This past summer I was able to work with ten and eleven year olds. Throughout the year I am a teacher’s aide at the school I used to attend. This summer however, was a refreshing change, when instead of “potty-accidents” and “ baby” talk, I was faced with homesickness and more adult-like vocabulary. This change surprised in more ways than one. I was expecting the change, but not as dramatically different than in the preschool. The preschool children can talk and carry on a conversation, yet limited in their vocabulary and grammar usage. They talk mainly of Dora and Barney, with filters of Barney, High School Musical, and Transformers. My campers could carry on intelligent conversations, and their grammar usage was average. I never in a million years thought that my double major, Writing Arts, would follow me to camp. I expected to use it at work ; at camp, it baffled me. When they wrote me or each other notes, many campers had difficulties spelling or incorrect grammar, which is typical of fourth and fifth grade. Me being the analyst that I am definitely took to heart to try and change their errors, but realized I have to be their counselor, not their grammar teacher. It was a blast, despite the misspelled words. To my ultimate surprise, many of my co-workers and the director for the program had an awful time with grammar, punctuation, and my pet-peeve, misspelling. For those who struggle with English, I am not here to analyze or criticize. I used to struggle with grammar very much. The moral of this excerpt: language and the written word appears everywhere, it is not something that we can do without. Take time to be as comfortable as possible with the written word and our language- it will pop up in the most unexpected places.
From Cartoons to Animations February 7, 2008
Technology Literacy evolves in almost everything. Cartoons today are not like they were years ago. With the development of Pixar, animations adapted a new look. Cartoons were mostly made in two dimensional contexts. Now Pixar animation introduce depth to cartoons using highly sophisticated computerized art programs. Videos games are also not what they used to be as well. Instead of trying to get from the left side of the screen to forever ongoing right sides, video graphics now allows for movement within the scenery of the game with the advancement of perception. This creates more real life view in animated movies and video games. Next would be the development of virtual reality which has not seen it’s highest potential quite yet.
Adulthood through the Eyes of Teenagers February 7, 2008
The act of rebellion is a show of defiance toward an authority or convention. When children reach and a certain age, they feel the need to rebel. Particularly during adolescents is about the time children break away from following the rules in which parents mandated. At this age children want a feeling of responsibility without having to be mature. What I mean by this is for example, most teenagers want to own a cell phone for the sake of seeming older. Although, they’re intentional use of it is to talk to friends for long periods of time and go over their minutes or text messaging each other during the hours of school. They want the responsibility, but don’t understand the mature levels that go along with it. In this day and age, children have become more suspect able to get involved with fallacious activity. This urge to become an adult figure has grown increasing as time proceeds. Children at ages 13 and 14 are starting getting involved with alcohol behind their parent’s backs. Years back, children weren’t even thinking about going to parties with alcohol involved. What’s has been an alarming fact with young children is the high rate of adolescent pregnancies. Apparently, we need to re-evaluate education programs to assist in decreasing these statistics.
Encourage Your Childs Language February 7, 2008
From birth to the age 2 children are developing a language. There are many ways to help your child to develop a language. As babies you should encourage him/her to make vowel and consonant- vowel sounds like “mama” and “dada.” When speaking to your child you should keep eye contact and use different tones in your voice and facial expressions. Have your child imitate your actions such as, clapping, waving good-bye, blowing kisses and playing finger games. I’ve heard one of the best ways of developing language is to constantly speak to your child. Talk to your child while bathing, feeding, dressing, or playing with them. Acknowledge your child to communicate, expand single words to three or four words sentences. Instead of “mama” say “Here is mama.” Another excellent way of communication with your child is reading. As you read to your child describe the pictures on each page. Choose books with lots of color but not to much detail. Encourage them to point to familiar objects and name them. Here are just a few of many ways to help you child develop a language.
Stephen King- a must read! February 7, 2008
Stephen King has become one of the most influential writers to me as a professional writer. One of his books, On Writing a memoir of the craft, depicts why people write, and how they write. This book is not about blood, death, a psycho, or a telepathic teenager who kills her class. Instead this book, unlike all his other writings, focuses on the art of writing. My favorite section is entitled toolbox, and is a reaction to reading too many bad papers, in King’s view. His insights about proper grammar use and correct sentence structure stick with you long after you close the pages. He explores in depth how a writer forms their sentences, which turn into pages, and therefore books. This book is a must read for everyone, no matter what major or occupation you might be in.
For everyone who has read the book, read it again. For everyone who has not read the book, please go out and buy the book. It is a fairly easy read, yet it opens your mind to conceptualize what makes a good writer.
Facebook- really a writing space? February 7, 2008
Is Facebook really a writing space? As we defined earlier in class, writing space is any where a writer can “write”, then yes, it is indeed a writing space. But is it an effective writing space? That is the question I would like to pose to you all. I personally am on Facebook more than I would like to admit, constantly messaging my friends, commenting on pictures, writing on people’s walls. But the fact of the matter is that when we write on Facebook, we do not use proper grammar or correct sentence structure. Sure, Facebook is a multi-billion dollar industry, but it is a social network, with writing ties pieced throughout the website.
For me, I enjoy being on Facebook. It is awesome to sit down and comment on people’s pictures and videos. Writing on their wall is easier than calling, texting or in-person communication. Facebook has taken a new dimension to the writing field. Are we, as future teachers and educators, going to let it?
Communicating with Your Children February 7, 2008
It is often frustrating to accomodate young children when they are unable to communicate with them. Children whine and cry when they need something. The problem is it is very difficult to determine waht it is that they need. At a young age children learn to point to what they want or need but even that is not always enough. There are things that young children need to express which cannot be pointed to, such as emotions and pains. Sign Language has become a popular strategy of communicating with children. Children find it exciting and have a completely different personality when they can communicate with those adults around them. Signing reduces frustration in children, encourages thought, and increases lanugage development. Some theories state that sign language prevents children from speaking however that is not true. In the following video, the baby proves that sign language not only promotes language development but also advances them to understand the spellings of words which is very advanced for this age level.
Appreciation of Past Technologies February 7, 2008
In any subject, whether it be education or technology, it is important to see how far we have come. Just as in education, we learn from the past events and evolve from there. There are new practices and theories emerging in the education field everyday; as there are also new technologies emerging daily. Interestingly, the first display of the computer with the use of a mouse and screen display to process word documents is shown in the video Doug Engelbart’s 1968 Demonstratoin. Without an idea of the past technologies we cannot fully appreciate the technologies we have today. The laptop never felt so light and convenient before watching this video and the clarity of the screen never felt more clear. It is important to teach our children about these past struggles to get where we are today so that they too can appreciate the technologies they are accustomed to using at home and in the classroom.
