Observation One Wednesday September 4, 2013 Time 4:30p 5:30p Description Monkey Joes is a large indoor playground located

d in a strip mall on University Blvd. in Charlotte North Carolina. When you walk into the facility, there is a large open space filled with inflatables for the children to play on. Off to the left of the front door there is a counter where each visitor must check in, pay, and receive their wristband before they are allowed to go any further. At this check in counter, you are also able to purchase snacks and redeem any tickets that you have won at any of the arcade games. Once you pass the front counter, there is a wall of cubbies and two inflatables that are specifically for children under the age of 3. There is also a parent lounge with office chairs, a television and two computers. As you walk towards the back of the store, there are 5 more inflatables featuring various cartoon characters including Madagascar, Cars, and Batman. To the left of the inflatables there are three party rooms; red, blue, and green. These rooms are designated for birthday parties and have picnic tables for the children, chairs around the picnic tables for the adults, and a special blow up chair for the birthday child. In Monkey Joes there can be a high level of activity and slight chaos due to children running around and screaming. Rules and Conventions: The discourse community that I plan to observe is Monkey Joes which is where I work. The main purpose of this figured world is to offer a safe environment for children to play while their parents relax. In order to be allowed into Monkey Joes each adult must be with a group that consists of at least one child. There are several families, baby sitters, and nannies that bring children to Monkey Joes to play. During the summer months, summer camps on kids on field trips are also frequent visitors. This figured world can get extremely loud and can have multiple activities going on at once. In Monkey Joes there is the general play area, but there are also three rooms designated for birthday parties. When there are birthday parties taking place in the party rooms, there are also other families who are not with the parties playing in the play area. While Monkey Joes is an environment where individuals are expected to enjoy themselves and have fun, there are also a set of rules and regulations that each child is expected to follow. Do to safety concerns there is no running, screaming, jumping off of inflatables, or rough play allowed. When a child gets out of control, it is the responsibility of the employees to get the childs attention and give them a warning. If the child continues to disobey the rules, they are put into time out and are reminded of what is not allowed.

Comment [M1]: Very good description of location, giving me a good visual of monkey joes without ever being there.

Some discourse communities that I observed include the adults that gather in the lounge, the employees working in the concession stand, the party pros, the referees, and the children.

Actors Shannelle T : Shannelle is Monkey Joes General Manager and controls all of the functions of the store. Shannelle keeps an open line of communication between her and the employees, but maintains her level of authority. Arlae M : Arlae is one of the store managers and takes her position seriously. She is a hard worker and through her dedication to the job, she was able to make her way from a Monkey Joe referee to a store manager. Kayannah L : Kayannah is both a Monkey Joe referee and party pro. As a referee, her responsibility is watch over the children playing and to ensure that they are following all of the rules. When she is working as a party pro, she is expected to take care of all of the tasks needed for a successful birthday party.

Comment [M2]: Detailed description of the actors and their significance.

Artifacts Monkey Joe: Monkey Joe is the stores mascot. Monkey Joes is a purple monkey with green shorts, yellow shirt, red shoes, and a purple monkey helmet/face. He comes out once every hour and walks around the store taking pictures, giving hugs, and shaking hands. Monkey Joe is considered the face of the store and is expected to be friendly because several children want to come to Monkey Joes just so they can talk and hug Monkey Joe. Monkey Joes house: In the back of the store there is a storage room that serves as the changing room for Monkey Joe. The employees and other adults realize that this room is where the costume is stored, but to the children this is where Monkey Joe lives and where he comes from when he is ready to play. Inflatables: The inflatables are the bouncy houses that the children come to jump on. They give Monkey Joes its purpose and without them, Monkey Joes would not be considered an indoor playground. Arcade Games: The arcade games offer a secondary form of entertainment for the Monkey Joes guest. Unlike the inflatables, adults are allowed to play on all of the arcade games. This helps keep the parents and other adults occupied while their children play. Ticket Redemption counter: The ticket redemption counter is where all of the tickets won from the arcade games are accounted for and are redeemed from prizes varying from candy to disco balls.

Comment [M3]: Add definitions!! Comment [M4]: On what level does Monkey Joe communicate with the children.

Comment [M5]: Make the description more reader friendly

Comment [M6]: Add a better description for the redemption center because of its significance to the children who come in there to play the game.

Discourse Communities Referees Party Pros Concession Stand workers Stay at home moms

Comment [M7]: Describe each discourse community and go into detail about what makes each one unique.

The Observation: 4:30 PM There are very few guests in the store due to the time of the day. Since most parents and children are still at work and school, there are only a few stay at home moms and their small children playing. While the store traffic is slow, one employee begins to hand wash the Madagascar inflatable. She is using a bucket full of soap and water and a small towel.

4:45 PM -The employee cleaning the inflatable is finishing up her task, and has begun to fill the inflatable back with air. The few guests that were in the store have begun to get ready to leave for the day.

