Fraudulent Facilitator

Same as It [N]ever Was: Some rough thoughts on how technology may be influencing the English classroom

2012-11-19T05:57:47Z

About a year ago, I conducted an inquiry similar to the work of Hicks, Young, Kajder, and Hunt (2012) in which they explored lessons learned about writing, technology, and multimedia as documented in the past 100 years of English Journal articles. My inquiry was slightly different in that I was looking more generally at the influence of emerging technologies (copy machine, typewriter, moving picture, etc.) as documented in the English Journal. My findings were very similar to the findings of Hicks et al. (2012). While the technologies brought about different ways for students to engage in content, nothing really changed. It is at this point that the authors and I went our separate ways.

I completely agree with authors' call that we need to stop looking for that magical technology that is going to change everything and get to the work of teaching English. I agree because I believe the technology itself will not change anything; however, the ethos associated with emerging technologies could. As popular technologies are taken up by the culture and infused into daily life, they influence the way we see things. Media technologies have historically held a strong foothold in our society as well as our English classrooms. As media is based in communication, it is easily integrated into English curriculum. In the past decade, media has become exponentially more interactive. The ability to broadcast, or narrowcast, on a global scale is now possible for anyone with an internet connection. All mediums of publication are now more accessible than ever before. This change in access to media creation has expanded the ways we communicate. The influence this change is having on how we see things is starting to enter the classroom.

Currently, it is very challenging to identify exactly how our shifted perspective is influencing our approaches to education, but the influence is there. I believe that Hicks et al. (2012) had it right when they quoted Ghandi encouraging teacher to be the change they want to see. It's not about the technology. It's about how the technology is shifting how we think about and approach communication. The technology itself will not change anything, but we will.

Who owns this tweet?

2012-03-07T19:15:00Z

A couple weeks ago, a fellow grad student and coworker at LEARN NC stuck her head into my office to apologize for something she has posted on Twitter. Recently, I was tasked with creating a social media plan for LEARN NC. The Twitter account was the first thing I had access to.

That particular afternoon I posted a link to the New York Times article Mooresville's Shining Example (It's Not Just About the Laptops). Just a few minutes later, my colleague post a link to the article on her Twitter account. As soon as she had realized that she had done this, she stuck her head in to explain that her dad had sent her a link to the article and she didn't realize until she had posted her tweet that I had posted about it as well.

Frozen...

2011-10-27T22:21:40Z

Photo by Lara604 Over this past summer, just after my last post, I started my doctoral program's comprehensive exam process. This consisted of six weeks of writing in response to two questions followed by an oral defense. Through this experience, I have found myself frozen at the keyboard. Even once my comps were finished and I had defended, I still sat, frozen in a staring contest with the blank page. However, I am now engaging in a sprint with my dissertation proposal. As such, I have to get over the hang-ups I seemed to have developed in the past four months.

After taking a month too long to draft the first chapter of my proposal, I handed my advisor a rough draft. After reading it over, she commented, "It was really just you talking for the first few pages..." I explained that every time I started to write I got bogged down. I couldn't get myself past the citations that I know I need but don't have at hand. So I said screw it. I sat back and just wrote without thinking or worrying about the citations; I can fill that crap in later. She laughed and told me that is exactly what she would have told me to do and that I had the hard part done; I started.

Too Tech? The Overlapping of Personal and Professional Use

2011-07-08T20:58:54Z

Photo by Sue <3 Today while teaching I was confronted with a personal dilemma. While explaining the final presentations the class will be doing for the term, one student asked it the use of technology is mandatory. Of course it isn't. The student then pointed out that every example I had given to that point was based in technology. I quickly apologized and purposefully cited some "tech-free" examples.

Whenever I am asked about how I think technology should be used in the classroom, I respond, "In the simplest way possible." In other words, I don't advocate the use of technology for tech's sake. I believe in using the simplest technology possible for the task. If I want my students to brainstorm, let's grab some markers and chart paper; if I want my students to make a movie, I'm not going to give them Final Cut when I can give them iMovie. There is no need to make the means more complicated than the mode. This is not to say that there is no place for more complicated technologies. If my students needed to edit/manipulate a video in ways beyond simple trimming and sequencing, then Final Cut would be an appropriate tool.

