Journal Entry 6 - Free Rice For...Those in Need

The game I chose for this assignment is Free Rice. This game is funded by the United Nations World Food Programme, and allows individuals to answer questions in various school subjects. In addition to answering questions and earning points, for each correct answer the player gets 10 grains of rice are donated to children in need of food across the world. Students are able to answer questions covering subjects such as SAT prep, Chemistry, English and Math. The game is very easy to play, as it is all in a multiple choice format, requiring the player to just click on their correct answer.

If I'm not careful, this game will steal hours out of my day, but I love playing it. It is so addictive to play, getting questions correct and seeing how many levels I can accomplish and bowls of rice I've given away. Playing Free Rice gives me the opportunity to learn new things (I really have to brush up on knowing quotations and Chemistry elements) and most of all, help others. I enjoy every opportunity I get to help others, so this game is really enjoyable to me. Free Rice also provides me with an interesting way to present humanitarianism to teenagers.

Journal Entry 5 - Teenage Interview

For this assignment, I interviewed two of my female cousins. They are sisters and in the 12th grade at different schools. While they share friends from middle school, which they attended together, they have different friends in high school. Below is a brief overview of our little interview.

Me: Can you bring your cell phone to school?
R: It can come in the building, but that's it. We can't have them out during the school day.
J: I can bring my phone to school and use it in classes. We can use it for research and stuff like that.
R: Research? They don't even allow us that.
Me: Ok, cool. next question...

Me: About how many hours a day do you use your phone then? (R immediately starts calculating out loud.)
R: Since I can't use it in school during the day, I saw like 5 hrs weekdays. You know before school, on the way there, then when I come home in the evening.
J: I use mine like 10 hrs a day, since I can use it in school.
Me: What about weekends? (They both start laughing and shaking their heads.)
J: It's horrible.
R: Oh my goodness, I can't even say.
Me: So I'm guessing you don't get off of them of weekends? They both nod their heads while laughing.
Me: Ok, that's cool. What are you using it for? What are doing on it, like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram?
J: Youtube
R: Music

Me: Aight. What about if you have an assignment to do? Does the phone distract you?
They both said yes, then gave their explanations.
R: It can be very distracting. If there's something that I really, really have to get done, then I just turn it off.
J: I may have to put it under my pillow or something, because I listen to music and then I start singing instead of writing.

Me: Ok, so I know I send a lot of texts. Right now, since they new billing period started on Oct. 24, I have already sent 4,383 texts. What does your texting look like? They both laugh at my number, as they answer.
J: If that's your number, ours must be crazy.
R: We have to be somewhere about $6,000-$8,000 then. Because we use group texts and all that.
J: Yeah, if you turn away from your phone, you'll come back and see 500 messages from a group chat.
Me: Why text so much? What about talking to people on the phone?
R: Nah. Certain people don't need to hold a conversation with me on the phone. They only deserve a text.
J: I prefer texting because of the emojis,
Me: Did you hear what the Oxford word of the year is?
R: What is it?
J: The laughing emoji with tears coming down its face. I use that one all the time.
Me: Yeah, so do I. (As we all start laughing.)

Me: Ok, almost done. What about phones and little kids? Do you think this technology is too much for them?
R: Definitely. My child wouldn't have a phone until they are like 13.
J: 13? I would only give them one if they have to walk home or something? If they're with me, they aren't getting anything.
Me: But what about C and W (two of our younger cousins)? They have ipads and stuff.
R: Yeah, and when they are on it, no one exists. When W and T (the girls' brother) are on the ipad, you can walk in the room and they don't even know. It's crazy, they don't need it.
J: Not happening. It's taking over their minds.

