Final Thoughts

My project is a website for my American Sports Literature class.  I taught the class last year for the first time and am teaching it again in the fall and spring.  American Sports Literature is a junior/senior English elective course.  Students learn about American history through the rise in power of sports.  We study its influence and how it affected the lives of Americans. Whatever was going on in society was reflected in the popular sports of the time.  We start in the late 1800’s by studying immigration and race relations and work chronologically throuh the years up to modern times.  I try to put the events of history in the context of today in order for students to connect to the subject matter.  By the end of the course, students understand how sports play a crucial role in modern times, and how this huge influence was predicated on past events. 

In order to reach these learning goals, students read and write about these subjects.  The core text is from a book called Idolsof the Game.  The two sportswriters who wrote this book, Robert Lipsyte and Peter Levine, were determined to figure out who were the most important athletes in American history.  Their criteria not only requires the athletes to be great at their sport, they also had to be influential in the greater American consciousness.  They had to change history and the way Americans looked at life.  Muhammad Ali, for example, is considered an idol of the game, not only for his dominant performance in the ring, but for his strength in standing up to the American government during the Vietnam War.  Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player since the late 1880’s.  He was a great player, yet is most remembered because of his ability to stare down the face of racism and not fight back.  He paved the way for other black ballplayers and his strength and courage are characteristics we can all learn from.

Idols of the Game is great reading and I’ve read it twice from front to back.  This doesn’t mean that all students are interested in doing this themselves.  As we discussed in class, many students learn in different ways and are intelligent in many ways.  One kid could be great at reading and writing but can't draw a picture, for example.  

Ken Robinson discussed in his Ted Talk how schools are ruining creativity.  He argues that human beings are naturally different and diverse,  and human life is inherently creative.   He argues that the current educational structure stifle these principles.  We need to change in order to improve education, to engage our students.

I am going to keep these ideas in mind while I'm teaching Idols of the Game.  Each chapter I try to explore the athletes from a different angle.  For example, last year, I presented the first athlete, John L. Sullivan, with a lecture and reading.  We watched a documentary on the second athlete, Jack Johnson.  We did an interactive PowerPoint with Jim Thorpe, the third athlete.  While these activities provided the information to the students, it wasn’t as dynamic as I think I’m capable of.  I thought there are better ways of teaching the students these subjects while also teaching them 21^st century skills.

I’m more of a digital native than many other teachers, yet I feel like a digital immigrant when I’m working with students.  I sometimes feel like I’m a step behind in their digital world.  There’s a new thing coming out every week, it seems.  It’s hard to keep up.  I took this course in order to get closer to their world. 

This was one of the major points of my website and the additional activities I have created on it.  I had no idea these tools existed.  I would’ve never had the time to research them this summer, never mind building a whole website!  Although I already had an assortment of projects for my sports lit class, I now have a far wider array of tools to pick from.  I have constructed a Storify for the first chapter on John L. Sullivan. 

Typically, I introduce Sullivan in a lecture and the students take notes.  This seems like a more traditional method of teaching.  It strikes me more of an information dump.  Students are consumers in this instance and, as I’ve learned in this course, we want students to be creators. 

Instead of doing my usual lecture, I will instead assign students a Webquest activity for John L. Sullivan.  Instead of me telling them the information, the students will instead discover about Sullivan and his place in history through several links and videos found on the Storify page.  The students will not only discover the information, they will be learning how to use the Internet to find information.

I also plan on using other digital tools for other assignments in the course.  I would like to create a Prezi for the Introduction section to the book, then eventually have the students create Prezis for their final projects for the “Race in American Sports” unit. 

I would like to create a VoiceThread for the unit on Jack Johnson.  Johnson was a controversial male black boxer in the early 1900’s.  His brash behavior shocked his white audiences.  I think an interactive dialogue on Johnson would be an interesting activity for students. 

As we discussed in class, students have been using many image and video-based products in their digital worlds.  I think if I figure out how to use VideoThread, the students will benefit from discussing Johnson online because they will see how they can use their native digital tools for higher-level thinking.  These apps are not just for entertainment!

That is one major theme I took out of Michael Wesch’s editorial on the use of the technology in education.  I interpreted that one of his points was that technology is here to stay and is an embedded part of human nature in youth. He argues that we’ve been ignoring this part of culture and we need to adjust accordingly.  Instead of pushing the rising technology aside, we need to harness that energy with the critical thinking skills our modern society is so in desperate need of.  My hope is, through using VideoThread, I will be able to accomplish this very idea: use video technology to discuss racial issues in the 1900’s America. 

I also was able to investigate the Vine app on my iPod.  This is one the hottest new fads in youth culture, only months old.  This free technology allows its users to take ten second looping videos.  I have yet to find practical use for it in the classroom, but I think this is another tool that Wesch would put to use.  I’ve been playing with it more since class ended, I’m sure I’ll think of a lesson to use it for! 

