Double Journal Entry #11

Chapter 4:Simulations and Bodies

1. What does the author mean when he says, "Learning doesn't work well when learners are forced to check their bodies at the school room door like guns in the old West." To me this means that learning is minimal when students are forced to sit and watch in the classroom like statues. Students who are engaged in learning with bodies and minds can take much more meaningful learning from a lesson. For students with learning difficulties and those without sitting and not engaging in learning is boring and difficult. Some students may feel as if they are sitting in class with Charlie Brown as the lesson just WA WA WA's its way to the end.

2. According to the author, what is the best way to acquire a large vocabulary? The author says that real world experiences and using vocabulary can build vocabulary. Reading is also talked about as a means of building vocabulary, but reading alone cannot be relied on to extend student vocabulary.

3. What gives a word a specific meaning? Words are given specific meaning by how they are used. In the English language in general one word can have multiple meaning and generally the only way to know what meaning the word takes on it has to be read in a context. In the book the example of coffee is given as a liquid, grounds, and cans and depending on what happened to the coffee in each sentence there were different methods of clean up required. If details were not given in the sentence, then the reader would be unaware of what he or she is dealing with.

4. What does the term "off the hook" mean in each of these sentences?
a. My sister broke up with her fiance, so I'm off the hook for buying her a wedding present. My sister broke up with her fiance, so now I don't have to buy a wedding gift; what a relief.
b. Them shoes are off the hook dog. Them shoes are awesome dog.
c. Man that cat was fighting 6 people and he beat them all. Yo, it was "off the hook", you should have seen it!! Man that cat was fighting 6 people and he beat them all. Yo, it was crazy, you should have seen it!!

5. According to the author what is the"work" of childhood? Do you agree? Play, I agree because when children are playing they are learning from  one another. This is important to to building social interactions between children.

6.Why is NOT reading the instruction for how to play a game before playing a game a wise decision? One may not know the language of the manual before playing the game. If the player has a handle on the language then it will be easier to read and gain meaningful information from the instructional booklet. 

7. Does knowing the general or literal meaning of a word lead to strong reading skills? People need more than a literal meaning for words as they are reading so that there is room for interpretation. No one takes the same thing from the written word. Literal means are here for a reason but can lead to problems when faced with new never before seen materials. General means leave the words open to interpretation and help the readers to build meaning.

8. What does the author mean by the terms "identity" and "game". Give an example of 3 "identities" or "games" you play? I play the role of teacher when I walk into my clinical class, gamers play the role of the character they play as in the game, The president plays the role of commander and chief but at home he may play the role of father. 

9. According to the author what is good learning? Meaningful learning where students can navigate words and create meaning and uses successfully.

10. How does understanding that being able to build a mental model and simulations of a real-word experience is closely tied  to comprehending written and oral language support of change the way you think children should learn in school? Real experiences aid in comprehension because it is putting the student directly into the subject of the lesson. They were there, they did that, they understand how it went and why. I is huge when a student has an experience they can build meaning off of. 

11. Why is peer to peer interaction so important for the language development of young children? How does knowing this support or change the way you think children should learn in school? Students depend on teachers for learning but many have learned that depending on their peers is an even more helpful. Some students can learn more easily of they have someone on their level (or someone who can explain something on his or her level) reteach the material to them. This is a great opportunity to use think pair share or shoulder buddies to discuss what is going on in the lesson or unit of study.