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I Wish...

This class was awesome! It was so much fun and very informative. We covered so many topics that I wish I could talk about them all, but this blog was limited to 1,500 words, which I have already surpassed. I wish that I could talk about a loss of tradition and values, the sense of entitlement that students seem to have for some reason. I wish I could talk about where we're going, what we can do as future educators to either keep up with technology, or attempt to remove technology and show the students a more simply way of living. I wish....

One Final Experiment

I consider myself to be a fairly tech savvy person. I am constantly using my phone and computer for just about everything: social networking, school work, and entertainment. I am trying to keep up with technology as it evolves, but some times I think, "what's the point?" Younger generations will have more technological knowledge than the previous generation - there's no way to fight it. They have been born into a technological world, where as older generations can be viewed as immigrants or natives to technology.

We are currently in a technological shift: everything is going digital. For those who refuse to acknowledge technology and advance with it, will surely be left behind. But what about the immigrants and natives? Technology has never been a part of their world. For example, my grandparents are the most simple form of people. The technology they interact with is limited to the Tv (to watch Judge Judy and Soap Opera's), the telephone (no cellular device found here), the microwave (which is used solely for defrost) and the car. Besides that, they have no idea how to use a computer, a digital camera, or a cell phone. They rely on their past experiences and the simplicity of life to get by. Is this a bad thing?

I'm lucky to have a younger sister who is 15. She is, by definition, a young person. She is completely surrounded by technology. She goes to school where interactive whiteboards are found in almost every classroom (there are 2 in the library). Many students are equipped with their own laptops and carry them around like a purse (my sister included). All of the students own a cell phone, and all of the students have an ipod or some sort of music playing device. They are all so busy with all this technology that it's hard to believe that they can get any work done.

I love to watch my sister and friends interact. They are so fascinating! Their cell phones are permanently attached to their hands. In fact, they say that if they have their phones surgically removed, they will die.

One Final Social Science Experiement:

Question: What would happen if we take all modern technology away from a young person?
Modern Technology: cell phones, ipods, iPhones, computers and laptops, internet, Blackberries etc.
Purpose: To fully understand how dependent young people are on technology and whether or not they can survive without technology.
Hypothesis: If we took away modern technology from the young person, they wouldn't know how to perform any task.

I think that this would be an amazing experiment because we can talk about technologies take over all day long, but until we see its full effect we'll never understand why or how students have become so dependent on alternative texts and textual practices.

The moral of the story is...

There are two stories I would like to share with you. Both of them have different morals, and they both are significant to today's young people and the society they are immersed in. As well, they are both true.

Story Number One:

There once was a young boy, probably around the age of 10, who loved to play hockey more than anything else in the world. He would play before school and after school, on the ice and on the street. All the neighbourhood boys would come out after dinner, set up the nets and drop the puck. This one summer's night, after dinner, the young boy's mother asked him to dry the dishes before going outside to play. Well this just couldn't do. There were a mountain of dishes to be dried and the puck was going to drop any second! But the boy did not despair instead, he ran to his room, grabbed the rotating fan that sat on his dresser, and returned to the kitchen. He plugged in the fan, and positioned it to face the dishes, turned it on, grabbed his hockey stick, and ran outside. By the time his mother noticed what her son had done the boy was on the street making his first goal of the night.

The moral of the story: when there are dishes to be dried, put them in front of a fan and let the fan do all the work...OR...when there's a short cut available, take it, and don't look back

I love this story because not only does it give me a new way of drying my dishes, but it also enforces the idea that children will do anything to get one thing over with and move on to another thing. I am happy to report that this story is true, and the young boy was my dad. He still plays hockey to this day, but no longer lets the dishes dry via fan - and unfortunately won't let me or my sister get away with cutting corners or taking short cuts.

We can relate this story to any young person today by simply changing the circumstances. Substitute hockey for texting/talking with friends, drying the dishes with homework, and the fan with a computer. For young people today it's all about doing things quickly and moving on to something more enjoyable. They will cut corners and complete tasks to a satisfactory level instead of taking the time to do it properly.

Story Number Two:

"When's your birthday?" a woman asked a young boy.
"It's June 13th" the young boy replied.
"And who told you that's when your birthday is?" she asked.
"My mom, and my dad," he replied.
"And you believe them?"
"Yea, why wouldn't I?"
"Well, here's a story for you. My very good friend celebrated her birthday as well as her cousin's, on October 1st for twenty three years. She truly believed that October 1st was her birthday. Her mother, her father, her aunts and uncles all told her that this was true. It wasn't until she was getting married and moving to Canada that she actually needed her birthday certificate. When she got this tiny piece of paper from her mother she learned that her birthday was actually September 29th. For twenty three years of her life her mother, father, aunts and uncles told her that her birthday was three days later. When she asked why, they simply replied, because a double birthday is easier to plan and get everyone together than separate parties."

The moral of the story: who do you trust? how can you trust them?

As a teacher librarian, my mother tells this story to every grade 9 class that comes to the library. She is a passionate educator who has been teaching for twenty years. The story however is not about her. Her birthday is February 6th. The story is in fact about her mother, my grandmother. The moral of the story is extremely important, especially in a digital age.

My essay and subsequently my presentation for this course thoroughly explored credibility in a digital age. I looked at the Internet, and specifically Google, as a convenient source of information and the inability for a student to effectively sort and decode through the plethora of information. The "Net is becoming a universal medium" that chips away at a student's "capacity for concentration and contemplation" (Carr, 2008, pg 57). There is no disputing the "fact that students are largely motivated by the ease of access and time saving aspects of Internet use" (Breivik and Gee, 2006, p.26). Students are choosing the convenience of Google, Wikipedia and other search engines over proper research. They are choosing to use the fan to dry the dishes instead of the dishcloth. They are taking what they find on Wikipedia and Google at face value, trusting the website instead of making sure that the information is credible.

