I Knew a Woman, By Theodore Roethke

I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one:The shapes a bright container can contain!Of her choice virtues only gods should speak,Or English poets who grew up on Greek(I'd have them sing in chorus, cheek to cheek.)

How well her wishes went! She stroked my chin,She taught me Turn, and Counter-turn, and stand;She taught me Touch, that undulant white skin:I nibbled meekly from her proffered hand;She was the sickle; I, poor I, the rake,Coming behind her for her pretty sake(But what prodigious mowing did we make.)

Love likes a gander, and adores a goose:Her full lips pursed, the errant note to seize;She played it quick, she played it light and loose;My eyes, they dazzled at her flowing knees;Her several parts could keep a pure repose,Or one hip quiver with a mobile nose(She moved in circles, and those circles moved.)

Let seed be grass, and grass turn into hay:I'm martyr to a motion not my own;What's freedom for? To know eternity.I swear she cast a shadow white as stone.But who would count eternity in days?These old bones live to learn her wanton ways:(I measure time by how a body sways.)

Arts of the Contact Zone

Pratt:

"But in their execution the deploy specifically Andean systems of spatial symbolism that express Andean values and aspirations....If a classroom is homogenized with respect to the teacher, whatever students do other than what the teacher specifies is invisible or anomalous to the analysis" (p. 3 & p. 5).

McNiff:

I was looking at the drawings on page 3 and I was wondering about the webpages we looked at in class that we categorized as unorganized and chaotic. I agree that the webpages were a disaster, but I wonder if there is some method or system to the pages that pertains to another smaller sub-group of people. Personally I think the webpages were hard to navigate, chaotic and useless for finding information quickly and efficiently; but there must another group that disagrees.

Secondly, Pratt describes what is accepted as legitimate in the classroom based on the teacher's point of view or an authoritative figure. I think this has a lot to do with independency. I think if I child is taught to think independently of what others (even their parents) think then they become a lot better at being able to think more critically....

Reflection:

So, the student can understand that what they formated for the teacher such as an assignment may not be and doesn't always have to be recognized or congratulated by the parent/teacher. However, the student should always be encouraged to share their work because feedback is important regardless if someone agrees (in essence student is traditionally rewarded/congratulated) or disagrees (student needs to make changes or did something wrong). In the later of the two, the student should be taught that in either case the agree or disagree means that the work needs to finally be judged by the producer/creator. The student should be given (at an early age) the ability/independency to rewrite. Disagrees should be read as other points of view/things to consider while agrees should be to rethink those parts that the you/the writer may have initially been unsure about or to just simply add more example. I'm wondering if there is really an endpoint in writing if there is constant discovery and learning.

American Origins of the Writing-across-the-curriculum Movement

Russell:

"The skills model of writing offered no intellectually interesting reason to connect the process of learning to write with one's students' (or one's own) intellectual or professional development - with the activities of a discipline, in other words" (p. 6).

McNiff:

I think the process of writing to learn would create stimulation in the students. But then grammar and skills would need to have an interesting subject. If English is constantly changing, then how would it make sense for grammar to only be taught in "grammar school." Of course, I agree that basic skills need to be taught: sentence structure, spelling, and formats at an early age, but these basics are not discussed again until the student has to write a paper for English class. Thinking about how writing is only a part of English class.... "The skills model of writing offers no intellectually interesting reason to connect the process of learning..."

Reflection:

The skills model is what causes a huge problem in the classroom. Enforcing skills that can't be used in life are useless skills like learning the rules or percentages in math but not being able to connect it when you go shopping to get the most for your money. The idea that grammatical skills are only seen as basics that "once learned" can become foundation for writing is a major part of why writing and all it encompasses is restricted to only grammar school.

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

Gee:

"Players can talk to each other.... They can run into other players who can help or, in some circumstances, hurt them" (p. 180).

McNiff:

What is really interesting about Gee's discussion on virtual players and the interaction between the players is the depth at which the player becomes the virtual identity. Meaning, if someone is playing World of Warcraft and they are using a headset, they can speak to other players through the headset from inside their identity of say the Gnome, "go over to the left and meet by the bridge" or they can speak to other players through the headset from their real identity, "I have a doctors appointment, but I'll be back to play at 7."

