In reading Chapter 2 of Clifford Stolls’ High Tech Heretic, I find he has pointed out that so often throughout history, people have believed that this or that technological advance would somehow change the world and we’d all live as one…..quite a pipe dream isn’t it? 

Stoll cites many times where the propaganda surround a new technology made it sound like the end of all wars, hunger and the key to global bliss.  For example, he states that some believe that the miseries of many third world nations would end when the internet and other technologies prolifereated into their backyard.  Not the case.  Technology is a tool that can be used to solve problems, but is is not the solution in and of itself.

I like Stoll’s view that technology is not some kind of celestial cynosure that will unite all in peace and harmony.  He goes on to examine the view that technology has not shrunk the world, but rather Americans’ view of the world…..we still expect everything to be presented in English, North America pretty much drives the web, and we really don’t invest a lot of time in learning about other cultures different from our own.

In all, while he might be labeled a herestic by some, I believe his views are quite realistic on many issue surrounding modern technology…..the rest of the book should continue to prove interesting! 

My daughter uses Myspace on a daily basis (as I have now begun to do).  She “talks” with old friends from college, high school and childhood as well as her husband who is in IRaq.  Wow, who would’ve thought we would be able to talk with soldiers in a war zone?  Anyway, she is very involved with the SNS culture.  Today she calls me crying because there is a rumor going on about her that began as a comment on myspace.  I won’t get into the details; but she is nearly devastated.

I have a friend who had a similar experience.  Some created a MySpace page as if it were her, said she was divorced and was looking to date again.  She didn’t find out about it until some guy asked her sister to fix them up.  It took a while to get the page taken off as well. 

That just further reminds me that we, as teacher, must be very careful when using SNSs.  Further more, you have to be very discerning in your public acitivities….people have camera phones ready to go anytime they can snap you in a compromising situation…and even if you are not guilty, the damage is done and very difficult if not impossible to correct.

I posted my 21st Century Learner video on YouTube.  The link is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cApckXiInoY

I will actually have to repost it…..I posted the one without music by accident.

One quote that I feel sums up the entire chapter is, “As computers replace textbooks, students will become more computer literate and more book illiterate.”  Being a reading teacher and an avid reader myself, replacing books with computers would not be a wise thing to do.

I think I feel the same way….perhaps I am just old and am beginning to resist change more than I used to.  I can walk into my school library and see shelves of books…and know that few are ever checked out anymore….kids use a computer to find the information they want.   Then I wonder if one day I will walk in and there will be no more books….reminds me of Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.  I think the use of computers has defintiely hurt literacy rates…much as calculators have killed our kids math skills.

So I get caught between, on one hand, that this is just evolution of technology much as the printing press was in when it was created and on the other, that I have a hard time of letting go of what has always been familiar and embracing a new idea.  Will I one day see books replaced with LCD screens….maybe, but not in my house!

Back in the land of the living… « Adelliott08’s Weblog
I was blindsided on Monday with the fact that I will now have to look for a job. While I knew that my team was losing a teacher next year, I never, NEVER, thought it would be me.

I am so sorry this has happened to you.  What do schools reflect about our culture?  They are much the same as any other profession….they treat you great as long as THEY NEED YOUR SERVICES…..but once they don’t need you anymore, you almost become a stranger….just a face in the crowd to which a harsh statement like that doesn’t seem to bother them.

I think it is a shame that when the budget gets cut, we always [and only] lose teachers….the people actually needed, yet we can create endless central office positions with salaries 2X or 3X that of a classroom teacher…and yet these people have little, if any, impact on our students’ learning in most cases.  Shows just how screwed up our priorities get.

If it is any consolation, I, too, believe that the sun will shine tomorrow….and something will come along….it’s just scary for some of us to face getting acquainted to an new situation….same as on the SNSs….while some embrace meeting new people and challenges, I tend to shy away, preferring the familiar.  

Hang in there……things will work out! 

I have tried twitter, then decided to go with Facebook for my SNS.  However, I am having problems finding “friends” and interacting much with it.

Hey Joe, don’t fret…you’re not in the boat by yourself. I really can’t put my finger on it….maybe I just don’t get it, maybe I am too old, maybe I just don’t want to know anyone else… but for whatever reason, I have not enjoyed working with a SNS.

I stuck with Twitter and am following a good sized group…..but Twitter seems to be just random thoughts and comments. I’m having a hard time figuring out how to get an in depth view of it all.  I have a feeling the ethnography will be somewhat of a challenge to complete.  I am glad Dr. Lowell posted some of the questions we need to address in the ethnography….gives me some direction!  I hope it all works out in the end!

COPPERAS COVE, TX - The suspension of a Copperas Cove High School student, who answered a cell phone call from his father, a soldier deployed to Iraq, is drawing reviews from school districts in Bell County.

Again, another sign of how our culture is trying to adapt.  For many of us older teachers, cell phones are particularly annoying.  Seeing students walk down the halls with one at their ear really bugs me …..a lot!  But yet, they are a big part of their, and our, world.  For as much as we many wish, they are not going away.  So schools create policies and deal with the headaches they produce.  But I think the big issue is not the phone….most times it is never really the instrument…..it is the socialization behind it. 

Who told these kids it was ok to flip your phone open in the middle of class to accept a friend’s call?  Where did they learn this was an acceptable behavior?  I don’t think I taught that lesson.  So why have they become so engrained with the tought that they should be able to do what they want, when they want, where they want, without regard of anything or anyone else?

Back to the kid above…..yes, he broke a rule….but I think the punishment is extreme in such a unique case.  Here a father is fighting for our freedom in Iraq and we show our gratitude by suspending his son from school.   Maybe the father didn’t think about the time it was in the US…what if he’d been calling to say he was injured….perhaps dying….and this was his last chance to speak to his son?  Perhaps that is an extreme example, but I think it says a lot sometimes about how schools are so rigid and resistant to change.  Had I been the Principal, I might have asked to speak to the father and thanked him for what he was doing for our country.  I’ve rambled enough……