I decided to organize these future projects on a Google Site.  My motivation for creating a Google project was both practical and philosophical.  I thought it had the most interesting, albeit frustrating, technological opportunities.  These tools are all free, so I shouldn’t be complaining too much.  And it seems like Google is something that is here to stay.  That’s where my philosophy end comes in.

I watched students struggle with simple email commands last year.  They had email addresses from ancient email servers.  They were copying and pasting documents into emails instead of attaching documents, which for an English teacher, can be particularly traumatizing.  These are basic skills students need to know in order to function in the real world. 

Again, from my perspective, Google seems to have staying power.  If students have these computer skills, they will have another skill to be used in the real world.  I plan on eventually teaching students how to use Google Sites to upload their own assignments to.  I hope to do that in the spring.   

I know this is not part of the dominant ideology found in much of education currently.  This is not something students will be tested on.  Yet, this is still an important skill that students will need in the long run.

I also figured out how to use Google Forms, for surveys and contact information, and how to post documents to the site.  I am ecstatic about this tool.  I will now be able to provide assignments to students who are absent, as well as a place for the forgetful student to find their homework.  I hope to get students in the habit of emailing their homework to me in attachments, rather than copying and pasting!

Overall, this course provided evidence in the need to instill higher order level thinking skills in today’s youth.  They know how to use new technology; yet don’t use it for the most constructive reasons.  Usually, students use Instagram to take photos or Vine to take videos.  They text their friends, they play games, and constantly bored and want to look at their phones.  I hope to alleviate that boredom with more interactive class room activities that focuses on their different styles of learning and their different skill sets.  

I hope that they will understand that they’re unhealthily addicted to their phones, much like the article I read in the course text book, only this addiction seems worse.  [Quick aside: I realized that the chapter on TV addiction was slightly outdated.  The real test of strength will be to attempt a No Phone for a week drive.  That’d be a really interesting experiment!] 

Can we harness this change in social behavior for the greater good?  Can we help teach students to see past the novel yet superficiality of their digital worlds and help them look at it more critically?  These seem to be the burning questions that are at the forefront of my thinking after taking this course.  I hope these new tools and thoughts will help me push my students in the right direction and will stick with them as they enter the real world and shape society's future.

Using Technology Helps Avoid Awkward Conversations, Leads to Lonely Habits

How does Turkle's claim challenge Mike Wesch's call for digital community and connection, if at all?

Sherry Turkle, in her article The Flight from Conversation, raises some points that challenge Mike Wesch's drive for more integrated use of technology in the classroom that he focused on his article The Old Revolution.  The way I see it, Turkle and Wesch are both trying to solve a problem that society has always had to face: the feeling of loneliness.

Both of these thinkers are trying to battle this major problem with somewhat extreme measures.  Turkle is arguing that, overall, technology is ruining society.  She may have a point.  Her anecdotes about the lack of face-to-face conversations in the workplace are eyebrow-raising.  I see it myself, at work and elsewhere in the real world.  There is a definite disconnect in between people in the real world.  The free time we used to have to chat with people, have random run-ins with someone on the subway or walking down the street, have diminished since we all have headphones on.  Turkle's right.  This isn't a great part of our society.  

Unfortunately, I don't know if what to do about the take-over of social technology and the anti-social behavior in the real-world.  Turkle's suggestion to unplug for a day just seems unreasonable, due to the nature of how business is run these days.  Perhaps technology will get to be so good that we'll have to start to have full conversations with people more often, only virtually.

And I think that's Wesch's argument: technology is here to stay, no matter what we do.  The way my freshman acted with their iPhones last year made that abundantly clear.  They nearly burst when they couldn't look at their cell phones.  When they did have their phones out, it was like a switch went off in the room.  It's a new, strange world.    

This doesn't mean that Turkle's point, that this is increasing loneliness and therefore not making humanity more happy, is a solid one.  This reminds me of a famous line, found in the movie The Magnificent Ambersons, directed by Orson Welles, who also directed Citizen Kane.  The protagonist of the film, Eugene (played by Joseph Cotton), is involved with the start of the car industry.  George, the antagonist, is saying that he hates the rise of cars, and wishes they would stay away, and that the world was better without them.  The exact conversation is found below.

Courtesy of IMDB.

George: I said, automobiles are a useless nuisance. Never amount to anything but a nuisance. They had no business to be invented.

Maj. Amberson: So your devilish machines are going to ruin all your old friend, eh Gene? Do you really think they're going to change the face of the land?

Eugene: They're already doing it major and it can't be stopped. Automobiles...

[cut off by George]

George: Automobiles are a useless nuisance.

George: What did you say George?

