Reich Article
I thought the Reich article was interesting (“Turn Teen Texting Toward Better Writing”), as he had an interesting approach to the sometimes annoying technologies that I have to deal with as an occasional substitute teacher. He suggests the incorporation of teen technologies into the classroom,(or “mirror[ing] the online social networks of youth culture”), such as Myspace, Facebook, texting, chatting, etc. I think his approach sounds great but when I reflect upon all of the classrooms that I have had to sub for (namely high school/junior high grades), it’s hard for me to visualizes some of these things actually happening. Of course it is always good to use these medias as a way to involve the kids in current events and spur “intellectual productiv[ity],” but the truth is that many kids in the school system just don’t care. Of course I acknowledge the fact that my experience has been cultivated through the lens of a substitute, which for many kids signals a “free day” in which they can fool around during the usual haphazard “watch-a-video” assignment. But doing anything outside of the requirements of any assignment and incorporating schoolwork into one’s blog or Facebook communication seems pretty unlikely. But then again, Reich is suggesting a cultural adjustment of the five-paragraph-essay, pen-and-paper standard assignment, and I can be a little bitter at times when I think about my experiences substituting…
Heather Nowak said,
May 17, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Helllloooo!! This is just what we talked about Thursday during class! Is texting, IM’ing, quick comments on Myspace “writing”. Sure, it’s a form of writing, but I don’t think it’s real writing. I agree with Gina in that we cannot start classifying these other “forms” as writing because then it will degrade the real value of academic writing that we are taught in school. Granted, we (all us MA people) value writing more than the average person, especially the average high schooler. And I’m with you on the frustrations of substituting… I see papers student’s turn in with words spelled wrong (for example, together = 2gthr). I’m always curious what their real teachers do to deal with this.
Katie said,
June 4, 2008 at 1:58 am
That the students do not “care” about the rhetorical function of these social networking spaces limits their “academic” expansion. Students hesitate to see these spaces as academic (whereas, now that I’ve been so exposed to critical thinking, I can’t help but do it in all aspects of my life!) As alluded to in Heather’s comment, and in class discussion, the students fail to see these spaces as writing spaces, which also limits their capacity for writing assignments in the classroom.
I have used Myspace as a tool in the college classroom. The responses were confusion at first… like is she seriously wanting us to do this for class? I thought that the creative outlet was going to be much desired. Much to my surprise, there was very limited involvement in the beginning. I had to “force” students to participate – but once they did, it took off.
Much of education seems to have this affect on students – they fail to see how it benefits them or why they should do it until they start doing it. Activities that allow for social networking and growth over time usually start gaining momentum provided that they do give them time.
Students should, I think, develop an awareness of what the construction “2gthr” means in different contexts…. something that SHOWS them that rhetoric is everywhere and results in varied meanings. Hopefully classroom instruction that asks these questions helps put some power back into the student – that the student can make rhetorical moves knowing they’re rhetorical. (Most students don’t even know what “rhetoric” is! Perhaps these activities are ways to change this.)