One quote I particularily can connect with was ”

Their brains get used to too much auditory and visual stimulation — and in the absence of these stimulations, they do not know what to do with themselves,” she told TechNewsWorld. “They get anxious, restless, bored and aggressive.”

I know often when I get off the computer after spending an extended amount of time on it, I don’t know what to do, and I immediately begin to feel antsy…ecspecially if I’m waiting for something…an email, something to download, or if I’ve just finished a large assignment…what do I usually do?  Sit down and watch tv…because I need to have something to keep me entertained…I am now accustomed to having anything available at (literally) my fingertips…without having to wait!  Which I find half funny and half frustrating.  I’ve never had any channels on tv (other then the 2 local ones-farmervision), and so I’ve never had a problem with getting addicted to it.  But this year, since we’ve gotten sattelite, even though I often can’t afford to take time away from whatever it is that I’m working on, I do.  And it is becoming a BAD habit for me…  The only thing that stops me from sitting all night in front of the tv…is the guilt that I should be doing something else(homework, cleaning, going for a rollarblade…ANYTHING).  And yet, for many kids now, there is no feeling of guilt!  This is the lifestyle that they have grown up in…tv, computer, video games, etc. 

What implications will this sedentary lifestyle have..?  I’m scared to find out.

Anyways, read the article for yourself…I would like to know what some of you think…ecspecially since many of your are now coming from a strong background in using technology.

I started thinking about this, while I was reading a blog post by Jordan.   While he was explaining about his roommates from various parts of Canada, I was thinking about all of my foreign connections, and how much I now rely on technology to stay ‘in touch’.  I can get away with not talking to my brother in weeks, but through text messaging, I know how he’s doing.  In fact, I probably talk to my friends in mexico more then I talk to my friends who live in Regina! 10 years ago, this would have been expensive,  50 years ago, this wouldn’t have been possible!  Technology is developing so rapidly that suddenly, our world has become a lot smaller.  And although the commercial means to make the ending seem funny, in reality, there are special laptops created to be located in desolate areas….although how well they work on PartyPoker…who knows….Through global connections, people everywhere are becoming more and more alike, both through culture and what is available to them.

 It’s crazy what we now deem to be important.  I’ve heard statistics about how there are goals to have internet access available to the entire world by sometime in the next few years…..and yet the millenium goals which were supposed to be met by 2015 are NOWHERE CLOSE to being completed…and this is for meeting basic needs such as food, health care and education!  Economically, there is still a large amount of disparity between nations, but this will never change.  We live in a well off country, but we need the poor countries to stay that way.  Capitalism….Its set up to keep the rich rich, and the poor poorer.  We might complain about equal rights for all, but would we really want to be in someone else’s shoes?  Those of us here in Canada, although we complain about gas prices and the cost of foreign fruit in the winter time, often we forget about how good we have it.  We can ACCESS these products from half-way across the world…imagine the price if we had to do all the work that is involved in getting some of these products ourselves??  And the shopping trips when we find all of our ‘bargains’ (guilty…) how can the stores even afford to put prices that low??  Because it’s on someone else’s tab…  It’s the low amount that we pay foreign countries to make all this stuff.  Because here, although we will, we don’t LIKE to spend a lot of money on things.  More for Less…that’s our motto, and through this, we have a disregard for countries poorer and therefore, often more vulnerable to whatever action our economy and industry decides to take.  And so, wherever some sweat-shop ran by children paid by pennies is, it will continue to break environmental laws, labour laws, etc, and get away with it.  Who’s to stop them? We get our low prices, and thats supply and demand.   

Another way that our world keeps getting smaller, is through culture.  ‘Western culture’ has essentially taken over the world.  There are so many influencing factors that make it nearly impossible to stay away from.  It’s funny, the first thing I noticed when I went to Nicaragua?  McDonalds.  English has a major impact as well.  In any professional field, English is often the functioning language ( when dealing internationally anyways).  I heard a statistic once that in about 10 years, China will be the largest English speaking country…..  ??????   I find that bizarre.  So then, shouldn’t it be us who should be learning to speak Chinese????

And so, although globally we are more connected, we have a kind of materialistic attitude towards reaping the awards of globalization.  I think we need to focus our attention instead on the humanity side of things, and instead of taking from and using each other, let’s use our collective knowledge and resources and help each other out.

‘Technology?  All that’s going to happen is kids are going to goof off during class and download porn!’.

Oooook.

