This semester has been an extremely difficult one. I took five classes that interested me, but at the same time I found each of them to be challenging in their own way. Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools was no exception, the only difference from it and my other classes was that a lot of the enjoyment I experienced in the class came from the challenges I had during it.
Comparing this class to last semesters Teaching Reading with Literature I found them to be the perfect foil to one another. One stressed the importance of young adult literature while the other showed how to use YA Lit in conjunction with canonical texts. The main argument for canonical text coming from our text book Classics in the Classroom by Carol Jago. Having just one of these classes without the other would have led to what I imagine as a pretty one sided curriculum, that might have stressed one over the other leaving students with a lopsided understanding of literature and its place in the world, past, present, and future.
Our two main in-class assignment, facilitating classroom discussion and our expert group presentations, were two of the most helpful activities I've ever had the pleasure of participating in. Obviously we were not in an actual classroom setting when performing these task, but I still think they served their purpose of preparing us for when we are in the actual situation. When standing in front of the class I found a confidence that I never knew I had, sure I was nervous, but once I got going it seemed more natural. I found this more in the discussion activity then the expert groups, but it was in both. With the expert group I think I finally gained a level of comfort with writing lesson plans. Lesson plans were something that used to make me very nervous, but after this activity I was able to see the amount of freedom you can have even when dealing with standards and bench marks. I found the best thing is just not to allow yourself to become overwhelmed with everything you are trying to include, keep it simple and expand upon it if applicable.
I really enjoyed this class and I think the knowledge I gained from it is pretty invaluable, I'm going to be holding on to the book for a while I now that much for sure and I also plan on buying Critical encounters. Both books seem like they have a lot to offer teachers and I plan on getting a lot of use out of them both. I wish this class didn't have to end I feel like as much as I have learned there is still so much more and I want the lessons to just keep coming, but I definitely look forward to using all that I learned in my very own classroom someday.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Jago Ch. 7
A national assessment test sounds promising, but the path to get there is a long on to say the least. I'm not sure how important it is to have similar standards as long as they all have something in common and that is that they are high. We must hold students to a higher level, challenge them and help them to succeed in whatever the future holds for them. As far as where literature comes into play in all of this I pretty much agree with Jago, in that classic literature is still a very important part of the curriculum. Teaching a student how to analyze a piece of writing well is necessary since this bit of knowledge can be used in almost every aspect of the students every day life. Learning how to deal with certain situations and sympathizing with those who can't. I don't know if a student should not be able to graduate if they don't know how to analyze something and express there own opinion in a productive way, but I do know that teachers need to impart as much as possible onto each student who passes through their room, because not all states do have a final graduation exam, so it's up to us to determine if they are ready or not and then to hope that we are right.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Jago Ch. 6 Lesson Design for Classical Literature.
Designing a lesson is something I feel I need to get better at doing. With this subject I'm going with the more experience the easier it will become, if that turns out to be false, well we'll just have to wait and see.
The chapter sort of starts out with a paradox, do we blame the new teachers when all they are doing is teaching the way they were taught by the old teachers. Well I say stop trying to blame and start trying to solve. Jago does this by explaining how she was taught to be a teacher. Much like students a teacher must always be ready and willing to learn. The teaching knowledge will never stop as long as you are open to it.
Then comes the actual lesson design, Jago uses The Odyssey as her example text, with a few other texts thrown in for good measure. She offers a very in-depth look at the thought and process behind designing a lesson, some new to me and some I've heard before but presented with new aspects. It definitely has a lot of helpful material that I don't think I could have ever thought of using. I really like the idea of comparing translations. It's a very implicit way to allow students to see other viewpoints of the same material. We want students to think critically, but at the same time allow for other opinions to intrude and possible change how they see things and what better way to model that then with two or more translation of the exact same material.
