Before reading James Paul Gee’s piece I was new to the idea of Discourse. Even though I am still new to the idea, I have more of an understanding for it. I had heard of the word before but it was one of those things that I never paid attention to. It has opened my eyes to the world of Discourses and even the difference between Discourse and discourse. I like to think of the word Discourse as an umbrella and discourse is the person holding the umbrella. It was explained in detail that language is a very misleading term and language is all about timing, also not exactly about what you say but how you say it.
Little d
If you told me that there was a difference between Discourse and discourse I wouldn’t believe you. When reading I found out the difference between the big D and little d, discourse with a little d means connected stretches of language that make sense. Therefore, discourse is the little part of the bigger picture; Discourse. We all have many discourses and we may not even realize we do. They are ways of being in the world and can be in different forms such as body positions, clothing, values, beliefs, gestures, and many more.
Carmen Lukes piece is an entire Discourse for the education community. Future teachers are able to relate to the topics discussed in it. It discusses that teachers as well as parents are concerned about the growing rate of children’s engagement in the media. This goes along with children being on the internet, engaging in video games, or watching tv. They feel that by the time they enter school they already are at a loss of innocence which shouldn’t be the case. It is explained that this is a huge concern for educational researchers and teachers. I can personally agree with this statement because as I am going into the education field, I can already see the changes in technology and expansion of social media. I am with the side of educators that believe technology is good to be incorporated in a class setting.
The future educators were able to agree with the fact that classrooms are one of the few places where the curriculum is used to discourage children from blending knowledge from what they read in textbooks from what they read in the media. The truth is that children must learn multiple literacies. Also researchers found new breakthroughs in social sciences made a direct impact on literacy in the classroom. These groups of educators feel that there needs to be change and it needs to be reflected in the students growth before it becomes a deeper issue. With the media growing so much, they see that ways of reading and writing are being transformed, some agree with it and some don’t.
Education is a Discourse Community
Being able to connect both James’ piece and Carmens piece, I was able to realize that education is an entire Discourse community on its own. Without having the knowledge of what Discourse meant I wouldn’t be able to make the connection that this is an entire community that shares the same beliefs and opinions with the topic discussed.
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