Blog #2

The perfect situation does not exist; anything can change the environment in a blink of an eye and its ones duty to try and adapt to it. It won't always be a comfortable situation, which is where mushfaking comes into play. In James Paul Gee's work, he brings in the idea of a discourse being an identity kit, each with its own instructions on how to act. Everyone is apart of a variety of discourses, most of them not being linked in any way, which means learning how to use each one and not letting them cross over. For example, the way someone acts with their friends will not behave in that matter when at a job interview. This example is used a lot, but it is one of the best ways to explain how a discourse works. James describes the situation of the interview, where the two applicants had two different discourses, both not suited for the question asked. Although one response was more formal then the other, the "values" were for the wrong reasons.

Being interviewed is a nerve recking situation, and most of the time is spent overthinking the responses to the questions. Another situation where it could be difficult to find an identity kit is a new work environment. An example from my past would be when in high school, I was put in a class where I would go to our local elementary school and TA for a kindergarten class. I have never been in a situation where I would be surrounded by 25 kids, all needing separate attention, but I was still looking forward to it. The first day of class I was expecting to be ambushed with a million questions, but instead they kept to themselves as they were all a bit shy. Once I started working with them one on one, they began asking those silly questions. When I started answering their questions and would see their look, I could tell I had lost them after a few words and they would ask the same question again. It was a bit frustrating explaining to them certain topics, but I just had to remind myself that they were just kids and do not know any better. In one situation, it was my last day with the class so the teacher announced how I would no longer be joining the class. Immediately, they all came over to me and gave me a hug. But one kid in particular waited for everyone else to leave and then asked me when was I going to come back. I had to explain to him that I was graduating high school and going to college. After that, he asked again and I just had to simply tell him I was not going to come back at all. It was difficult because I did not know how he would react and later realized that I should've gone in a different direction when explaining my leaving. The entirety of the class helped build up my patience, a great quality to have. Now that was only one of many discourses that I have been apart of, all with their own lessons. This one in particular stood out to me because with children, things can change in a matter of seconds and you need to know how to handle those situations.

As with every new discourse, you observe, learn, and then apply those learnings to your environment with the hopes to adapt and through this class I hope to acquire those skills to help me further along the road.