George: I said automobiles are a useless nuisance. Never amount to anything but a nuisance and they had no business to be invented.

Jack: Of course you forget that Mr. Morgan makes them, also did his share in inventing them. If you weren't so thoughtless, he might think you were rather offensive.

Eugene: I'm not sure George is wrong about automobiles. With all their speed forward they may be a step backward in civilization. May be that they won't add to the beauty of the world or the life of the men's souls, I'm not sure. But automobiles have come and almost all outwards things will be different because of what they bring. They're going to alter war and they're going to alter peace. And I think men's minds are going to be changed in subtle ways because of automobiles. And it may be that George is right. May be that in ten to twenty years from now that if we can see the inward change in men by that time, I shouldn't be able to defend the gasoline engine but agree with George - that automobiles had no business to be invented.

I tend to agree with Wesch and Welles: technology is here and it's here to stay, for better and for worse.  We may as well embrace it and try to integrate new ideas and higher-level thinking in technology.  The way students currently use iPhones is not with tasks I'd consider higher level thinking: texting, texting photos, and playing games aren't exactly rocket science.  But if we tweak a few things, there is definitely a way to make these technologies more academically stimulating.  

Then maybe we'll have better conversations? 

Prezi Time!

I made 2 Prezis!

The first one explains my PhotoVoice failure!

The second one features my fabulous Prezi that doesn't embarrass me!

The Opposite of Compulsion is Not Freedom but Communion

In the article "The Old Revolution," Michael Wesch makes a strong claim that the new pedagogical push for 21st century technological skills is not a fad.  He is directly answering the arguments made by Jay Mathews in a piece he wrote for The Washington Post: "The Latest Doomed Pedagogical Fad: 21st-Century Skills."

I tend to agree with Wesch not only based on my own experiences in teaching for the past four years.  His argument is simply stronger than Mathews'.

Mathews has his heart in the right place.  He makes it clear in the article that he cares about teaching and has some great points about the importance of relationships in the classroom.  From what I've heard from veteran teachers, there's a new fad in teaching every few years.  He has a point there.  However, his article exemplifies exactly what Wesch is trying to avoid.

Mathews is writing for the Washingtonpost.com, yet doesn't link to any other articles to back up his reasoning.  There aren't any photos or graphics.  It's not eye-catching and very dull.  It's almost like he's still writing for the print version of The Washington Post, and we all know where the newspaper industry is headed.  My students would look at the article and simply click out of the tab.

The last real issue I have with Mathews is his lack of alternatives.  What else should we be doing?

Why is Wesch more on point, then?  He simply seems more in tune to the changing of times.

He points out that 'scientists overwhelmingly noted that it was not the content that mattered.  What mattered was that students learn how to think.'  This seems to be, from my direct experiences, the most important aspect of teaching.  I see more of a change in students when they start thinking differently and more critically.  Teaching the novel Night this past year, for example, changed the way several of my students looked at life.

Wesch continues to point out that 'Our economy is stagnating, making it difficult to implement broad-scale changes.  And there is a solid and entrenched "back to basics" movement to counter our own, of which the article by Jay Mathews is just one example.  The idea of a 'back to basic' movement sends shivers down my spine.  I was a freshman in high school ten years ago.  The amount that has changed over those years in youth society is staggering.  There was no Facebook, students didn't have cell phones, and my parents still had dial-up internet!  To deny that there needs to be more of a focus on 21st century skills is just baffling.  Step foot into a classroom for the time in between classes and, guaranteed, 2 out of 3 students will be checking or playing on their phones.  It's incredible to watch how important the digital world is to students nowadays.

My favorite quote from the Wesch piece was from Mauriece Freedman when explaining Martin Buber's educational philosophy.  He stated that, when we change things around, it's not going to cause chaos.  Rather, "The opposite of compulsion is not freedom but communion..." (1955).  [Martin Buber: The Life of Dialogue, by Martin Freedman, 1955]

Clearly, we need to work together more to reach a better place in education, rather than lament the good ol' days and slow the process of change.    

Disney: A Complicated Relationship

What is your relationship to Disney and animated children's culture?

When I was a child, Disney was a big deal.  New Disney movies were an event.  Old Disney movies were watched over and over again.  They were held as almost sacred objects.  They were the classics, something everyone could agree to watch, young and old.  I can't think of a single person who disliked Disney when I was a child.  If I had met that person it may have confused and even disturbed me.  

The first movie I saw at a theater, if my memory serves me correctly, was The Jungle Book.  I remember going to see Beauty and the Beast with my cousins, Snow White (when it was re-released) with an aunt, and 101 Dalmatians with my parents.  Disney was always associated with family.