Reflection:

Relating this to a writer. There is peer review, where the writer is talking from outside the characters or plot of the story and then there are times when the author is speaking to the reader or reviewer from inside the voice of the characters.

Although, in writing and in peer review, I've often been told that the characters are not the author or writer, which I think is a protection for the writer. I also think it takes away from the writers credibility. A writers characters are perhaps not the writers true identity, but neither are players in a video game. It is however how the writer sees, smells, etc. the world. It's a writers thoughts and creation, so isn't a video game identity the same?

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy / ND: Alignment

Williams:

"When information is hard to understand that is when it is the most important to present it as clean and organized.... The basic purpose of alignment is to unify and organize" (p. 42 & 50).

McNiff:

Interpreting Gee and Williams:

Semiotic Domain

|

|

Active Learning

(operate within)

/ \

Internal External

\ /

Critical Learning

(design space)

Elements ways of thinking

Content acting

interacting

I think Internal is good where it stands far left and I like that External moves in and out. I think External has the power to do that because it influences us and then we use it to move things out. I interpret Gee as meaning, Active Learning must occur for the child to learn and it occurs on its own level within the Semiotic Domain. I see "Internal" and "External" moving horizontally with one another. One can't exist without the other and both are on the same level.

Below that as the learning/person becomes... more intrinsic?.... there is Critical Learning. External parts become more external as they naturally become more external in meaning. I think "Internal" areas, such as "Elements" and content" need more explanation...

Reflection:

I think this could certainly be used in teaching and in the classroom but its too broad as it stands. It needs an example to be demonstrated and used in class. Maybe not in the classroom for the students to understand at a high school/grammar school level, but rather for teachers to use in practice. In addition, I think Williams ideas and principles on alignment and proximity are used everyday and I believe they should not only be used for web design but taught to children to better teach life design and focus.

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

Gee:

"Expert practitioners.... They must form the sorts of goals, desires, feelings, and values that "insiders" in that domain recognize as the sorts members of that domain (the affinity group associated with that domain) typically have" (p. 93).

McNiff:

I think this is a great quote that will help with assignment 1. I'm still in the process of deciding on my literacy autobiography but trying to determine goals, desires, feelings and values for the two different literacy moments in my life is helping me to narrow down which I find more interesting to write about; because desires, feelings and values, for me, are interesting to write about and relatively easy to elaborate into fuller/high stakes writing.

Gee:

"This view of themind is quite different from the traditional one psychology takes. In the traditional view, concepts are like general definitions in the mind.... the mind thinks through stored "facts" and grand generalizations that are like statements in logic... In the view I an developing here, the mind thinks and acts on the basis of something like stored images of experience" (p. 91)

McNiff:

I'm not sure I'm buying Gee with this one. Let me rephrase. I agree with Gee, but his comparison with psychology seems slightly skewed. I think if he just stuck with traditional view which is as general as saying psychology, his writing would be a lot stronger and more convincing. I've only taken a hand full of psychology but from what I understand about child development and the building of the mind, I can say Gee isn't making much sense here. And because he just lists his references at the end, I'd have to skim through 10 pages to find out what and who (viewpoint) he is actually talking about in psychology.

I will skim through later to find out... what he has listed for page 91. But I just think if he took out the reference to psychology and stayed with saying tradition (another broad term) it would keep the reader from pulling in all different experiential ideas and it would keep the reader from trying to relate psychology to memorizing facts/tradition.

Gee:

"If all you know in any domain are general meanings, then you really don't know anything that makes sense to you" (p. 84).

McNiff:

This is very true. I agree with Gee and I think its a common problem that resurfaces in the school system continuously. That sentence alone is repetitive. But how many times do you need to repeat something to a student before they get it? Is it practicing 1+1=2, 1+1=2, 1+1=2; over and over until the student can say it?... but what does that mean?

