Education is the root to many a branch. The modern age as brought forth many new avenues our youth many travel down. These pathways may lead to an exciting future bearing much fruit while other paths may branch into a rotten, dead, and wasteful existence. I see our youth as a bud on a tree that is full of life and willing to bear the future in thier arms. However, these children have many trials and storms they must weather in their season. Without the support and guidance of their family, friends, teachers, and community the child's future becomes jeopardized. The teacher stands at the ready to hold onto, guide, nurture, support, and protect the student throughout his/her development. An under-nurtured spring easily falls underfoot, but with care and the proper guidance the sprig will become resilient and grow and produce good fruit. So is it with our youth; all children are not brought up in a nurturing manor, but that does not mean all is lost and that they are to be forgotten. It is my calling, as an educator, to aid our youth in their development and give them the confidence and resources needed to succeed and become a productive member of society. This is my role and my mission.
"A critical examination of gender, race, and ethnicity is oftentimes ignored in...traditional education." (Avila & Pandya, 2013) Even though the world may strive to place all people into the same mold, I will not disregard the differences of our youth. I will embrace the digital age and reinforce the use of critical digital literacy in the students' everyday life and instill the fact that social categories are still relevant in the digital world. (Avila & Pandya, 2013) Online, the user may feel anonymous, but we are not. The interactions between digital users can be very dynamic and educational. By engaging with others online and off, critical use of technology and composition provides opportunities and new ways to experience and interact with the world. (Avila & Pandya, 2013) Technology is invasive and can be overwhelming, but as a digital native I have full confidence that digital interactions and experiences can and should be coupled with face-to-face and physical experiences.
I see my students not as an empty slate, but as one filled with a plethora of ideas, ideologies, biases, truths, and possibilities. We, in America, are given more choices on how we wish to live our lives than any other group. Sadly, evil and sloth are among those choices, as such, educators must be both willing and able to contend with negative behavior and reinforce constructive behavior and thoughts. I work hard to establish and maintain a safe,courteous, fair, and controlled learning environment where the students' ability and actions are taken seriously, individual strengths are celebrated, and collaboration is used appropriately. Community is composed of every person no matter if he or she is constructive or not. Our youth have many choices ahead of them that not only affect their lives, but also the life of the community. We must aid in guiding and educating our future for the future's sake and the sake of our youth.
References:
Avila, J., & Pandya, J. (2013). Critical digital media as social praxis: Intersections and challenges. (p. 58, 79). New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
Links to engaging critical media literacy activities:
Video demonstrating common types of digital literacy
Self-help site teaching digital literacy
Digital Literacy Self-test to identify strengths and weaknesses
Google's digital literacy and citizenship curriculum
Student discussions of digital literacy
12/1/13
Week #14 Reading and Discussion
"...Ours is an age in which the pictoral turn has supplanted the linguistic one, as images push words off the page and our lives become increasingly mediated by a popular visual culture." (Hull, 2003)
I chose the above quote, because I can see the truth of the quote stand out in my classroom, within my students. My students are very visual and are poor readers and are terrible at reading comprehension. They have a very difficult time actually reading to understand, they mostly read only to make the school day go by faster and to not be bothered by the teacher for not doing their classwork. Though, they do not read much, my students are certainly visually stimulated easily. The students draw a lot and are always asking to print out a picture they found while completing digital assignments. I could have my students read and discuss the photosynthetic process in plants and bacteria, but if I do not include and reference an image of the process my students would be lost.
I chose the above image, because this is the look I see on my students almost everyday. An image or series of images helps immensely when reading about new science class content.
#1: Digital storytelling promotes academic literacies by requiring the student to be able to communicate effectively through speech and text without loosing the audience due to not being verbally or text illiterate. The production of digital stories is fun, interactive, and is often used to draw in an audience and the students know that if they are not literate they may not capture the attention of the target audience.
#2: No, I do not think that digital storytelling with music, speech, and images is easier. I do think that the addition of such does promote the mood of the story, but the extra time and effort in creating a multimedia production is more resource intensive than pure text.
#3: Yes, digital storytelling does increase the "action" feeling of a story or communication. Digital stories are more influential and "drive home" the story's message than a text-only story.Yes, the impact on the academic lives of our students would be positive, because through the production of these digital stories the students will try to interest and influence their audience and that drive will help them want to become more literate so that their products are more influential to their audience.
References:
Hull, G. (2003). At last: Youth culture and digital media.Research in the Teaching of English, 38(2), 230.
A picture is worth a thousand words [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu./content/1_StudySkills/study_tuts/learning styles/visual.html
I chose the above quote, because I can see the truth of the quote stand out in my classroom, within my students. My students are very visual and are poor readers and are terrible at reading comprehension. They have a very difficult time actually reading to understand, they mostly read only to make the school day go by faster and to not be bothered by the teacher for not doing their classwork. Though, they do not read much, my students are certainly visually stimulated easily. The students draw a lot and are always asking to print out a picture they found while completing digital assignments. I could have my students read and discuss the photosynthetic process in plants and bacteria, but if I do not include and reference an image of the process my students would be lost.
I chose the above image, because this is the look I see on my students almost everyday. An image or series of images helps immensely when reading about new science class content.
#1: Digital storytelling promotes academic literacies by requiring the student to be able to communicate effectively through speech and text without loosing the audience due to not being verbally or text illiterate. The production of digital stories is fun, interactive, and is often used to draw in an audience and the students know that if they are not literate they may not capture the attention of the target audience.
#2: No, I do not think that digital storytelling with music, speech, and images is easier. I do think that the addition of such does promote the mood of the story, but the extra time and effort in creating a multimedia production is more resource intensive than pure text.
#3: Yes, digital storytelling does increase the "action" feeling of a story or communication. Digital stories are more influential and "drive home" the story's message than a text-only story.Yes, the impact on the academic lives of our students would be positive, because through the production of these digital stories the students will try to interest and influence their audience and that drive will help them want to become more literate so that their products are more influential to their audience.
References:
Hull, G. (2003). At last: Youth culture and digital media.Research in the Teaching of English, 38(2), 230.
A picture is worth a thousand words [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu./content/1_StudySkills/study_tuts/learning styles/visual.html
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