This action research study examines the learning experiences of Year 8 students and their teacher as they negotiate aspects of their English classes. The study takes place in a regional Catholic co-educational secondary college in Victoria, Australia. The question of understanding the lived experience of ourselves and other is fundamental to this study, which is situated within an holistic, enactivist view of the world. From this perspective learning is a shared activity in which students participate in creating their own interpretation as they interact with others to bring forth understanding.
Review "Gee astutely points out that for video game makers, unlike schools, failing to engage children is not an option."--Terrence Hackett, The Chicago Tribune "These games succeed because, according to Gee, they gradually present information that is actually needed to perform deeds."--Norman A. Lockman, USA Today "James Paul Gee's What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy has been a transformative work. Gee might be described as the Johnny Appleseed of the serious games movement, planting seeds that are springing new growth everywhere we look. More than anyone else, he has forced educators, parents, policy makers, journalists, and foundations to question their assumptions and transform their practices. Gee combines the best contemporary scholarship in the learning scientists with a gamer's understanding of what is engaging about this emerging medium."--Henry Jenkins, author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide
Launch into Literacy is a stuctured five-course book for 7-11 year olds. It presents a wide range of texts for children to study as models for their own writing at text, sentence, and word level.
Bilingualism in the Primary School gives primary teachers a window on the experience of the bilingual children in their care. It helps them to make the most of what the children and their parents have to offer, giving those children a good start in the National Curriculum. The book covers three main areas: first, the ways in which bilingual children in school can learn English and at the same time have their first languages incorporated naturally into the curriculum; second, various approaches to the assessment of oral language (including children’s mother tongue); and, finally, the bilingual experience of children, teachers and parents within the wider community.
Fred Sedgwick argues that through poetry, children can learn about the whole curriculum, including history and science. The book discusses poetry in terms of children's learning and the imagination. Case studies are used to show how children learn about themselves - first, their bodies, and second, their thoughts and emotions - through the writing of poetry. It then considers how children learn about their environment and the relationship between themselves and their environment. Finally, he discusses his techniques for getting children to write and provides recommendations for further reading.
