Final Blog

 

 

Just a few years back I was anti-technology. I felt as though technology was interfering with our lives in a way that no one would be able to have a face to face conversation, and our youth; my kids and my students, would not learn these very important interpersonal skills. Much like Turkle discusses in her article “The Flight from Conversation.” She states “A 16 year old boy who relies on texting for almost everything almost wistfully, “Someday, someday, but certainly not now, I’d like to learn how to have a conversation” (Turkle). These are powerful words from a 16 year old and this is what has worried me. Not so much the computers that we access at home and use to search the internet, but the hand held devices that are constant. It worries me, and even for those of us who don’t think the younger generation thinks about having a face to face conversation, they do. Just like my own son’s concerns about no one looking up from their phones to smile or make eye contact. So maybe our kids are thinking about this.

 A few years back at the start of Graduate school I was asked to do a short video on my “take” on technology.  I was very illiterate at the time (although I have come a long way but not long enough)but managed to create a photo story which got my point across. At the time my boyfriend, who was 48 years old, broke up with me through a text. I just couldn’t believe it. This just started my rampage that the lack of conversation, and being able to hide behind the screen, has given people the right to cower. Like Turkle, I believe our young people are learning these very valuable skills with computers and devices,  but there are other skills, which are so very important, they are missing out on.

I do, however, beleive that technology needs to be integrated into teaching and learning. I am a big proponent of that. With this Media Literacy class I was really hoping to find the tools to help me do just that. Fortunately I did, and so much more. The articles I have read that discuss the way the young person’s brain works is very startling. It has changed and evolved to conform to this digital world they live and grow in.  I am compelled to incorporate technology into my classroom to help my students and improve my teaching. In this capacity I think about Mike Wesch and his passion for education, he states in his article “The Old Revolution,”  The tools that enable us to experiment with new modes of education are mostly free, and they can be implemented in many diverse bits and pieces without the need for large-scale top-down planning or intervention. And perhaps most importantly, [this revolution] is driven by what one might call a “rethinking the basics” movement, in which educators everywhere cannot help but see a disconnect between their traditional modes of teaching and the world in which we all now live”( Wesch). I truly believe that I always need to be “rethinking the basics” to teach in this digital world that these kids are growing up in. Another great article Wesch wrote discusses the urgency in revamping education. https://scholar.vt.edu/access/content/group/5deb92b5-10f3-49db-adeb-7294847f1ebc/Wesch_Anti_Teaching_Confronting%20the%20Crisis%20of%20Significance.pdf

 We teachers need to think about how they best learn, and restructure and re-learn new modes of teaching. This is exactly what I have been trying to do in my classroom. This class has given me the knowledge and the confidence to do it. I now have a tool chest of digital learning strategies to help bring the 21^st century teaching and learning into my classroom. There are a few other digital tools I have discovered that I can add to the list. Please check out Pixton, , a website that makes online cartoons and comic strips. It is an excellent way to have students tell a story digitally. Also, my new favorite is Sparkol.   This digital literacy tool is so fun to use. It records your voice at the same time you are sketching and simultaneously the sketching comes out as a picture. It is very difficult to explain but it is a must to explore and tinker.  Another wonderful resource is Troy Hicks book Crafting Digital Writing. This book is a great resource for any teacher who wants to incorporate technology to encourage their students to write.

When I needed to find a project I first wanted to do an interactive classroom with Jessica. I thought it would be so cool for my students to talk to other students about a novel. But deep down I always wanted to have a website. Last year I started a blog page and that got me started thinking about a place. I wanted this space to reflect my personality as a teacher and be a place for all my students, not just one class, to find resources, homework, worksheets, vocabulary, and events. When everyone in class started to talk about the Google sites or the Weebly, I quickly realized that was what I wanted to do for my project. Working with the Google site was very frustrating. I wasn’t getting anywhere and I was definitely getting nervous. When I watched some of the Weebly presentations I knew that I needed to abandon the Google site (a difficult decision) and make a Weebly page. Wow, I was so happy I did it. "Ms. Lees's Classroom Page .I felt like I was having fun with this project instead of getting frustrated. I am very proud of my website. I decided to put a Senior Page on it so the seniors can click on and get many resources they need for college or trade school. I just can’t wait to finish it and show it to my students.

Overall, the project and the class have been very beneficial and real. I have come away with a variety of tools to enhance student motivation, interest, and creativity for learning. I like to stay positive and be active in using what I have learned in my classroom. Unfortunately at East Providence High School we are not very technologically advanced, to say the least. It will take an extra effort to be on top of having the projector in my room to be able to give my students the tools they need. It frustrates me because the whole “free public education” system is not accurate. Schools like Barrington or East Greenwich have the funds that are needed to ensure that every teacher has the resources he or she needs to teach to the best of their ability. Does SCWAAMP come to play here? Of course it does. Unfortunately the dominant race is those who are privileged. But I don’t want to get negative after learning all I learned. I will do the best I can to use the tools I have to try and encourage and teach every student.

"Alone together"

Great article by Turkle. Everything she discusses hits home with me.  I have been “nervous” about this generation and their use of technology for a long time.  Turkle’s statement “My students tell me about an important skill: it involves maintaining eye contact with someone while you text someone else; it’s hard, but it can be done.” I think Mike Wesch would agree with this. The difference in opinions on technology between Turkle and Wesch I think is that Wesch advocates for this technology as tools in school so students can use what they know, to learn. Although Turkle might agree in some aspect, as do I, she advocates that our youth are losing something much more valuable; face to face conversation. Most of our students and young people don’t even understand this loss because they have grown up without it.