I probably watched Peter Pan a million times on video and Robin Hood wasn't far behind.  Winnie the Pooh, Pinocchio, Dumbo, The Sword in the Stone, the Mickey Mouse tales, The Lion King, The Fox and the Hound, and Aladdin were all in my regular movie-watching rotation.    

My family and I went to Disney in Florida five or six times in my youth: The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM Studios, The Animal Kingdom, and, in later years, Universal Studios.  The first time I went was when I was two, the last when I was 21!

Why did we go so many times?  Perhaps it was the easiest trip to agree on.  Maybe it was to catch the fleeting youth that my brother and I were rapidly growing out of.  Probably it was because it was affordable and a sure bet, a place where we knew what we were getting into.  I always had a great time at Disney and I look at my memories of those visits quite fondly.

What role did these texts play in your life as a child, if any?

After reading the article, I tried recalling any aspects of Disney that struck me.  I remember I didn't care for the princess movies.  I wanted to see male protagonists seeking out adventures, not boring princesses waiting around for their boring princes.  I remember I found Bambi to be strange, due to its intensely depressing ending, and refusing to watch it ever again.  The Fox and the Hound was also very sad, ditto The Lion King.  I was a sensitive kid, and all that death got to me.   I specifically remember disliking Fantasia because there wasn't much action, and was basically a weird musical, yet I've seen clips of it recently and the music is was awesome.

As I got older, I remember sneering at the newer Disney movies.  I remember hating on Hercules, Mulan, Pocahantos, and Tarzan, since it seemed like the cool thing to distance myself from Disney.  I was ten and very old and wise.

How do your memories challenge or reflect Christensen's claims?

I can see where Christensen is coming from in some ways, yet I do think Disney taught me some good values.  I think Peter Pan resonated with me because of its tales of loyalty and toughness.  Robin Hood was all about stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.  Pinocchio showed the downfalls of lying.  Robing Williams was hilarious in Aladdin and probably played a role in my own twisted sense of humor.  Yet, there are many 'damsels in distress' in these films, and I can't help but wonder if that played a part in my views on women.

Christensen is right on regarding the way women, the poor, and minorities were treated in these films.  It took me a long while to even start to recognize the diversity of our world, the horrors of poverty found nearly everywhere, and the way much of society attempts to ignore it.  I remember being quite shocked by homeless people in Boston when I went to walk The Freedom Trail in my freshman year of high school.

It wasn't until college that I started to recognize the vast inequalities in our world.  Venturing into New York City at 19 with a friend completely changed my perceptions of the world.  Riding the subway to Fordham College in The Bronx to visit a friend instantly blew my innocence and nativity away.  

At this point in time, I have come around to Christensen's claims.  If/when I have children, I hope to watch Disney films with them.  However, I will also try to expose them to other parts of the world that aren't so nice, that don't tie up nicely at the end, and hope that they are as curious about these stories as the traditional Disney ones.

Digital Native in a Digital World

I would consider myself a digital native, for the most part.  I use Facebook, Instagram, and Netflix frequently.  I've tried many digital tools, mostly for socializing, music, and writing, then ditched them for a variety of reasons.

I currently am active on Facebook, although I rarely provide updates for my 'friends.'  I typically use Facebook to help organize punk shows, stay in touch with friends not in the area, and feast upon the zany updates of my 'friends'.  Leslie told me I was a Facebook 'lurker', which sounds creepy, but is an accurate assessment of my habits on Facebook.

I also use Instagram.  Many of my college friends are interested in photography and frequently update their Instagrams.  I probably glance at it once a week, or when I take a photo of my dog doing something amusing.

My friends have also started to use Vine, which seems fun.  They are slightly more savvy than me with new social media technology and I've found that I've followed their lead with many of these new-fangled technologies.  For example, they made a video out of clips from my brief cameo on Late Night with Conan O'Brien from when I was in high school.

I frequently utilize Netflix in the classroom.  I introduced the TV show Freaks and Geeks to my students during the last week of school and they seemed to like it!

I've also dabbled in Twitter and Tumblr but am too busy to keep them up-to-date.  I've also had a few blogs where I rant about music but I haven't done that in a couple years.  

Overall, I get grumpy about the younger generation's obsession with the digital world and social media and their lack of interest in the 'real world.'  Iphones are as important to students as anything these days, and a huge symbol of social status, which makes me fear where the world is headed.  I hope this class will help me get over this paranoia.

Ultimately, I'm afraid of this:

Media Literacy 2013 Summer Session

Hi, I'm Corey.  I teach English and credit recovery at North Attleboro High School.  My summer has been short so far - school ended on June 26 - but I have been enjoying the time off and recharging my batteries.  In my free time I read books, watch movies, attend punk rock shows, talk smack, and follow Boston sports.  I hope to write and read a bunch this summer and take a few trips to wherever my instinct takes me.

This is a picture of my dog Zoey: