Our book club group read “What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy” by New London Group’s very own James Paul Gee. This book was a (very?) good account on why video games actually make sense to play, well certain ones. I mean you won’t learn much from playing Nazi Zombies. But you can learn a lot about identities from playing Arcanum! The fact that the player gets to immerse themselves in simulated account of deeds gives them the experience of actually doing a task. Albeit it is through a controller, it is better than having a professor lecture to you about physics (this will make more sense after watching our video).

Our group had a great discussion the past couple days about the book because we could all relate to it, being that we have played these new fangled video games at least once. We found the book not that informative actually. We have been saying that video games have made taught us things as we played. It’s one of the most advanced versions of problem solving out there. Games are designed to be difficult for the user up until the point where the user must use past events in the game and foreseen to determine how to beat the level, boss, or various other stages of a game. We thought that this is a great way of learning because it is actually motivating to the user (student). We all decided that this text is not intended for the “video gamer” but rather the older generation who doesn’t believe that video games are beneficial learning tools. James Paul Gee is a highly respected member of the New London Group  and is a credible source on the subject. A professor or teacher will take Gee more seriously than a teenager.

A social view of literacy can be summed up as simple as reading and writing. I mean that is how I thought of literacy before truly dug into these authors and had our discussions in class. Literacy is everything around us that takes reading and writing and putting a perspective on it. Commercials, ads, essays, assigned readings, discussions; these are all forms of literacy. I think this is different than the individual pursuit because literacy from a social aspect is pushed onto the audience, whereas intrinsic motivation to read or write is different. Me writing this blog is extrinsic because Ms. Jaxon assigned it. Yet my response is a form of individualistic literacy because, well, I can write whatever I want on the topic. Outside of school, I have a more extrinsically motivated literary “jobs.” I am an assistant coach for the Women’s basketball team here at Chico, and I probably read and write more for that job than I do for my three English classes combined. With recruiting, emails, practice plans and setting up clinics, I have a lot of documents that I have written. I also have to read a ton of recruiting letters a week, and with assigned school readings, I unfortunately don’t have time to individually pursuit my own literary interests. I learn how to do each of these literary tasks by learning from the experts in each different environment. In class, it is the professor that guides me to write properly and to read with a certain analytic perspective in mind. When I go into the coaches office, it is the head coach that teaches me how to respond to a recruit’s email and how to be political with outside persons. I think that a individual pursuit of literacy is rare to actually achieve, at least for me. I have so many outside sources of literacy that I must attend to, that I don’t have time for my own individual desires. I cannot say if there truly is an individual pursuit of literacy when so many outside sources influence what we read and write.

I interviewed a fellow college student who attends Linfield College in Oregon. She happens to by my girlfriend as well. We have similar views on this subject and I wanted to share them with you guys.

Brett: What are you asked to do with reading and writing now that you are in college?

Molly: Now that I am in college, I have a lot of required readings I have to do and I hate 99% of them. They don’t seem relevant to me and I get bored of them easily. It’s very easy to get distracted with the readings. I think that the readings are pertinent to the material, but I know that most of the class finds them bland and uninteresting. As for writing, we have to write essays on topics we don’t like and it gets very frustrating when I have to write six pages on philosophy. I love writing the essays that are free choice and are topics that we choose and have a passion for. The only writing I do outside of essay writing are sending letters to friends and family. Again this is a passion of mine and I think that professors need to let students write about what they want, under the subject the class is taught of course.

 

“The one undisputed fact about illiteracy in America is its concentration among poor, black, elderly, and minority-language groups — groups without effective participation in our country’s economic and educational institutions (Hunter and Harman). Problems of poverty and political powerlessness are, as among some populations in developing nations, inseparably intertwined with problems of access to knowledge and levels of literacy skills.”

