"We are rapidly morphing from a page-based society to a screen-based society." (Kress)
I found this quote to be really interesting. As teachers should we begin to focus more on using technology in the classroom when it come to writing? I believe technology is starting to become such a large part of our society that as teachers we should use it to our advantage. But when do you draw the line? Should we begin to throw out spelling within literacy units, because you know you can just use spell check on the computer. Should we begin teaching more typing classes instead of handwriting techniques, because when typing on the computer handwriting techniques won't really help. Where is the line where technology should start to take the backseat?
"In class, we had talked about and students had practiced everything from desktop video editing to blogging to writing texts embedded with hyperlinks."
I found this quote really relate-able because we have been working on these type of lessons in my current literacy course at MU. At first I didn't understand why we were creating a blog and doing box-logic videos, but now I truly appreciate it. Our world is evolving each and everyday to a technology based world that us as teachers need to begin learning all of these new techniques. Being able to relate with students in the classroom helps create relationships between the teacher and the students.
You raise good questions here, where do we draw the line between traditional and new literacies? And must we draw a line? I still think handwriting needs to be taught -- maybe not so much cursive, although cursive handwriting does allow you to take notes quicker than printing ... but if you're taking notes on keyboard, you wouldn't need to know cursive so much ... unless you wanted to read someone's cursive handwriting ...
ReplyDeleteI think there's room for it all, with computer technology simply being another choice of genre available to create and share our messages.
Your comments make me reflect on why my emphasis in blogs and movies this semester ... I think we all have experiences with writing fiction stories and research papers, and we can draw on that experience when necessary to teach our students. But how many in the class have had experience with publishing on blogs and composing with images and music into a movie format. I guess I wanted you to also have that bit of experience to also take with you into your future classrooms.
Thanks for sharing. Could you give the cite for this Kress article?