funny video

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1xHG5p/redux.com/stream/item/1831091/Dumb-English-Spelling

Teachers and Wall Street

I just thought you would all enjoy this video, especially since we have so many future teachers in our class!


http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-3-2011/crisis-in-the-dairyland---for-richer-and-poorer---teachers-and-wall-street

An Interesting Study

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/books/review/excerpt-the-use-and-abuse-of-literature-by-marjorie-garber.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=literacy&st=cse

This study shows an alarming decrease in the amount people read. The addiction to technology is beginning to negatively impact our lives.

A Humbling Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfQEC029caw

I'm amazed at how much I take for granted. I never stopped to think about my acquisition of literacy, but after this class and video I feel privileged and humbled to have the opportunities that I had.

Final Thoughts

I mentioned this in my voice thread for my Auto Ethnography, but I just wanted to place emphasis how much we rely on technology. I work for Penn Dot during the summer and when we had lunch breaks I always diverted to my phone or Ipod. The girl I was working with actually brought a book with her! I looked at her like she was crazy and then I realized: reading is a form of entertainment. Do I really need my cell phone or Ipod all the time to keep me entertained? It was at that point I started to get back into reading. When you make something fun it makes it easier to do, especially since I had that girl working with me. We made our own book club and exchanged different books throughout the weeks. I'm glad I had a chance to meet someone like her because she motivated me to read again.
My main point is that literacy comes in all forms. We are still going to rely on facebook and text messaging everyday to find out what's going on in the world and with the people around us. I just realize that there are more forms to literacy learning. I can't motivate everyone to read or write but my main goal, as a future educator, is to try my best to get students interested and to be creative. The first step is to understand why we write and how to write in a way that is clear and understandable to others. I, myself, am still learning and this class has really helped me to realize how literacy is an advancement in life--individuals need to make something out of it.

What I've learned

I've taken so many classes here from which I retain little to no knowledge that it is so refreshing to have actually learned some valuable information from this class. I can honestly say I have learned more from this class than from any other. It has taught me just how vital literacy is in our lives. Before this class I was ignorant to the ways that literacy affects individuals, different groups, and society as a whole. "Drafting U.S. Literacy" explored the ways that literacy can affect, dare I say, a nation at risk. The narrative of Frederick Douglas brought into perspective the ways that literacy was a tool for slaves who desperately wanted their freedom. Gilyard explained how literacy can divide and bring together different groups and how code switching was vital to his acceptance in two different subcultures. Fishman explored the ways that Amish literacy reflects their core values and how it is a tool for becoming closer to God. Brant, in LIAL, compiled a large study that shows how acquisition and development of literacy is different for everyone. Finally, Duffy showed how literacy, or the lack thereof, affected the Hmong people. Writing my ethnography paper, I learned how literacy has affected my own life from the early years up until now. It is something that I took for granted throughout most of my life but now I realize just how significant it is for me and everyone else.

Technology a scapegoat?

After reading the New York Times article on technology and how it is taking over and affecting student's lives, I thought of the main character Vishal Singh. Now I do believe there is such a thing as internet/technology addiction, but to try to say that it is the reason he hasn't read his Kurt Vonnegut's book is absolutely ridiculous. World famous chef Bobby Flay nearly flunked out of school and was always disinterested in subjects, was it because of technology? no! it was because his passion and expertise didn't fit in the cookie cutter public education system. Vishal seams the same way to me, he likes making movies, which although there are electives for that, it is not where the importance is stressed. I think that he was a poor example for the article to use in what they were trying to portray. What about kids that just want to work on cars all the time, all day every day? I knew a few kids like this in school, thy were intelligent guys who scraped by in school because it was of no interest to them. I think that there are more distractions than ever for students which may make it harder to focus or concentrate, but to try and place blame on technology, or to use it as an excuse seems a little bizarre to me, what high school kid wants to read Vonnegut anyways?