Homework
Uncategorized October 22nd, 2007I sit down in my chair after a run to start writing. I flip open my laptop, turn on the television (HBO On Demand, Lord of War, to be specific), start searching, and my cell phone starts ringing. I answer it, talk for ten minutes, sit back down, and finally get to work. Wait, first I’d better check my email to see if my uncle wrote me back. Alright now I’m ready to get going. An article pops up on my Google Reader account, “Protecting The Hyper-Connected Kids.” I start reading.
Picture this: Fifteen-year-old Lucy comes home from school and sits down on the couch with her laptop to do her homework. She turns on her beloved iPod, flicks on the TV and opens her Web browser to check her e-mail. Sure enough, her mom has just emailed from work and is asking if she got home OK and will she check the landline for any messages. Just as she’s getting up to do that, her cell phone rings and the distinctive sounds coming from her laptop alert her to a slew of instant messages.”
I did not make this up. It’s a little scary. I don’t know what to be more concerned about; the fact that I am part of this new-age tech world that I continue to write about, or that I do the exact same things that a fifteen-year-old girl does. What I do know is, the activities that the tech world entails will become apart of life for the kids upcoming. Downloading the new pod cast will be like brushing your teeth, laptops will be like putting your pants on, and TiVoing your favorite show will be like eating.
Alright to the point. I’m starting to sound like a broken record with the technology stuff, so I tried to take a new angle at this article. Hopefully I didn’t drag on too long. The point of the article that I found on Google was the idea that technology, Facebook and Myspace included, are beginning to fill the daily schedules in student’s lives. The author goes on to talk about the time issue of school work and all of this other stuff; will there be enough time to get that English or Geography assignment done when the students are replying to all of their messages that come from, well, where don’t they come from? I can testify from personal experience that school work is very hard to get done, and done well when you are on the internet, the phone, and the t.v. all at the same time. What is that again, televisaphonernetting? Something like that.
I cannot get to the point; my ability to ramble is getting the best of me. A new paragraph was all I needed. The question that needs to be answered after listening to all of this mumbo jumbo is what can teachers do for students to help them get their work done at home with all of these distractions. This is where I introduce the idea of an open forum. We are going to be teachers, we are going to be dealing with Facebook and Myspace, so we better have some ideas to use to introduce to students. And we can’t just say, “um, I’ll have the kids write to each other and have info online and network and stuff like that.” That doesn’t work; we should be more specific at this time in our education. How about doing something along the lines of a book report, or a movie report, something done in class. Separate the kids into groups. Give them a topic, and make them choose their stance on that topic. Allow them to argue about it on a discussion board online. That way when they fire up the Mac or the Dell, they can open one more tab and get this done as well. Or maybe you could allow for students to post a personal essay online, something with the same philosophy as the “This I Believe Essay,” and really open up. maybe to allow for maximum potential you could allow the students to leave their name off of the paper, and hand in a hard copy to you with your name. comments would then be required, which, is starting to sound pretty familiar all of as sudden.
I am starting to develop a pretty obvious theme, and that is social networking is so prevalent that educators are better off adapting to it rather than separating it from their classroom work.
Source: Google News
Author: Stephen Balkam
Title: Protecting the Hyper-Connected Kids
Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-balkam/protecting-the-hyperconn_b_68649.html
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:38 am
I love this piece. It is really well written and it is interesting. I can relate most to your piece because my blog topic is along the lines of embracing technology to influence and change secondary writing instruction. I’m not sure if you’ve ever visited my page, but a few weeks ago I wrote a post about a new social network called MASH that Yahoo is trying to launch. In this article, I talk about the ways in which MASH could be better for educational instruction that Facebook and the ways in which we could use it to engage students. My point is, I do believe in doing whatever it takes to get students to lear. If that means using their love for technology, then by all means, try it. In my opinion, students appreciate and respect you and the work more when they have a teacher that attempts to step into their world. It shows our dedication and our goal for their success. I love the fact that you are open to ideas that may seem ludicrous to some for the sake of your students. Technlogy is the way to their hearts, by all means, use it.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:41 am
P.S. I tried to hyperlink my site to you but it didn’t worki out. Sorry
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:03 pm
This post just raised a lot of questions for me. How can teachers make their students do work once they (the students) go home? It seems to me that all these distractions are not the teachers’ responsibilities but the students’. It’s the student’s responsibility to spend time doing homework instead of watching TV, surfing the web, and talking on the phone. There’s not a whole lot a teacher can do, except try to change the student’s worldview to one that is more homework-friendly. Also, how is making an online discussion board going to cause students to do their homework? What’s the difference between writing a paper on a computer and participating in a discussion board on a computer? If the issue is that students are spending too much time on diversions than homework, then it seems to me that simply changing the format of the assignment isn’t going to do a whole lot. Students can ignore a discussion board just as easily as an essay or a book. Maybe it’s just me but the problem isn’t necessarily assignments, but it’s that students maybe don’t care enough about the homework to give up their ipod time to do it. THAT’s what needs to change - student mentality - I think if the students are going to get any work done. I hope this comment makes sense, though I’m a little afraid it’s neither here, nor there.
November 13th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
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November 26th, 2007 at 10:06 am
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December 3rd, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Outstanding post. It was very nicly written, and I, too, am concerned that I carry out some of the same daily activities of a 15 year old girl (well…I am a girl, but I’d like to think that I’ve made strides in the last 6 years). The topic of technology in the classroom, however, terrifies me. On day one of this class, I seriously debated dropping it out of strict fear in regards to the blog project. I’ve successfully figured out how to use my cell phone and AIM, but I still lack itunes on my computer because I can’t figure out how to download it for free!
But I’d like to commend posts/articles like yours. I agree with Shakura when she wrote that students tend to appreciate it when teachers attempt to reach out into their world. I want to be one of those teachers, and I want to be able to do it in the midst of this technological revolution!
Props on chosing such a relevant/important topic.
December 3rd, 2007 at 2:14 pm
*choosing (good thing I can spell)
December 3rd, 2007 at 4:08 pm
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