The topic that interests me is the growth of mobile devices and the use of them. Mobile phone use grew from 5 million subscribers in 1990 to 225 million in 2007 (Varnelis, 2008, pg. 33). Today, many people around the world are plugged in. he mobile phone is one of the growths that stem from devices such as the home telephone. "The use of telephones have encouraged sociability and maintained intimacy at a distance" (Varnelis, 2008, pg. 20). Around the world, people are keeping in touch with one another. Friends and families have stayed connected. Business have grown due to the use of email and text messaging. With communication made easier across the globe, society and economics have grown. With mobile phones, people have created "personal cocoons of private connectivity and conversation so people can stay connected with the people they feel most comfortable with" (Varnelis, 2008, pg.10).
Mobile phones offer us tools that can essentially make our lives easier. They offer a digital memory. People can store information that can be retrieved at a later date. Mobile phones gives people the opportunity to text, tweet or email. They can take pictures and record videos. Aside from family and friends using tools that mobile phones offer, so have law enforcement. They investigate crimes by using the digital memory from mobile phones. Pictures, videos, texts and emails speak to the stories of every day life for many people. The techniques and tools built into a mobile device has provides people around the world with opportunities to communicate with people around the world. Take Japan for instance. A man by the name of Ichiyo Habuchi coined the term tele cocooning. This is a "virtual network space created by young friends and lovers out of constant, steady stream of conversation that keeps them in touch when they are apart" (Varnelis, 2008, pg. 22). This tools helps Japanese people stay in contact with in another. It is similar to text messaging in the United States.
While reading chapter one, Varnelis introduces us to Richard Ling. Ling describes to his readers how the mobile phone brings the world to specific issues. The first is "audio population due to the increasing number of mobile phones being used" (Ling, 2005). As I stated, the mobile phone subscribers have increased from 5 million to 225 million in just 15 years. The other issue Ling is concerned about is, "withdrawal form public sphere" (Ling, 2005). Personal connection, face to face is not present as much in society as is was many years ago. I have seen students text other students that are just feet away from them. I have seen a teacher text another teacher who was only 3 doors down the hall. There is lack of social interactions due to what mobile devices offer society. As Ling states, "if we are in the public sphere...then there is a social component" (Ling, 2005).
Today, Americans connect to the internet daily using mobile devices. "Mobile phones, emails and browsing for information are an increasing part of everyday experience for many people" (Varnelis, 2008, pg. 25). My thoughts and opinions about this topic are mixed. I feel we should use mobile devices to our advantage because of what they offer us. I also feel we need to be sure not to take too much away from our social norms. With the use of mobile phones, students are able to browse the internet to research for school, send emails to friends and classmates, send texts to parents identifying where they are and have some fun playing games. People can connect on mobile devices to different cultures around the world and read about the news that is happening in another country. Society and technology has changed. People are embracing these changes globally. I\n regards to the social norms, I do feel that mobile phones have disconnected people to every day events and people right in front of them. I went into a restaurant last week with my husband and kids. Every table had at least 1 person connected to their mobile phone. Many tables, everyone was connected. Even children as young as 5 or 6. I feel families today have stopped connecting face to face with each other. As I de think that mobile devices gives us the tools to do many things, I equally feel that it is important to unplug once in a while.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Friday, September 16, 2016
"The distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them and use them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9).
This is an intriguing statement. What does this statement mean? How do you define literacy? A person could use the simple dictionary or google it or they could examine the word "literacy" by examining their own experiences. "Traditionally, the word literacy has referred to a set of cognitive skills that individuals acquire to function in society." (Gee, 1996; Street, 1995). While a growth in literacy suggests, literacy is something individuals do in a particular social context, rather than simply something people acquire" (Gee, 1996; Street, 1995).
Literacy has evolved over the past 25 years and growing up it didn't mean the same to me as I feel it means to me today. When I was a student, I was encouraged to read and write much like I encourage my own students. I read magazine articles and books that challenged me to think outside the box. One series I became fond of was the Boxcar Children. I felt by relating these stories to my own life, I was able to "use them to further my (their) own purpose in my (their) own learning live" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9). "Reading and writing provide the foundation of education...(Cassell, 2004). I believe this statement was true then and now. I still read and write like I did as child but through the advancements of education and technology, but reading an writing isn't just about hard cover books, paper and pencils anymore.
