The Future of Whatever

Wow. This is definitely something I have contemplated many times after enrolling in this class. This generation, whether it be the "MTV Generation" or the "Cell Phone Generation," tends to not care that much. I myself am guilty of it.

Today, many students want to just slide by. Even people who are viewed as over achievers wish to receive maximum recognition with minimal work. For example, I really enjoy receiving As to boost my GPA, but I'm just as happy with a 90 as I am with a 100. At the end of the day, they are worth the same to my GPA, so why should I care?

It's the lackadaisical attitude that will make it hard to teach later on in my career. I will constantly have to challenge myself in order to keep my students interested. Just like Dr. Wesch said, each generation seems harder and harder to impress. I will not be able to rely on a new ingenious teaching device I come across to captivate my students for many many years. They will eventually outgrow every seemingly brilliant idea I will ever have. I cannot even rely on the experiences in the class to last me long in my education career. Eventually, blogging will be old news, and I will have to come up with new ways to capture my students attentions.

Student Work on the Internet

The kids at PS22 are amazing at what they do. Their songs are so touching and heartfelt it is unbelievable. Many adults cannot comprehend singing with passion, but they do. After watching their video Landslide I realized one the driving forces behind the different formats of posting student work on the internet is pride. Now, I don't mean a cocky kind of pride, but the kind where the students can be proud of the work they have accomplished in the classroom. The students at PS 22 are motivated by their YouTube videos. They gained a huge following from it and that encouraged them to try harder and harder to succeed.


There have been other groups I have seen this semester that have been motivated by placing what they learned on the internet. The Dear Kaia photo essay was a prime example. Going out and taking all those pictures was a learning experience in itself, but putting it on the internet allowed for Kaia to share her wonderful experience. The tremendous response afterward had to be an amazing experience for her. it encouraged her to know that what she has to say is valid and that you are never too young to impact others.


Also, there was Eagels' Nest Radio. It was a group of third graders who created podcasts to share what they had been learning in class with the world. In this case what they had learned about was Julius Caesar. It was an extremely creative podcast and it also showcased the vast amount of knowledge they had gained on the subject. The podcasts they made and responses these children receive help to create an environment where learning is cool and fun.

The World of ACCESS

The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide is a program the state of Alabama created in order to created virtual classrooms for students. The goal is to provide equal access to education for all high school students in the state. In some smaller communities there might not be a need or demand for extremely rigorous coursed, but qualified students shouldn't have to succumb to a meager education just because the majority of the other students cannot handle it. Now they are able to take AP courses and other advanced learning courses online through ACCESS.

I really wish I would have had access to a program like this while I was in high school. Although I am from Alabama, I attended a private school so the ACCESS Program was not an option for me. I completely understand its benefits. No student should have to suffice to an non challenging education just because a tougher curriculum is not offered in his or her district. Each and every student should be challenged in the classroom.

Introducing ALEX

The Alabama Learning Exchange, better known as ALEX is a resource for both teachers and students. It provides links to virtual resources and tips for teaching and is a tool that allows everyone to further his or her education just by the click of the mouse.

I really like how ALEX provides so many resources for teachers and students to utilize in education. ALEX not only provides useful sources, but legitimate sources as well. For students writing a paper for an English class, they can easily access ALEX to help them find qualified resources that do not appear as the first link on a Google search. No matter what subject a student is looking for he is sure to find something useful on ALEX.

Kaia

Something that interested me about these posts is the concept of a 'Photo Essay.' I love how it works for all ages. Children can get involved with it at a very basic level, but older students can utilized it as well. As an Secondary English Language Arts major I can see me being able to use this as a project idea in the classroom. It would put a lot of students at ease as far as not having to give an oral speech goes, but it would also force them to use knowledge over many different areas. Ultimately it would probably be a more difficult assignment than just an oral speech, but students would probably learn more from this since it is something they would enjoy doing.

Interesting Things of New Media Literacies

As I was researching this project, I stumbled upon a blog that they post. One of the more recent postings on it came from a conference someone attended this summer. While there a ninth grader gave a five minute presentation on how video games can correctly be integrated into the classroom. First of let me mention how impressed I was with the young girl's professionalism, but I also was impressed with how well thought out all her points were. For a student to truly learn, please don't make it obvious that the video game is a learning experience. It won't work. Students have to be thoroughly engaged to enjoy the game. It has to be a game they would want to play anyways. As she said, kids are surprisingly smart. They are more than capable of applying their video game knowledge to the classroom.If you would like to view her video CLICK HERE.

Themes of The New Media Literacies Project.

This list of words does not surprise me in the least. To be honest, I don't even find them original. The general concept of all of them could have been used/taught many years before the NML was even though of. They have all been taught within the classroom in some way, shape or form before new technologies started running rampart throughout the world. It's just that now students have new ways of being engaged in the classroom through technology so they way to teach these things has to change.

In the video clip judgment was basically defined as deciding whether or not a source found electronically is legitimate or not. I think this has always been an issue for students. Finding and deciding if a source is reliable has always been apart of the learning experience. Before computers came about students still had to read things and analyze them in order to decide if certain sources were beneficial to their purpose. For example, if a high school student was trying to find a book at the library on outer space he/she would have to take the call number into account. The book in the junior non fiction section will not be as useful to them as the ones in the adult non fiction section.

Overall the most important question for me is 'What will all these words mean to me as a teacher twenty years from now?'