The articles that we read for this week have made me feel, frankly, a bit silly for being so stubborn about twitter and why it's stupid and the downfall of our society. Such pointless hand-wringing and pearl-clutching! I'm on FB and even though there are a lot of things about FB that drive me bonkers (um, a LOT of things), I'm always defending it to my mom, who is not on FB and is utterly perplexed by it. My mind is opening to the possible benefits of other forms of technology (in particular Twitter, the focus of this week's readings) to us as future educators.
One thing I found really resonant was when I think it was Kristen (or both Kristen and Jeff?) suggested that rather than handicap today's children and make them unable to speak in full-sentences or look other human's in the eye, that new technology like cell phones and FB and Twitter can actually enhance their ability to communicate by adding another approach to their arsenal of ways to communicate. And, really, why should the two be mutually-exclusive? It reminds me of a book that I read by Robert Lane Greene called "You Are What You Speak" in which he defends the perennial accusation that too much slang/too many "dialects" (a loaded word in linguistics) is infiltrating our language and that Kids Today aren't going to be able to speak proper English! In fact, he asserts, they can, they always have been able to, and they are perfectly capable of code-switching depending on the circumstances. Why can't the same be true of technology?
(Here is a link to an article that talks about Greene's book; granted it is only very peripherally related to the topic of this class and even of this blog post, but it is interesting!)
The Ferguson article in particular made me excited to think about Twitter as a tool for connecting with other teachers. I thought of it specifically in the context of being one possible answer to the problem of teachers not sharing with each other (being disincentivized to do so) in environments where merit pay reigns and job security is weak. Communities of educators built over Twitter could be one way of keeping teachers out of isolation, in collaborative environments without the direct worry of "helping the competition."
The "Tweacher" article helped me begin to think about creative ways to approach Twitter in the classroom. Some of the ideas the author shared really struck me because they seemed the exact opposite of what many of us fear when we think about technology in education. That is, rather than isolating students, they could be ways of connecting students and building on ideas (I'm thinking of the use of hashtags like #hamlet to create references for students to later refer to, creating an archive of discussions on Twitter so students can see how they have built and evolved ideas over the course of a semester, and the "Hearts, Keys and Puppetry" project started by Neil Gaiman (*heart*) that allows students to connect with complete strangers to create a living story)...
My final thought it slightly unrelated, but it involves the warnings in the third article to "Tweet safely"...this reminds me that technology has the potential to introduce another layer of responsibility to the teacher...teaching their students how to protect themselves and their privacy, and possibly how to conduct themselves in the online world. What are the implications of that?
Diane~ Your thoughts on the "diminishing" use of English language piqued my interest. Your notions of the EVOLUTION of communication (technology and the emerging English tech-dialects it inspires) does not necessarily diminish the formal use of the English language. "Code switching" could be analogous to learning a foreign language. For example, just as you speak Chinese and Spanish, your linguistic acquisitions "switch" from one language to another, in different contexts. It would follow that the emerging generations of learners have the capacity to learn both formal English and tech-sub dialects, as well as the ability to use each "language" in its appropriate contexts.
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear you speak Chinese! Do you ever confuse it with Spanish? Just a curiosity...
~Mindy
Mindy, thank you for your thoughtful comment--I think your analogy is really good (and fitting for us!) Interestingly, there are still people who discourage heritage speakers of a language not to use that language at home and only to speak English with their children otherwise, they warn, their kids will never learn English properly. Of course the research says the opposite, that bilingual children, although they start out a bit slower than their monolingual peers, eventually outperform them in reading, writing and other cognitive measures! I realize that's all a bit off-topic but it's easy to get me talking about this stuff!
ReplyDeleteThat's funny: I wanted to listen to you speaking French! I had a linguistics teacher who said that if you really want to get good at a foreign language you almost have to be a good actor (which is, hey, also a fitting analogy for teaching, from some of what we've been reading!) Anyway, I feel like when I hear people speak a foreign language they kind of become this other person.
And, yes! I *constantly* confuse Spanish with Chinese...which is to say that when I try to speak Chinese now, I mix it up with Spanish--both syntactically and with vocabulary--because my Spanish is now stronger than my Chinese. I always joke that there is only one tiny part of my brain that is devoted to learning foreign languages and that it isn't very well organized!
Superb questions you're asking, Diane. One thing we didn't discuss with Twitter is private accounts and blocking people. Those would be good strategies to think about if you're working with kids. Also - remember, too, that Twitter is for kids 13 and older.
ReplyDeleteAs for Neil Gaiman, have you seen him read the entire Graveyard Book aloud?
http://mousecircus.com/videotour.aspxm
Kristen...I just saw your comment--thank you! I have *not* seen this but have officially added it to my list of Things to Do When I'm Not Swamped with MAC-related Work!!!
ReplyDeleteGood points about Twitter, I will definitely keep those things in mind.