KiDDiE ~ KoRnEr

I myself, very rarely play video games.  Not because they are “a waste of time”, simply because I have no time.  However I do not believe they are a waste.  Of course it depends on the game being played.  It amazed me that a six year old played the game “Pikmin”, with such detail.  I think he is extremely talented in being able to play the game successfully. 

Being an elementary education major, I have learned over the years that actually physically doing something allows for a better understanding of the material.  This active learning takes place and is more concrete than reading from a textbook.  In What Video Games Has to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy, Gee refers to basketball in this sense.  “No one would want to treat basketball as “content” apart from the game itself”.  Referring to Pikmin, the article also mentions how the player “must learn to situate different meanings for such elements within different specific situations within the domain”.   Not only does it sound like the video game requirement, but what people run into everyday in real life situations.  

It is very boring when you sit in a classroom and learn content from a book.  It becomes even harder to comprehend when there is no active learning taking place.  The content is important but should not be the only material reinforced when teaching.  School is preparing children for the future and how they will handle life.  We learn by doing. 

Regardless of the material, as long as video games are available, people of all ages are playing them.  Why not play something useful?  Games like Pikmin “encourage exploration, hypothesis testing, risk taking, persistence past failure, and seeing “mistakes” as new opportunities for progress and learning.” It beats playing a video game where the player runs around robbing and shooting people.  If people imitate what they do with these games they will more than likely find themselves in prison.  When we see violence on the streets, school shootings, and unthinkable crimes, the first things we blame are video games and song lyrics. 

For once it is nice to read a positive approach to video games.  It sounds to me learning is taking place, much more than if you gave this 6 year old a textbook describing how to play the game, and all of the advantages and strategies used to complete the tasks.    

I figured that this blog is also a great blog for teachers to look at and was trying to find some news articles relating to education in some way.  Well, I found two things:  this website educationnews.org and a great article on this website relating to the No Child Left Behind Act. 

As I was browsing the Internet I came across this website, educationnews.org, it sounded interesting so I decided to browse through it and liked it so much I wanted to share it.  This website has tons of education stories and articles that have happened within the news, national and international, and are submitted to this website.  It is the one stop that past, present and future teachers can go, to find out what is happening in the world of education.  There is education commentaries and reports, education in the marketplace, education news press releases and even education jobs and resources.

This leads me to my next finding, an article relating to the NCLB; the Secretary of education, Margret Spelling, has decided to offer changes to President Bush’s law, for the better.  She was proposed two major changes, as she quotes in the article, “ I want to require schools to notify parents of their right to transfer students out of failing schools two weeks before the start of each school year, and to explain more fully to parents the opportunities for federally financed tutoring that are available to students attending troubled schools.”  And, “ Propose regulations that would require states to calculate their graduation rates in a uniform way by the 2012-13 school year, using a formula that in 2005 all 50 governors agreed to adopt. In the years since, only a dozen or so states have done so.” 

Neither of these have been strictly enforced and she believes by doing this will increase the possibility of the law being more accurately accomplished.  Final regulations will not be determined until November, however, many people to believe that this law needs an overhaul.

I am a Writing Arts dual major with Elementary Education.  Writing Arts includes all aspects of Language Arts and even creative writing.  My boyfriend handed me a paper that his education teacher gave to his class on the English language.  He gave it to me because he thought I would find it extremely interesting- and I did.  It is a worksheet that gives reasons why the English language is so hard to learn and even teach, especially to students who may have English as a second language.  Some sentences that were included on the worksheet were:

1.  The bandage was wound around the wound.

2.  We must polish the Polish furniture.

3.  The solider decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

4.  Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

5.  When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

6.  The buck does funny things fun the does are present.

7.  After a number of injections my jaw got number.

8.  I had to subject the s8bject to a series of tests.

WOW!  This shows just how confusing the English language is.   Yet, it gets even crazier. 

“There is no egg in eggplant or pine in pineapples.  English muffins were not invented in England and French Fries are not from France.  There may be one goose and two geese, but not one index and two indices.  You can make amends, but not just one amend.  Only in our language do people recite a play and play at a recital.  Or believe an alarm goes off by going on.”-

 These are just a few of the examples that were listed on the worksheet and it is truly something that many English language speakers do not think about.  But actually reading how bizarre our language is, it is amazing how many people want to learn it.  However, after reading this it has made me realize how much trouble an ESL student has comprehending and learning this language.  We really do need to spend time with these students, if not they may never complete understand.  (I do not know if I even understand now!)

After reading the article, “How Mark Zuckerberg turned Facebook into the Webs Hottest Platform”, I found one paragraph extremely interesting. 

