The first reading discussed the “Generation MySpace” and how children growing up today are very good at multi-taking. I would to definitely agree with that. I can very easily be in the classroom, playing a game of solitaire, writing notes, talking with friends online and listen to what the teacher is saying. I can’t say that I am paying attention to all of those things better than if I were doing them alone. I feel bored if I do not have those applications all open up at once. If I were doing one of those things, my mind would wonder uncontrollably to something else. In the article it talked a lot about the issue of privacy among young people today and before it was mentioned in the article, I honestly have not really thought about it. It seems so normal to me to have people share their inner most thoughts via the internet. I wonder sometimes, if people are not posting pictures of their life online then they must have a boring life. Why wouldn’t they want to show the world what they are doing? At the same time, I sometimes wish we did not live in this generation where it is assumed that I am going to let everyone know about every aspect of my life. One of the biggest things that annoy me is when I am expected by my friends and family to get back to them or call them right away. When I receive a text message from someone, its expected that I return the message within five minutes and if I don’t then I am somehow being rude. Another weird thing about this article is that the author quoted Wikipedia a few times. Did anyone else find that strange?
The “Seeking” article was so interesting to me as well. It made so much sense to me and it was a little hard to read. I do not like the idea that we, as humans have a short attention span. That because of twitter, Google, and Facebook we cannot keep our minds focused on one thing for a long period of time. I find myself opening up my computer to check my e-mail and then an hour goes by and I am looking at pictures of my friends or checking up on the latest news. I can’t stand that I do that, but for some reason it happens all the time! I am getting better, but there was also a point in my life where I was obsessed with checking Facebook. Like it was so important to see what other people were doing and what new pictures they posted. I did find myself feeling more excited when I got new notifications or someone commented on my wall. Why? I do not know. Why did I care about when other people communicated with me via Facebook? As I got older, I realized I had more important things to do and my time was better spent elsewhere.
Lauren’s video was inspiring to watch. It was the second time I’ve seen the video of Lauren and her class and I caught a few new things this time around. Lauren seems so confident and in control of her class. She seems powerful in a situation where it can be very easy to lose power. It looked like one of her students was making a concept map, something we have practiced in EDUC 511. I am excited to hear and speak to Lauren tomorrow during class and hopefully meet some of her students!
It was the perfect ending to the term by having teachers come into the class and allowing us to hear about them! I echo your sentiment about worrying that some students do not have internet access! I feel like it would significantly hinder my ability to utilize educaiton in the classroom. Office hours on facebook sounds like a crazy idea but since all the students are on it these days, it seems the most effective way to impact students!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Elizabeth. I never realized I had that kind of effect on you (haha).
ReplyDeleteI agree with your proposed answers to your question on why gamers are seen in a negative light. Gaming will always be new technology, and anything new that we encounter and don't understand will always be scary. We can either react to our fear of the unknown by learning more about it, or we can condemn it.
However, I might disagree with you about Generation M being good at multi-tasking. I think that they just have a limited attention span, and give lots of things only a little attention. I take Larry's philosophy on cell phone use in his classroom: if your phone is distracting you and you miss a section of notes or other important information, you are SOL.
And yes, I will keep blogging...but only if you keep reading!