Last Class Reflection (July 29, 2011)

The guest speakers Professors Stanzler and Fontichiaro brought in for our final class of summer semester were superb and really nicely captured the spirit, usefulness and do-ability of everything we are learning in this course.  It was impressive and in more ways than one.  We had a former recent former MACer Google video-chat in from France, two other former MACers speak to us in person about their experiences out in the “real teaching world,” and finally, a class Skype session from a New York City classroom with another former MACer and her students.  And it all felt perfectly seamless and smooth, with nary a sign of technical glitch or disengagement.  All of our guests were fantastic and gave us a really good idea of what it’s like out there in the real world as well as just how useful and helpful technology is in the teaching and learning process.  I thought Larry and Kevin were especially helpful in articulating in their depictions of their respective school environments and teaching with technology experiences.  Larry’s classroom policy embrace (and openness) with student cell phones was highly enlightening to me because I always figured I would have to take a hard guy stance with regards to their use if I ever expect to get anything accomplished in class.  Larry’s strategy, all of sudden, seems a lot smarter and a heck of a lot more useful.  Why bother spending massive energy and time enforcing something that students are going to go far out of their way to get around anyways, and instead just embrace it and use it to everyone’s advantage?  Larry’s attitude about it gets at the heart of the issue of respecting your student’s cultural learning environment as well as perhaps increasing their respect for you as an adaptable, tolerant and with-it teacher.  Imagine the confrontational environment you create in the classroom if you’re always chasing and berating students for “breaking rules.”  It’s a fine line of course, but I think a bit of leeway and creative usage with cell phone technology (and others) will go a long way towards mutual respect and understanding from both sides of the student/teacher divide.

Andrea and Kevin’s presentations were also really informative and helpful.   I new nothing about the IB school programs running, not only throughout this country but spanning the globe as well, and Kevin’s description of the high caliber learning and expectations going on at his school sounded quite appealing.  Being an aspiring international teacher myself, their discussion helped me better understand the vast and positive possibilities that are out.  In fact all of our guest speakers successes in teaching were massively inspiring  – especially on an end-of-semester day when the load felt like a piano bearing down from a 10^th story apartment window.  Thank you Jeff and Kristen for providing such a relief and fun-filled, informative last day of class.    

Call Me Groucho

Clueless about youth culture technology full disclosure #3,862:  I don’t know what the “M” in Generation M stands for.  Is it just me?   I suppose I could Google it to easily find out, but maybe certain things are just better left a mystery.  Oh wait, it appears Klapperstuck and Kearns couldn’t keep a good thing to themselves, –“Millennials” (p.  120), okay, I get it now.  Nonetheless, what interesting research and conclusions drawn on the idea that today’s youth see their private and public lives nearly one and the same, or at least highly blurred.  That’s a bit of a shocker to me.  One of my favorite moments in the text was the cite of another researcher who commented, “When asked, all youth know that anyone could access their profiles online.  Yet, the most common response I receive is ‘…but why would they?’”  From my perspective, the better question to ask is, “Why would they want to?”  Some of these stats were just plain nuts, “Gen M students spend an average of 6-8 hours a day in multitasking mode with their media.”  “81% of young people spend their time using more than one medium at a time.”  How is this possible?  How many hands and partitioned brain lobes can one person have?   But the most interesting point the article raises about this whole hyper-technology frenzy is this idea of how the “M” generation defines it’s being in terms of the public and the private self.  This new millennium idea of never having to be, or face oneself, alone is truly an odd reality.   Where then, has the space and time for self-reflection gone?  If one is always somehow tied to another, what can be, or ever is, the idea of self?  The other odd social byproduct of the connected phenomena is this notion that it is not considered rude when your attention to another is only partial because it is divided by attention to others, or other things.  Because everyone else seems to be doing the same, all is well and good in Eden it appears and perfectly acceptable.  That sure is an annoying sign of the times and one, I suppose, that I’ll never get used to.  Ahh well, there’s a price to be paid for every advance I suppose.  I’m certainly not down on technology itself, after all it’s sure served me well over the years, but I do think the intrusion into the private self and the blurring of lines between public and private space is a bit alarming for all our sakes – think of the inane phone conversations you are sometimes forced to hear as you walk down the street, ride public transport or wait in line to buy a bagel.  It can be excruciating.  I suppose, at the end of the day however, I just need to come to terms with the fact that places like Facebook, Twitter and Myspace all point to what Klapperstuck and Kearns noted in their concluding paragraph, “Every generation feels a disconnect with other generations.”   Yet for some reason, I can’t help but feel that this guy summed it up way better…

“Please accept my resignation.  I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as member.”  – Groucho Marx                       

