Ignite Talk!

                   

Slide 1: Are video games beneficial to learning? I chose this question as my topic because I've played a lot of video games in my day and I thought it would be interesting to research more about.
Slide 2: For as long as I can remember, there has been a debate on whether video games promote violence or not. Some people believe bombers and shooter get their motive from violent video games.
Slide 3: Research shows that video games can have a positive effect on learning. It also shows that video games can actually enhance children's learning abilities.
Slide 4: This picture shows that brain activity is significantly higher in a child learning with interaction rather than without. Video games are more interactive whereas classrooms are more passive.
Slide 5: Shaun White once said, "There are plenty of skills I've learned from playing video games. It's more interactive than watching TV, because there are problems to solve as you're using your brain."
Slide 6: Flight schools, the military, NASA, and many other organizations all make use of video games and simulations to aid in learning first hand and first person.
Slide 7: These pictures are some examples of games that all have their own advantage to learning. Each has a different skill that could be acquired.
Slide 8: In certain game modes of Call of Duty like capture the flag, teamwork is promoted by having to work as a team to retrieve the enemy flag and bring it back to base.
Slide 9: Certain games like Brain Age train the brain to focus on concentration and split second decision making by completing various tasks.
Slide 10: Guitar Hero is a great example of a game that improves hand-eye coordination over a period of time. You have to hit notes fast and just on time.
Slide 11: In Candy Crush, you must solve puzzles in order to advance to the next level with levels getting more challenging as you go.
Slide 12: Ruzzle is a game that helps people of all ages with spelling and vocabulary, while having fun in competition with friends.
Slide 13: Since its creation, Grand Theft Auto has been labeled violent. However, San Andreas promotes skills used in everyday life. For example, you have the choice to eat healthy or not which can potentially make your player fat.
Slide 14: Along with eating healthy and exercising, San Andreas also teaches navigational skills and the importance of avoiding drugs in early life.
Slide 15: Simulation games like the Sims offer decision based learning by adjusting pathways and scenarios based on players past actions and decisions.
Slide 16: Virtually all games require trial and error to complete objectives. games teach you that failing is necessary in order to succeed sometimes.
Slide 17: Things like Play Station Network and Xbox Live encourage peer-based learning by allowing you to interact with other players in the game.
Slide 18: In James Paul Gee's article "Good Video Games and Good Learning," Gee describes the relationship between video games and learning by principles such as identity, interaction, and risk taking. Slide 19: In conclusion, video games are beneficial to learning. With that being said, I will leave you with this quote by Benjamin Franklin: "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."
Slide 20: Citations

Final Blog Post: Kinetic Text 2.0

     So what exactly is college readiness?  Is it everything the media makes it out to be, or is it a whole lot more than that?  I decided to do some research on this subject and make a kinetic text project to show what information I found.  To clarify on any question you might have, the entire kinetic text mini project incorporated my ideas and well as some questions from media about what college readiness is about (common questions from the beginning like, is college readiness getting good grades over the years?).  McAlister and Mevs's report about college readiness for Brown University really contrasts with some of the things the individual's I interviewed said.  The authors said, "Create a college-going culture in school, support students through college planning process, and engage families in learning about and supporting college going" (McAlister, Mevs 12).  This to me says that high schools are trying to focus more on preparing students for college...something Devon said they "do not accurately do."  Devon said that high school's aren't preparing students for the work and critical thinking they are going to have to do in college.  However, the article says otherwise, so what is going on here?  I think they haven't been preparing students for college, and they are trying to change that.       
     My high school didn't nearly do this efficiently.  They introduced us to CFNC and that was about it.  The only thing my high school did that greatly helped me in preparation for college was offering the Allied Health 2 course that led to me getting my CNA (Certified Nurse Aide).  Not only did I get my CNA in high school at no charge to me (other than cost of the exam), but it also helped me in deciding my major for college and what I ultimately wanted to do in life.  That is one thing I greatly appreciate from my high school...giving me the opportunity to become a CNA in before college even started. 
     As the years go on, I do see an increase in high school's trying to prepare for their students for college by doing things like requiring the work keys exam, requiring the ACT for Juniors, etc.  The ideas of college readiness intertwine no doubt, but like the point I have been trying to get across this whole project, I believe it depends on the individual.  Not everybody will goes through the same things in their life (or at the same times), and everybody will have their own story.  The media portray's this "idea" of college readiness as taking all these exams and scoring high on them, but that is clearly not the case.  Other components like grades, social life, family life, sports, and other extracurricular activities play a key role in an individual's pathway to being prepared for college. 
     For my final blog post and revision, I struggled to figure out exactly what I wanted to do.  At one point, I thought about combining my kinetic text with my photo essay (the ending of kinetic text "individualism," then bringing my story into it), but I figured it wouldn't be the best idea.  In the comments sheet I got back from Lacy, she said, "You might say a little more in your reflection about what thoughts you got from other people to clarify where ideas are yours and where you are sharing other people's ideas.  I mean this might be blurry, but it would be useful to share some of that."  Since this was the only negative feedback I got back from Lacy on any of my three mini projects, I decided to tackle it and see what I could do to achieve what she was asking. 
     It took time to think about what I wanted to do to "upgrade" my kinetic text mini project, but in the end I decided to add on to the ending in order to incorporate some to the individual's ideas on the topic of college readiness from the names I had pop up towards the end.  I interviewed a few of those people (exception of myself) and got their ideas of college readiness, and it turned out that everybody had something different to say about the topic.  In conjunction with adding on to the project, I also changed the song to "Let Me Be Myself" by 3 Doors Down.  I felt this song would be perfect for my kinetic text since the idea here is individualism and how everybody has a different story regarding college readiness.  As well as adding on and changing the song, I also changed the design of the kinetic text, but that was just for looks.  With that being said, I hope you guys enjoy my newly upgraded Kinetic Text 2.0 Mini Project! 