I think with a lot of the classics, you can have really great ideas on how to teach them in a fun and interesting way, but until the students connect to the text it may not be worth it. Take The Odyssey, which is an epic, and the story itself is immensely dense, complicated, and layered, all in a good way of course. Now some students may notice this right off the bat and it may even excite them. For the rest you need to figure out how to convey the mass amount of epic that is The Odyssey to them. I think Jago does and excellent job of this, she prepares herself and her students before they even start to read, which is always a good idea I think. "Students take over teaching" is another great way to connect the students to the text even if it is with a very specific part.
With this chapter I am trying to look beyond Jago's actual lesson and see something underneath the explicit assignment. I see encouraging participation, activating critical thinking, and comparing fictional characters to real life ones to establish and form a personal view of the world. All are important and none should be neglected. There is a lot to designing a lesson and I look forward to attempting it in the near future.
The chapter sort of starts out with a paradox, do we blame the new teachers when all they are doing is teaching the way they were taught by the old teachers. Well I say stop trying to blame and start trying to solve. Jago does this by explaining how she was taught to be a teacher. Much like students a teacher must always be ready and willing to learn. The teaching knowledge will never stop as long as you are open to it.
Then comes the actual lesson design, Jago uses The Odyssey as her example text, with a few other texts thrown in for good measure. She offers a very in-depth look at the thought and process behind designing a lesson, some new to me and some I've heard before but presented with new aspects. It definitely has a lot of helpful material that I don't think I could have ever thought of using. I really like the idea of comparing translations. It's a very implicit way to allow students to see other viewpoints of the same material. We want students to think critically, but at the same time allow for other opinions to intrude and possible change how they see things and what better way to model that then with two or more translation of the exact same material.
I think with a lot of the classics, you can have really great ideas on how to teach them in a fun and interesting way, but until the students connect to the text it may not be worth it. Take The Odyssey, which is an epic, and the story itself is immensely dense, complicated, and layered, all in a good way of course. Now some students may notice this right off the bat and it may even excite them. For the rest you need to figure out how to convey the mass amount of epic that is The Odyssey to them. I think Jago does and excellent job of this, she prepares herself and her students before they even start to read, which is always a good idea I think. "Students take over teaching" is another great way to connect the students to the text even if it is with a very specific part.
With this chapter I am trying to look beyond Jago's actual lesson and see something underneath the explicit assignment. I see encouraging participation, activating critical thinking, and comparing fictional characters to real life ones to establish and form a personal view of the world. All are important and none should be neglected. There is a lot to designing a lesson and I look forward to attempting it in the near future.
Jago Ch. 4 How Stories Work
Chapter 4 describes my favorite part of English, the stories. I love every aspect, element, and device. I love the way different things are revealed as the story progresses, and I especially love the way Jago describes the process as gaining power over the text.
Jago also brings up a point I never thought of before, "books that demand hard thinking on the part of a reader are more likely to be remembered that those students breeze through," (67). In order for a student to gain anything from a piece of literature it must challenge them.
Jago uses excellent examples with The Call of the Wild and The Grapes of Wrath. It is important to identify helpful passages that convey specific ideas necessary to a student's learning. As Jago states you don't want to ask trivial things such as "find the simile, identify the alliteration, spot the allusion" (68) instead provide the students with a passage that possesses these devices and let the reading do the rest.
Students are capable of analyzing text and identifying devices, what they need help with is understanding why it is important to know how to do these things. If students understood that already half of our job would already be done. They need to make the connection between what we are trying to teach them and how it comes into play in the real world. It all really boils down to critical thinking skills.
A hero on a quest is how Jago describes the basic story structure, for the most part this plot could be applied to just about any story. Students can identify with conflict and obstacles, they face them everyday, the teacher just needs to make sure they can see past that into the deeper meaning behind the way the author presents the hero's quest.
Jago also brings up a point I never thought of before, "books that demand hard thinking on the part of a reader are more likely to be remembered that those students breeze through," (67). In order for a student to gain anything from a piece of literature it must challenge them.
