I identify myself as being a casual gamer, so being assigned to play video games for a class was quite exciting. Although I don't have time to play video games as much as I'd like, I still dabble occasionally when I get the change. I prefer first person shooters (like the Borderlands series!), so playing Journey was a bit different from what I'd normally do.
Prior to playing, I read quite a few reviews on Journey. They all sounded very promising; the game got great reviews on nearly every forum. However, Journey did not live up to my expectations. Maybe I got sidetracked or a little lost along the way, but I did not enjoy my journey.One thing I found to be very frustrating about the game was the movements. As I said before, I am (somewhat) experienced when it comes to gaming. The character that you inhabit, a little robed cloth person known as The Traveler, moves so slow it is infuriating. As a fairly impatient person, I was barely able to deal with this. I think that if your traveler moved just a little bit faster, the game's play time could be cut to maybe...30 minutes?Throughout the game, the Traveler must collect little tickets (think classic carnival games) in order to grow your scarf. The longer your scarf is, the more jumps you have. Each jump your character uses depletes your scarf. When you run out of scarf, you don't have any jumps. Again, this was a very frustrating aspect of the game, as you need to make the Traveler jump up and down quite frequently. If you screwed up, you wasted a jump. As I stated in the previously, the Traveler moves at approximately -2.5 mph. Navigating this world made me so annoyed I wanted to throw the controller at the screen.Okay, maybe I'm being a little unfair here. I get it, the point of the game is to move around, to explore, to enjoy your JOURNEY. However, it was hard for me to get past these initial frustrations and actually enjoy the game. When I was looking around and not fixated on cursing under my breath, I did get to enjoy some nice scenery. Some of the settings were absolutely beautiful...but I'm not quite sure it was worth the initial frustrations.Journey is a wordless narrative. You progress through the story without words or dialogue, only looking at scenery, ancient ruins, and some weird creepy dragon bug things? You occasionally encounter other players throughout your journey, but you are unable to communicate with them. You can make a "ring" noise at them to acknowledge their presence, but their identity is concealed. I didn't see much of a point to this aspect of the game. Although it was interesting to see other players randomly coming and going, no one really stuck around for my journey. They would move ahead, leaving me behind to rage at the controller.I'm glad I got to play a video game that I consider to be out of my comfort zone, but I don't think I would play Journey again. Many people raved online about how it was the "best game ever","5 stars", and "a true delight", but honestly I can't get past my initial frustrations with the game. One of the reviews that I read online claimed that the game simulated one's lifetime. The game starts out warm and easy, but as you progress things get a little challenging, until you hit the peak of the mountain and...die? I don't know. Your character never really dies, you do pass out at one point, but you are revived. ANYWAY....I could see some implications for using this in an ELA classroom. I guess you could connect Journey to some sort of coming of age tale or a traditional hero's journey. Its definitely not something that is going to offend parents; the game is pretty clean compared to a lot of other games that are on the market today. I'm not necessarily sure as to how I'd tie it in with a text, or even how I would be able to make it accessible for all students, but I can see why it was assigned in the course.
Friday, March 31, 2017
Monday, March 27, 2017
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Spencer and I had our mini-teach last Wednesday on Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets. Overall, I thought the experience went pretty well.
We started our demo by having the students think about secrets that would hurt a relationship. The purpose of this activity was to get the students thinking about the themes of the book, and how the characters in the book may have felt at various points in the story.
The next activity we had students do discussed the various themes found within the books. Afterwards, we regrouped and shared.
We concluded the activity by having our classmates construct an identity doll for either Aristotle, Dante, or Bernardo. They were able to use quotes and passages to create a visual representation of these characters.
Our lesson plan channeled multiple intelligences. I believe that it would be appealing to students due to its engaging features. As previously stated, the students in my adolescent literature class appeared to enjoy it.
Although this book is addresses touchy subjects, I think that it has merit in a secondary ELA classroom. There are ways of approaching the subject without going too far or pushing the subject to an uncomfortable level.
We started our demo by having the students think about secrets that would hurt a relationship. The purpose of this activity was to get the students thinking about the themes of the book, and how the characters in the book may have felt at various points in the story.
The next activity we had students do discussed the various themes found within the books. Afterwards, we regrouped and shared.
We concluded the activity by having our classmates construct an identity doll for either Aristotle, Dante, or Bernardo. They were able to use quotes and passages to create a visual representation of these characters.
Our lesson plan channeled multiple intelligences. I believe that it would be appealing to students due to its engaging features. As previously stated, the students in my adolescent literature class appeared to enjoy it.