Sources:

1.  Arnold, Brad. "Let Me Be Myself." Rec. 2007. 3 Doors Down. Universal Records, n.d. MP3.

2. "College Readiness Definition." The Oxford American College Dictionary, through Google.com. 
2001.

3. McAlister, Sara, Pascale Mevs, and University Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown.
"College Readiness: A Guide To The Field." Annenberg Institute For School Reform At Brown

University (2012): ERIC. Web. 25 Mar. 2013.

Mini Project #3: Interview

     For my third and final mini project, I decided I wanted to take the idea of the individual further regarding college readiness by interviewing Morgan Kepley, a freshman here at UNC Charlotte.  As I went through the interview, I asked her a series of questions pertaining to the idea of college readiness and her opinions about it.  The interview was on camera; however, I shared my input with her on every question off camera.  On the first question, "What is your idea of college readiness?" Morgan replied with, "My idea of college readiness is being academically ready for college like you've taken the SAT, you've taken all your high school classes so you kinda know what you're getting into, and knowing what you wanna do with your life like your major when you first come in.  It's also being ready to accept the responsibilities of being on your own.  You're not with your parents anymore.  You have to be responsible for your own decisions.  You have to make sure you do your own homework.  You have to be ready to do things on your own."  I agree with her statement because I believe that in order to be successful in college, you need to make a life change of living on your own and being able to do things on your own.  Most of the time it's a huge responsibility that we aren't ready for and therefore have to adapt to it.  In the second question I asked (Who in your life has most influenced you towards college readiness?), Morgan answered, "My parents have been a really big influence on me, they always encouraged me, they always made sure I do my best, even when I kinda messed up a little bit they would always say it's okay do better next time, or they would help me see what I did wrong. My teachers were also a really big influence too.  Especially my Spanish 4 teacher.  She was really awesome encouraging us and explaining...She had a kid in college so she knew what it was like and she would help us out if we had problems, and like when we were filling out admissions stuff.  So she was a really big influence too."  In regards to her answer I told her I didn't really have a model figure in my journey to college.  Of course my parents were always there for me and always encouraged me to do my best (s/o to my parents!), but for me, it was mostly my decision to work hard and to get into college.  Neither of my parents have been to college so I know what it is like to financially struggle at times and I see how money problems affects families.  My parents have always been there for me as much as possible and tried to give me everything I ever wanted, but that is the main reason why I'm doing what I'm doing.  I didn't want to have to financially struggle in my life.  I wanted to be able to take care of the family without worrying about where the next meal is coming from or where the next mortgage payment was coming from.  Also, where Morgan though high school somewhat prepared her for college, I completely disagree.  High school was honestly a joke for me... we hardly ever had homework and only had one major paper and project to do, the Senior project.  When I got to college I was extremely stressed when all the work piled up and I felt like I couldn't finish it all on time.  It's been very tough to adapt to the workload and studying you need to put in to get good results in college; so much in fact that I am still working on it.  In the academic source I found, the article said, "high schools have turned their attention to equipping students with the skilled needed to enroll and succeed," meaning that students would have the skills to succeed in college without remediation.  This statement is false because in order for Morgan to change majors to Pre-Nursing, she must first  take classes over the summer to catch up.  Also, early I discussed how I believe high schools do not properly prepare us for the work college has to offer.  The article also had a segment on academic preparedness that quoted, "align standards, curricula, and assessment to college ready expectations, use data to drive college readiness policies, intervene early to keep students on college-ready track."  This also goes hand in hand with what I said earlier about high schools preparing students for college readiness.  Not only this, but the article describes that everything high schools do is to support students through college planning process, and to engage families in learning about and supporting college going."  I don't know about any other high school's, but all mine did was introduce us to CFNC and hand out scholarship applications.  I had to pretty much figure out everything else on my own, and it was quite difficult.  Now without further ado, I hope you all enjoy my interview and I will see you in class! P.S. Sorry for making my reflection so long!

