MLA example

In Eric Zimmerman’s article “Gaming Literacy: Game Design as a Model for Literacy in the Twenty-First Century,” he discusses how traditional literacy have  “centered on reading and writing —— the ability to understand, exchange, and create meaning through text, speech, and other forms of language,” (Zimmerman, 23). He then continues about how traditional literacy was extended through media literacy, which enabled those same reading and writing strategies towards literary text with the notion of media literacy, diversifying the notion of critical thinking with various aspects of media such as advertisements and film.

Zimmerman continues stating how both literacies are “necessary but not sufficient for one to be fully literate in our world today. There are emerging needs for new kinds of literacy that are simply not being addressed, needs that arise in part from a growing use of computer and communication networks,” (Zimmerman, 24). What Zimmerman appears to imply is that as technologies continue progressing and advances, so does the definition of literacy. Therefore, the inclusion of gaming as literacy becomes necessary since as technology continues progressing within society, so will the capacities of literacy. What Zimmerman addresses presents a need in allowing a discussion on gaming within the topic of literacy.

Furthermore, Zimmerman argues that since games are systematic since it involves the rules of the game and in order to “play, understand, and —— especially —— design games, one ends up having to understand them as systems,” (Zimmerman, 26). He continues arguing that it doesn’t just end at understanding games as systems but to also analyze the aspect of playing the game. He states that  “play is far more than just play within a structure. Play can play with structures. Players do not just play games, they mod them, engage in meta-play between games, and develop cultures around games” (Zimmerman, 27). He continues in stating how playing the game can translate into literacy since it incorporate’s the game’s task into the player’s skill level. Depending on the player’s motivation, each task can be achieved depending on how much devotion and time the player will be willing to spare (Zimmerman, 27). Thus, like with reading and analyzing text, it would acquire the player in conducing skill-set strategies in beating various levels. The main core of Zimmerman’s argument is to show how the complexities of gaming can still be interpreted as reading. How the player will interpret the game depends on the player’s devotion to the tasks being displayed onscreen. The player’s relation to the gameplay itself, with consideration of Zimmerman’s argument, is what constitutes as gaming literacy.

 

Zimmerman, Eric. “Gaming Literacy: Game Design as a Model For Literacy in theTwenty-
First Century. The Video Game Theory Reader 2. 23-31, 2007,

ericzimmerman.com/files/texts/Chap_1_Zimmerman.pdf.

*note, notice the indents after the first line for this citing. This would be an example of a hanging indent since it occurs after the first line of every work that is being cited on the works cited page.

Jake Catura’s blog

“My reaction towards the music video was compelling because, the music video showed more details which lead me to the attention of how Tupac’s mother raised two bad kids on her own. The music video shows how much Tupac appreciates his mother. My reaction towards the lyrics in comparison to the music video is that it wasn’t that much of a difference. Everything that happened in the music video is similar to the lyrics. In addition the music video helped me see through Tupac’s life very vividly in comparison of the lyrics. The lyrics put my perspective in tupac’s shoes which helped me articulate the words of his lyrics. The music video and the lyrics are somewhat similar when it plays. Everything that the lyrics says happens in the music video. Throughout the music video, Tupac stereoytpes his mother in a way where no other women can treat tupac and his sister in the same way that there mother treated them. In addition, some slurs has arise a couple of times through out his music video because i feel like he does this way to try to catch the peoples attention. He always uses rymes after each of his lines to try to help better understand what he is talking about in his lyrics.”

– Jake Catura

Difficulty Paper sample

Salvatori, M. R., & Donahue, P. (2005). The elements (and pleasures) of difficulty (p. 69). Pearson Longman.

Salvatori’s article provided some interesting insights in terms of difficulty and how that word can create some misconceptions for many students. The purpose of this article is to show how the term difficulty can actually become an encouraging aspect in regards to getting students to think more critically by asking themselves what from the text needs to be questioned more. That being said, there was a particular quotation from Salvatori’s article that I found some difficulty with. On page seven, Salvatori begins talking about voice in writing. She states “In the essays you write, that voice is the self you are attempting to capture, or project, or imagine. In lyric poetry, that voice may be the author’s persona (literally, a term that means “mask”) or that of the author herself. In narrative, it can be the voice of the characters or that of the narrator who unfolds the scene. In drama, it is the multiple voices of characters in dialogue” (7).

