Download docx - aumroom.files.wordpress.com · Web viewOne counterargument to the campaign presenting this generation as innately technology literate, highlighted by Bennett & Maton, is “everyday

TECHNOLOGY CENTERED ACTIVITIES 1

Technology Centered Activities

Cynthia Duncan


As a middle school English teacher, the aspects of technology that affect communication

and research strategies stood out to me the most. Giving students access to all the tools available

and teaching the skills to use them thoroughly and respectfully are very important to me. My

sixth grade students have laptop-tablets that they check out at the beginning of the year and take

home with them daily. This provides opportunity to maximize student use of devices for

cohesive, academic and informal uses at home. Through this class, I have designed three new

activities/assignments and reflected on many others I already have integrated in my curriculum.

Through this paper, I am going to explain and defend these technology-centered activities using

the readings that inspired and fine-tuned them.

Technology Survey

Through many class readings as well as my survey and observations of a student, I gained

insight into the assumptions I have been making about my students’ device access and use.

Bennett & Maton reflect on the popular discussion of the term ‘digital natives,’ which by birth

year-driven definition describes not only my students but also myself, as “an assumption that

younger people are naturally more tech savvy” (2010, p. 322). However, while in my practice I

often encounter students saying “Ms. Duncan, I can teach you how to ___,” I also encounter

students that interact with computers haltingly and with frustrations.

One counterargument to the campaign presenting this generation as innately technology

literate, highlighted by Bennett & Maton, is “everyday technology-based activities may not

prepare students well for academic practices” (2010, p. 325). In other words, the differences

between which devices students use in school and out, as well as how they use those devices,

may be distinct enough to make skills not automatically transferrable. In other words, being

literate in at home activities may not make them digitally literate at school. The fact that this


generation uses technology more than previous ones does not necessarily and instantly create

students ready to learn and create academically using devices.

My argument in relation to this is that whether they are more technologically savvy is not

the most salient point driving our instruction changes. Whether or not to incorporate technology

in our curriculum is not dependent on whether student brains and abilities are categorically

different than previous years. We should not teach with the expectation that they already know or

are changed by computers, but rather with the intent to advance their use of computers from

wherever they are. In other words, whether to teach differently is not dependent on whether

students are already different. Students deserve access to new teaching capabilities and need

examples of the possibilities technology holds beyond their usual device habits. As said by

Daccord about tablets, "You're walking around with a device that has an enormous amount of

creative potential that goes beyond consumption or even creation potential" (2013). Utilizing that

potential and showing students how to utilize it is paramount. Bennett and Maton write, “The

argument is that radical change in education is needed because our traditional institutions do not

meet the needs of a new generation of ‘tech-savvy’ learners” (Bennett & Maton, 2010, p. 322).

They discount this whole point, but I agree with a portion. I would argue that change is needed,

but needed we are not meeting the requirements of new generation employers. These students’

future bosses will no doubt be using the most efficient and revolutionary technology available, so

we should do our best to as well to set them up for success.

That said, as with anything taught, you want to assess where students are coming from

and the information they already contain. While we do not need to assume they are all digital

natives to justify need for change, we will have very tech savvy students in most classrooms. I

therefore designed a survey that rather than assuming they are altered by and fluent in


technology, asks them how they use it and to what extent. I always have students reflect on their

learning style in my first week with them and this year a technology survey will be added to it.

This is intended to help me see what their experience has been with technology and build off that

to include the academic aspects that may be missing and identify how large of a digital divide

resides in my classroom. I expect to have some students say their non-smart phone and a

calculator is their extent of technology contact outside of school. I also expect to have some say

they made movies over the summer. That range of interactions is why it is so important to ask

them what their experience with technology is, rather than assume ‘nativeness.’

The assignment is similar to the student survey I wrote and completed for this course,

which confirmed my suspicion that students spend most of their time on technology conversing

with friends on smart phones. I am curious to see if that is true for all students or just some,

including the student I recently interviewed.

How do you use technology?