Source:
McAlister, Sara, Pascale Mevs, and University Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown. "College Readiness: A Guide To The Field." Annenberg Institute For School Reform At Brown University (2012): ERIC. Web. 25 Mar. 2013.

Mini Project #2: Photo Essay

     At the end of my first mini project, I proceeded to say that college readiness is dependent on the individual (refer to Mini Project #1: Kinetic Text).  For my second mini project, I wanted to go more in depth on the idea of individual college readiness and success, so I created a photo essay of my life specifically.  This was just as hard if not harder to make than the Kinetic text from last week, since I added just as much animation to it.  This project took me literally all week to do, but I am very happy with the results and I hope you all enjoy as well.  Again I apologize for the sound quality, picture quality, and slowness of the video.  It looks and sounds good on powerpoint, but when transferred into a video, it ends up taking a turn for the worst. I compared my ideals with the academic source I found and there was many similarities.  In the article, it says, "Acknowledging that to thrive in today's economy requires more than a High School diploma."  I knew this, and that's why I have worked as hard as I have to get where I am today.  The article also talked about how schools now have new policies used to prepare and test for college readiness.  As a senior, I was forced to take the work keys exam.  Another thing that just came into effect this year is that it is now required for Juniors to take the ACT.  Along with the article, I also had tons of help and support along the way.  Without further ado, here is my mini project #2!!! I hope you all enjoy and I will see you in class on Monday!

Source:
McAlister, Sara, Pascale Mevs, and University Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown. "College Readiness: A Guide To The Field." Annenberg Institute For School Reform At Brown University (2012): ERIC. Web. 25 Mar. 2013.

Mini Project #1: Kinetic Text

     For this week's mini project, I chose to do a kinetic text project since Lacy's looked pretty cool, and I thought it would be fun to make an animation.  I've done animations in power point projects before, so I thought it would be easy.  Turns out it actually takes a long time to do this.  It took a ton of trial and error to get the letters and words to do what you want them to do.  It was a very tedious process and it took a lot of critical thinking and planning.  It took me hours and hours and hours to do this.  I'm doing my inquiry project on the ideas of college readiness and success, and I am going to go deeper into thought looking at the opinions of others.  I've been researching and taking into to consideration other people's ideas around the concept of "being ready for college."  As I indicated at the end of my kinetic text presentation, I believe it depends on the individual.  Every single person has a story and nobody's is the same.  I really hope you guys enjoy watching my newly made kinetic text video! I apologize in advance...on blogger the video is slowed down and kind of a little blurry.  I look forward to seeing you guys in class after Easter!

Meeting with High School students...

     This week in English class we got to meet high school students for Forestview High School in Gastonia.  This had to have been one of my favorite classes yet, and I ended up having a lot of fun.  I was nervous about meeting with the students at first but I got over it quickly.  They asked me a lot of questions about college and I was able to answer a lot of questions that weren't answered for me when I was in their position.  I felt like it was a great opportunity to share my experiences in college so far and my opinion on certain things, such as taking no 8am classes!  The six high school students in my group were really fun and very easy to get along with.  I was almost sad to have to leave at the end of the period.  The meeting made me think about a lot of things.  It made me think about me in high school and how my life has completely changed since last year at this time.  I never thought my life would change this much and I never thought I would be where I am today.

Spring Break and the following week

     To be honest, I've been really busy and stressed out over the past couple of weeks. So much in fact that I almost forgot about this blog that is due today. Midterm week was horrible, stressful, and very intense with a heavy heavy work load.  Not only that, but I had two more midterms when I got back from Spring Break. I also have a huge exam coming up in Biology on Tuesday that is crucial for me to do good on.  Needless to say, it hasn't been easy for sure.  On another note, when we got back to class this week, Lacy had us go out in the hallways and find little quotes and things that could be used for a poem.  Then everybody wrote their stuff on the board and we had to somewhat create a poem from the verses.  I thought it was a very fun activity and I made a pretty legitimate poem. I don't have my daybook with me so I don't really remember what it says, but I thought it was pretty good.  I hope you all had a good Spring Break, and remember we only have half a semester left!

