inklings of thought

Last week I admitted that I struggled to find a connection with the readings. Reading Turner and Hicks for this week helped unload some of the ideas and concepts I found overwhelming, especially as somebody with little digital/technological experience such as what they describe (blog posts, social media/Twitter, Google and all that it offers, et cetera). And by little experience, I mean as somebody who uses the technology in a way that is meaningful and carefully considered, not just as a sounding board for my personal thoughts and opinions, nor as the simple PowerPoint presentation projects or "add a link here" type thinking.  I do appreciate the activities and lessons that Turner and Hicks propose as far as genuinely incorporating technology into the classroom to encourage students to become digitally aware citizens. The symbol analysis, for example, is an activity that would engage students in what they see day to day, likely stirring their interest to some degree, an

First: I admit that I did not listen to the podcast "The Internet of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" with danah boyd and Krista Tippett. I actually printed out the transcript and read it as I would another article or essay instead. My reasoning? Podcasts are difficult as they offer no visual material to interact with, and I don't function that way as a reader or listener. Recognizing this made me go back to one of our earlier classes, where we discussed the NCTE's guidelines and how mastery of technology is a necessity in this day and age of teaching. In previous classes, ideas I've had for lessons have included creating podcast episodes or something similar. How do I expect students to 100% do this when I struggle myself with even listening to one?  I guess the reason I'm writing about this is because I actually found that I didn't have as much of a connection to this week's readings, and struggled a little at maintaining interest. This might be

"Certainly, many would argue that culturally relevant pedagogy requires that you invite the powerful voices of those who are generally overlooked in the texts and curriculum of American education; and that is undoubtedly an important aspect. However, culturally relevant pedagogy is also about the students who show up in our classrooms daily. It welcomes students' voices, demands their reflection, and pushes them toward discovery of self [...] validates students' existence regardless of class, race, ethnicity, economic status, or academic level." (Winn & Johnson, 14).  This, and many other, passages stood out to me during this week's reading and video. I was reminded of the previous semester and questions I had then about curriculum decisions and the potential danger of reading a book with a class because of an assumption that they would enjoy it or relate because of the issues characters faced, dialogue, setting, and even race. This led me to a blog post