6816 Updated TrackStar

Our Fearless Leader--Is he a Help or Hindrance to our Economy?

6809 Week #5 Reading

Many adults view the use of social media as a means of finding friendship and declaring a relationship destructive and possibly dangerous.  Looking back to my parents’ generation, how could we blame them?  They typically met and socialized with their friends in their neighborhoods or school.  People didn’t need to consult the internet to learn more about a person—they just went straight to that person.  On p.120 the author states,  “Further, while we usually think of these intimacy practices as individual and private, teen romance and dating rituals take place, in many ways, publicly and collectively.”  Teens’ relationships are known worldwide and are not as private as earlier generations. 

Growing up at the beginning of this social media dependency age, I never understood why teens and young adults rely so heavily on the use of social media to form relationships.  This quote on p. 83 really stood out to me--“Milner suggests that teens’ obsession with status exists because that have so little real economic or political power.”  One of the only important aspects in a teenager’s life is forming relationships.  This slowly diminishes as one graduates and begins a career.  I find this to be true in my life right now.  I worry less about what people post on Facebook, and more about my job. 

I think there is a small connection between these chapters and learning in schools.  I think the use of blogs in the classroom could help students form and maintain friendships in and out of school.  On the other hand, I think that Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace and not suitable in the classroom.  It is hard for teachers to monitor their internet activity. 

Week 5 Interview Highlights 6809

After I interviewed James, I realized that all of the assumptions I made just observing him was true.  He has an iPod an Kindle, but what really surprised me was that he owns 5 different gaming consoles.  I gathered one positive and one negative aspect from this-- the negative aspect is that he hardly spends anytime helping his family and hardly ever plays outside and the positive aspect is that he has excellent hand-eye coordination that I assume helps him play baseball.  So this makes me think that maybe all the time he spends playing video games can help him in school.  He didn't mention that he used computers that much in school, but if he did I believe he would show a little more interest in his learning and possibly improve his grades. 

TrackStar 6816

Our Fearless Leader

Week 4 Activity 1 6816

What a great way to help students create research projects!  The first two track star sites were two great topics the graduate students could further examine.  I liked how there was background information, that included websites from both standpoints then actual research conducted on this topic.  But the last topic on Time Travel made me think of how I could use this in the classroom, especially in the science classroom.  This allows an easy, organized way for a teacher to provide the information that the student can analyze and conduct research. 

Weekly Reading #4 6809

I believe that a picture can be worth a thousand words.  Most people are visual learners, which would mean that some may need pictures to help them understand what something means.  This quote from the article ,“Many students' comments addressed the emotive power of illustrations and the role illustrations played in helping them understand the emotions of the characters,” further proves the importance of relating pictures to meaning of texts and concepts.  Sometimes just by looking at a picture, we are able to relate it to another idea or memory. (“Visual representations can provide the memory peg needed (Kozma, 1991) to connect with appropriate background knowledge.”)  On the other hand, sometimes a picture is not worth a thousand words.  (“When the text and illustrations do not match, the illustrations can actually interfere with comprehension and reduce learning (Willows, 1978).”)  We have to be very careful when we are using pictures or diagrams to help student learn and comprehend.  The wrong image could make the student learn the wrong thing, which would more than likely be embedded in their brain. 

The idea of learning with pictures is closely related to the assignment of creating an illuminated text.  We had to be careful what images, texts, animations, and music we chose.  One wrong thing could completely change the meaning of what we were trying to say.  But, with the correct images, we were able to give text a deeper visual connection.  I believe the use of creating illuminated texts in schools would be very beneficial.  I think it could help students with comprehension problems and all students by giving them the skills to analyze and understand the text by looking at a picture. 

Week 4 Interview with a Teenager 6809

The person I will be interviewing is my step-nephew James (name has been changed).  James is 12 years old and lives with his mother during the week and with his dad on the weekend.  At the present time, James's dad and step-mom (my sister) are currently living with my parents until their house is completed.  So when I go home on the weekends, I am able to observe James's use of digital media.  I believe that James has a iPod touch and Kindle Fire.  So one of the questions I would ask him is how often he uses the internet on these devices and what does he use the internet for.  I do know that James is sometimes grounded from these devices when he makes a bad grade at school.  I believe that as a student, he is not motivated.  This should be an interesting interview.