The conversation went on for a bit longer, as we talked about sexting and gamers. They both agreed that sexting is "risky" and "stupid," as it now gives others the chance to see your body and share the image. I told them about a conversation in my classes about sexting, where I told my students if it was that important for them to show their bodies to someone else, they should do it in person. They both agreed, saying they tell people the same thing. When I asked them about gaming, they said they barely play games on their phones. However, they do know some hard core gamers, and they are "all into it. Sometimes you don't even know what they are talking about. It's like another language." Since they don't play games, it was a bit difficult for me to get anything more from them on that topic.

It was interesting to interview my cousins, as I got to really see how they view technology. When asked if technology is helpful, J said something that I enjoyed. She said "maybe technology should be rolled back a bit. Not to the point where we no longer have cell phones, but just enough, so that we go back to dealing with people and not machines." Even though J and R say they spend a lot of time on their phones, when there is a family event, they are there and engaged. They'll watch tv with us on a Saturday night and sit and talk during holiday dinners. They haven't completely shut off family, like some other teenagers have. Which I think has to do with how children are raised, and the interactions they have with their parents. If the adults are stuck in their devices, so will the children. But if adults hold conversations and engage with others, the children will do the same.

I also learned or had to admit that I spend A LOT of time texting, mostly because of its convenience. However, I do enjoy face-to-face conversations whenever they are happening. I love even more, to hear my phone ring and it be someone calling to check in on me. Technology has done a lot to improve the lives of adults and children, but we have to make sure it doesn't replace us.

Journal Entry 4 - Final Project Topic

I've been tossing this idea around in my head, but I'm still unable to turn it into something concrete. Maybe someone here will be able to help me. I would like to look at student involvement in community work and it's impact on the whole student. How does participating in a food pantry or community garden, help this student become a better person in the classroom and beyond? Or does it. Can teachers use community involvement to better in engage with students in the classroom? I'm a firm supporter of community service and giving back to the community. I'm interested to see how this affects students. As I played around with this idea, these are some of the articles that I came across.

Annotated Bibliography

Sims, C. (2010). "Service-Learning mentoring: for high school transition and student

 leadership." Techniques. 85(4), 24+. Retrieved from Gale Student Resources in Context. Web.  

This article looks at service-learning as a method of freshman retention, particularly mentoring. Through this program school leadership hopes to find a way to begin engaging students in school, from the 9th grade, and encourage them to complete their high school career. The article specified in this study takes place in Illinois, but is expected to be transferable across the United States. This article is helpful is knowing why schools choose to to engage in service-learning.

Kackar-Cam, H., & Schmidt, J.A. (2014). Community-based service-learning as a

 context for youth autonomy, competence, and relatedness. High School Journal, 98(1), 83+. Retrieved from Gale Student Resources in Context. Web.

This article looks at the difference between students who participate in community service for pleasure and those who do it as a requirement. Although community service may be entered in for different reasons, essentially students on both sides receive the same outcome - increased grades, social and political awareness and consideration towards people of varying backgrounds. This article will help me in determining the different reasons students do community service and their accomplishments.

Astin, A. W., Vogelgesang, L. J., Ikeda, E. K., & Yee, J. A. (2000). How Service

 Learning Affects Students. Higher Education, paper 144. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/slcehighered/144

This article was based on a case student of college students who did and did not participate in service learning, during their time in a post-secondary institution. Researchers looked at 11 different measures including academic progress, self-efficacy and career plans. Comparisons were drawn between students who participated in activities and those who did not participate. Though similar to the prior article listed, this one looks at college students, allowing me to draw on comparisons and differences between the two groups, while looking at the same topic. 

Morgan, W. and Streb, M. (2001), Building Citizenship: How Student Voice in

 Service-Learning Develops Civic Values. Social Science Quarterly, 82: 154–169. doi: 10.1111/0038-4941.00014

This article looks specifically at student service-learning and their voice in the process. Students who participate in projects and have an active voice, are more likely to be engaged in the politics when they get older. With there being a decline in political engagement, service-learning is one way to ensure the younger generation participates when they get older. This article will help me see that service-learning builds and supports better citizens.