A story: Last year my son called me up from college. He was 19 almost 20 at the time. He grew up in this digital world but has always kept a distance. He has a Facebook page but since has decided he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t Tweet or do any of the other social media technology. His laptop is his biggest form of technology. He never had an IPhone until a month ago. He will be 21 in August. Anyway, he had just gotten off the bus and he said to me:  Mom, no one even looks at anyone anymore. When I’m on the bus everyone is looking down at their phones. There is never a hello, or even a smile. I hate it. I want to live in Fiji or some island where people talk to people.  I was totally impressed with his observation and out look on life.  Here is a young adult who lives in Boston and see’s what this digital world has created with people. Yes, “It’s a process in which we have shortchanged ourselves.”

Seventeen, Self-Image, and Stereotypes by Bakari Chavanu

Chavanu’s article discusses the influence the media has on young people. As a class unit she had her students “study” the media, in this case she used mostly print advertisements and commercials. Students watched commercials and looked at several advertisements in Seventeen Magazine  they were asked probing questions about who the ads are targeting, what product they are selling, and most  what influence the ads have on the ideals of the consumer. Ultimately Chavanu’s objective was to have her students  become more aware of how the advertisement industry is influencing young people, “Thus, media literacy can play a necessary role in helping our students become critically literate and reactive to the powerful influence of television, video games, commercial advertising, popular magazines, and movies” (24).

As educators it is important to understand that “many of our students are walking advertisements and consumers of media. They purchase T-shirts, hats, and backpacks embossed with the ubiquitous Nike swoosh. They sport images of their favorite heavy metal bands and sports teams” (24). She also gives some important statistics about the viewing habits of our students. “They will have seen 350,000 television commercials by the age of 17” (24). Obviously with her students, and ours, this topic and lesson plan can be life changing for some students who “get it.”

Her unit took seven weeks and she covered many different topics in advertising; they analyzed the image of women, of race, gender, and class.  Along with the commercials and ads, she used different documentaries that help getting the point across of the "hidden curriculum." 

•  Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising's Image of Women
• The Colour of Beauty
• Western Eyes
• A Question of Color

 

 Very often in certain advertisements we can really see how clear S.C.W.A.A.M.P. is through the actors, the slogan, and the pcitures. Although I am very in tune with the underlying messages many ads are trying to get across, Chavanu also discusses the strategy music and voice has in the television commercials. They play on our emotions in different ways. She gives an example of a frozen food commercial and how the music and the narration pull the consumer in. This reminds me of the commercial for the dog charity with the Sara McLachlan song Angel playing in the background. This appeals to people’s emotions and hits their heartstrings.

 

Overall, Chavanu ’media literacy unit really challenged her students to look at advertisement in a more critical way. Her students came away from it understanding the implications of certain advertisements. “sadly, these images are part of a culture in which one out of five women has a serious eating disorder such as anorexia; where adolescent girls increasingly have problems with low self-=esteem; and where blacks, especially women, have historically had serious problems and prejudices concerning the lightness and darkness of their skin” (26). As an essay writing project she had her students write about their experience with the media literacy. She was happy that many of her students look at the media differently now. “Clearly, the unit had challenged their assumptions and caused them to question their own sense of identity” (30).

 

 

 

 

Wesch

'But there are reasons to believe that this revolution will not fail. The urgency of our movement is not grounded in a single political issue. It is grounded in broad cultural and technological shifts pervasive enough to be recognized by virtually everybody in our society”(Wesch).

I think what Wesch is stating that the urgency in education is that learning needs to change and for it to change there needs to be a major shift. This shift needs to bring education into the 21^st century world of technology. Unfortunately this is a very unrealistic achievement for most schools. It cost money! This is where the politics comes in. I believe that educators, even those oldies but goodies, acknowledge that there is a disconnect, however, many school districts just do not have the money to invest in the “revolution.” So teachers are left to their own devices.

What are basic literacy skills today? This is a great question. After watching his video I have a better idea of what Wesch thinks are much needed skills. I really don’t think these skills can and should be taught in a classroom. These are life skills that are self- taught through doing what is part of everyday life. These skills promote literacy because our young people are constantly plugged in; reading and writing now via social media.  I am still not convinced it is a good thing though.

 

 

We as educators do need to understand that kids do think differently now and the world is a different place then it was when "traditional" teaching was the norm. If kids learn and think land act differently, then we as educators need to teach differently. Watch the "Teens Brains on Technology "until the end. The father suggests something about technology and teaching that is very interesting.

 

 

 

funny video

Digital Immigrant

I consider myself a digital immigrant. I grew up before computers and cell phones. I remember in high school taking typing class on the old typewriters. We would have to manually push the level to start typing on the next line. As an adult I welcome new technologies but stay away from many of the social media sites such as Twitter (I know there are more and I just cannot name them, which confirms my immigrant status). 
I did get a new IPad Mini this past year and it has become like an appendage. I really don't know what I did without this tablet before. Everyday I find something else I can do on it. However, ironically I am not using it for blogging even though I know how easy it will be. I have posted a link to show you my newest addiction./
It is amazing what can be done on this, with just a push of a button.
Words with Friends
The Weather Channel
Boggle
Netflix

About me

Hello All:
 My name is Diana Lee. I am an English teacher at East Providence High School. I teach 10th and 12th graders. I have two boys; Jerry, who is 21 this August and will graduate from The Art Institute in Boston with his degree in Audio Engineering. My youngest son Quinn is 16 years old and will be going into his junior year at Barrington High School where he plays three sports.