Caution

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/11/23/professors-yawn-rant-offers-a-lesson-in-viral-video/

This link is an article about a professor who went off in class about a students yawn. I think as teachers the digital age means that we have to be even more cautious about who we are and how we treat students. It is one thing for a teacher back in the day to do or say questionable things. Word of mouth might spread some of that, but for the most part it would be under wraps. Today, however, we live in a digital age that simply spreads news quickly. Students will watch our every move as leaders in the classroom and when we say or do things that are out of character, or simply inappropriate, the videos, news, word of these incidents can spread like wildfire. What are we doing to maintain our character?

Facebook and Twitter

I keep circling back to the very media that I most enjoy using and that have captured my personal attention. Facebook, in particular, is just a captivating media. Its amazing how my brain has been programmed to automatically click the facebook icon on my favorites bar. In fact, oftentimes I'll be getting on to check the score of a football game or something and I automatically navigate my way to facebook. Luckily, its not just some misguided obsession. Facebook is useful in so many different ways. I am able to keep up with old friends, update organization events I'm involved in, and its the BEST way to continually keep in contact with high school guys from Riverside that I mentor. In fact, without facebook there would be a large gap between myself and them. A member of my YoungLife team tells me over and over that he "needs" to use facebook more. Why? Because he feels like he doesn't keep up well enough with the guys and especially feels this when I relay great conversations I've had with him on facebook. So what do you do in the classroom with these technologies? I loved the idea at the start of the year of using twitter as a way for students to check homework and to follow a class. I mean, just brilliant. Your students can't ever really complain about not knowing what the hw is, especially if they link twitter to their cell phones. If they have neither a computer or cell phone, at the very least they can still know what the hw is because you told them in class. If there had been a twitter account for my work in high school, I would have never forgotten assignment. You feel grown up and advanced when you use a cool technology outlet for something that matters. I can't wait to see how I might implement a facebook group when I begin teaching.

Clinging to Technology

Has anyone else gotten to the point where they feel helpless with a dead cell phone? I was thinking the other day about how consistently we rely on the technology around us. Its not the worst thing in the world, after all we are teaching and hopefully using the technologies available to be effective human beings. It was interesting over Thanksgiving to attempt to make certain recipes... I couldn't have done it without googles help. What did we do before google? I think it softens us a little bit in the array of knowledge that we actually have. However, we also are simply using the tools available to us. I'm not sure where to draw the line on that. I do think that we should continue to strive to collect knowledge intellectually first while accessing what is available to us after that initial step. I really enjoy debates about this and how its supposed to look.

The World is Flat

I found the dialogue of our classes recent discussion about this book very interesting and informative. This book is incredibly descriptive about the flattened world via globalization and technological advances. We, as teachers, are thus charged with an ongoing task of preparing students for a world in which they are facing not only challenges from those around them, but from other countries as well. One of the most important questions that a student asked, and that we discussed, was surrounding that issue of competition.

Certainly, our students need to know that this "flat" world has increased their competition tremendously. Students from China, India, and a number of other countries are finding ways to stay competitive and outsourcing happens on so many levels that students can't be assured that their only competition is at the state/national level. However, how/when do we communicate that to our students?! Most students already feel enormous strain with class competition. They feel like they have to put in extra time constantly to keep up with the other students in their high school. If we amplify this concern to competition around the world, we are being truthful, but perhaps in a way that might not create a better learning environment. I'd love to see some research on when high schoolers would be ready for that type of information and how we stress that they are doing great as they are. We want progress, but we also want students to feel accepted for their current abilities.

Books and Kindle

I recently was borrowing a friends Kindle to read a work that I needed to read for class and felt... disappointed? I understand the utility of such a device and that it saves us time, space, and organization. In a world like ours, people are constantly looking for technology to simplify our lives. Yet how I've grown up defines reading as something that the Kindle can't quite accomplish. Reading a book means sitting down and leafing through the pages, smelling that old/new book smell, and preferably doing it on a beach! As I held the kindle and turned the pages from "left to right" I realized it didn't have the familiar, satisfying feel of turning the page in a book. Even the read itself was a little off to me. I've grown up in a digital age that most certainly has involved a great deal of digital reading. I've read full texts online and oftentimes my assignments have been on websites, but its always been easier and more enjoyable to read printed texts. I agree that this technology can be great for some people, but I still think that the students we teach should know the joy of opening up a book. It is still on our shoulders to reinforce that reading is indeed a joy, but to shift into the digital age and not learn what it feels like to open up a good book at the beach seems sad to me.