Interactivity #2

So many things in life go unnoticed or unappreciated. I feel like technology is one of those things, especially in reference to education. I am saying this however only from my perspective on technology in education. I feel that I, and potentially some of my peers that grew up in the same generation as me, take for granted not only what technology has provided me with, but also its struggle into the classroom. I never sat down and honestly tried to place myself into the shoes of a teacher from say 1824. What would it have been like? How would I have run my classroom? How would I keep my students interested and on point? How would I “spice up” the classroom flow? After watching the visual representation of the history of technology in our education system, I noticed the great impact that not only television has had in our classroom, but also the educational media that it is coupled with. Still today we have TV shows on PBS or daytime shows on Nickelodeon and the Disney channel that foster critical thinking and intuitiveness. I have done a great deal of babysitting throughout my teenage years where these channels were the only ones that parents would let their children watch. This is in addition to my exposure to the technology first hand as a child as well. I can still sing in my head the color song in association with normal objects that the purple Dinosaur Barney used to illustrate on my own television screen. His fun and carefree nature and intelligent demeanor made learning not seem like such a drag to me. Watching these fun characters on TV take control of their own learning and love doing it, made me want to emulate them. I feel like this is and was probably the case for most students in America as the television and educational media began to take a rise in the classroom. Without the television, teaching and instructing would have been hindered. We would still be stuck in the old ways of rote teaching that so badly needed to be metamorphosed and transformed into a shimmering crystalline education that reflected and internalized the eclectic needs of the students. The television added a new and undiscovered land to the world of education. Something that the “Columbus’s” of our teaching system took charge of and used to their advantage.

            When it comes to English education, the television not only taught students the beauty of moving pictures, but the association of these pictures with words and concepts, which helped to propel deeper thinking and understanding. Additionally the television programming aspect of this technology provided shows like Barney, Sesame Street and many other shows that promoted learning new words and sentence structure. After reading the article “A Social History of Media, Technology and schooling” by Vanessa Domine, I came to the conclusion that another highly beneficial learning aide in terms of technology would have to have been the creation of word processing. Without word processing, you would not be reading the words on this blog as you see them. Instead, knowing my track record, you would be reading a jumbled block of text with various cross outs “never-minds” and not yet corrected typos. Word processing makes it easier and faster to put thoughts into black and white. As Grace mentions in regards to her mothers experience as a teacher, “She thought that the cutting and pasting method was very powerful because it allowed students to think conceptually rather than be confined to the traditional linear format of storytelling like on a typewriter” (47). I couldn’t agree with Grace’s mother more. This form of technology showed students that it’s ok to make mistakes, but to learn from them. That thinking doesn’t just end after you write something down; there is always time and room to elaborate, make changes, and cut out what you want to say. Word processing not only impacted the students that used it, but the schools as well. It made it easier and quicker for teachers to grade assignments and create new lesson plans. There is just something beautiful and relieving that the image of a blank page that that doesn’t persecute you for mistake and re-thoughts. After the drastic change from the linear typewriter, this program rendered thinking and helped to implement in students the feeling that anything can be possible. 

                                                      "Technology to the Rescue!"

Work Cited:

Domine, Vanessa. "A Social History of Media, Technology and Schooling." The National Association for Media Literacy Education’s Journal of Media Literacy Education 1 (2009): 42-52. JMLE. Web. 1 Feb. 2012..

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