We’ll use Perusall to annotate and read together. 
C is for Cookie
For this weeks blog I wanted to delve into Davis Russell’s Activity Theory and how it relates to my internship at the ESL Center. In Russell’s words, “[The] Activity Theory analyzes human behavior and consciousness in terms of activity systems” (p. 4). He further clarifies these systems as “goal-directed, historically-situated, [and] cooperative human interactions” (p. 4) These could include simple child reasonings for trying to get to the cookies on the counter or a woman’s reasoning for wearing a suit to an interview.
The students coming to the ESL Center are the subjects of their own Activity System. They are the individuals who actively, and intentionally, use the tutors and their resources (computer access, paper formatting references, etc.), all of which are the mediational means or tools, to reach their goal(s), or objective(s). The objective(s) of the the students are typically the intention of increasing their English language comprehension and communication skills, both verbally and written.
At the same time they are experiencing their Activity System, us tutors are experiencing our own. My objectives are to help guide the student toward their objective(s) and to learn essential teaching strategies that may assist me as a teacher in the future.
It is important to keep in mind that while the students, the tutors (and their resources), and the English language comprehension and communication skills objective is an Activity System itself, each student and each tutor is experiencing and guiding their own Activity System within the larger system.
These Activity systems can be seen in young infants to the elderly. They help facilitate a positive and, hopefully, successful learning experience. If a child successfully reaches the cookie jar after mediating a chair over to the counter and climbing on top of it, then they have reached their goal, their objective, and successfully completed their Activity System.
2 Replies to “C is for Cookie”
Yes, we all have our activity systems, which sometimes branch out into a larger system. We determine our goals and take the necessary mediational means to help us accomplish the objectives. Of course, as you brought up, history and social aspects comes into play. If a student lives in an environment where homogeneous is preferred over individuality, students might not seek out the proper resources if not directed towards that path. I have noticed this amongst certain International students. Some tend to respond or find resources for a particular task when told by a leader. In the end, most activity systems affect the people around us, whether we are group oriented or not. It’s so interesting to see how activity system starts at a young age. A child’s ability to use critical thinking to reach his/her goal shows me how wonderfully, complex our brain is. Like how you connected your ESL experience with Russell’s article. :)
Karanda! I like the connections you made with the ESL center. I see the same things at the center! It’s interesting how each student uses his/her own way of understanding something in order to relate it to their own life/experience. We get a huge variety of things that the students work on so it becomes a system of where the students and the tutors are learning from eachother.