Comment [M8]: This sections sounds like the store is about to close. Make it clear that this a midday task and not a closing activity.

4:55 PM -5 more groups have come into Monkey Joes. Each group consists of at least 3 children and 2 adults. When these people entered the facility, the children immediately ran to take off their shoes so that they could go play as soon as possible. One child is so excited that she ran directly inside of the Cars inflatable and her father had to go after her so that she could take off her shoes and receive her wristband from the check in counter.

5:10 PM -One child received a warning from one of the referees because he was running around the store. When the referee blew the whistle the child looked startled and confused and immediately stopped running.

5:14 PM -The child that received a warning for running continued to run and was told to sit in time-out. 5:25 PM -There are now several new guests that have come to play. There are several adults in the parent lounge watching television and using the computers. There are also a few adults that have pulled out their laptops on the picnic tables and are working on school work and other work that they need to complete. 5:30 PM -The store now has a more steady flow of visitors. This quick change in traffic flow is a result of the time and the fact that admissions are half off on Wednesdays.

Observation Two Saturday September 7, 2013 Time: 5:00p-6:15 5:00 PM -The facility is filled with walk-in guests as well as individuals with birthday parties. There are several adults wearing UNCC appeal which shows that the high level activity is partially due to the football game that has just recently ended. One birthday announcement has just been made and that group has moved from the general play area, to the blue party room. 5:10 PM -More walk-in guests have arrived as well as guests with the birthday parties. Monkey Joes has also made an appearance and is going into the blue party room as well as taking pictures with other guests. When he first walked out of the storage room, a group of children ran and jumped on him, so one of the employees had to pull these children aside and tell them to be nice to Monkey Joe. 5:25 PM -Another birthday party has been called back to the party room. This party is a little different than the rest because they have brought their own clown and face painter. After the children ate the pizza, cake, and ice cream; a clown came into the room and started to preform tricks and gave out balloon animals. 5:33 PM -A child has fallen off of one of the inflatables and has gotten a bloody nose. One of the referees located the childs parents and gave her an icepack and free ICEE. 5:45 PM -The last party for the hour has been called back into the party room. This party only consists of 8 children which is a relatively small party. At the moment there are 3 parties back in the rooms which offer a break for the main playroom floor. 6:05 PM -Two of the three parties have ended and have left the party rooms and are back playing in the general play area. Since these parties have ended the floor is back to being chaotic.

Comment [M9]: Incorporate the actors that were described in the actors sections.

Observation Three Sunday September 18, 2013 Time 12:00p -1:00p 12:00 PM -Monkey Joes has just opened and there are no guests in the facility. Everything is clean and the party rooms have been set for the parties for later in the day. 12:30 PM -There are a few walk-ins that have checked in and begun to play. The children that are currently playing are younger kids which helps keep the noise level low. 12:38 -The first party of the day has arrived. This party consists of 24 kids which is the largest party package that Monkey Joes offers. As the kids for the party start to arrive, the noise level slowly starts to increase. 12:45 -More families have checked in and the noise level is high. There are children jumping on all of the inflatables. There is also a small girl crying looking for her parents. 1:00 PM -Monkey Joe has made his first appearance of the day. As he is walking around there is a group of children following him and trying to take off his helmet. There is also a mother trying to take her sons picture with Monkey Joe, but the other children are in the way and will not move.
Comment [M10]: How are the children interacting? How are they playing on the inflatables?

Interview September 8, 2013 *This interview is conducted with a frequent Monkey Joes guest

Comment [M11]: Good interview questions!

1.) Explain how you decide when to bring your child to Monkey Joes. Does it depend on their good behavior, or is it usually a prescheduled visit. Monkey Joes is in a very convenient location. We live in Harrisburg and with Monkey Joes being right down the street, we are able to stop by any day Giavana wants to have a play date or just on a rainy day. 2.) What are some improvements that you would like to see within the Monkey Joes facility? The facility is very clean, I just think that they should have more employees looking after the children because I have a 6 year old daughter and a lot of the older children push her around and there is no one to keep this from happening. 3.) Do you feel that Monkey Joes offers a safe and clean environment for your child to play? Why? Monkey Joes is a clean facility. I have actually come in during the week and seen employees hand cleaning the jumps which I find impressive 4.) What makes you choose Monkey Joes over other indoor playgrounds? I choose Monkey Joes over places like Chucky Cheese because of the location. The prices here are little high but the kids love it so I think that it is worth the price. I also like the different special that they have during the week 5.) Describe your most memorable visit to Monkey Joes. What made this visit exceptional? Our first visit to Monkey Joes was for Giavanas 4th birthday. This was an amazing day because she was able to enjoy all of the jumps and Monkey Joe came into the room and gave her a hug. It was just a great day for her.