“The same way schools want parents to be involved and communicate, they should do the same. Whether it’s positive or negative” (Doucet, 2011, p. 2725). This quote spoke to me as a student, as a daughter and as an educator.
All posts by Gia
Blogging’s not just for Xanga and Tumblr anymore.
My first experience with academic blogging was during a study abroad seminar in college. I enjoyed having these required moments of structured writing because it enhanced my appreciation of all we saw. I also enjoyed academic blogging because I was writing for authentic audience – sure, I mostly wrote for the teachers, but I was also thinking of ways to engage readers who happened to stumble onto my page. When used intelligently, blogging can deepen learning and enhance interdisciplinary learning.
Continue reading Blogging’s not just for Xanga and Tumblr anymore.
beating a video game = learning a new language
“Good games stay within, but at the outer edge, of the player’s ‘regime of competence’ (diSessa, 2000). That is, they feel ‘doable,’ but challenging. This state is highly motivating for learners” (Gee, 36).
Sound familiar, education theorists? Sounds to me like Gee has just supported Krashen’s language acquisition input theory using video games.
Continue reading beating a video game = learning a new language
We’ve got to strengthen adolescent female voices
“This phenomenon has been called the ‘loss of voice’ by Gilligan and her colleagues (Brown and Gilligan 1992), who purport that a girl experiences a gradual silencing of an authentic, imperious and often willful self in order to identify with certain culturally prescribed roles of women as self-sacrificial and please to others. (238)” Brown and Knowles, page 60. Continue reading We’ve got to strengthen adolescent female voices
Isolating to avoid dropping out.
This week’s readings definitely had me reeling. I struggled to keep it together, especially while reading the Murray and Naranjo study. My MVP comes from that piece: on page 152, the authors discuss “Domain Three: Peer Factors.” Most of these 11 students “had to forgo many, if not all, peer relationships within the context of the school” (Murray et al, 2008, p.152). This really struck as both an educator and past student. In my high school experience, my friends helped me cope with school, serving as incentive (apart from parental pressure and an interest in learning) to return even when I didn’t want to. They weren’t bad influences, and it never crossed my mind that maybe I would have done better if I had isolated myself. This fact reminds me of my privilege going to school in a relatively homogenous white, upper-middle class area. As an educator, I worry what precedent this sets for community building in the classroom and the school itself. If some students perceive others as bad influences and choose to isolate themselves, I imagine it would be difficult to unify the student body.