Now, I realize that yes, there IS an exceedingly large amount of porn out there these days(and is that all that people think you can do on the internet???), BUT, are we going to sit around and ban the use of technology because of it??  I hope not.  I think that if we are worried about all the plausible outcomes of letting a student use a computer, then we haven’t properly prepared them to use it.  It’s like telling your 17 year old son/daughter not to drink when they go out, and then give them 20 dollars and a 2am curfew, and don’t ask where they’re going. 

Like any classroom management, if you make your expectations for your students known, as well as the concequences, AND you follow through with them, life gets a whole lot easier for you. 

As for the porn issue, well, it’s out there, and the students know it.  It is on advertisements on websites, it’s on tv, it’s in magazines, and it’s easily accessible. They also know that it is out there because there is a demand for it.  I believe that if you do catch your students viewing porn at school, it’s important to address some of the underlying issues that come with it.  Why do people get so upset about it?  To students, porn might form their entire concepts and ideas about what sex is actually like.  And not addressing the ideas and issues around sex may only further promote these false ideals and perceptions.  I think it is absolutely neccessary that as teachers, we are able to discuss sex in an educational, appropriate way.  Allowing ourselves to become angry or embarrassed does no favors to our students.  It may get rid of the problem at that moment, but odds are, it’ll be back….there’s certainly enough of it out there….as well as a large amount of curiousity. 

The cool part about the internet now?  Anyone can post something anonymously.  The problem with the internet now?  Anyone can post something anonymously.  It’s true, its a great way of practicing your right to free speech, but it also often infringes on other’s right to live without harassment or grief.  And yet…what can we do? 

For this teacher, she has suffered public embarrassment and the loss of her once beloved job.  Some might say that as a teacher, you need to have thick skin and not give in to the lowly acts of those out there who would do something like this, which is true to a point.  But, who should have to suffer through an act like that.  How much action was taken to prevent another incident like this.  A better question might be….how much can we actually do?…  And this is disheartening.  I want to believe that our technological world is used mostly for the best, but it also makes it much easier to get away with anonymity, which people do abuse.

 Read the story at http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Technology/story?id=3525019&page=1

One comment in particular that I could really relate to was ‘today he feels somewhat dispirited by student and parent apathy ‘ . I have two seperate experiences to speak to. The first one was during my pre-internship, where by October, nearly half the students in the school had letters sent home about 10 or more absenses. What was this about? Well, who could really blame them. Being brought up in a school system where you could not fail until Grade 10, no matter how much content you actually knew, or how many tests, assignments or grades you failed, you still got passed along. Now for the teachers, this was very frustrating. Planning any sort of yearly plan was difficult, because it often took twice as long to get through any of the content due to lack of attendance, lack of effort or lack of previous knowledge. If teachers worked hard to try to relate to their students, to provide individualized programs or lessons, often times, they either got sick of trying, or they burned out. There was a lack of interest from the students towards their education(many saw the lack of relativity to their own lives), and a lack of support from parents at home. My second experience of burnout related to student and parent activity, was during my time of tutoring a Grade 6 student whom has ADHD. He had been moved around from school to school, could read at a much lower level then he should have been, his spelling, writing and mathematics were as well, and the biggest problem??? His lack of caring. He had been passed on, and let go, he learned, if he complained enough, or put up a fight. He blamed his teachers for not helping him enough, and his mother complained that the school teachers didn’t know enough about ADHD and weren’t willing to learn. However, when I would show up my Sundays, Mondays or Wednesdays…did he have his homework with him? Not usually. Would he have practiced the things we went over in the time we had together, and that I had asked his mother to work with him on? Nope. Did he seem to care about his marks at all..?? Not that I could see. No matter how I tried to get inside his head, or make the work relative to his interests(making up math questions using basketball , practicing reading skater magazines, etc.), nothing seemed to get through. I knew he liked me well enough, but that didn’t seem to be enough. So, as a teacher, simply getting through to your students can be difficult enough. I know that it was very discouraging to me, and the interactions with him were often more draining then preparing the work itself.

Within teaching, there are many challenges both with the teaching content(learning and teaching it), and with the interactions of the staff, community, administration, parents and students. There is much to be expected of you, and much that you may be expecting of yourself. However, I have begun to see that you simply can not please everyone including yourself. It simply is not possible. However, you can do your best, in a human-ly possible way, and still remain happy and satisfied with your job…because I don’t believe that(for me anyways) there could be a more satisfying job. As for the system of education itself…well, one day soon, I hope it will be able to be more flexible in able to adapt to so many of the students who no longer work well within the public systems boundaries. I would like to be part of this change. But first I have to learn to work within it, so as I will know better how it should change. So, in a last comment towards burning out, as two very wise people once(ok, a few times…)said….stay fit, and have fun!!

The Price of a Home

  I would love to hear some opinions on this one…