The idea of college readiness...

     Over the course of last week, we discussed the idea of college readiness.  I wanted to blog on this subject because I wanted to discuss my personal feelings of the idea of success and college readiness, so here goes:  I don't believe college readiness defines a person; I believe a person defines college readiness.  I guess what I am trying to say is that I think college readiness differs from person to person.  I've given this a lot of thought and came to this conclusion, and here's why:  not everyone takes the same pathway.  Some people go into the military before college.  Others go into the workforce first and go back to school later.  And then there are those that can't afford a University and end up in a two year community college first before transferring.  That is one reason why college readiness differs from person to person.  Another is because being ready for college can depend on what you are actually going to college for.  For example, I'm in the Pre-Nursing major looking to do something in the Nursing field.  However, in order to be ready for college, I may want to get my CNA (Certified Nurse Aide) and take health prep courses in High School to get ready for college.  I am currently a Certified Nurse Aide in the state of North Carolina, but lets not get off topic.  What I am trying to say, is college readiness isn't just all about that stuff people tell you that you need to do....it's just for the money.  Yes of course you need good grades, take the SAT, apply for colleges and scholarships, and do all of that other stuff.  That is required, but irrelevant for being ready for college.  College isn't just about knowing your stuff.  That is a big part of it, but being socially active is a big part as well.  I also think being ready for college is the fact of getting socially comfortable. It makes you wonder, who is right and what does the idea of college readiness consist of?  Maybe I'm off topic, or maybe I'm wrong, but that is my idea of college readiness. I believe it depends on what the person goes through in his/her life, their successes, choices, and failures, and what they want to make of themselves in the future.

Dead Poets Society

     During this week in class, we dealt a lot with tv shows and movies and wrote was we thought was represented in each picture.  For this blog I decided to write about the Dead Poets Society.  It is an older movie but I have seen it a few times.  In the movie, Neil gets shipped to a school by his strict parents and makes so new friends.  Neil and his friends meet Professor Keating, who introduces them to the Dead Poets Society and pushes them to write against the Status Quo.  Neil also pursues his love of acting against his parents wishes, in which they want him to become a successful Doctor.  His father goes to a play that Neil wasn't supposed to be in but was anyway, and his father basically pulled him out by his ear and brought him home.  They then have a huge argument and Neil's father tells him that he is shipping him off to a military school in the morning.  Unable to cope with his fathers future plans and to show his father how he felt, Neil commited suicide using his fathers gun.  Neil's father decided that it was Mr. Keating's fault, and reports it to the school which then went under investigation.  Keating gets in trouble and is almost fired, but all the students take a stand for him.  This movie is a really good movie in my opinion, and conveys the element of emotion.  Neil was passionate for acting and his father wouldn't have that.  Mr. Keating tried to help the students and introduce them to writing in different ideas.  I highly recommend this movie to everybody who would like to see it.  I look forward to seeing everybody in class tomorrow!

"The Walking Dead"

     Not gonna lie to you guys from the beginning.  Since tonight was one of my worst nights in awhile, I decided I'm gonna go ahead and tell you guys about it.  I went home this weekend, and honestly I had a pretty good weekend.  Good food, good time with my family.  I decided to leave at around 7:30pm because I live an hour away and I wanted to make it back before 9:00pm to see The Walking Dead!  But after I left, almost everything seemed to go wrong......  It was smooth sailing down 85 South until I came across traffic about 3 exits before the UNC Charlotte exit.  Not only did I hit traffic, but it was dead stop!!!  I didn't move from the same spot for literally 40 minutes.  I pretty much faced the fact that I was going to miss the premiere of one of my favorite shows...but then I made it on campus at approximately 8:55pm.  I figured that if I had gotten a spot in Lynch parking (near my dorm; Lynch Hall), I would've been able to get inside in time for the show.  I got into Lynch parking, and I was about to get a lucky spot.  A jeep was getting ready to leave, so I put my blinker on and waited.  When the jeep pulled out, there was a car behind me that went around me and stole my spot!  He stole my parking spot when I CLEARLY had my blinker on and CLEARLY was waiting for it.  I was soooooo pissed off.  What has this world come to?  Why are people so rude and inconsiderate these days?  Anyway, to finish my story, I had to go all the way to the North Deck to park, and had to carry a ton of stuff in the pouring rain, after some guy stole my spot right next to my hall.  Shaking my head!  The only good thing about this story is that Walking Dead plays again at 11pm, and I'm gonna go ahead and watch it after I turn in this blog.  I really hope tomorrow will be a better day for me and I can't wait to see you guys in class!

Seeing the good or the bad..?

