Fall Symposium Reflection Extra Credit

At the symposium, the key note speaker spoke about Connected Learning which is basically a new form of learning. The main ways of learning in that sense were, making, hacking and playing. Making meaning, making new things, hacking meaning, tinkering with what is already made, and I did not quite get what playing meant. Then he talked about literacy gaps between generations which made me think of the article we read in the beginning of the semester "Why can't Johnny Never Ever Read". Then at the first session, Mark Smith, Derek Swain and Athena Murphy all presented their papers and ideas on what's in Mark Twain's Pudd'n. Smith opened up the presentations by talking about how the reader and the author have "shared responsibility" in making the meaning of a book. He then continued to explain why liking the book Pudd'nhead Wilson makes you a terrible person because in order to like that book, you must lose all morals. Then Swain spoke about speech acts and how they can give and strip away power from person to person. Finally, Murphy spoke about the comedic aspects of Pudd'nhead Wilson and the book Native Georgian. She began by explaining and analyzing tall tales then showing how Twain and the author of Native Georgian use them differently.