Man using wrench

An additional source

Wesch and the Old Revolution

What claim is Wesch making about 21st century learning and kids?  Do you buy it?
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     Wesch claims that the educational revolutionaries of 2012 are pointing at the same ills and calling for the same changes as those of the early twentieth century.  This seems to imply that the nearly one hundred years of  successes enjoyed by American students have happened despite an unsupportive, lackluster, and critically vapid education system.  Sort of like driving to Lil' General to pick up some milk, turning the car off, reaching to put on the e-brake, and realizing that you'd never taken it off.  As to whether I buy what the author is selling, I must exercise my option to come down somewhere other than yes or no.  
     Mr. Wesch sort of makes my middle point with his closing remark, "And so we find ourselves exactly where any great learner would want to be, on a quest, asking question after question after question."  In other words, it is not a matter of establishing a monolithic "best" model, but rather constant refinement through analysis that keeps the ed. system directed toward real learning.  With this I can agree.  Looking for a unified theory of everything educational is a fool's errand, but the debate it creates among the vocation's most passionate voices is not to the detriment of learning.  In my short time doing this work, I have become convinced that those who shout the loudest are seeking the impossible - a solution.  That they don't know that which they seek is mythical does not seem to bother the policymakers who, given the correct set of persuasive and favorable circumstances, can be convinced to enact even the most stifling set of education reforms.      
     Despite being the author of the article, Mr. Wesch is not given to this kind of talking and would prefer to focus on his collaboratively nonlinear explorations into the digital realm.  It would seem that, with some exceptions, he is bypassing the book or written work as the most accessible method of elucidation and offering instead the future work his current students are doing as citations of his pedagogy.  If it helps tap on the glass or inspires others, so be it.  As in the video, the distinction between content and form has been muddled by the very tools used to convey both.  
     One thought that has been with me for some time is about access over ownership.  Having, owning, and storing are vestigial verbs of an earlier time when hard drive size was the engine volume of muscle-car, boat-anchor desktop machines.  These times instead privilege merely the ability to quickly access all the applications, games, and self-specific media users desire.  Not unlike the angst and reticence Dr. Bogad felt regarding her "analog" books, Web 2.0 users are conflicted about what to do with non-digital artifacts in the face of their seeming devaluation.  The new form and how it's accessed dictates the content and its relevance.   

Media Literacy Post 2: This immigrant is restless

It was April of 2011 when I recognized that my socialization regarding technology, left unchecked, would lead me to place of fearful bitterness, surrounded in a kind of anti-Valhalla by the willfully ignorant elder males of my family coldly staring at the inscrutable blinking of their VCR clocks.  Despite their laudable life accomplishments, as a group, these men have always preferred to affect corny bemusement in the face of advancing technology rather than engaging it.  Even though they cut off their nose to spite their face, to them it is a source of some pride to have no working knowledge of anything more complex than a toaster oven.  

Seeing that I had potential to inherit some of these tendencies, I, like Ray, decided to dive in.  Instead of getting the banal new phone for which Verizon told me I was eligible, I upgraded to a web-enabled device - the very latest that was available at the time - during the spring vacation week last year.  That was very out of character for me and I have been thanking myself every day since then for having made the choice I did.  This being the first time I encounter the term Digital Native on anything more than a cursory level, I am hesitant to self-identify as one or not.  I do know that anything I have done or experienced digitally in the last 15 months was born out of the decision I made to no longer be afraid of technology I didn't fully understand.  The results have been great, and embracing technology has made me a better teacher, coach, person, and has brought my family closer.

It's likely that the same stubbornness that causes my uncles to associate technology use with capitulation to a less authentic way of living is what guided me toward untrammeled, headlong immersion.  Given that, I will perhaps still not be the person who incorporates Pinterest into his daily routine.  But I won't be scared to try.  I may not be a Presnskian Digital Native, but I have lived long enough to have experienced sea changes in other venues and feel confident in my ability to make my place in the new order.  Anything to prevent this from happening, right?

    

Media Literacy Post 1: Introduction

Good morning; who's got Olympic fever?!
Since school let out, I have been working to make good on my organization goals.  I started by painting the bathroom and getting estimates on what it would cost to have a tree removed from where I envision the butterfly/bee garden - and future apiary - to be.  I signed up for this class, cashed in some miles to purchase a ticket to LAX for a former roommate's wedding, (there will BE a dancing flash mob and that's that) and took the car into the shop to have some work done before we take it out to Chicago for another friend's wedding.  Over the weekend, I did an emotionally cold and brutal job of cleaning out my classroom (a process aided in no small part by the extreme makeover planned for it by the administration this summer).  I found things in the back of storage spaces I never knew existed (witness exhibit A: the mini Pawsox batting helmet filled with T tokens) and am excited about teaching in an overhauled space next year.  I want to design and  install shelving so I can centralize all the quickly obsolescing books, movies, music and stereo equipment taking up space elsewhere.  I want it to look something like what's below, does anyone have cabinetmaker recommendations? 1

When not in class, I enjoy hammer throwing, cooking, canoeing, projects, re-reading classic books, coaching, and reaching things on high shelves for my parents.  I am looking forward to learning a lot this week.     

SED551: Post 1 - Campano

Because the author is dedicated to the idea that the individual experiences of students are important, valid, and a constructive constituent of capital-e Education, it follows naturally that he places his personal experiences as an educator at the fore.  “I suggest that my professional growth entailed learning to trust that my experiences with my students in the classroom could become a valuable intellectual resource.” (Campano 7).   In addition, as he points out on page 12, his own personal history is inextricable from his academic identity, despite what he was first led to believe.  

As a teacher, Campano learned that the stories his students carried as part of thier identity were just as “epic” as the ones he was ostensibly teaching.  “They were about survival, unimaginable loss, separation from home and community...” (18).  Evidently, he saw echoes of the curriculum in the lives of those he taught, and vice versa.  A not uncommon experience, but to introduce to his possibly guarded students the idea of telling those stories, and have them do it, is a laudable coup.  His phrase is “a pedagogy of listening”, and is appealing.

I like to read, but there is little more that I enjoy than hearing a good story told well.  I see his point, and I see the connection to seeing “texts” more broadly per class discussion last Wednesday.  At my school, the senior English text is a collection of classroom(ish) interactions with material.  Some are books and some are not.  Though it would raise the eyebrows if not the ire of those in administrative positions with administrative priorities based on administratively verifiable numbers, I like taking time when students say things like, “Mr. Curran, you wanna hear a story?”   

University investigates professor who requires students to bring snacks | Inside Higher Ed

University investigates professor who requires students to bring snacks | Inside Higher Ed

Pictionary and cat photos

 This year's crew...

 

Ollie the cat.