Students Today... Kind of

2011-06-21T14:50:52Z

Yet again, Michael Wesch has created a captivating video about today's student population.

The video is best watching at the Visions of Students Today homepage. It is a beautifully dynamic page.

After watching the video, I posted it to a social network site with the caption, "Let's start a revolution! Who's with me?" I received a quick response: "The revolution has begun." That comment jarred me; it reminded me of what I was already aware of.

Digital (il)Literacies

2011-05-10T02:01:29Z

Photo by Jeff MyersI came across this the other day while researching some current initiatives for technology in education. Following the partnership between North Carolina Public School and Microsoft (as written about this past fall in a post tited: North Carolina Public Schools Bought by Microsoft), I found myself at the Microsoft Digital Literacy curriculum page (at this point I feel that I should put forth the disclaimer that all of my following comments are solely based on the information provided on the Microsoft Digital Literacy web page). At first glance, it doesn’t seem too bad.

Welcome to the Microsoft Digital Literacy Curriculum. The goal of Digital Literacy is to teach and assess basic computer concepts and skills so that people can use computer technology in everyday life to develop new social and economic opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities.

It continues.

From using the Internet, to sending e-mail, to creating a résumé, the Digital Literacy Curriculum helps you develop the essential skills you need to begin computing with confidence.

Starting to seem a little… plug and play…

Waiting for the End-of-Semester Storm to Clear

2011-05-03T02:39:50Z

Photo by yeowatzup

While trying to get my final assignments and papers done for my final course load (that’s right, in less than a week I will have completed my course load), I am having a hard time focusing. I have two… kind of three courses that I am chomping at the bit to plan.

Course #1:

This summer I will be teaching a MAT course on diversity in education. I, along with two of my fellow graduate students, taught this course last summer and have been rehired to teach it this year. Last year, we were asked to rework the syllabus for the course. As with any teaching experience, some of what we planned seemed to work rather well, and some of it seemed to really fall apart. As such, we have decided to do a little revision.

Actual instruction: Realizing my teaching influences

2011-05-02T22:47:14Z

Photo by Penumbra

This past semester, one of my many hats was as a teaching assistant for a young adult literature course. Teaching alongside an accomplished professor forced me to think hard about my actual teaching practices. I say actual teaching practices here because there are times when I have found that my teaching practices were not necessarily in tune with my teaching philosophy.

Without a doubt or any hesitation, I would say that my experience with the National Writing Project (NWP) had a profound impact on my teaching. All of the other professional development programs I participated in had little or no impact. Clark and Florio-Ruane (2001) identify four key reasons professional development offered to teachers is historically bad:

Ownership- The teachers have none of it.
Deficit Model- It is all about fixing something that the teachers are doing wrong.
Contextual Insensitivity- If it worked on that side there’s no reason it shouldn’t work on this side.
Short-Term Thinking- Here today, gone tomorrow.

Where did I learn to teach?

2011-05-02T17:36:16Z

Photo by Michael 1952If you would have asked me six month ago where I learned to teach, I probably would have simply cited my undergraduate institution. After all, that is where I was given my teaching certificate. This past semester I took a teacher education course with Dr. Jocelyn Glazier. I spent more hours than I would like to admit thinking about what it means to be both a teacher and a teacher educator. It was in this line of thinking that I started to realize where and how I actually learned to teach.

Early in the semester a question was posed: “What should teachers know and be able to do?” A list of nearly 100 items was quickly generated. The list included things like content knowledge, be able to laugh, classroom management, examine teaching materials and curriculum critically, advocate, incorporate technology, etc. From my prospective, there was a quick divide in the class around the relationship of content and pedagogy.

Amazed by Google... Again.

2011-03-10T15:35:24Z

Yet again, a little thing that Google did amazed me.

First, I would like to clarify something. As noted in my previous posting, I have recently been studying the failure of Google Wave. In no way did I intend to give the impression that I dislike Google. In fact, I am quite a fan of Google. I think Google Wave took amazing steps forward for web-based applications. Because I was excited about Wave, and then disappointed when it was abandoned, I wanted to see if I could figure out some of the causes of this failure. And that is where my most recent presentation came from.