demonstrating identity

James Paul Gee finds that “when people learn to play video games, they are learning a new literacy” (13). He then outlines ideas of acquiring knowledge in games and learning knowledge in games and how those tie to literacy. Literacy is not just reading and writing, but a way of learning specific content within a specific context and being able to demonstrate proficiency with that knowledge. Ideas about literacy begin to include identity, and demonstration of identity within domains. In Gee’s version of literacy, identity and recognized identity within a context become the best demonstrations of proficiency with a given literacy. Instead of teaching history content and then testing students, their ability to speak the right words about History, and demonstrate their understanding by acting as a history student are the best indicators that learning has occurred. This is more common in college education, especially freshmen composition courses (ENG 101). Inherently, the course is a skill driven course; students are expected to learn how to write. There is no native content that needs to be taught to students in ENG 101. Grammar is not mandatory, but is not necessarily content. So the purpose of the course becomes teaching students to demonstrate their understanding of their student status through the college essay. The college essay isn’t just a way for students to write, it isn’t just a way to present content, it’s a way for the literature student to show their identity as a literature student. The correct use of the correct terminology is the best demonstration of understanding of the content of literature, it’s also the best way for a student to demonstrate to a teacher that they ‘get’ the material. So, as Gee discusses how videogames cause good learning through 36 learning principles he lines out, we in education can use them to see if our students can demonstrate beyond a test score that they understand the material by presenting the content in a way that is accepted by the community they wish to belong to.