“Zuckerberg designed Facebook to re-create online what he calls the “social graph”- the web of people’s real- world relationships.  That was different than most social networks.  Sites like MySpace particularly encourage users to create new identities and meet and link to people they barely knew.  Zuckerberg didn’t care about using the Internet to make new friends.  “People have their friends, acquaintances, and business connections,” he explains. “So rather than building new connections, what we are doing is just mapping them out.”

Many adults dislike and discourage their child to join sites like these because they are afraid of what their children will put up and what kind of identity they will try to create.  We have heard all the gossip about the sites and read all the heading within the news of children committing suicide because what people are saying about them or how much they can reveal and predators can find them.  But after reading this article, I have a better understanding that Facebook is completely different from the other social networks and believe that this article needs more publicity.  This way parents and adults will see that there are safe networks on the Internet and may be less worried when their child or teen sits down at the computer.

Mark Zuckerberg has had good intentions for this network and has put much thought into the safety efforts that they are trying to accomplish.  Instead of all the negatives that are in the news, we should also hear about the positives that companies are trying to create, to make a safe but fun network for all ages: child, teen, and adult. 

Okay so I know everyone who text-messages, receives and probably send or ignore chain texts.  I get them all the time and they are so annoying, but I admit, depending on what they say determines whether or not I re-send them.  I have a 12 year old sister and she sends them to me ALL THE TIME!  I hate it because most of them are corny and I end up sending it back to her only so she thinks I am playing along.  Well on Monday night, (by the way this is a true story), she sends me one that reads:

Homie, best friend, baby, boo I luv u. U have 20 minutes 2 tell ten ppl you luv(even me) or have da worst day 2mrw.

If you looked at this you would think it was corny right?  Would you re-send it?  Well I didn’t and of course, my luck, I HAD THE WORST DAY on Tuesday!  On my way to school that morning I ran over something five minutes away from Rowan.  I knew I hit it hard and figured I would get a flat tire but I continued to drive to school.  I went to class and returned to my car around 3pm.  To my surprise, not only did I have one flat tire, I had two!  The whole right side of my car was practically touching the ground my tires were so flat.  So yea, I had a bad day!  Not only did I miss the rest of my classes for the day, I lost out on the valuable time I spend at school getting work done. I advice everyone to send out a text to everyone on their contact list advising them to never send a chain text to you!  It may have been a coincidence but I’m not taking my chances anymore! 

With Face book and MySpace dominating our internet society, it is hard for anybody with an account of either of the two social-networking sites to say their lives are private.  We proudly put up pictures, update our status, post our yearly-income (which most people fabricate to look better), and along with anything else we choose to post that represents us.  People think when they set their profiles to private; it is only viewable to their friends. 

With this issue arising in class I cannot help but wonder how my MySpace page or my current occupation will affect my future.  I have been working for Hooters for the past five and a half years, and I am skeptical to putting my place of current occupation on resumes.  Over the years, I have received and experienced mixed opinions about my job.  Some see it as just another restaurant, and others see it as some provocative, sexual place that only horny men eat at.  So why would I work at a place that may justify whether or not I get a good teaching job?  Because it is just another restaurant where normal people come and eat.  When I say normal I mean men, women, couples, families, you know all the same people that go to any other restaurant.   I don’t work with a bunch of oblivious, blonde haired, big chest bimbos.  Most of us are college students working a normal food serving job.  The only requirements are to do our job while parading around in short orange shorts and a tank top. 

However, the thing I hate most about my job is the picture taking.  People constantly ask us to take pictures with them.  Because Hooters is famously known, people of all ages, male and female, want to take pictures with us.  I know it is my choice to take the pictures, but I do not deny because that will make me look like a b****.  I try to avoid them whenever possible, but I cannot imagine how many pictures people have of me over these past five years, let alone what they do with these photos.  It scares me to death.  Anyone at anytime can post a picture of me online and I may never know it. 

 And what do I do when I do get a job and my student’s parents find out I was a “Hooter Girl”?  I feel like my job puts a damper on my future, but at the same time, I don’t think any other place of employment could have catered to all of my needs.  Because I have been there for so long I am top sonority, I work whenever I want, and they cater to my school schedule, not to mention they have put me through college. Because the money is quick cash I am able to put myself through school without a million loans. What else could I ask for? 

The fact of the matter is, my life is far from private.  In Naked in the ‘Nonopticon’, it states how “We must be allowed to be agents in the construction of our reputations”.  For some reason I do not feel I have that choose.  I mean, I know who I am, but are others going to get the wrong idea?

I would love to hear any feedback anyone could give me, regardless of what your opinion may be, positive or negative. 

Napster matters because it spotlighted or brought to the forum the issues of copyright, intellectually property and ownership rights and guidelines. I think people should review the copyright law in the light of the principles based on “Fair Use”. This allows the writer, readers and publishers a fair deal. The author gets compensated for his/her contribution by the law protecting their words, and at the same time allowing others to freely build upon them to create. This creative and inventive blood line can be nourished and continue to feed society. It is only through this shared interaction of ideas that we grow and progress.

