Blogging

This blog is my second one for the week about the "anything educational," even though I'm going to reference another one of our readings for the week in it.

 Kist talks extensively about blogging in Chapter 3 and about how teachers have used it in the classroom, its benefits, etc.

I thought keeping a blog for this class was going to be a lot more tedious and "more-work-than-it's-worth" starting the semester, but I have come to actually enjoy writing posts and reading others, and it has allowed me to reflect more on the readings and class topics than I thought it would. the obvious yet somehow eluding reason for this is that I actually make good use of the tool given to me. I don't simply just breeze through the work for this; I give things actual thought and time and that's how this has become beneficial to me. Probably more beneficial than any simple personal journal about my thoughts of the class would have given me because I can compare and contrast my thoughts with my classmates anytime I desire.

Overall, I feel if its used correctly, as with any physical or digital tool, the blog has a lot of potential as an educational medium. Whenever, I enter the big bad world of teaching, I might try employing something of the sort with one of my classes given the opportunity supports me to.

Expanding but Not Forgetting Literacy

The beginning anecdote in our reading from Kajder this week, tells of a boy named Leo who becomes excited to share with his English teacher a newspaper article delivering statistics that reveal that more people are reading fiction works. Kajder goes to explain though, that these statistics are a little bit misleading as not a lot of students are able to read at a proficient level, but that doesn't mean that they aren't reading or aren't developing important skills in the types of reading they engage in.

Truthfully, I have always been a skeptic of how technology benefits students. Being in this class has opened me up a little more to the digital world, but I still find myself asking a lot of questions and realizing a lot of things. Kajder's opening anecdote revealed to me something to think about: people are simply just losing interest in the book and prefer reading on a more brief and digital level. I'm not saying that this kind of reading is void of benefit, there can be some, but I also feel that students should not lose sight of the benefits that deep-reading from a traditional print based medium can deliver. It is more about integration, not replacement, and I feel that teachers recognize this but students do not- especially the younger ones.

This chapter also caused me to raise a lot of questions I feel worth looking into such as: What are the benefit of audio books? I could think of a couple reasons off the top of my head that they would be inferior to the actual print, but I would still be interested in learning how students learn from them and to what degree. I feel like that would be a research project worth experimentation and looking into.

Teacher Becomes the Taught

          The teacher in society is given the image of an all-knowing member of society to his or her students. One that has most, if not all, of the answers in regards to the subject area they specialize in. The English teacher knows how to spell all the words, knows which all sentences are run-ons, and the math teacher can solve any equation or word problem given to them. We all know this isn't really true though, and while this seems to be a moot sort of point, I feel the need to bring it up because I have had teachers that believed they were all-knowing and flawless and used that against their students in anxious situations. All teachers are human, just like the students, and they learn just like the students. especially when it comes to the expanding technological world.
          Chapter two of our Miller and McVee reading bring this up. How the teacher should not be afraid to ask the students questions whenever they do not understand something that one of them may have better knowledge of. This teacher-student relationship is very important, and one that can really aid future educators to effectively teach their children if it is made right. The teacher should not be placed on a pedestal above the student as a being of supreme knowledge, rather the teacher should learn alongside the student in today's ever changing world.
          Now, I am not saying that a teacher should be completely unknowing of what he or she is teaching a class. They should, indeed, be very knowledgeable. I am making more of a point that a teacher should not be afraid to learn alongside his students whenever they do not know something or are teaching something incorrectly.

The Language of Signs: Koko the Gorilla

         Humans communicate are able to communicate in a various amount of ways: through language, signs and symbols. All of these system work with one another and allow us to perceive the world the way we do.

          However, we also know that many other animals of this wonderful planet communicate too. Yet, to my knowledge anyway, no other animal uses all of our communication systems the way we do- usually they are limited to one certain method.

         Take a look at one of our possible evolutionary ancestors: the gorilla. Unbeknownst to many, the gorilla is capable of truly extraordinary communication through signs. They use it in their own habitat with one another and even are capable of inter-species conversation!

          Exhibit A: Koko the Gorilla.  I learned about Koko in my Cultural Anthropology class during my Freshmen year in Shippensburg University. Koko is a gorilla who was raised by humans was taught sign language- our sign language. As Koko began to develop, she began to develop just as we would: her vocabulary increased, she began to understand complex ideas, and began to express herself freely.  Koko was given a kitten as a pet one day and fell in love with it instantly. She could tell her owner about her happiness through sign language. Upon the cat's death, she was even able to tell about her sadness and even displayed different behavior from her emotions for a while after. Not too long after, she was given another cat and she fell in love with it just as easily as the first one. Koko loves cats.

          I believe Koko can teach us a lot about ourselves as a race. Specifically, how we interpret and relay signs to one another and how exactly they work. Hers is definitely a story I encourage all to look at. Not to mention. . . Gorillas are just awesome.  

         

Technology and Learning: Multimodality Concerns

          Even though I am youthful and grew up in an environment that utilized technology sufficiently, I developed a wary attitude toward its use in the classroom. I recognize that some tools on the computer do have certain benefits to the education of people who use them, yet I have my concerns.

          Two of the readings for February 11th brought up certain points about multimodality that have been brewing about in my mind since beginning the class, and that were sparked by my reading of Nicholas Carr's book, The Shallows, which states, in short, that the Internet is a tool of distraction and is destroying the human mind. Through these couple of readings and permitting myself the time to dwell on the subject though, I have come to theorize that there are very fine distinctions between the argument Carr makes and the arguments made for multimodality.

          The problem isn't that technology use is increasing, it's that how the technology is being used is what is causing the degeneration Carr talks about. Larry Rosen talks in his article, "Rewired," about how teens have become "rewired" to the digital world and that schools needs to catch up with them. "With all the technology that they consume, they need more from education."

          Multimodal learning styles, including technology use, help to improve people's learning. The issues occur whenever people try to work with too many things at once and multitask which reduces learning. Kajder even plainly says, "When online digital youth typically engage in more than one digital medium at a time." This is how the Internet is constantly used which is why Carr's argument seems to accurate.

          All in all, the medium is not the issue, but how the medium is being used is.