Jago uses excellent examples with The Call of the Wild and The Grapes of Wrath. It is important to identify helpful passages that convey specific ideas necessary to a student's learning. As Jago states you don't want to ask trivial things such as "find the simile, identify the alliteration, spot the allusion" (68) instead provide the students with a passage that possesses these devices and let the reading do the rest.
Students are capable of analyzing text and identifying devices, what they need help with is understanding why it is important to know how to do these things. If students understood that already half of our job would already be done. They need to make the connection between what we are trying to teach them and how it comes into play in the real world. It all really boils down to critical thinking skills.
A hero on a quest is how Jago describes the basic story structure, for the most part this plot could be applied to just about any story. Students can identify with conflict and obstacles, they face them everyday, the teacher just needs to make sure they can see past that into the deeper meaning behind the way the author presents the hero's quest.
Jago Ch. 2 All About Words
After reading chapter two there was a sentence that really stood out to me, that I had to go back and reread. "So much of what happens in school seems artificial to students, a series of meaningless assignments that they must perform for the teacher or else fail." (27) When I was in high school I remember thinking this exact same thing for just about every assignment in just about every class. The big question on my mind was "why?" and not a single teacher answered that for me. Jago not only answers "why" but also tells us "how" in this chapter.
Students need guidance and as an English teacher I think that is a big part of our job. Guiding the students to achieve a higher learning. Without a set purpose this task would be next to impossible, purpose meaning why as a student do I need to learn new vocabulary words. A higher vocabulary means a higher understanding, it is as simple as that. Understanding leads to knowledge and knowledge leads to success or power or whatever you want to use it for, but no matter how it is used the importance of it cannot be argued against. A student should be able to recognize the importance of the lessons we are trying to teach them, they should want to better themselves as learners. This can only be done with a teacher who possess the ability to motivate and interest. For the inexperienced teacher, such as myself, I think Jago offers plenty of decent ideas for a majority of situations that will occur in a classroom. She talks a lot about the zone of proximal development and rightfully so, since I agree that the importance of this zone cannot be overlooked, students must be pushed in all aspects of their schooling and that includes vocabulary.
Students need guidance and as an English teacher I think that is a big part of our job. Guiding the students to achieve a higher learning. Without a set purpose this task would be next to impossible, purpose meaning why as a student do I need to learn new vocabulary words. A higher vocabulary means a higher understanding, it is as simple as that. Understanding leads to knowledge and knowledge leads to success or power or whatever you want to use it for, but no matter how it is used the importance of it cannot be argued against. A student should be able to recognize the importance of the lessons we are trying to teach them, they should want to better themselves as learners. This can only be done with a teacher who possess the ability to motivate and interest. For the inexperienced teacher, such as myself, I think Jago offers plenty of decent ideas for a majority of situations that will occur in a classroom. She talks a lot about the zone of proximal development and rightfully so, since I agree that the importance of this zone cannot be overlooked, students must be pushed in all aspects of their schooling and that includes vocabulary.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Pleasure Reading
As busy as I have been with my schoolwork and work, I managed to get out and see "Battle L.A." and "Sucker Punch." I wasn't expecting much from "Battle L.A." I figured it would be an apocalyptic alien invasion and nothing more, which it was. They tried to insert some background on the characters which was unnecessary in my opinion. The background of these characters ended up developing into conflict between two of the soldiers in the company that the movie focused on and it really just didn't make sense. It seemed like "Independence Day" meets "Full Metal Jacket", which I think sounds like an awesome movie, but it truth It could have been much better. In the end though, if you went into the movie expecting a good action/war flick then you got what you wanted. Overall however, I preferred "Sucker Punch."
