Projects and papers and tests, oh my! It’s a month until school is over and of course all the big projects are left for the very end. I guess it could be worse though. I have this love/hate relationship with projects. They’re fun but they’re also a pain. With this multimodal project I still don’t know if I want to work in a group or not. I don’t usually have a problem working with other people it’s just that I don’t know if I’ll be satisfied with the final outcome. Basically I don’t know if I’ll agree with someone else’s idea. It’s not that I don’t like the possible group I’d be in. I just want to be content with my work. Who knows maybe the group will have a good idea.

 

If I work alone on this project I’m going to have a tough time figuring out what to do. I have this one small idea but it would require having to drive back home to Sonoma. My youngest sister is a Junior at the same high school I went to and since I’ve graduated a lot of things seem to have changed. I really would like to visit my sisters english class and do like a short interview with class. The students input on papers and how the classroom is structured. I would also like to get the teacher’s input as well. I know my sister’s current english teacher and well she is a little crazy. Anyway, it’s just an idea and I’m sure I’ll figure something out that’s better. Hopefully.

I’ve done the whole video blog thing and I’ve had assignments that involved making a video. The first I have to say is that I absolutely hated the “Vlog” and having to record myself speak. One of my classes last semester had a vlog due almost every Friday afternoon. It could only be about two minutes long and cover all the topic points. Maybe it worked really for others but since I am not so tech savvy it was difficult and almost irritating. So my experience and relationship with technology isn’t so great. I’m pretty sure I’m cursed when it comes to computers. I would still use it in a classroom though. I like the idea of multi modality and I honestly believe that it’s a great way for students to express their ideas. Just because I don’t have such a great experience with technology doesn’t mean I’m going to stop everyone else from using it.

Multi modality allows students to take an idea and turn it into something interactive. Not everyone is able to transfer their thoughts down onto paper. Today it’s almost impossible to not see multi modality, especially when we are browsing on the internet. There’s gifs and videos everywhere. My twelve year old cousin has made a tutorial on how to braid hair with links and so many other things that I have no idea how to do. Technology has become a larger part in our lives and there’s so much that we can do with it.

I’ve only ever had to make an actual short video for class once. It was for a speech class and I again had the hardest time making the video. It was actually crazy that I had made the entire video on my phone. I recorded on my phone, made the video on my phone, and submitted it on my phone. The instructor did warn us that if we played music and added extra features that he would be critiquing those elements as well. So if our music came to quick stop instead of fading away we would be marked down. This is where I would disagree with what he did. Many of the students in the class has never made a video before and so it was going to be difficult for us. I would have been more lenient with the grading so we could explore and take risks.

Anyway my computer is counting down until it shuts off for an update. During the most convenient time as usual.

It’s quiet. Maybe a little too quiet. Four students are looking down in their laps and the rest are just staring off into space. One student is waiting awkwardly up front with her paper waiting for someone to say something. Finally someone speaks up and all they have to say is that they need to correct the formatting. There hasn’t been one comment that isn’t about structure or grammar. I understand the importance of it but the why aren’t the ideas being focused on? Maybe it’s the students lack of attention towards the actual writing or maybe it’s because they were taught that structure meant more than content.

I’ve been in classrooms where teachers drilled on the importance of having the perfect formatting and if the MLA was correct it was automatic fail. It was a bit extreme but it made me worry more about how it looked rather than what was being said. The hook sentence is important and thesis should only be one to two sentences. Every first sentence in a paragraph should make it clear on what the paragraph is about and should also include how it relates to your thesis. Let’s not forget that it has to be at least five paragraphs long with quotes for support. Two quotes minimum. NEVER EVER use the semicolon unless you know how to use it. Actually don’t ever use it. There’s so much to remember and the more classes I take the idea of structure becomes more important.

What makes things more difficult is that not every single teacher has a set mind on what the perfect formatted paper looks like. So one teacher might like the one thing and the other could hate it. The thought that most of my grade depends on how the paper looks is stressful. So I might understand why these students are so focused on the structure.

Not all my teachers have been this way though. The best teacher I ever had was in highschool. I was lucky to have him my freshman and junior year. He taught us how to almost write backwards. We would start with our ideas first. Just write what we had wanted to about a certain subject and slowly narrow it down from there. He taught us the importance of content over structure. He did teach us about structure but was never made the certain of attention. The idea of a five paragraph essay didn’t exist in his class.

So why is structure over content s thing? Isn’t the idea worth more? Wiley has this strange idea that there should be such a strict rule on writing. I could see how a template would be helpful but at the same time I want to reject it.

Maybe I should have written this earlier. Especially on Valentine’s Day. Now I have to stop thinking about this amazing waterfall, strenuous hike, gorgeous sunset, and killer sushi. Sorry to those of you who are single. I’ve sat through three years of Valentine’s Day alone and I think I deserve to rant about it before I go into this reading.

So what the heck did I even read this week? To be honest I’ve had so much reading in all my classes that they’ve started to just meld together. It’s not like this first chapter wasn’t confusing enough. After reading it twice though and having two days worth of class helped a lot. At least I think I understand it.

Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Yes, it’s a mouth full and I can never say it right the first time. Well LPP (legitimate peripheral participation) is nothing without a community. Someone learns something by watching others that are skilled at something, they do the something and tthen become good at the something. I love the idea of using job training as an example. I use to work at a restaurant and it was a lot like a Panera (but honestly ten times better). My boss had me train all of the new guys and the first thing I would have them do is watch. I never just let them watch, I’m never suppose to let them take orders or make food the first day but I did. Only during down time as I stood next to them. I never got in trouble and they always learned much more from getting to do small stuff. I think that it’s an awesome way to teach someone how to do something new. Having them become a part of the community instead of watching from the sidelines helped them to understand the patterns and flow.

I love starting a sentence off with ‘so’ because I like to answer my questions sometimes.

So what does any of that previous story have to do with LPP and education? Just as the new employee is told to stand off to the side and watch their first day students are told to SIT in a classroom all day. Not much learning goes on for the student or employee. Integrating participation or hands on into the learning environment lets them understand about what is important. I’ve stood off to the side before for four hours watching someone toss a salad and when it came time to toss that salad nothing from those previous four hours prepared me for the mess I made.

 

Hello everyone! My name is Angel Nelson. I’m about to give you the basic rundown introduction of myself. I’m from Sonoma County and a transfer student from Santa Rosa JC. I actually really miss Sonoma right now and all the foggy mountains. Sorry I know that was random.  I am also majoring in English Education. I would really like to try teaching middle school but high school is also just as good. I wasn’t originally an English major. I spent two years in Business Administration and I can honestly say that it was horrible. I have no idea how people are able to stick with it. If I had stayed Business major it would have taken me another two years to finally be able to transfer. So switching over to English was probably the best. I actually enjoy my classes now and I don’t cringe at the idea of spending an hour with my classmates.

Wegner had some interesting points about the theories. Such as his theories of social structure and social practice. I believe these two go really well together. One sets norms and rules while the other is about reproducing behavior that someone would have in the real world. His ideas of collaboration in communities was an interesting read. I know that I work well alone with some activities and sometimes I need a community. In a community I am forced to give opinions and take some opinions in order to create something that everyone is happy with. It is always easier to work by yourself on a project and it can be hard depending on others to reach that goal. It does create those social norms though within the community and creates a certain behavior that is present in the real world.