Gee: "So thinking and reasoning are inherently social. But they are also inherently distributed, and more and more so in our technological world. This means that each of us lets other people and various tools and technologies do some of our thinking for us...This much obvious, though it is not represented in school. In school we test people apart from their thinking tools...We want to know what they can do all by themselves." (197)

Rios: So far Gee has given us the connection between video games and learning for the individual. I was waiting for the social portion of Gee's argument, as I think that is the key to non-traditional learning in schools and in the classrooms. There is technology there for us to look up certain facts, and straight forward questions. What we want students to develop is their thinking skills and abilities, not just their ability to memorize and know certain facts. This definitely promotes higher order thinking and questioning, and puts lower level thinking and questioning in the background. There are some basic and general knowledge that students should know and be given in order to reach the higher level thinking; however, such facts or knowledge should not be the center or only focus. We do forget or need that basic knowledge; we can just look it up. With technology at hand, that information becomes easily accessible; therefore, teachers can spend more time teaching skills, and higher level thinking.

Gee: "Schools tend to care only about what is inside students heads as their heads and bodies are isolated from others, from tools and technologies, and from rich environments that help make them powerful nodes in networks." (202)

Rios: This sort of highlights what was said before; we learn from our environment and the social interactions that are included within that environment. If we only care about the amount of facts a student can retain, we are neglecting an imperative part of learning. In order to support this important part of learning, and develop it further, social and technology based learning must be included into the schools and classrooms. In the video games Gee mentions, there is an immense amount of social interactions amongst the people playing the games. These interactions are what make the game more appealing to the players; therefore, whether it be Jigsaw or other cooperative learning exercises, there should be activities taking place in classrooms that mimic these kinds of social interactions.

Russel: "Education must begin with the students...thus curriculum and instruction-particularly beyond elementary school-must consciously and carefully weave together the interest of the learner with the structures and activities of the disciplines..." (7)

Rios: Cleary these progressive thoughts about education existed long ago as said by Russel; however, it was a matter of actually implementing them within the classrooms, and some still struggled with teaching writing in all disciplines. Russel also says the ideas of WAC became problematic for many reasons, including the teacher to student ratio, so there were few opportunities to learn specialized discourses. (9) There were numerous barriers preventing WAC from succeeding, but eventually WAC fought its way through. We could not function as successfully if both students and teachers embrace what WAC has to offer. This idea envelops progressive education, and supports inclusive "student-centered" learning. We want to understand the student's experiences, and create opportunities for them in the classrooms that are relatable and cater to their specific learning styles, and WAC makes this possible. A student will understand writing as a form of communication, expression etc. (rather than just a subject they have to pass in English class) if he/she has teachers in other subject areas enforcing their writing abilities.

Pratt: "...our job in the Americas course remains to figure out how to make that crossroads the best site for learning that it can be. We are looking for the pedagogical arts of the contact zone" (6)

Rios: In keeping with the idea that students have experiences, Pratt is adding on their cultural influences on their learning. Students in this country are culturally diverse, and will therefore, feel more disconnected to the English language (as used in America) if their culture is not represented in the language. It's about knowing your audience. Whatever lesson the students are learning, should be reflective of their culture, or make some connections to who the students are. This kind of teaching also promotes integrated lessons. For example, if the majority of my class is African American and I teach an African American historical novel, students will become knowledgeable about the historical events. Other lessons can be made that highlights the historical events when teaching the novel. Also, if a student connects to the novel, he/she is more likely to educate himself/herself further, beyond the classroom, and do their on research for their own personal interests.



2X Journal reflection:
A double entry journal, like everything else, has its advantages and disadvantages. This assignment allows someone to read given material, select a point of personal interest, and expand on that point. It’s provides choices for the reader. It also enables the reader to focus in on one particular portion of the text, rather than commenting on the text as a whole. Expanding on one part of the text, brings forth new ideas, and makes the writing about the text personal, and individualized. I could definitely see double-entry journals used in classrooms. They could be used to asked students to pick quotes from a novel, explain the quote and describe its importance to the text as a whole etc. It can also be used as a creative writing assignment in the classroom. The students can be asked to pick out quotes from the novel, and respond to the quotes by drawing an image, or writing a poem about the quote. I really like the flexibility of the assignment. The only constraints I find in the assignment are that if students are being asked to stay in topic/theme/idea etc. throughout the journal, they will be limited as to which quotes or passages they can choose to comment or discuss. I would assess this assignment by mostly focusing on level of thoughtfulness, and asking questions such as: How much effort was put into this? How do I know? Did the student identify important or meaningful quotes? How do I know? etc.