It could mean, if I have a sister and a brother and each of them want an ipod for christmas. Then, I will go to Best Buy to buy two Ipods.

Gee:

"There are nearly always multiple solutions to any given problem. Players can choose strategies that fit with their style of learning, thinking, and acting. This, of course, is highly motivation both for learning and for playing the game and a rich source for reflection on one's own styles of learning and problem solving" (p. 78).

McNiff:

In Mathematics classes the student is taught a way to solve a problem and often detoured from using other methods to solve because it will cause "problems" when solving larger problems. Some math teachers, depending, will show students two ways of solving a problem and allow the student to pick "whichever is easiest" for the student to learn to solve the problem. I realize that in high school mathematics, when students should be thinking critically, problem solving/equations and formulas are rarely paired with theory/explanation and critical thinking.

In foreign language classes in high school students have to write, read and communicate in another language. In mathematics, students aren't taught to speak about math and theories, definitions.

The Non-Designer's Design Handbook (Proximity) and What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

Gee:

"For active learning... understand and operate within the internal and external design grammars of the semiotic domain.... But for critical learning... must be able to attend to, reflect on, critique, and manipulate... design space, internally as a system of interrelated elements... externally as ways of thinking, acting, interacting, and valuing. (p. 31(bottom) - p. 32).

and its relation to:

Williams:

"Group related items together... alignment" (p.15 & p. 26).

McNiff:

I wanted to set up a visual for active learning and critical learning and continue to build the model as I find more to add. Also thinking about Proximity

Semiotic Domain

|

|

Active Learning

(operate within)

/ \

Internal External

\ /

Critical Learning

(design space)

Elements ways of thinking

Content acting

interacting

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

Gee:

Activities that are entertaining, but that themselves do not involve such learning, are just "meaningless play" (p. 22).

McNiff:

Perhaps too much of anything isn't a good thing. With that being said, how do school administrators develop a system where learning and play are intertwined, why is there a separation. Similar to the separation school/play or work/play. Maybe if the school day was a little bit longer so that both teachers and students can have more time to really dip into the topics of discussion. Why at the age of 16 can't students choose to learn certain topics, why do they have to not drips and drabs of everything instead of really delving into a specific topic of interest like historical wars or linear equations. The point is that students do not need to be conscious of learning when it is happening to them. As a matter of fact, I think that very notion of always being conscious of learning, instead of being able to actually focus on the matter at hand, is a mere distraction which takes away from the students ability to comprehend, analyze and retain information.

Teach Writing as a Process Not Product

Murray:

"If we do the prewriting for our students they will not learn the largest part of the writing process" (p. 5).

McNiff:

... And that is the collection of thought. It is important for the student to want to write and to want to do something, anything, it has to be all theirs and they have to be fully engaged.

I think teachers who prewrite for their students/writers is more dominant in the ESL students that I tutor as compared to EPL students. ESL students are learning a double process (writing and writing in English) and when a class is pressed for time and the student needs to pass an exam to stay in college, sometimes the process of writing is taken away and it becomes the process of passing. In this case, students lose out. They are losing out on their education to really learn to write. Or perhaps they are learning repetition of phrase and idea, memorizing, (by having the teacher prewrite for them) before they can develop their own process that is true to them. Do they need to be shown how to think of ideas before they can think and develop ideas themselves? Or is it just a matter of time in the classroom and a rush of process?

Teach Writing as a Process Not Product (Continued)

Murray:

"When we teach composition we are not teaching a product, we are teaching a process.... The writing process can be divided into three stages: prewriting, writing and rewriting" (p. 3 & 4).

McNiff:

This idea reminds me of the process of creative writing. The poet in a creative writing class will collect ideas in prewrite and begin to format what it is they want to say. As the week continues they may format a poem in progress or a first draft; however, the process of teaching oneself or another is actually in the critiquing of the poem. In essence, it's the process that follows the writing, before the rewriting, when the poet or student of writing is actually enhancing or continuing their process of writing and learning. The rewriting would then be the test or the proof to oneself (teacher) that the process has developed.