Reflections on Class Session – Friday, July 22, 2011

Our group’s morning session with Jeff was engaging and informative.  Before reading Gee’s essay or viewing McGonigal’s video presentation I would have aligned the majority of my opinion on video gaming directly with what Elizabeth expressed so convincingly in the session.  When you see the obsessed and entirely absorbed state people work themselves into when watching and playing video games, the whole thing – and from what I have learned thus far, it is a very big thing – looks and feels a bit alarming.  When Elizabeth spoke about the effect of gaming on her brother it immediately reminded of my nephew whom I barely spoke with the last time I spent a long weekend at my brother and sister-in-laws.  I barely spoke with him because he was for the most part entirely consumed with playing on-line video games.  Now, I’m clued-in enough to know that there can be a strong social network aspect to gaming, and that it’s not solely a zombie-world landscape, but nonetheless I couldn’t help noticing that when I did have the opportunity to speak with my 18 year-old nephew face to face, he didn’t have too much to say, nor show much enthusiasm or interest in what I had to offer.  The conversation consisted mostly of me asking him questions and getting very little in return.  Now I'm also well aware that I can annoy with the best of them with my incessant questioning, but all the same I can’t help feel that there is some validity to the criticism of the debilitating effects of hours upon hours spent in front of a screen isolated and playing out life in a virtual world.  It’s simply not a proper surrogate for the real thing.  And when you add to the mix all the extremist views and general lunacy available a mere point and click away on the web, it’s scary to think of what kind of corrupt and corrosive societal decay lies lurking for the future.  It all sort of reminds me of when I was a kid staring bugged-eyed at my own screen, waiting for Godzilla to awaken and emerge from his cave after nuclear winter and wreak havoc on a screaming populous.  

But Gee and McGonigal’s exposés gave me a different perspective and I think even a sense of hope – for the screaming populous.  With the right attitude, proper context, and moderation – as RJ thoughtfully pointed out – there very well be much to gain from a technology that is so incredibly popular and evolving.  And I think both presenters did a great job of pointing out just what exactly that could be.  And thankfully it doesn’t resemble a massive, green-eyed, fire breathing mutant lizard.  In fact it just might be more of a Mothra type, a larger-than-life creature with colorful wings that can help lift us up and solve some of the seriously large issues and problems we’re facing in the modern global world.  Why not, as McGonigal suggested, turn to the masses and ask them to turn video gaming into a multi-million person pursuit that searches, and reaches, and comes up with solutions to the daunting societal problems of our times, e.g., alternative energy, famine, water shortages and devastating disease?  It's a beautiful idea and just might very well be possible.  There is, it seems, an incredibly powerful social network in gaming and it may be worth far, far more than the price of any X-Box.

Being a one time horrifically amateur DJ, I also really enjoyed learning how to make a Pod cast under Kristen’s kind and excellent tutelage.   I’m trying to come up with ways of how I could use it in my English classes but so far am coming up blank, similar I suppose to my DJ days.  Any suggestions would be welcome and greatly appreciated.                               

Great Defenders – Reflection on Readings for Friday, July 22, 2011

At the risk of massively dating myself, my video gaming experience began with Pong and Marlboro Reds in a friend’s basement and essentially ended with Asteroids at Birmingham Bowl and bowls of another sort.  At the time I thought Asteroids was pretty cool but by the time Asteroids Deluxe came around I was more interested in Long-necks and rollin' a few frames with friends.  I suppose what I’m really attempting to say here is that I’ve been entirely left in the dust by today’s video game culture.  To say Jan McGonical’s TED presentation was a bit of an eye opener would be putting it extremely mild.  Further disclosure of cluelessness in said subject area: I had never heard of World of Warcraft before viewing the McGonical video.  While I’m at it, ditto for every single other game mentioned in the James Paul Gee essay as well.   But wow, what powerful persuasion.  The sheer number of people who play and hours they spend playing clicked off in McGonical’s piece were nearly beyond my comprehension.  The parallel education analogy of kids at 21 years spending equal time at video gaming as with school academics she mentioned was also really startling.  But the vision and plan she laid out was oddly hopeful.  There does appear then to be something very significant going on in this world I know next to nothing about.  I can only think to run for cover to the game that has always brought me the same sense of happiness and well-being, that she touched upon in her four discoveries, and quote the late Ben Hogan when he first encountered Jack Nicklaus on the golf course: “He plays a game with which I am not familiar.”

To think video games could instill a belief within that something is always possible (Urgent Optimism), that trust in others is crucial to fulfillment and improving (Social Fabric), that one can be happiest when working hard (Blissful Productivity) and that awe inspiring missions are merely just around the corner (Epic Meaning), well, who really, coulda known?  About a billion-and-one clued-in others it appears.  I have a whole new respect and appreciation for the power in the joystick.  Are those still part of the game?