I guess what makes it difficult for me to understand that particular point Salvatori is trying to make is that it somewhat conflicts with how I view voice in writing. While I am aware that she’s only throwing in example of voice, I’m just curious to her choice of words when presenting these examples. For instance, I am curious as to why the notion of persona is only mentioned when referencing lyric poetry. I personally feel that an author’s persona exist in all forms of writing, even with essay writing. Since Salvatori believes that essay writing is from the self’s attempt to capture something, I feel that is an indication of persona as well. In a sense, an academic essay is an essence of the author’s persona as well since it’s the author’s attempt in adding to the conversation that exists within academia.

What also makes it difficult for me is the fact that Salvatori appears to unintentionally oversimplify the aspects of creative writing. For instance, a narrative can inhibit an author’s persona. Or it is through the persona that isn’t necessarily the author’s own but rather the persona of another whom the author is trying to project. Plus, with a drama, or a play, it can actually be read as poetry. It’s not just a written piece that consists of only dialogue amongst multiple voices. The aspect of voice within all forms of writing is truly a complex thing that isn’t just associated with the essence of persona.

Nevertheless, in regards to Salvatori’s text as a whole, I guess I can now understand with why she placed those examples in that context. I believe the whole point of her argument was to show that there is no right or exact way when reading and comprehending text. Difficulty papers are meant to be opportunities for students to explore ways in expanding their critical thinking skills. And so, perhaps I am at fault for overlooking at her examples of voice since I was relying on my own knowledge of voice and writing. With further reading, Salvatori appears to encourage uncertainty since it allows us to delve into the notions of a difficulty paper. So, even if I am still at uncertainty with voice and writing, I can still appreciate with the argument presented in the article and feel that it may help me with future students.

Ashley’s blog 2 post

“As of right now I’m not in a group but have done some research on some books to read for the report. A few books I chose include  A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, andThe Running Man by Stephen King. It has been a while since I’ve done a book report but I’m excited to be doing this. I enjoy working with groups and hope I can be in a group in which we can all help each other out. My goal for these book reports is to read interesting books and improve my reading skills. This class will show us a lot about reading texts and learning how to ask questions, observe important words, and annotate to understand what the author wants us to take from the reading. I am looking forward for the book reports for this class.”

– Ashley Gonzalez

Ashley’s blog 1

“As we grow older we have many people who influence us to like and/or do certain things. In the story  “Superman and Me” by: Sherman Alexie talks about his father who inspired him to love something so much. He was planning on becoming a pediatrician instead he became a writer. I life we get influenced by family or friends. When I was younger I had dreamed to become a doctor but as I grew older I lost the interest. I would sit in my room and watch cartoons, sometimes there would be some episodes of doctors. I then would ask myself, “why do I want to be a doctor?” I grew out of it but ended up confused on what I wanted to become. My grandmother has had a daycare for nearly 15 years, after school I would always spend my afternoons with the others kids. I enjoyed with kids playing, talking and helping them with homework. I wanted to work with kids but didn’t know what specifically. One day I was visiting my grandmother in the evening and happened to noticed there was a little boy in my grandmothers house at 7:00 PM, but there was also a lady who was talking to my grandma. As I was trying to figure out what was happening I heard the lady say she was going to take the boy but he was crying, it didn’t seem normal to me. I then found  out the reason why he was there so late, his parents were arrested for drugs. It broke my heart to see a little boy crying because he was so confused, but my grandmother inspired me. She pulled the social worker aside and spoke to her if it would be fine if she takes care of the child for a few days until he could go with a family relative, the social worker agreed and let him stay a few days. My grandmother that night made sure he had everything he needs, she had given him attention and comfort. My grandma has such a beautiful,caring heart. I was so influenced that I wanted to be just like my grandma. I finally found out what I wanted to do in life, I wanted to become a child psychologist. After seeing the little boy crying I just wanted to help every child who may experience the same thing. Children shouldn’t be put in situations like that without support. I wanted to make a difference and I will, children should be given love, attention, and comfort. I have chosen a career in which I may help many children and I thank my grandmother for influencing me to be a kind person with their arms and doors wide open for those who suffer.”