There is so much information on the Internet it's unbelievable, and for a student doing a research paper, it can be overwhelming which is why they choose the first few hits in a Google search.


Bibliography:

Breivik, P.S., Gee, E. G. (2006) Higher Education in the Internet Age. United States of America: American Council on Education and Praeger, 26-27.

Carr, N. (2008). Is Google Making Us Stupid? The Atlantic, 56-63.

The Youth is Wasted on the Young

The youth of today are a fascinating species. They have their own language, their own sense of cool and they beat to their own drum.

Some say, that youth is wasted on the young. While this statement may be true, it's undeniable that the youth of today are shaping our world - they are the future. They are continually adding to society and dictating the economic market. In "The Merchants of Cool" we saw the extensive study that corporate America undergoes to harness the 150 billion dollar industry: the teenager.
Teenagers "want to be cool, they are impressionable, and they have the cash. Teenagers want to spend their money, they have a disposable income" and so, they are viewed as the biggest cash market. "If you don't understand and recognize what they are thinking and what they are feeling, you will lose" (Merchants of Cool, 1995-2008).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YuO8Zw9vJo

Throughout this semester we looked at a number of Alternative Texts that young people encounter everyday.

[definition: Alternative Texts: a "text" can be anything and everything. A text can be read from a variety of ways, both positive and negative. For example: Barbie can be read as an empowering toy that promotes creativity and individuality OR she can be read as encouraging a negative body image that causes anger, jealousy and possible eating disorders among young children. The term Alternative refers to texts that out of the norm, new, and exciting]

Instead of reading Barbie, young people read more "popular" texts: cell phones, Google, Facebook, computers, credit cards etc. They are immersed in a technological society and without technology they feel lost. They are continually pushing companies to create newer, cooler technologies that will ultimately make them "cool."

I think as future educators we should take this technological phenomenon seriously. If we don't recognize and understand what our students are thinking, what they are feeling, and what they doing outside of the classroom then we will never be able to reach them and teach them. We have to make our lessons, assignments and projects more exciting so the students aren't bored.

Throughout the semester we learned about a number of alternative texts through topical presentations. While a number of these were specifically directed at the classroom, they all had one concept in common: Toggling

[Definition: Toggling: the switching of attention between one or more texts/ideas]

Young people (future students) seem to be obsessed with speed: with speed comes multitasking (toggling), with multitasking comes divided attention, with divided attention comes lower attention spans. As the attention span lowers the notion of sitting quietly and reading a book becomes laughable. In today's society, the young adult will read a book, listen to music, watch TV, and text their friends all at the same time. If the book seems boring, students will turn to SparkNotes or GradeSaver, both of which are available online.

Younger generations of today are interacting and evolving with technology faster than the previous generation: technology has become the new universal language among teenagers and young people. Reading an actual book is no longer cool anymore, if there's a book to be read, it has to be done online. The computer, the cellphone, and the ipod have become the pen and paper of literature, math, and entertainment. This is a scary thought, especially for teachers who are technological doorknobs.

Bibliography:

"The Merchants of Cool." (Mar. 2008). PBS Frontline. YouTube. 20 Mar. 2009 .

So, I'm on the bus...

As a starving student, I take the bus everywhere: to school, from school, to work, to the mall, to the library, to concerts, to the movies, everywhere. Where I live, I can catch all of two buses: the number 14 to school and downtown, and the number 8 to Tillcum Mall and Oak Bay. As I'm on the bus, it's difficult not to let my eyes wonder. I read the graffiti on the seat in front me, the advertisements along the top of the bus, and the play list on my ipod. Once I've read all of that, I find my mind and eyes wondering, looking for something new to read. I turn my attention to the people getting on and off the bus. For the most part it's students. Whether they are going to Uvic or Camosun College, or even SMUS, they all do the same thing: swipe their id cards and find a seat. They keep to themselves or talk to a friend that's sitting near by. On occasion, there are other people on the bus, and they are the most interesting.

So I'm on the bus one day sitting across from these four young girls, they had to be around 13 years old, maybe younger. Anyways, I'm watching them, inconspicuously of course, and I notice some interesting things:

• Instead of sitting in their own seats, they are sitting on top of each other, two on the bottom, two on the top.
• They all have their own ipods, but they only have one ear-bud in.
• They all have cell phones, and they periodically look at it, and often do something with it, I can only assume they are texting.

So already, these young girls are sitting on each other, listening to music, talking to each other, texting, and I can only assume paying attention to the outside so they know when to get off. There's only one word to describe this: major MULTITASKING. The way these girls are multitasking is a testament to young people and their generation. It's unbelievable really, how a young person can split their mind so many times and get so much stuff done. Whether they are accomplishing these tasks in a timely and satisfactory manner - is the question at hand.

In our EDCI class we read an article: The Multitasking Generation by Claudia Wallis. In the article, there's a quote that I think sums everything up: "the mental habit of dividing one's attention into many small slices has a significant implications for the way young people learn, reason, socialize, do creative work and understand the world" (2006).

The way the young girls acted on the bus may appear as odd, or unconventional, but it's the way they live today. Young people feel the need to spilt their attention and focus on several things at one. It can be considered an evolution of the human species!

Bibliography

Wallis, C. (2006). The Multitasking Generation. Time Magazine. From http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1174696,00.html

Testing

This is a test post. I really just want to see how this looks before I begin my final blog. I'm a virgin blogger and have never done this before, so this should be interesting.