Oh, I'm the Great Defender

And I really think I've got it made

A fistful of quarters, a fifty dollar stake

Life is a gamble on Videotape

I called a disc jockey to dedicate a song to Blair

It's the 'Four Tops' singing 'I'll be there'

Down at the arcade

The president called to give me the news

I've been awarded the Nobel Price in rhythm and blues

And Stevie Wonder wants to record one of my songs

Oh, I'm the Great Defender

And I really know just how to get along

Oh, I'm the Great Defender, listen to my song

I really hope you like it, it isn't very long

It's rooted in the fifties but its heart's in 1984

And if you really like it

Then I sing it for you once more

Down at the arcade

– Lou Reed, Down At The Arcade

Librarian Learning

Having a group of librarians from across the state sacrifice their personal time and energy to come visit us and teach us a little bit about the many things they do to facilitate the learning process was a great reflection, and reminder to me, of their character and value.  Librarians are fantastic conduits to knowledge and resource as well as always being somehow able to stay one step ahead of the newest development in the information/research field.  They also, thankfully, seem to me to be some of the nicest, considerate and helpful people around town.  Between my hometown and the multiple facilities here on campus, I visit libraries on a near daily basis and can’t help but feel that the librarians who staff them must, just must, grow tired of seeing my face and answering my endless inquiries.  But they never show it.  In fact they nearly always do the opposite and demonstrate genuine interest and enthusiasm for whatever it is that I seek.  There is more than one life lesson there that I hope I’ll never take for granted.

Our tsunami lesson collaboration at the Brandon Center with Librarian Jeanna reconfirmed my feelings for librarians and their value to all those interested in learning what they don’t know.  I learned that four prospective teachers, each with different disciplines and interests, can come together with their own ideas to figure out a lesson plan that can span and tie them together in a global and humanities learning context.  Jeanna helped us see those broad crossover possibilities by pointing out the many database resources available to us as, such as MEL, as well as imparting a bit of specific experience wisdom by pointing to the more practical and realistic goal of getting students in different classes (e.g, English, Spanish, French) to learn and practice Skyping within the classrooms at their school before attempting it with a class in a foreign country.   At the start of our session I wondered how practical or feasible it would be to do a multiple language crossover lesson plan, but by the end of it I could see clearly the many cool and doable possibilities.  Librarians can facilitate this process and always, it seems, with a smile on their face.  I'll chalk this one up to another fine librarian lesson learned.

Reflection on Readings for Monday, July 18, 2011

Checking out just a few of the many links on the NY Time’s Learning Network to gain insight and knowledge on the recent Tsunami in Japan, I was fascinated by one article in particular that talked about the power of water.  Being a genuine water enthusiast – from waterskiing across glassy lake surfaces in late afternoon sun, to body surfing a wave from 20 yards out at sea into a tumble crash landing at shore, to just relaxing in a tub – I have always loved the buoyant comfort of being submerged in the stuff.  When I learned from the article “The Destructive Power of Water” that a mere one-cubic yard of it weighs 1700 pounds I was shocked.  I honestly don’t think I would have guessed even half that much if ever asked.  It helped put all my fuzzy feelings about water into a bit of perspective.  The weight and force of water is just incredible and, as we have seen through devastating events over the past several years, if not paid proper respect and attention it can cream you in a split second.  The story of the energy and force in water thus, is a lesson worth teaching and learning well.

Out of disaster it is hopeful to know that there is something to be gained and learned.  As the article and its many links makes abundantly clear, there are lessons to be learned from devastation in several different ways and disciplines.  Math and science can help explain to us plate tectonics and moveable force, economics can teach us about the effects on global economies, history can show us the ways societies have dealt with natural disasters in the past and prepared for them in the future, and languages can facilitate how we report on and communicate its effects on the human condition.  And by learning a few of these things, or even just one, we just might discover something enlightening or specific that can help prevent them in the future, or at the very least, mitigate their effects.  It is by viewing all that we do, and all that we have done to us, through the means of genuine care, interest and study that we as individuals and people achieve greater success as humanity.  Even from out of disaster, these are lessons worth learning. 

Reflection on Friday, July 15, 2011 Class

Friday’s class was an info whirlwind that I was barely able to keep my head above.  I always feel like I’m two clicks, two pages and two steps behind everyone else when we charge into tech learning.  Then I feel guilty about having to bring new learning to a screeching halt with absolute beginner questions like, “Wait, wait, where do I click now?”  Setting up and diving into the world of Twitter was stimulating though, especially when I saw how many uses it has and how much quality info about our future profession is available via a quick and simple tweet.  Just as soon as I can get used to navigating it, I think the Hootsuite site will be very useful to me because I don’t function well without some semblance of order and the site seems like a quick and easy way to follow what everyone in the cohort is doing and talking about.  Antonia’s Twitter demonstration and Q&A session was really useful as well in that it gave me a good look and understanding of all that is out there other than just what the Kardashians are thinking of wearing to the club tonight.

The product assessment assignment looks like it should prove fun and fruitful for everyone.  New gadgetry is always interesting to check out at and I am curious to see if the “TextHELP” software I was assigned might prove useful as a future teaching aid in and out of the classroom.  Looking back on my Jr. High and High School English class learning experiences, I know there were a lot of fundamental grammar lessons that a) were never properly presented or covered, or b) were one’s that I quickly forgot due to lack of heavy drilling and practice, e.g., split-infinitives, dangling participles, the passive voice, etc.  Maybe this software, or one similar, will be the tool that can help fill in the holes of critical grammar structure and principles that too easily can get left behind in the native speaker’s learning process and the urgency to be getting on to bigger and more interesting things in the English curriculum.