Now this is an action flick. The latest from Zack Snyder the direct of "300" and "Watchmen" two of my favorite movies from the past couple of years. I was excited beyond words for this movie. From start to almost the finish it completely held your attention. There was either epic fight scenes or moments that left you thinking "did that just happen" around every turn. The reason I said almost the finish is because the end left a lot to be desired. At one moment I prepared myself to get up because I thought the movie had ended, but it just kept on going. When I thought the movie had ended I was completely satisfied with it and was happy, but instead they dragged it along and milked it for all it was worth. Still, it remained my favorite of the two and one of the best films I have seen so far this year.
Now this is an action flick. The latest from Zack Snyder the direct of "300" and "Watchmen" two of my favorite movies from the past couple of years. I was excited beyond words for this movie. From start to almost the finish it completely held your attention. There was either epic fight scenes or moments that left you thinking "did that just happen" around every turn. The reason I said almost the finish is because the end left a lot to be desired. At one moment I prepared myself to get up because I thought the movie had ended, but it just kept on going. When I thought the movie had ended I was completely satisfied with it and was happy, but instead they dragged it along and milked it for all it was worth. Still, it remained my favorite of the two and one of the best films I have seen so far this year.
I (Heart) Novels, Publish or Perish, Video Games in the Classroom
I had never heard of cell-phone novels until I had read "I (Heart) Novels". I definitely like the idea of writing freely for yourself and allowing others to read it for free. The material is "unfiltered and unedited" so it is basically exactly how the writer intended it, which is extremely rare in any form of media at this time. I think the article acts as a way to inform the public of the ever-changing world of literature and how technology is a bug part of those changes. This makes me think of the different ways I could allow my students to express themselves in and out of the classroom. Who knows maybe someday we won't even have text books any more and we'll read everything from our cell phones or I-pads. There will no longer be formal writing assignments instead all assignments will be completed through some sort of mobile device. I like the creativity that is shown of this new medium in the article, but at the same time I would hate to see books and hard copies completely disappear. I prefer to do all of my reading with the actually book in front of me and some of my writing with pen and paper, and I really don't see that changing for me anytime soon.
Students using Kindles in the classroom
This brings us to the article "Publish or Perish". The future of reading is apparently electronic, which I am all right with as long as that means the world of literature will live on. Now I may be on of the people at fault for the decline of sales in the book world. When I was younger I would buy new books all the time, whether it was at my elementary school book fair or out of one of the take home book order forms, but these both stopped as I got older. So instead I turned to the library and used that for my reading needs for most of high school and some of college only recently (actually a couple of weeks ago) did I decide to start buying books again. I don't have an I-pad or a kindle so I won't be buying any e-books, strictly old fashioned for me. I'll still use the library, which I will also encourage my students to do as frequently as possible, but I simply plan on buying more books for my personal library. The world of literature is changing, but as long as I can still read whatever and whenever I want I'm o.k. with that.
"Video Games in the Classroom" describes something that I can only call awesome. Now before you jump on me and say video games have no place in the classroom, let me just say that I agree. But with this new generation of students video games are a way of life for a lot of them and with the class being only three times a week, I can begin to see the positive side of it. So what can a student learn from playing video games, how about accepting defeat, problem solving, and teamwork. Video games have nothing on real life situations but if that what we need to use to get kids motivated and ready to perform, why not give them a break three times a week and teach them something along the way. The article also deals with school budgets which I've seen get a little sketchy when I was in high school, so maybe this isn't for everyone, or at least the hands on activity or a stand alone class. But why not just present the students with the idea to look at their video games or other after school activities in a different way and challenge them to gain lessons and values from them instead of just zoning out. We as teachers must adapt to the students way of life, mostly for motivation and to gain some level of connectedness and I see no harm in doing this through video games.