I can’t agree with more with this passage. I think it very accurately exemplifies our America today. I have always had a problem with those who are uneducated, not because they did not have the opportunity, but because they didn’t care enough about it to put in work. Those who have the opportunity to be literate and well educated in the form of literacy need to take full advantage, because there are those, “the poor, black, elderly, and minority-language groups” whom haven’t had the chance to enhance their literacy skills. This has been a problem for America for a very long time. I still remember my classmates in elementary school not knowing how to read and write, and at the same time, not receiving the help needed to become proficient at it.

I think the problem is awareness to how important it is to not just read, but to be proficient writer. So many jobs depend on writing and communication. If you can’t do that, you can’t move up the ranks. As a result, there is a high poverty rate. This doesn’t allude to people not working hard, it is the result of uneducated individuals who have a very limited job range.

I think you fix this problem with really stressing the importance of literacy with parents and children. Even if a parent is illiterate, that doesn’t mean the child has to be- crutching his entire future. Scribner is on point in the fact that illiteracy is a major cause, if not the largest cause, of of economic poverty.

I feel that the issue is not not wanting to learn, it is a lack of education on actual learning that is happening. The fact that I was taught how important it was to go to school, do my work, and get a good education motivated me to do well. I know that for some, school is not the important part of their life or family, thus it is not stressed, resulting in a lack of motivation. Ultimately though, I do think that the motivation to learn needs to be intrinsic, but at the same time, is anything really intrinsically motivated? As a baby you always want to know what everything is, you are so very curious. This, I believe, carries out through the rest of your life. We are always wanting to learn more and more. It may not be to be smarter than everyoneelse, but it is the reason that keeps us going. I guess what I am trying to say here is that the people who are put at a disadvantage need to be focused more on at school and at home, otherwise there is going to be the same amount of wasted brains that there are today.

This needs to be changed. Good thing I plan on becoming an English teacher!

Hi! My name is Brett Cauchi (Cow-chee), yeah I get “how do you pronounce that?” a lot, so I thought I’d save you the time. Anyway, a little about me:

I am a 21 year old transfer Senior from Linfield College in Oregon. I went to Solano Community College the two years prior to that. I have played collegiate basketball for three years, but transferred here to Chico State so I could take a coaching job with the Women’s Basketball program. I decided to retire from basketball because of the great opportunity I had to become an assistant college basketball coach. My pursuit to become a head basketball coach starts now.

I chose English Education as my major because I have wanted to teach since my sophomore year of high school. I have a knack for teaching, and especially coaching, and know that being teacher best suits me. It is the thing I love to do so it is easy to follow my passion. I love working with kids of all ages in my one goal to put them in a position to succeed in the future, to become a better person today and to strive for something great. Teaching coincides very well with coaching as it is the same thing, just different “subject”- basketball. I hope to use English to help me with a lot of my writing in coaching, as well as apply the knowledge I read in books, textbooks, novels, poems, etc. on and off the court.

I wish to pursue my Masters degree after I finish here at Chico in Education so I will be more attuned to a rigorous workload, ultimately leading to college coaching job that I know I will be ready for.

I relate to Szwed’s work because it made me actually THINK about writing, and not just reading it like a zombie (as much college students do)! I read a lot of basketball books, surprise surprise, but a lot of them are coaching books that apply to every aspect of life- especially leadership. I wish I read more, and need to make time for it. Even 30 minutes a day will be very beneficial. I write (type) a lot outside of the classroom. I write a lot of emails for basketball and also am on Facebook and Instagram and now Twitter (thanks Kim)! Szwed writes about different types of writing in social media and formal syntax, I relate very much in the differences between the two. I consistently switch from “lol” “hahahaha” “wtf” to very concise, informative emails to the parent’s of players I train and to other schools that I must recruit from. I have never mixed between the two, and think that social media writing does not deter us from formal writing.

I liked the Szwed article because I could actually relate to it! I hope, and assume, this class will have a lot more articles like this because today’s society is moving, or has already moved, in a different direction as far as writing goes. No one writes in Old English anymore, well only the sane ones at least. In conclusion, I’m trying to say that we live in a different world, and the older generations have to get used to it, instead of trying to teach us to write and communicate in ways that are not relevant.