Double Journal Entry 13

Double Entry Journal #13
Chapter 6: Affinity Spaces

1. Give an example of a "community of practice" in which you are currently participating in. I am a member on AmeriCorps (active in the Energy Express Program). We teach over the summer and try to help children gain a love for reading while also participating in many community service projects.

2.Why is the term "community" better defined in relation to spaces rather than groups of people? Label are thrown around according to the author. If they label the people of the community it tends to look like everyone in the community is that way but if they label the place it doesn't seem quite as bad.

3. What is a "generator"? What is it's counterpart in school? A Generator is the space. Examples of this are teachers, books, student materials and more.

4. What is a "content organizer"? What is it's counterpart in school? Content organizer is the design of the content presented. It can take place in discussion form, activities, labs, circles and many more forms.

5. What is a "portal"? What is it's counterpart in school? a portal is a way of accessing the content. Portal can be used in either in groups or individually. Students can engage in thoughtful work, lads, discussions and more.

6. What do people have an "affinity" for in an "affinity space"? How does this inform your understanding of good teaching?

7. How do "affinity spaces" support inclusive classrooms? Choose two characteristics below to make connections between "affinity spaces" and inclusive classrooms. It is all about interests in things. Good teacher can take into consideration the interests if their students and work to accommodate these into teaching.
 A Sense of Community - An inclusive school is a school where every child is respected as part of the school community, and where each child is encouraged to learn and achieve as much as possible. In order to achieve that sense of belonging for each child, many schools have found that fostering a sense of community is of primary importance. A good teacher can take interesting engaging activities and build a community of learners and these students will become learners who care and have a love of learning.
 Parents as Partners - A significant addition observed in inclusive schools is the solid
inclusion of parents as full members of the school team. Recognizing the valid perspective
of parents, addressing their concerns and dreams for their child, and incorporating their wishes into the educational plan are all aspects of a successful problem-solving team.Parents are interested in the education of his ir her children. Parents for the most part want to help out if they are able. Getting parents involved in the school can boost the want for students to do their best so that their parents can see how hard they can work and how bad they want to achieve. It can build a bond between parents and their children.

8. How are traditional classroom different from Affinity Spaces? The traditional classroom is children sitting in seats and doing work, affinity spaces lead to students working together and sharing ideas rather than keeping everything to themself.

Fostering High Quality Formative Assessment

 Formative assessment is assessment that is ongoing. This occurs before, during and after instruction is complete. Learning is student centered in this approach and is an assessment for learning  (not an assessment of learning.) Formative assessments can be formal or informal and feedback rather than number scores can be given to the students.

The central purpose of formative assessments is the feedback , like "comments only" given to the students. Students can receive good quality feedback from a formative assessment in place of a score. Students are given the opportunity to take the lead in formative assessment and good feedback can help them see exactly what they are achieving and what they can do to improve. 

I believe that the practice of student centered learning can connect to the research based strategy of reinforcing effort. Students are being held accountable for his or her learning in formative assessment there for if they do not put the effort into their learning and success it can lead to failure in the assessment. If the students are encouraged and reassured they will put forth the effort to succeed.

. If the students in a classroom are given the assignment to write a paper about one the presidents of the United States they would be given the opportunity to write rough drafts, turn those in to receive feedback, conduct peer and self evaluations, hold a conference with the teacher, and possibly turn them in two or more times before they hand them in for an actual grade.

My students did an project with me this morning on the life cycle of the frog. When the lesson began we talked about how things are babies before they become adults. I then gave them cards with the life cycle printed on them and not having seen the life cycle of the frog before they had to try and put the cycle in order, they were allowed to consult me but I would not tell them what order anything went in until they were correct completely. I would give hints but I would not directly tell them. After they made corrections the students had to draw the cycle they decided on and submit it for a summative grade.

When providing feedback one must remember to provide good and helpful feedback. Also it is good to give positive feedback so the confidence is boosted and not torn down.

Two advantages of high quality formative assessment are that students are given a real role of responsibility and that teachers can see what students are motivated and help build the motivation of the ones who show less.

Some of the challenges of providing formative assessment are time (it is very time consuming for the students because of drafts and final products and time consuming for the teacher because they have to provide feedback to all of the students,) and parents, parents may think that the teacher is not teaching when using this method because it is student driven.

Double Journal Entry #10

Double Entry Journal #10
Chapter 3: Language and Identity At Home

1. What are the features of the forms of language that are spoken in a home environment that align with academic varieties of language? Children can take on the role of speaking like an adult when telling literary stories, children's use of explicit language, and adults reading to children. 

2. What are the features of Leona's specialized form of language? Leona uses parallel lines in her story, she broke down her story into stanzas, she uses her vernacular in the wording of the story (she wrote it exactly how she would say it.) This is most likely a product of her home life or "social group: according to the author.

3. Why is Leona's specialized form of language not accepted in school? Leona's story was broken down in a way that it made it almost poetic instead of story like. She used her vernacular in the story/poem which is almost discouraged in the school setting. She write in the manner that she speaks and hear things which gives her and 'uneducated sound.' But I am sure this is not the case. 

4. Explain the contradiction between the research conducted by Snow et al. (1998) and the recommendations made by Snow et al. (1998). Snow contradicts himself by stating that the "Black/White gaps" was closing from the 60's until the 80's. But the research showed that the children who were part of the lower or poverty level achieved lower.

5. What other factors besides early skills training will make or break good readers? Belonging to the group is a big factor that can make or break good readers. One of the students in my classroom does not feel like he belongs with the other students and he does not try to read or want to try. He only cares about making the other students like him and he shy's from reading and writing.

6. Why do some children fail to identify with, or find alienating, the "ways with words" taught in school? Students find this alienating because they are not accustomed to this way of words in the home. Some students feel low when they do not know what the teachers are saying to them. The feel alienated and disengaged from the group.

Double Entry Journal Entry #12

Double Entry Journal #12
Chapter 5: Learning and Gaming

1. What is the main argument the author is making in Chapter 5. Video games can be a great segway to learning and teachers can use the concepts of video games in the classroom to enhance learning. Children love video games and take pride in learning and achieving in the video games. If teachers can make students feel this way about school then much more meaningful learning can take place.

2. What constitutes a theory of learning? To create a theory of learning the teacher must know what they believe about learning and what they expect of the learners in the classroom. The teacher can then add in ways they plan on teaching.

3. Why did the author struggle to learn to play Warcraft III? What needs to proceed
before good learning principles? He thought it was too hard at first, he had to learn more about the game before he could play better; where his brother picked right up on the game.


4. How would have the authors struggle with learning to play Warcraft III been
interpreted in school? It was a precursor to future learning in the game and in school. It can scale the learning from failing to high level learning.


5 What kind of learning experience might be better suited for at risk students? Students need to make choices in their learning. Students need to be engaged in learning.


6. Why does the school-based interpretation of "at risk" lead to bad learning? When a student becomes labeled they tend to fall into that label. Students who attain the label "at risk" know that failure is a stereotype that fall with those students. "At risk" sounds very negative to me from personal experience. When I was in high school there were many classmates who had this label attached to them. They would tell you them self that as soon as the label was attached to them they received less help and guidance. Not always from the teacher but school in general and from them self. Some felt that the label  was a get out of jail free card that said I am "at risk" so I don't have to do anything.


7. What do schools need to do to function more like a good game? Schools need a good, well designed program to function like a good game.


8. What is different about how good games and school assess learners? Games assess learning in lives and challenges accomplished, school assess learning by testing.


9. What is a fish tank tutorial? It is a set of stages that progress to an advanced level to go with advancements in skills.