Video of a teacher using video games in the classroom
Students using Kindles in the classroom
This brings us to the article "Publish or Perish". The future of reading is apparently electronic, which I am all right with as long as that means the world of literature will live on. Now I may be on of the people at fault for the decline of sales in the book world. When I was younger I would buy new books all the time, whether it was at my elementary school book fair or out of one of the take home book order forms, but these both stopped as I got older. So instead I turned to the library and used that for my reading needs for most of high school and some of college only recently (actually a couple of weeks ago) did I decide to start buying books again. I don't have an I-pad or a kindle so I won't be buying any e-books, strictly old fashioned for me. I'll still use the library, which I will also encourage my students to do as frequently as possible, but I simply plan on buying more books for my personal library. The world of literature is changing, but as long as I can still read whatever and whenever I want I'm o.k. with that.
"Video Games in the Classroom" describes something that I can only call awesome. Now before you jump on me and say video games have no place in the classroom, let me just say that I agree. But with this new generation of students video games are a way of life for a lot of them and with the class being only three times a week, I can begin to see the positive side of it. So what can a student learn from playing video games, how about accepting defeat, problem solving, and teamwork. Video games have nothing on real life situations but if that what we need to use to get kids motivated and ready to perform, why not give them a break three times a week and teach them something along the way. The article also deals with school budgets which I've seen get a little sketchy when I was in high school, so maybe this isn't for everyone, or at least the hands on activity or a stand alone class. But why not just present the students with the idea to look at their video games or other after school activities in a different way and challenge them to gain lessons and values from them instead of just zoning out. We as teachers must adapt to the students way of life, mostly for motivation and to gain some level of connectedness and I see no harm in doing this through video games.
Video of a teacher using video games in the classroom
Saturday, April 2, 2011
(818) Movie Review
The movie I saw at the Cleveland International Film Festival was (818), film's imdb page, directed by Robert Lee King and written by David Michael Barrett. The plot was about a washed up soap opera star who planned to kill her husband after he wrote her out of his will. The movie is first and foremost a comedy, with some suspenseful elements thrown in. There were a couple of cliche moments, wacky characters and certain plot devices, but it is almost impossible these days to find a movie without a single cliche.
The story wasn't the most original, but it was presented in a way that at least seemed new. The film acts as a two hour long day time soap without commercials. I think this is done on purpose in order to satirize the world of acting and to see what someone who never stops acting, even when cameras aren't rolling, would be like. So even if the plot was old news this was at least a way to keep it interesting and even added an air of freshness to it. I have never seen a movie that purposely took itself to seriously. The characters were over the top and the actors who portrayed them overacted perfectly. Even the score was something you would find in an usual soap opera. The filming was no different, very few if any long takes, which is exactly what you would expect from daytime television. Not to mention lots of back and forth conversations with overly dramatic pauses dispersed throughout. If you could get over the advertent cheesiness of the movie it was actually quite entertaining.
The story didn't deliver any strong, willful messages it was just simply there for your viewing pleasure. The characters were not role models or heroes, they were flawed products of society that allowed greed and fame to get the better of them. The only characters who seemed to have any kind of morals managed to get themselves killed within the first twenty minutes of the film. Its soul purpose was to entertain and in that I believe it succeeded.
The movie asked you to enter a world that few are familiar with, the world of acting. It asked you to accept extraordinary circumstances as real life events. It asked you to sympathize with deeply flawed characters. This may seem like the movie asked a lot, but I would rather a film ask something of me than I of it. The movie may not have been deep or emotionally strong, but it definitely didn't take you by the hand and spell everything out for you. So in other words I think it did exactly what a good movie should.
