"Bueller?...Bueller...?"

In his most recent post, “It’s not 1985,” Dean Shareski, author of the blog, Ideas and Thoughts, describes the failure of teachers to teach their students digital writing skills in this day and age as being “educational malpractice.” He’s right. It would be an understatement to say that teachers who neglect to incorporate digital writing into their pedagogy are simply shortchanging their students. It’s as if teachers who dismiss digital writing believe that the quality of their students’ writing will diminish as a result of the Internet. Actually, quite the opposite is true. Of course, teachers must still teach their students the conventions of good writing, but they do not have to do so at the expense of teaching their students how to write in the digital world. Teaching students how to effectively incorporate blogs and wikis into the writing process actually serves to enhance the overall quality of their writing. Moreover, students who possess such digital writing skills will also be better prepared to navigate and thrive in the ever-changing, technological world of tomorrow.

“So What Does It All Mean?”

I was blown away by the YouTube video “Did you know?” The rapid pace of technological advancement has changed the world and the way we live in it. The world is not only changing at a breakneck speed technologically but linguistically as well.  For instance, there are currently 540,000 words in the English language. This amount is five times the amount of words that existed in the English lexicon during Shakespeare’s time. Moreover, who would have thought twenty years ago that China would soon become the largest English speaking country in the world?

So what does this mean for language teachers?

It means that language teachers, and teachers in general, who are unwilling to adapt to the changing times will become obsolete. They will simply be out-teached by teachers who know how to effectively use technology as a pedagogical tool in the classroom. Although technology is changing rapidly, there is an abundant amount of resources for teachers to deepen their technological knowledge and improve their skills in regard to implementing technology in the classroom.

By the time we start teaching, our future students will have been exposed to a profusion of technology and media. Although they will not be raised by technology, it will be a significant part of their lives. They will have an in-depth knowledge of the various forms of technology and media as well as their various uses. So there is no better time than now for teachers to familiarize themselves with technology in order to more fully engage this generation of students in the classroom. 

People vs. Technology

During this week’s reading, I was most interested in the research of Reeves and Nass regarding the nature of interactions between humans and computers. In their research, Reeves and Nass (1996) propose the following claim: “People’s interactions with computers, television, and new media are fundamentally social and natural, just like interactions in real life.“ (p. 5) Prior to reading this chapter, I had never viewed computers, in and of themselves, as being “social actors.”

While I agree that our interactions with computers are social to a degree, they are not social to the extent of communicating with others in-person. Although I believe that technology, when used appropriately, can be an effective learning and instructional tool, I do not think that social forms of technology will ever diminish the value face-to-face interactions in the target language.  

Nonetheless, the perception of computers as being social objects bodes well for the use of technology in language teaching. The social nature of our interactions with technology will allow the language acquisition process to occur more naturally. While in-classroom interactions are ideal, technology allows students to go beyond the spatial and temporal limitations of the classroom, providing them with additional opportunities to learn. 

Heads-up on Internet Safety

Dear students,

Although the Internet can be an excellent resource for sharing ideas, obtaining information, and socializing with peers, it can also be a dangerous place, which can potentially cause you harm if you are not safe. Here are some tips that will help to keep you out of harm’s way while surfing the web. 

1.     Do not share your passwords with others, even if it’s with your best friend. Friendships can change and, regardless, you don’t want anyone to imitate you online. Passwords exist for a reason: to protect you! So try to choose a password that is difficult for others to guess but simple for you to remember. Here is a link to help you create a secure password.

2.     When interacting with others on the Internet, be sure to always remember the Golden Rule: treat others as you would like to be treated. So be nice! Kindness can go a long way…

3.     Be careful about what you choose to post online. Posting suggestive photographs and private information can get you into big trouble and can be used against you in the future.

4.     At all costs, do not react to cyberbullying. The purpose of bullying is to provoke a reaction from you. Reacting to bullies only causes the situation to escalate. Don’t give a bully that power. Here are some tips for bringing an end to cyberbullying:

a.     Ignore, block or report the bully. If a bully does not get the reaction from you that they want, they will usually just become bored and stop.

b.     Reach out to a friend, parent, or teacher for help. It’s not tattling. You need to look out for yourself.

c.      Be sure to save the evidence of bullying. Even if the bullying is insignificant at first, it’s always useful to have a record of the bullying in case it escalates.

d.     Be a good friend. If someone you know is being cyberbullied, help them by reporting the bullying.

e.     Finally, don’t BE a bully! It’s really not cool. 

Teaching and Learning Language through Blogs

1. In my own teaching, I would use blogs as a tool to provide my students with written feedback on their writing. I would also require my students to use blogs to provide written feedback on the writing of their peers. Giving and receiving feedback is a crucial part of the writing process. As an online community of learners, blogs are an excellent format for students to become comfortable with giving and accepting feedback for the purpose of improving their own writing and the writing of their peers. 

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing

Standard 6: Use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

2. As a future ESL teacher, blogs would allow me to facilitate cultural awareness and understanding among my students. Since many ESL classrooms contain students from a wide variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, it is important that ESL teachers cultivate a sense of cultural sensitivity and appreciation among their students. Students can research topics related to their own culture or foreign cultures. They can post links to articles, pictures, videos, music, and even provide their own commentary on the cuisine, everyday life, and traditions of a particular culture. Through the sharing of information and ideas, teachers and students can use blogs to promote cultural awareness in a multiculturally diverse classroom setting.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing, Grades 9-10

Standard 7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. 

a.    Explore topics dealing with different cultures and world viewpoints.

3. Teachers can also use blogs to develop portfolios of their students’ written work. As a result, blogs provide students with the means to observe and reflect on their progress over time. They also allow students to share a history of their development with their parents, teachers and peers.  For these reasons, the collection of students’ best work across wide variety of writing formats serves to validate the written work of students.

College and Carreer Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing

Standard 10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research,

reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

All of the standards in this post were taken from the NYS P-12 Common Core Learning Standards.