Discussion Module 12

"Technology [ushers] in new learning challenges for the first "always-connected generation."

This for me is actually a scary comment.  I watch parents ignore their children at meals, watch children ignore their parents directions and watch people ignore people altogether.  I can hear someone saying yes but they are connecting to people on social media, that is not the same as a true face to face interaction with someone where you can read sarcasm, or joy or excitement and I don't need an ! to show it.  I think children especially need to be unplugged the majority of the time and given set rules as to when they should be allowed to use technology.  Children under the age of 10 with cell phones drive me crazy. Why aren't these kids below playing with each other?



I found this picture on: http://ag143.wordpress.com/

#1. The  game supported critical literacy by asking students to answer riddles and problems.  They would then give responses by "reading" into the Anansi responses; which required the students to read between the lines so to speak.  They what was around them as well as images to play the game.

#2. The game required students create a good stories or "Anansi", write daily field notes, and write narratives that counter what they have been reading.

#3. The game included e-mails, texting, and phone calls. The students had to understand how to use these media to communicate in an accurate way to be able to complete the game in real world situations. The game requires that students see both sides of a problem to solve it either in the real world or a media driven world.

#4.  I think what this means is that you should always be reading to learn more about the world around you.  When you can do that you can read more into the world as you are a part of it and then write about the experiences and moments in your life that will help others in the world. 

Addressing the seven Elements of Digital Storytelling

Point of View: First person. The targeted audience will be people who have big families and have have battled with infertility. The story’s message will simply convey the feelings and emotions that come with being a parent or someone who has grown up in a huge family.

 

Dramatic Question: Would she be different, would we be different, would things have been different would be the dramatic question.  In regards to having twins, if we both would have been born would my second daughter be different, would our lives have been different.

Emotional Content: The life of having a huge family, the struggle of going through infertility and the loss of a child to a miscarriage would all be items that others can relate too. 

Voice/pacing: paced in accordance with pictures, informal tone.

Soundtrack: "We Laughed Until we Cried" by Jason Aldean

Economy: The story will give a background about my family, then it will cover getting married and attempting to have children, finally having children and the emotions that come from loss.  It will show how my daughters have grown to this point in their lives and how happy my family is.

Reading and Discussion Module 11

“Technology plays an important role, not alone but as a constantly changing set of socially situated tools for literacy, for making sense of the world and ourselves”  (p. 104)

I chose this simply because it is exactly as I feel.  I have always said that technology has its place in teaching, but I think that when we rely solely on it children lose some of the skills that they need.  For example children are not asked to learn their multiplication tables anymore.  They simply pull out a calculator or “Google it” to find the answer to a problem.  I know children love technology and they love to spend as much time as possible trying to play games or chatting on social media, that many of them don’t realize how much they can learn from technology.  Mostly, it is just something to have fun with.

 

 

 

When talking about technology and literacy I think you have to look at it as an evolution, this is sort of a cool representation of social medial evolution and fits in really well with our text.

1.      What is the difference between an "essentialist," "traditionalist" or "autonomous" "perspective of technology and literacy and a New Literacy Studies of "ideological"perspective on technology and literacy? Which perspective do you adhere to? Why?

Essentialist means to focus only on the abilities of technology, not in the way it’s used. Ideological means to focus on the attributes and abilities of the technology in social communities and how all of the different social areas are affected when using technology. Autonomous means that it will continue to build on itself in dynamic and self augmenting ways.   I adhere to the essentialist view of technology. I think without society and without people driving it then technology doesn’t have a purpose.

2. Give three concrete examples of how the teacher in the chapter supported "new literacy" or "critical digital literacies" practices with blogging.

The teacher used blogging and had her students post pictures to receive feedback from the people who could see them.  She asked that the students be aware of the messages they were presenting. The students know that the best work from the class will be placed on the  teacher's blog, so they will be competing with each other.   She required that the students be organized, be able to exhibit their knowledge and opinions in a way  that was interesting to the most amount of people.

References:

 

Avila, J., & Pandya, J. (2013). Critical digital literacies as social praxis. (pp. 95). New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing.

The image was found on:  http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=wu9bIVXr3xoSPM&tbnid=aa9EUUlyE9F2XM:&ved=0CAQQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.briansolis.com%2F2012%2F04%2Fdisruptive-technology-and-how-to-compete-for-the-future%2F&ei=YIZ2Ut23O83C4APAo4DYDw&bvm=bv.55819444,d.cWc&psig=AFQjCNFGIdB55SWBRr793kilJ2VIBuiX1A&ust=1383585728008928

Brainstorming my Digital Story

My family has always been very large.  My father had 7 brothers and 3 sisters, my mother had 4 sisters and 4 brothers.  My father is a twin, my mother is a twin, my grandmother is a twin.  All told 14 sets of twins in my family.  But the story I want to tell is about family, my family.  I got married in my late twenties.  My wife was also in her late twenties and we both wanted children in the worst way.  After two years of fertility treatments our first daughter was born.  Life was amazing.  We were told the second child would be easier to conceive after having the first.  They were right as my wife became pregnant with twins.  This is where the story takes a turn.  This is where we realize how lucky we are. 

I think this project could be fun however, I am apprehensive due to sharing personal information of this nature.  As a private, very reserved person, sharing any personal information is tough.