trailer
Cleveland International Film Festival
I just got back from the Cleveland International Film Festival and I would have to say that overall I had a pretty good time. I went to see a film called (818) with my sister and a friend of mine. I enjoyed the film and the company, but some other things were a little off-putting. First off I did not buy my tickets ahead of time, because my schedule for the past couple of weeks has been pretty hectic and nothing was really set in stone so I wasn't sure when I was actually going to get a chance to go to a film, so I didn't want to buy tickets and then not be able to go. Then I found out the movie was stand-by only, but I really only had the time to see that particular film, so I took a chance and went anyway. Luckily I was able to get in. Now I've experienced stand-by before and I must admit I did not find any part of it to be enjoyable, but in the case of the film festival it really wasn't that bad. It was really well organized and the wait really wasn't that long, so besides a couple of annoying people in line this part was o.k. So we got our stand-by tickets, numbers 10, 11, and 12, and had a pretty good feeling about getting in with such low numbers, so we spent the rest of the time walking around the mall until the movie started. We returned to the theater 15 minutes before the film was supposed to start and waited in line again, this experience was not as enjoyable. We didn't have to wait for very long, but as soon as they called the numbers people at the bag of the line rushed ahead like the building was on fire, it was ridiculous. I have never seen such a mad dash for what would be considered mediocre seats at best. But I didn't let that get to me after all I was at the Cleveland International Film Festival for the first time.
After the film ended there was a brief question and answer with the director, producer, and star of the film. This was actually really cool even though some of the questions were pretty mind-numbing. The director seemed like a really nice guy and had a lot of interesting things to say about the process that went into making his movie. This part was unexpected, but I really enjoyed it. I definitely plan on attending again next year and whenever I get the chance I hope to go to other film festivals around the world. It was a new experience and I loved just about every minute of it.
After the film ended there was a brief question and answer with the director, producer, and star of the film. This was actually really cool even though some of the questions were pretty mind-numbing. The director seemed like a really nice guy and had a lot of interesting things to say about the process that went into making his movie. This part was unexpected, but I really enjoyed it. I definitely plan on attending again next year and whenever I get the chance I hope to go to other film festivals around the world. It was a new experience and I loved just about every minute of it.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Firestone Experience
When I think of test preparation, especially for standardized tests, multi-modalities aren't really on my mind. I think that's why I like this assignment, it is forcing me to do something I wouldn't normally think to do. It also makes it very difficult to come up with a decent idea. I really like the idea of online discussions, but when dealing with test material who have to be careful with whether or not the students are providing correct information to one another. Also with standardized tests there are often online study guides that are easy for students to use, but I see those being more helpful at home then at school. So these ideas lead me to think even more outside of the box.
Maybe use and online calendar or scheduler and have students set up there own personal plan of when and what to study each night leading up to the test. Taking the schedules and post them on a class site for other students to see and possibly forming groups out of them. The groups could be formed based on similar struggles or stronger students with weaker ones, that really depends on the specific class and the students in it. Students who don't need to study certain parts wouldn't put it in their schedule so if it was missing you could put them with students who had the missing subject on more then one day, something like that.
Standardized tests prove to be a pretty difficult problem, because as the teacher you have no control over them, so combining them with multi-modalities is understandable difficult.
Looking back at my Firestone High School experience, I decided to reflect on the amount of modalities I witnessed being used in the classrooms. The reply to which would be, not much. In one class they watched a movie based on the book they were reading and that's really about it. I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing though. It's definitely better than just using it to use it, because I actually saw a couple of decent lessens without using multi-modalities.
As far as our dependency on teaching to the test versus the broadening definition of literacy I think multi-modality should be embraced greatly. The ever-growing field of educational technology and just technology in general is astounding. Plus more and more students are becoming familiar with these things on their own without the guide of a teacher, so why not use them in a classroom. Testing students on what they learn is important don't get me wrong, but I think making sure student motivation is there is equally important. We need to incorporate interesting material into our lessons focus more on students' level of understanding rather than strict by the book lessons. Teachers need to be free to encourage students' free thinking. This will help the in school and after school in everyday life.
Hopefully using a wide variety of material and modalities students will begin to develop different perspectives on how to problem solve in turn raising their test scores. All of this is set in an ideal world and obviously we must be prepared for our plans to fail, but if you keep your standards high your students should follow suit.