Abes, E. S., Jackson, G., & Jones, S. R., (2002). Factors that motivate and deter

faculty use of Service-Learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service, p. 5-17. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.3239521.0009.101

This article looks at teacher motivation to use community projects and service-learning. Although the survey in this article doesn't answer all the questions, it does provide basic information. This article will assist my research, by providing me with reasons at to why teachers use service-learning and how their use benefits students and enhance their classes.

Journal Entry 3 - Classrooms, Multimodal Pedagogies and Remixing

This week I read about multimodal pedagogies and remixing, which I found to be quite interesting. According to Vasudevan, Dejaynes, and Schimier (2013) by using multimodal play "educators are better able to make pedagogical connections with adolescents' evolving literacies" (p.24). One of the examples given is from Dejaynes classroom, where she allows her students to blog and use various technological devices in the classroom (p.28). She even has a couple laptops that are not locked and filtered by the DOE, for her students to use. Allowing them "to access Youtube and other social netowrking sites"  (p.28).  As a fellow NYC educator, I know the frustration that sometimes ensue from not being able to access Youtube or other sites for a particular lesson. I will now consider working more closely with the school's tech guy, to have him give me access when needed, as I don't think the use of permanently "open" laptops is possible. Blogging is also very useful in class settings (as demonstrated from its use in this class) and helps students use a digital forum to write and be creative. I think the student, A'idah describes it best when she says, "...I feel like my hands can't keep up with my thoughts when I write on paper" (p.30). I really connected with this statement, as I sometimes suffer from the same frustration in regards to writing. And if I can feel this way as an adult, who did not grow up with all these technological gadgets, how much more must it affect my students.

Dejaynes use of computers, cameras, blogging and social media in the classroom, truly give the students options in expressing themselves. By allowing the students to use unlocked computers and cellphones in the classroom, this form of education lends to Ted Sizer's educational theory of "student as learner and teacher as coach." Moving away from the traditional roles of transcriber and dictator. An example of the learner-coach relationship is evident in how Dejaynes works with A'idah. She doesn't just leave the A'idah on her own when she asks to blog, instead she sets goals to check her work, "because sometimes she only pretends to blog as she sifts through Facebook pages and music videos instead" (p.29). There is a certain amount of trust that is rendered to the student, however Dejaynes checks in on her students, so they don't feel like they are on their own.

While I find the use of technology to be important, and after reading these chapters wanting to implement more technology into my lessons, I still find some of Dejaynes practices to be a bit controversial. Particularly the use of cellphones in the classroom by students. Just like Dajaynes, there are teachers in my school who believe cellphones and all other devices should be used in the classroom. While I can see the purpose of cellphones in the classroom, I think with the advancement of cellphone technology, it can prove to be more of a hindrance than a useful tool. When this piece was written, cellphones were not as popular and advanced as they as today, which is evident from the devices that she mentioned ("Sidekicks, iTouches, Blackberries..."(p.29)). With cellphones that have cameras clear enough to capture a picture across a room and post to various social media sites within seconds, I find it more difficult to monitor and stop students from doing what they want to. Even with the use of laptops that are locked, students find ways to get into "trouble." Of course, this doesn't apply to all students, but it is a reality. Just this summer I had a situation where students decided to record themselves using profane language and hand gestures, when they should have been working on an assignment. Not to mention those who use their cell phones to post indecent pictures of classmates or fights that take place during school hours. While these may be rare occurrences, they still happen and are the reason why certain devices, I believe, should not be used in the classroom.

Overall, I think the use of multimodal pedagogies is important, especially in urban settings where there are higher accounts of students with IEPs and behavioral modification plans. By integrating non-traditional methods into lessons, more students may become engaged and benefit from what is being taught.

Reference

Vasudevan, L., Dejaynes, T., & Schmier, S. (2013). Mutlimodal Pedagogies: Playing, Teaching and Learning with Adolescents' Digital Literacies. In Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (Eds.) A New Literacies Reader. (pp. 23-37). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Journal Entry 2 - R U Reading?

