing. Right now my music plays correctly but my picture gets frozen. I thought it was because of a video I had added, but no... I took the video out and it still is freezing in the same spot. I am trying to make my documentary for people or students in general new to Chico. I want it to be a gateway into the semiotic domain of the local music scene and help them become part of that affinity group. I am lost on how to incorporate Gee into my narration without sounding like a total loser... Will keep trying!

Situated Learning

I've been discussing the ideal of Activity theory in a lot of my classes this semester, and Gee's chapter on situated meaning further supports this theory. Active learning is by nature social. As Gee points out in this chapter, learning is a process or cycle of probing the world for more information, more knowledge. We live our daily lives constantly making hypothesis's then go out and experience the world, which forces us to rethink our original assumption and either accept or reconsider it. Gee also discusses the meaning of and behind signs. Signs are not separate units outside our cognitive. In fact, signs are compounded with our own life experiences and knowledge of the world. Texts are also signs, and as Gee discusses these are not solly verabl unsterstandments. Texts, like signs, are understood based on our own personal experiences.

Video Games

Video games seem to have a lot to teach us about the way children are learning. Day in and day out we see children growing bored with school and eventually giving it up all together. However, we are bombarded continually with new and improved video games and souped up supreme high def. consoles. We watch as children (and adults) buy them by the truckload. However their is a disproportionate amount of "fun" learning and "academic" learning. What Gee wants to teach us is how to take the learning acquired by video gaming and use it to learn/teach in the classroom.

Within the semiotic domain described by Gee it seems like children are passively learning in school while actively learning playing vg's. The question here, now, is how can we, as (future) teachers, captivate what drives the child to play the game, even as it grows more difficult in strategy and skill level, and recreate it in our teaching.

Our world is so based on multimodal representations of everything that we become forced to look into our classrooms and notice what is missing. Drab text books don't suck kids in like the explosions, rewards, challenges, music, motifs, and colors represented in video games.

We also must consider the zone of proximal development (a theory) and the physical surrounding we offer children in which to learn. Gee offers us a written visual experience of a six year old boy playing a video game. The colors, themes, skills, enemies, etc all intrigue the young child's mind while stimulating his brain, thus, further encouraging commitment to the game.

We need to upgrade our classrooms rather than fighting this rabidly growing technological era. Technology is not going to go away just because schools prefer dry and un-entertaining text books over visual, mental, and emotionally stimulated learning. We need to created a new generation of learning that is in sync with our fast paced culture/lives.

Learning Something New

Well, I am relativly new to Chico, and I have lucked out with the coolest, homegrown roommate who is teaching me things about myself that I never thought existed. She is teaching me to "step outside the box" and experience/try new things. I am now learning to hone my creative nature into drawing, oil pastels, singing, and writing. She has also exposed me to the wonderfully rich homegrown music network of Chico. I am learning to accept more genres of music as well as learning more about myself in being interested in music that I normally would have never given much chance. I am learning to become a true homegrown Chico gal!

Nothing too exciting...

So this is my first blog, and I am posting is as mere practice. I guess there will be many more to follow... Hopefully more interesting than the first go around!