Although this book is addresses touchy subjects, I think that it has merit in a secondary ELA classroom. There are ways of approaching the subject without going too far or pushing the subject to an uncomfortable level.
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Wrecked.
Prior to reading Wrecked, I was excited. I knew the book touched on sensitive issues such as sexual assault and it took place at a college. In more recent years, issues such as these, especially on college campuses, have become more and more prevalent. Due to the rise in occurrences, I feel like talking about issues such as sexual assault in a high school setting is important. After reading Wrecked, however, I'm not sure that it is the best book to be used for that specific purpose.
As previously stated, Wrecked is supposed to tell the story of a girl, Jenny, that was raped at a college party, and her struggles to not only overcome the emotional damage of the instance, but also try to convict her rapist. Wrecked is unique in the sense that it is not told from the victim's point of view, instead, it is told through Haley and Richard. Haley is Jenny's roommate and friend, while Richard is Jenny's rapist's roommate. After every chapter, we get a slice of the actual events that took place that night. By the end of the novel, we are able to get the truth about the events that took place that night.
Telling the entire novel through the point of views of everyone but the victim is what makes Wrecked unique, but it is also its greatest weakness. Unfortunately, by the halfway point of the novel, Haley and Richard meet and fall in love. The story no longer focuses on Jenny and her assault, but instead Haley and Richard's weird, stupid, creepy love story. Their relationship makes two unlikeable characters even more unlikeable.
Personally, I don't give a shit about their relationship. By choosing to focus on this, I think that it takes away from the "big picture" of the novel. It kind of makes Jenny's rape seem like an event, an unimportant subplot, and dehumanizes Jenny as a character. Classified as a novel that deals with sexual assault, I don't really think that this was the best choice to make. I mean, really?
Anyway, the book is a fairly quick, easy read and I think that regarding reading level, the book would be age-appropriate for high school readers. However, if given the choice, I don't think that I will be using this book. I think that in regards to discussing issues such as sexual assault, there are stronger books that could be used. For example, Speak was discussed a lot in the previous class.
Fortunately(?), for me, I don't think I have much to worry about in regards to being forced to teach the book. I feel as though it is unlikely that this book would go over well with parents, I mean, they get upset about "foul language" in classics such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or Of Mice and Men. However, I would of course keep the book on a shelf in my classroom library. However, if asked, I would definitely not recommend it.
However, Wrecked is not all garbage. The book does have some strong teaching points. For example, I think that it would be interesting to design a lesson plan based on point of view. As previously stated, the novel is tells the same story through multiple perspectives. Like I said, definitely not my first choice, but it does contain some value in an educational setting.
As previously stated, Wrecked is supposed to tell the story of a girl, Jenny, that was raped at a college party, and her struggles to not only overcome the emotional damage of the instance, but also try to convict her rapist. Wrecked is unique in the sense that it is not told from the victim's point of view, instead, it is told through Haley and Richard. Haley is Jenny's roommate and friend, while Richard is Jenny's rapist's roommate. After every chapter, we get a slice of the actual events that took place that night. By the end of the novel, we are able to get the truth about the events that took place that night.
Telling the entire novel through the point of views of everyone but the victim is what makes Wrecked unique, but it is also its greatest weakness. Unfortunately, by the halfway point of the novel, Haley and Richard meet and fall in love. The story no longer focuses on Jenny and her assault, but instead Haley and Richard's weird, stupid, creepy love story. Their relationship makes two unlikeable characters even more unlikeable.
Personally, I don't give a shit about their relationship. By choosing to focus on this, I think that it takes away from the "big picture" of the novel. It kind of makes Jenny's rape seem like an event, an unimportant subplot, and dehumanizes Jenny as a character. Classified as a novel that deals with sexual assault, I don't really think that this was the best choice to make. I mean, really?
Anyway, the book is a fairly quick, easy read and I think that regarding reading level, the book would be age-appropriate for high school readers. However, if given the choice, I don't think that I will be using this book. I think that in regards to discussing issues such as sexual assault, there are stronger books that could be used. For example, Speak was discussed a lot in the previous class.
Fortunately(?), for me, I don't think I have much to worry about in regards to being forced to teach the book. I feel as though it is unlikely that this book would go over well with parents, I mean, they get upset about "foul language" in classics such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or Of Mice and Men. However, I would of course keep the book on a shelf in my classroom library. However, if asked, I would definitely not recommend it.
However, Wrecked is not all garbage. The book does have some strong teaching points. For example, I think that it would be interesting to design a lesson plan based on point of view. As previously stated, the novel is tells the same story through multiple perspectives. Like I said, definitely not my first choice, but it does contain some value in an educational setting.
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