– Ashley Gonzalez

Jake’s Blog

“The members in my group is Toni, Dana, Uyen & I. Our goal regarding book clubs is to enhance our reading skills and to further develop our understanding and critical thinking skills. Our expectations from this book club is to make sure that the students all enjoy reading the book that is assigned to the students who are in our book club.Some experiences dealing with book clubs and or group projects is that, we must create a group in which everyone enjoys the same passion which is reading. In addition, our three top book choices or genres is Maze runner, Harry potter,& Fault in our stars. We’ve came to a decision and our choice of our book is going to be Fault in our stars.”

– Jake Catura

Suzanna Karapetyan’s blog 2

“Book Club Group:

• Suzanna Karapetyan
  
• Jocelyn Corona
• Rodalyn Pascual
• Uyen Bui
• Nhan Mai

    

        We had to write and discuss about the genre of the story.  Then we had too discuss the plot of the story.  We analyzed the stories and wrote down questions that concerned us so we could understand the meaning of the book more, and that was the part of the goal.  Also to understand the author’s writing, for example the author should write the date and year for Blood and Soap.  

The top 3 choices for the book:

• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• If I Stay by Gayle Forman
• Catcher in the Rye (This was my pick)”

  – Suzanna Karapetyan

Suzanna K’s Blog 1 Entry (READ 200.13)

“I grew up writing in my journal about how my days went and what I write about what happened that day.  My literary influences were History and English that I took in school.  I started learning when I was two years old and my mother taught me how to read and write.  I love to read about History and write about it too.  My teachers taught me History which was World History and U.S. History.  I grew up reading comic books too, which were Archie and Jughead comic books, Goosebumps, Babysitters club, Islands of the Blue Dolphins, The Diary of a young girl, The Cat in the Hat.  At school I read the tongue twisters by the book Mother Goose.  I also read Aesop’s of Fables which I loved because it always had an ending about the moral of the story is … and we would discuss about it.  The more I read books the more it was easier to read and write.  My teachers were also my own literary influences too because they taught me to read and write and society helps you think about reading and writing.  My mom always told me too read as much as I can because it will help with my homework and understanding.  She told me to read faster, so I could understand it more.  Some of the books that I read either the teacher assigned to read it or my family and friends told me about it.  Such as Aesop’s of Fables, Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Diary of a young girl, Goosebumps, and The Cat in the Hat.  My mother would tell me stories at bed time.  I would love bed time stories because it would put me too sleep.”

– Suzanna Karapetyan

Jake’s Blog 1 Post (READ 200.12)

“When I was young, the biggest most supportive people are my parents. My mom and dad were born in the Philippines and I was born here. They’ve made a big positive influence because without my parents I wouldn’t be the person I am today. Both my parents started to show me what is wrong from what is right. They have always told me that no matter what happens in life never let it hold you down because it will only become worse. My parents always pushed me harder to become a better and more successful person. In addition, my father was a mechanic and it brought the car enthusiast in me. My father would bring in a car into our garage to have it fixed up. As time came along I started to become more and more intelligent about cars and since my father’s favorite hobby is fixing cars it gave me the motivation to become just like my father in the near future. My mother on the other hand is a full-time pre-school teacher. My mom and I weren’t very close to each other at the time because she would always come home late from work then leave early in the morning which makes it difficult for myself and for my mother because we hardly see each other. When my father and mother divorced it was difficult for me and my younger brothers because we didn’t have a father figure to look up to but as an older sibling I feel that those who have been through these situations has felt more pain than I have. I feel that my parents and other parents out there is a great positive influence towards life because your parents will always be there for you no matter what happens. They will always push you harder until they/I have reached my goal. Another big positive influence in my life is my younger brothers. Since I am the oldest one in my family and it is difficult to try my best to be the best role model I can be to my younger brothers.”

– Jake  Catura 

Cat

There once was a cat name Bob. He was furry. But he then kicked the bucket and fell of the stairs. Then he died.

The End.