     This week we spent time reading Peter Elbow's journal "The Believing Game or Methodological Believing."  This brought up a new aspect I have never seen before.  Peter was conveying his thoughts on how in school, we always criticize other students and teachers.  We sometimes discriminate, judge, hate on, whatever you want to call it about other students.  Some teenagers even talk crap about their friends behind their backs.  Peter Elbow was making a point about how we always see the bad and never see the good.  I never really realized it, but it's so true.  For example, say a criminal goes to prison for 5 years, comes out, gets his life together and becomes a big shot.  He will always be labeled as being a criminal and the bad he's done, rather than the good he has done in his life.  It is the same me in schools, businesses, and all around the globe.  I can relate to his journal, and that's also why I wrote about it in our daily writing.  I look forward to seeing all of you in class tomorrow!

Gaming...

     Over the course of the past few weeks, Lacy has got us on this "gaming" fix if you will.  We read about video games and how they particularly apply to certain things, and for me it's been quite interesting.  Growing up, of course I have played my fair share of video games.  I remember one of my favorite games when I was little was Mario Cart on the Super Nintendo.  That was my game!  Man, nobody could ever beat me at it; I was TOO good.  The Super Nintendo was a huge part of my childhood, period.  I also remember when Sony came out with the Playstation 1.  Man, I was too excited!  I think my two favorite games were Crash Bandicoot  and Metal Gear Solid.  They died out kinda quickly, but it's okay because then the Playstation 2 came out.  I think everybody was shocked when some of the first 3D games came out.  Grand Theft Auto 3 had to have been my favorite.  Then when the Playstation 3 came out, I was kind of grown out of games and didn't really play them anymore.  Besides, the system was too expensive anyway.  But after I saw some Call of Duty videos, haha, I needed to get a PS3.  Me and my brother got one a few years for Christmas.  I gotta tell you, I turned into a gaming nerd again after that.  Me and Call of Duty became best friends, and I destroyed kids on there.  After a little while that died out though....and I haven't really played video games since I got to college.

    However, on the first day of English 1102, Lacy made us play string games.  I wondered, why are we playing string games?  How could this apply the writing, or even English class for that matter?  But the connection is very clear now.  I see why we started playing string games, as it only led to more.  Most recently, Lacy asked us to think of a game to bring to class that would apply to our reading's of James P Gee and our classroom activities.  I thought of some computer games I had played in the past, and instantly chose World's Hardest Game.  I thought to myself, "What would apply to risk taking, exploring, and trial and error?"  I thought of World's Hardest Game because you have to take risks to get through the levels (not to mention they are extremely hard).  You also have to go through a lot or trial and error in order to succeed.  You have to die many times before you figure out how to get through each level.  So far, I like English class and I'm excited to see what else is in store for us!

Creating my daybook...

     At the beginning of the semester, I wondered what this class would be about.  I walked in on the first day not knowing anybody, and scared of what to think of the class.  After seeing the syllabus, I realized it was going to be a lot of work and I was worried because of the fact that all my other classes are major classes.  So far the workload is difficult, but I'm trying to manage.  I also had an extremely easy English 1101 class.  All we had to do what write 3 major papers and do some journal entries and that was it for the semester.  On the first day of class, Lacy told us we had to purchase a composition book in order to use for a "daybook" for daily writing.  I went to Walmart that day and bought the last composition notebook they had (luckily they had one).

     Anyway, continuing on with my story, I got back to my dorm room and planned out how I wanted my daybook to look, and I also chose to do it before class so that I could spend as much time on it that I wanted to.  I decided I wanted a picture of my family, some pictures of my amazing and beautiful girlfriend, and some other emblems and logos that I thought best represented me.  So I began by printing out all the pictures and cutting out the right size black construction paper to fit on the front of the book.  Then, I pasted all the pictures where I wanted and pasted the construction paper to the front of my daybook.

     Now it was time for the back of the daybook.  I didn't have anymore full sheets of construction paper, just scraps.  So I came up with a way to cut construction paper scraps in squares and paste it to a sheet to make a collage of colors.  Then I put the pictures on and pasted it to the back of the book.  I then labeled my daybook to make it unique and put packing tape over top to seal it.  This was the hardest part by far.

     Finally!  I was done with my daybook.  It was unique and fit my personality perfectly!  It took a lot of effort and a few hours, but I was very happy with the product.  Throughout the semester, I will get to use this book to paste items that matter to me and items that I do in class into this book.  I will also be able to put my string in my book for easy access so I can play string games and finally, I will put my "writing into the day's" into this book.  I am excited to see how the semester will play out and how I will be able to use my newly created daybook.  The end :)