My perspective of literacy today has grown. Much of it is due to my education I have received and some of it has to do with society approach to literacy. Take blogging for instance. It is a literacy advancement. Online discussions help us to write more and connect with what other students write. It gives us the opportunity to examine different perspectives that may not have been visible to us as we read our assigned reading. "We are in a period that could be characterized as fruitful turbulence in education as digital technologies create social, culture as well as cognitive affordances" ( Gillen and Barton, 2010). Our culture has become wrapped up in computers, blogs, webpages, Facebook and Instagram so I feel its important to use it to motivate students to excel in their literacy learning. "The uses of educational technology have a two-fold advantage: they can promote the types of literacy traditionally encouraged in learning, as well as the digital fluency needed to prosper in the digital age" (Huffakers, 2005). I have first hand experienced how integrating digital literacy into a classroom can help guide students to read and write. While working with a group of first graders, I noticed one specific student who had a difficult time sitting on the carpet reading a book. He had trouble sitting still and said "reading was boring." He needed a different reading setting. I set him up on the computer in one of the reading webpages suggested by a coworker. Within 10 minutes, this student was reading and having fun doing it. He was engaged and eager to read more then the allotted reading time. The goal wasn't for the student to sit on the carpet and read, it was for him to just read. The web program helped him do this.
My focus for literacy to my students is so much more. My approach to teaching literacy encompasses numerous strategies that create a literacy rich environment. It is important as teachers to incorporate our own knowledge and skill set into a literacy curriculum in order for students to succeed. It is equally important for teachers to "keep up with society" and utilize technologies for our students. They should be exposed to a variety of literacy approaches that help strengthen literacy learning.
References
Cassell, J. (2004). Towards a model of technology and literacy development: story listening systems. Journal of Applied Development Psychology, 25, 75-105
Gee, J.P. (1996). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses. London: Taylor and Francis
Gillen, J. and Barton, D. (Jan. 2010). Digital Literacies. London Knowledge Lab Institute of Education
GREEN Three Dimensions to Literacy
Huffaker, D. (2005). The educated blogger. Using weblogs to promote literacy in the classroom. AACE Journal, 13 (2), 91-98
This is an intriguing statement. What does this statement mean? How do you define literacy? A person could use the simple dictionary or google it or they could examine the word "literacy" by examining their own experiences. "Traditionally, the word literacy has referred to a set of cognitive skills that individuals acquire to function in society." (Gee, 1996; Street, 1995). While a growth in literacy suggests, literacy is something individuals do in a particular social context, rather than simply something people acquire" (Gee, 1996; Street, 1995).
Literacy has evolved over the past 25 years and growing up it didn't mean the same to me as I feel it means to me today. When I was a student, I was encouraged to read and write much like I encourage my own students. I read magazine articles and books that challenged me to think outside the box. One series I became fond of was the Boxcar Children. I felt by relating these stories to my own life, I was able to "use them to further my (their) own purpose in my (their) own learning live" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9). "Reading and writing provide the foundation of education...(Cassell, 2004). I believe this statement was true then and now. I still read and write like I did as child but through the advancements of education and technology, but reading an writing isn't just about hard cover books, paper and pencils anymore.
My perspective of literacy today has grown. Much of it is due to my education I have received and some of it has to do with society approach to literacy. Take blogging for instance. It is a literacy advancement. Online discussions help us to write more and connect with what other students write. It gives us the opportunity to examine different perspectives that may not have been visible to us as we read our assigned reading. "We are in a period that could be characterized as fruitful turbulence in education as digital technologies create social, culture as well as cognitive affordances" ( Gillen and Barton, 2010). Our culture has become wrapped up in computers, blogs, webpages, Facebook and Instagram so I feel its important to use it to motivate students to excel in their literacy learning. "The uses of educational technology have a two-fold advantage: they can promote the types of literacy traditionally encouraged in learning, as well as the digital fluency needed to prosper in the digital age" (Huffakers, 2005). I have first hand experienced how integrating digital literacy into a classroom can help guide students to read and write. While working with a group of first graders, I noticed one specific student who had a difficult time sitting on the carpet reading a book. He had trouble sitting still and said "reading was boring." He needed a different reading setting. I set him up on the computer in one of the reading webpages suggested by a coworker. Within 10 minutes, this student was reading and having fun doing it. He was engaged and eager to read more then the allotted reading time. The goal wasn't for the student to sit on the carpet and read, it was for him to just read. The web program helped him do this.
My focus for literacy to my students is so much more. My approach to teaching literacy encompasses numerous strategies that create a literacy rich environment. It is important as teachers to incorporate our own knowledge and skill set into a literacy curriculum in order for students to succeed. It is equally important for teachers to "keep up with society" and utilize technologies for our students. They should be exposed to a variety of literacy approaches that help strengthen literacy learning.
References
Cassell, J. (2004). Towards a model of technology and literacy development: story listening systems. Journal of Applied Development Psychology, 25, 75-105
Gee, J.P. (1996). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses. London: Taylor and Francis
Gillen, J. and Barton, D. (Jan. 2010). Digital Literacies. London Knowledge Lab Institute of Education
GREEN Three Dimensions to Literacy
Huffaker, D. (2005). The educated blogger. Using weblogs to promote literacy in the classroom. AACE Journal, 13 (2), 91-98
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