The electronic and digital age of technology is here and we need to share, and pool our resources for growth. If we do not share we will become stagnate. It is only through others’ ideas are we able to expand. If you stop and think for a moment, given the present world we live in, where we would be if we never shared or expounded on the idea of the scribes? We would still be writing and recording ideas with a Quill pen and parchment. There would have never been the typewriter, or printing press, computer technology and the like. Just imagine if someone did not expound on the idea of the radio, or the silent movies of the 20’s.? We would have sound but no visuals and vise versa. None of these technologies stand alone. There conception is not original; they all play off of each other. However this is what makes them great. It is this pool of innovative ideas, this eclectic mix of ideas, which configured to create their original contribution to the world. We need to reflect on the idea of intertextuality in writing. Thomas Jefferson produced the Declaration of Independence. His written words are the foundation of our country, and all that we stand for as a nation. Yet it is said that Jefferson borrowed traces of others to create this incredible document.

As a future educator, I believe we should teach our children the importance of sharing ideas and thoughts. I agree with De Voss and Porter’s pedagogical approach. We need not to focus only on the “punitive approach to plagiarism” in writing but focus a positive approach. Students do need to be taught that plagiarism is wrong. However, they also need to be encouraged of the positive benefits that come from collaborating with others through writing and allocating ideas on the Internet.

We need to move away from the left side of column A and B on control and constraint. This is important because we are moving further away from the ethics tied to print. We need to move closer to the right side of columns A and B. This is the direction that we are traveling down; the intended destination is digital technology with Fair Use at the helm.

I would like to share this article I found in “The New York Times” technology blog site entitled “Scott Adams Hands ‘Dilbert’ Pen to Fans” written by Brad Stone New York Times Blog. It is a great example of computer technology as a platform for social discourse in writing. It discusses how “Dilbert” comic strip fans or just comic strip lovers can share in creating a punch line for Scott Adams strip. I think it sounds like fun, especially for a budding cartoonist. It offers anyone a chance to write an original strip independently or collaboratively. It also gives fans a chance to exchange a back and forth dialogue with the author Scott Adams. A comedic banter of words is exchanged on changes made in the work. For people who really enjoy competition, it will be a contest to prove who can create the best punch line.

After reading the article, Naked in the Nonopticon, I got a chill down my back.  I do realize how much we are being watched, but when I actually thinkabout it, it is definitely scary.  However, we totally contradict ourselves everyday, which seems funny, even though it is a very serious matter.  As the article states, we hate for our privacy to be revealed, but we reveal it every day when we use our credit/debit cards, shop on line, or even use a “MetroCard”. But I have to agree it is because the word ”privacy” as too many definitions. 

I work in a pharmacy and state law requires any medication that contains Sudafed in it to be left behind the counter and paid for with ID.  Many people will yell at us because that is their private information and we have no right asking for it, but then they will pay with a debit card, which is now being tracked by government agencies.  We will put up pictures of our children on line, but when they repeat our home address we reprimand them.  All of this deals with how individuals understand the idea of privacy. 

I believe that we overreact on the small concepts because many people to do not realize how sophicated our governments and states have become with surveillance and tracking of our everymove.  But this is because what they are doing is a private matter.  

Filesharing is one of the many advantages/disadvantages of digital technology and writing. Napster is blamed for the development of filesharing and rightly so. According to D`anielle Nicole DeVoss and James E. Porter, “The Napster crisis represents a profound cultural shift.” Society today takes what it can get for free whether it is moral or not. This does not make it right and it does not mean that nothing should be done about it.

This cultural shift has effected everyone, including teachers. DeVoss and Porter state, “Writing is no longer just alphabetic text—writing is also audio and video. And writing is also hypertext and the delivery of multimedia content via the Internet and the Web. And writing is chunks of tagged text and data floating within databases and underneath the Internet in P2P spaces.” As a future teacher, I feel that filesharing is a new development in writing. I could try to stop or discourage my students from engaging in the new writing, but that would be like trying to stop time. Students today are different from students two years ago. Technology is a quick invention and teachers (along with society) need to keep up. My philosophy (as a future teacher) is to encourage learning and if my students are able to learn writing best through filesharing than that is one of the ways of writing that I will teach. This does not mean that I will not teach my students old ways of writing, but I will not stop new developments.

Society is web based. Any aspiring artists, authors, or anyone that has work in which he or she does not want taken without a price is solely responsible to protect his or her work. This is almost impossible in today’s society because there is always going to be that one individual like Shawn Fanning. This is why I agree with DeVoss and Porter that “teachers should revise plagiarism policies to recognize the value of filesharing and to acknowledge Fair Use as an ethic for digital composition.”