Literacy is simply defined by Merriam-Webster as, "the ability to read and write;" "knowledge that relates to a specified subject." Therefore a person who is able to read the back of the cereal box, is considered literate. However, one who reads "To Kill a Mockingbird," and is accurately able to write about race issues, as it is described in the book, would be considered more literate than the individual who can only read a cereal box. This same comparison can be drawn between a teenager, who chooses to only engage in online reading through blog posts and online fiction sites, and a youngster who in addition to reading Forbes online, also picks up hardcopies of the Wall Street Journal and  "7 Habits of Highly Effective People." While both sets of teenagers are reading, one may be getting a better part of the deal, by reading physical literature. Although times are changing and online reading is becoming more acceptable, there is still a great belief in the reading of novels and physical books. There are certain skills that are honed when one reads traditional books. Skills that will help them in the long run. Which is supported in Rich's article, wheere Mr. Gioia of the NEA is quoted as saying, " I would believe people who tell me that the Internet develops reading if I did not see such a universal decline in reading ability and reading comprehension on virtually all tests."

Although the face of literacy is changing, that doesn't mean the old must be thrown out. While online reading of blog posts and internet stories are increasing, there is still a need to know the traditional stories, in actual books. As students take standardized tests and the Regents exams, they are being asked to compare and draw reference from classic novels and traditional texts. Although there is no harm in referencing an online story, the meat of the paper is expected to come from something traditional. If our children aren't being led or encouraged to read "Lord of the Flies" and "Catcher in the Rye" in book form, in addition to their online mystery novels, how can we say we are helping them progress. New literacy has helped to open up language and reading to individuals who may have run from traditional literacy in the past. It is getting children and adults alike, to partake in an activity that at one point may have been deemed "nerdy." It is allowing new ideas to emerge in the classroom and new ways of teaching and learning to take place. While we may embrace these technological advancements, let us not forget what has withstood the test of time. 

Journal Entry 1 - New Literacies as a Social Practice - (9/18)

The fact that I am taking classes online, lends to the idea that I am "moving with the times" and open to the use of technology in formerly unheard of situations. The ability to email my advisor and have full conversations with classmates, without ever knowing what their voice sounds like, is a phenomenon and convenience wrapped up in one. My schoolbooks were purchased through an app and videos for class are watched through "Youtube." The face of literacy has evolved tremendously, with new literacies having some people embrace the change and others grappling to move forward. "New literacies, in contrast with traditional literacies, are more participatory. They are more collaborative in allowing for the open sharing and creation of information on sites like wikis and blogs" (Wilbur, 2010, p.2). They also allow large groups to come together, when face-to-face contact in not possible.

In the school where I work, new literacies are second-nature. I take attendance, post assignments and grades through an online system. Students turn in assignments digitally, and can see my feedback while at home, over the weekend. Other teachers take advantage of blog usage, in order to encourage conversations while outside of the classroom. Although the use of technology has helped to improve many areas of the literary educational experience, the overuse by some students has stunted their ability to think, write and function outside of a digitized world or medium. Gillen and Barton mention the multimodality of text (messaging), as images are intermingling with words (2010, p.6). Texting has also "given rise to an entire genre of writing and set of phrases and abbreviations (Wilbur, 2010, p. 2), outside of the standard English language. Unaware, or unable to distinguish between cyberspace and reality, the abbreviations, emoticons and lingo used by students in their digital conversations, start to appear in their educational writings. Things such as "neways" (anyways), a lowercase "i" when being used as a noun, and idk (I don't know) are seen on assignments that are turned in and correspondence with faculty. 

While literacy, both traditional and new, has its perks and downfalls with each group of individuals, I believe the advancement of technology will only prove beneficial as time progresses. Even though my students face their own setbacks with using new literacies, their knowledge of technology is great. As I continue to increase my knowledge in technology, as an educato,r I will do my best to help them use new literacies more accurately and effectively.