At Firestone the only form of modality I used during tutoring was really examples. I tried to base certain situations in the student's everyday life to help him identify with the problems. When I think of modality I also think of different ways to use critical thinking skills and I think that is what I was trying to accomplish during the tutoring session. This is also something I worry a great deal about is making the material I am required to teach obtainable, understandable, and relatable to the students and I think multi-modalities will help with this a great deal. Students need variety in their life, it keeps things interesting and fresh. Without these emotions in a student you have quite a road ahead of you, but using multi-modality will hopefully do half of this job all on its own.
Maybe use and online calendar or scheduler and have students set up there own personal plan of when and what to study each night leading up to the test. Taking the schedules and post them on a class site for other students to see and possibly forming groups out of them. The groups could be formed based on similar struggles or stronger students with weaker ones, that really depends on the specific class and the students in it. Students who don't need to study certain parts wouldn't put it in their schedule so if it was missing you could put them with students who had the missing subject on more then one day, something like that.
Standardized tests prove to be a pretty difficult problem, because as the teacher you have no control over them, so combining them with multi-modalities is understandable difficult.
Looking back at my Firestone High School experience, I decided to reflect on the amount of modalities I witnessed being used in the classrooms. The reply to which would be, not much. In one class they watched a movie based on the book they were reading and that's really about it. I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing though. It's definitely better than just using it to use it, because I actually saw a couple of decent lessens without using multi-modalities.
As far as our dependency on teaching to the test versus the broadening definition of literacy I think multi-modality should be embraced greatly. The ever-growing field of educational technology and just technology in general is astounding. Plus more and more students are becoming familiar with these things on their own without the guide of a teacher, so why not use them in a classroom. Testing students on what they learn is important don't get me wrong, but I think making sure student motivation is there is equally important. We need to incorporate interesting material into our lessons focus more on students' level of understanding rather than strict by the book lessons. Teachers need to be free to encourage students' free thinking. This will help the in school and after school in everyday life.
Hopefully using a wide variety of material and modalities students will begin to develop different perspectives on how to problem solve in turn raising their test scores. All of this is set in an ideal world and obviously we must be prepared for our plans to fail, but if you keep your standards high your students should follow suit.
At Firestone the only form of modality I used during tutoring was really examples. I tried to base certain situations in the student's everyday life to help him identify with the problems. When I think of modality I also think of different ways to use critical thinking skills and I think that is what I was trying to accomplish during the tutoring session. This is also something I worry a great deal about is making the material I am required to teach obtainable, understandable, and relatable to the students and I think multi-modalities will help with this a great deal. Students need variety in their life, it keeps things interesting and fresh. Without these emotions in a student you have quite a road ahead of you, but using multi-modality will hopefully do half of this job all on its own.
I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You, You're Leaving a Digital Trail
I have a twitter and a facebook. I use facebook at least once a day and twitter probably more like once a week. When I say use I basically mean look at, because I rarely ever actually post anything on either site. I understand the sites values and why it is so easy to become addicted to them, but that doesn't mean I have to go along with it. The ideas presented in the first article I find very unsettling to be honest. So these sites make you feel closer to your friends? Ok, I guess. Maybe it's just the anti-social person in me, but I really don't care about the mundane details of my "friends" lives. I rarely see the people in my friends list anymore, a more appropriate name should be acquaintances list, because in all honesty how many of those people are actually your close friends. I have nothing against the people who use social networking sites on a regular basis, in fact I even get jealous of people who get more posts than me, but that's life.
So I read "Digitally Close to You" and then moved onto "Digital Trail" and at first I didn't think much of the article, like ok who wouldn't take a free phone for the loss of privacy. Then it got into all of the new things google and apple were trying and I began to feel a little outdated. I don't have a smart phone, heck my phone can't even receive picture mail or get on the internet. I have it to make calls and send texts, with an occasional picture thrown in there every now and again. After I read this article I felt the need to update, but the lack of funds prevented me. Money versus social awareness. Money almost always wins.
Technology can be good and technology can be bad I can see both sides of the argument, but until some of the new tech is forced upon me I'll stick with what I know and am comfortable with.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)