Alex's Blog

Social Networking and its use in Education February 22, 2010

Personally, I am a big fan of social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter, etc. These sites are useful in personal lives because it is easy to communicate with friends and family members, but they can also be used in a professional setting. Education is a collaborative effort and facebook could be a way for teachers to keep in touch and work together. Instant messaging as well as e-mail and wall posts allow for numerous lines for communication. Also, a more controversial way it can be positively used in education is for students to communicate with teachers. Students could instant message teachers with homework questions or teachers could post assignments onto the page. This could also be negative, however, because it may make the teacher too available to the students. For example, using twitter as an education tool would be more suited for the college crowd more so than middle or high school aged students.  It crosses barriers in the student-teacher relationship because they are communicating outside of the classroom, and in my personal opinion it makes the students less responsible for themselves. If they can always get in contact with someone that can help them how will they learn to problem- solve and learn for themselves.

There is also the question of promoting student’s use of these technologies, because it could lead to problems with internet predators or students exploring technology could “stumble” upon unsavory topics. However, teenagers know about these technologies and they are going to use them regardless of any kind of risk, so I think it is important for teachers to educate students on how to use these mediums in productive ways.

Visual Response to a YA novel February 22, 2010

Both Little Brother by Cory Doctorow and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins deal with themes of technology being a threat to personal privacy. In both novels, the main characters are seemingly being watched by the government, a force they despise for their lack of liberties. The black figures on the side of the picture represent the black cloud of technology, that individuals as well as organizations use to deplete personally privacy. To create my picture, I used photoshop to draw my picture free hand. Then I placed pictures I had to represent individuals throughout the world.

Individual Digital Project topic and format February 16, 2010

I am thinking about doing a multimedia project much like the examples we  saw in class last week. I plan on using power point to map my project and then using moviemaker to put them together. I am in a Shakespeare class right now, so I want to do a topic related to that, either on the play A Winter’s Tale, or a study of one shakespearean word, how it has been used over time, where it originated from etc.

The Hunger Games February 16, 2010

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is definitely a suspenseful read. It is the first book of The Hunger Games Trilogy, along with Catching Fire and Mockingjay. This book reminded me of a mixture of a Fahrenheit 451 or Brave New World, along with Survivor. Peeta and Katniss, live in a poor post war society, where the government has become the all knowing big brother, being able to control its citizens lives. They are selected by a drawing to fight against one another on a televised event, to the death. While on Survivor they just eat bugs, it is somewhat of the same concept, because its a reality shows where the contestants fight for survival, figuratively or literally. According to a review in TIME, “The Hunger Games is a chilling, bloody and thoroughly horrifying book, a killer cocktail of Logan’s Run, Lord of the Flies, The Running Man, reality TV and the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. But it inspires in readers a kind of zeal I haven’t seen since the early days of Twilight.”

The American Experiment February 15, 2010

This argument of freedom of speech has plagued me as a future English teacher. The government claims we have the freedom of speech, yet like Ch. 7 from The End of Education says “Does freedom of the press” include television? Is prayer in public schools a violation of the “establishment of religion” clause?” (134.) I would think these things are all included under the freedom of speech; that media sources should be able to publish what they see fit, and if a child or a teacher chooses to pray allowed in school, I don’t see who it is hurting. It is the same situation with all the books that are being banned in schools these days, for example, The Lord of The Flies, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Fin, Brave New World and so many others. I believe that reading these books and learning about them in class, learning their social context is part of the American Experience. Since when has education been about sheltering students? So the book has a bad word, or a controversial theme, I thought the point of education was to prepare students for the REAL WORLD, not deny them their right to a complete education. They are going to hear the bad words on television or even from their friends. The Scarlet Letter, is considered a controversial novel, in one of my classes I was advised if I plan on teaching this book, it would be wise to have a back up plan for parents who wont allow their children to read about adultery. This book banning epidemic is in my opinion a violation of free speech, and denies students the opportunity to learn and think critically, from the safe confines of literature, to form their own opinions about real life issues.

Wikipedia February 9, 2010

Wikipedia, while not always reliable in reference to information, is a very valuable resource. At first, one may jump to conclusions about banning Wikipedia as a resource for student research, but from reading the article Seven Things About Technology, one realizes the positive aspects of Wikipedia.

Due to its nature, people put on information about topics, so it is constantly changing and each version of the page becomes truer and truer until it reaches the most valid information on the topic. This information needs to be validated, and when using Wikipedia one may often notice a caution at the top of the page informing its readers that information may not be reliable. But in contrast to an Encyclopedia resource it is much more inclusive, and can be considered a spring board for students to get ideas for topics. For example, in class we were asked to look up a topic on the Encyclopedia Britannica as well as Wikipedia. The Encyclopedia gave a 100 word description of the fox, and gave its scientific name, but then it just gave links for other kinds of foxes, fox hunting, etc. on the Wikipedia website this was all included on one page. It gave all the different scientific names of the fox, described numerous different kinds of foxes and their habitats as well as related species. For a research project, (while students should not cite Wikipedia) it allows students a page that they can work with and get ideas that can lead to further and deeper research, therefore, and invaluable resource.

Marijuana… friend or foe? February 1, 2010

This poster pictures “marijuana girl,” who apparently is a vixen revelling in worldly pleasures. The main idea of the picture is to give a negative or mockingly negative view of marijuana use. The prominent aspects of the picture are the man and woman in the middle of the photo with “Marijuana Girl” in huge letters across the top of the page. Less prominent are the words explaining how risque the drug use is. “She traded her body for kicks and drugs!” seems to be the most prominent and eye catching of the words on the page, and are also the most derogatory because it implies she is willing to sell herself and her honor for her fix. The movie is for “ADULTS ONLY,” because such debaucherous material would be unsavory for children. The blue box of writing next to the couples implies the movie will be cool, because never has such a true to life, controversial movie been made on the topic. The image is black and white and blue, which are fairly boring color scheme for the topic at hand, and if it was a real advertisement one would think more eye catching colors would be used.

This 50s style movie poster is obviously not made for a real movie but more to make a statement. Either it is making a mockery of individuals who assume anyone who smokes marijuana sells their body for drugs, or expresses that marijuaua is dangerous, risque and not something respectable individuals would even consider.