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 because I graduated high school ten years ago, and we didn't have Google Classroom or SmartBoards. We had one mandatory, quarter-long class that required us to learn the ins and outs of Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel [the last I'm still iffy on to this day]) and compose letters and other professional documents. In classes, we didn't really use technology beyond making PowerPoint presentations or typing up essays. Outside of school, I always kept an online journal/blog, but it was never used to argue or present ideas to the public.
It may be that I was in high school just before everything took off. Reading the podcast transcript and danah boyd's discussion about the connection between the digital and the person helped bridge a gap for me and made the topic more interesting, and the article "No Longer a Luxury: Digital Literacy Can't Wait" helped put in more personable terms why allowing and having students interact with digital tools is necessary if they are to move forward as citizens.
I appreciated danah boyd's story about the young man, a former gang member, who applied to an Ivy League school with an essay about leaving behind his former life but whose MySpace still reflected affiliation with a gang. I think it's important to understand the contexts of our students' lives, and this ties back to last week's readings, about intersections. We can't just close the door because we see one side, especially if everything else they're telling us is screaming "you don't understand, if you only listened to what isn't seen."
I do agree that it's important to have students work with technology in a way that is meaningful to them, not just as a "you need to learn this because I/we/they say so, here are the rules, formats, et cetera, go." That's kind of the way I was taught, with that one short class. Then they expected us to keep an e-Portfolio with assignments from all four years without having woven technology into any of the classes in meaningful ways... it was always presented as "This is the assignment for the portfolio and is mandatory if you want to graduate."
So, in short, while I was a little overwhelmed with this week's material, I'm hoping that over time it will change, and I won't feel that way. Hopefully instead of just meeting requirements, we can shift our focus to what's best for our students.
I love your honesty! Though, I found that I really connected with the readings this week, maybe it had something to do with the podcast, it's so different from anything I've dealt with academically. I also thought back to last week's readings about intersectionality and how one side of a person isn't a summary of their entire being. I think recognizing intersections in our students, no matter how young they are, can really help them in school and their academic achievement.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, you are not alone. Being a visual learner myself, I needed to follow the transcript during the podcast. I'm not sure if I would have done that if I were simply listening for pleasure. However, preparing the quickwrites and co-teaching the lesson this week, I needed the words to be tangible. Digital literacy is definitely an area that I struggle with as an educator. I am always willing to learn from someone in my building and my students. I needed to stop beating myself up and recognize that somethings will work and others will fail. It's okay if technology does not work the first time. I find that the students are flexible and taking chances shows them that it is acceptable to make mistakes. All teachers need an entry point just like our students. Agreed, thank you for your honesty!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your response because I too graduated high school a long time ago (11 years ago) and I completely agree and understand what you are talking about. When I was in high school everything was in paper and that's what I have come to be comfortable with. Thats's why I struggle so much with all of the technology we have to use in class (It's new to me). As for having to print out the transcript for the podcast, I too had to do the same thing. Listening to the podcast was not working me I found myself constantly getting distracted. I think it was mostly because I did not have anything in front of me to read along with. So I printed it out and read along with the podcast.
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