I have embraced social technology more in the last two years than I have in the previous ten. I had heard about "Friendster" and thought it was just plain silly. Then, after I reluctantly joined Myspace, I became enthralled. I remember spending numerous nights exploring this new social media. Being in a musical group, I found the site invaluable for getting new music out there. I have since joined Facebook. It didn’t have the same impact that I experienced with Myspace but, nevertheless, I have accepted it as the common networking site and use it frequently. I have yet to join Twitter but I'm sure we will be required to do so for this class. Maybe I'll run with that too....
I have never blogged before. Quite honestly, I don’t understand the culture of it. Probably because I am a pretty passive Facebook user: I don’t post more than one one-sentence “status update” a month. But I could see how a blog could be central to a high school or middle school classroom. It reduces the number of times the teacher must repeat him or herself exponentially concerning homework specification, due dates, grades, etc. More importantly, it creates a culture of sharing and interacting not present in a typical classroom.
I'm really excited to learn about new ways in which to engage young students. School doesn't have to an archaic or boring place. I think we should use technology as a tool that is just as important as literacy itself. Most students live on technology and perhaps it's the only way to engage many young students.
Although slightly apprehensive, I am truly excited to try and wrap my head around these technologies
that sometimes only exist in thin air.
Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI think that it's great to examine your own use of not just social networking technologies, but the means by which you access literacy. The key to gaining student interest, gaining that ever-elusive student buy-in, is to figure out things that you are passionate about, and use those things for which you have passion to keep the students engaged.
Digital literacy is not an automatic buy-in for this current generation of High schoolers; issues of access (which you began to address and consider last week in class) and other things get in the way of students having intimate relationships with digital technologies. It's important to begin your own metacognitive inquiry into how you use technology so that the experiences you deliver are authentic.
The sharing and interaction are key, as you move more into the classroom I'm sure that you will see the most profound demonstrations of understanding happen through social interaction. Maybe there are digital forums that allow that sort of considerate and well thought out interaction, but remember your Rodgerson readings/lectures from this summer; learning is rooted in human biology. The technology only serves to augment something that humans seek out naturally.
Rebecca, enjoyed your post. You note some interesting distinctions between Facebook, MySpace, and blogs. As people have migrated from MySpace to Facebook, they've also (particularly younger people), stopped using email in favor of using Facebook for communication. While Facebook is great for sharing information, blogging my foster more extended development of ideas, particularly around similar topics that other bloggers focusing on that topic will pick up on and respond to. So, for the purpose of teaching writing, blogging may serve to foster students' development of ideas, along with citing of relevant support/evidence/links to other blogs.
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