List the app, website, device, tool, activity, etc. in the category/categories that you think it fits in. Activities can fit into more than one category, so list it wherever it fits.

Hanging out Messing around Geeking outCommunicating with people and making

connectionsExample: Home phone or

Instagram

Learning new information or skills

Example: Googling information or reading

fanfiction

Becoming and expert and creating new content

Example: Writing short stories or making stop-

motion videos


1. Of all of these activities, what do you spend most of your time on technology doing? Why do you enjoy it?

2. What device (phone, computer, tablet, etc.) do you use the most when you are on technology?

3. What have you used technology for in school before?

4. Do you feel like you are a beginning, intermediate, or advanced student when it comes to using technology?

Why?

It is my hope that through this survey, I will better understand rather than assume student

use of technology and be more equipped to utilize the advanced skills already residing in my

classroom. Next, I will discuss why I decided to include the categories of “Hanging Out,”

“Messing Around,” and “Geeking Out” as well as reflection and an overview of what devices

and tools they utilize (Ito, 2010).

Geeky Discussion Board

My guess is that the majority of student time on devices surveyed will involve chatting

with friends from a smart phone, whether that be texting or sharing updates on Instagram. Those

activities would fall under what Ito refers to as “Hanging Out,” one of the three “modes of

participation,” he has identified in youth technology use (2010, p. 36). These modes signify

“varying levels of technology-and-media-related expertise, interest, and motivation,” with

hanging out on the low-commitment end of the spectrum that is more focused on the friendship

and communication aspect than the technology tool used (Ito, 2010, p. 36). More specifically, it

involves “spaces for copresence [for] ongoing, lightweight social contact that moves fluidly

between online and offline contact” (Ito, 2010, p. 38).

Other students, however, move beyond communication tactics into the “beginning of a

more intense engagement with new media [including] looking around for information online” as


well as experimentation, tinkering, and play (Ito, 2010, p. 56). It is a sort of novice dabbling into

self-driven learning with technology. Ito’s next description reminded me how lucky I am to have

computers checked out to each of my students; “Messing around is easiest when kids have

consistent, high-speed Internet access, when they own gadgets such as MP3 players and DVD

burners, and when they have a great deal of free time, private space, and autonomy” (Ito, 2010,

p. 61). Giving all students a device for the year opens that autonomy and consistency needed for

students to learn content and skills independently.

In fact, it gives them enough time and access that many of them find passions and begin

“Geeking Out” in ways they did not before a year of almost unlimited computer access. Ito

defines geeking out as an “intense commitment or engagement with media or technology, often

one particular media property, genre, or a type of technology” (Ito, 2010, p. 65). While it still

involves learning new skills or content, like messing around, it also takes it to the level of

specialization. For example, I had a student last year that by June had a collection of stop-motion

videos on his computer that he had made himself. In class, we learned how to use the webcam

for another purpose, but he researched and implemented the aspects of stop-motion on his own.

Many students will independently, when given adequate access to a device as in my

classroom, learn and experiment on their own. Many, however, will stay in the realm of using

technology for vital communication or simple activities. Both is fine, however, I think we should

make effort in curriculum to show students how technology can progress from that to creating

and specializing and celebrate those that to there on their own. Benett & Maton argue that

although ‘digital natives’ are teaching themselves informally in ways we never have before,

rather than shifting our teaching to be similar to their new style of self-instructing, “A more

promising approach is to consider formal educational contexts and everyday contexts as being


different, comprising different activities with different purposes and outcomes” (Bennett &

Maton, 2010, p. 325). I believe that is a correct beginning, but incomplete. Rather than

‘different’ I think we should show students how styles of learning can intertwine, perhaps even

starting from tools students often use to ‘mess around’ and showing students how to improve

upon them and go further. I think teaching ‘different’ skills is about showing them how powerful

their informal learning is and new ways to improve it and make it ‘formal’ (which in this

instance is just a synonym for ‘academic’).

For example, in my research unit I do a lesson on “How to Google” that focuses on key

word choice, domain selection, credibility, and so on. I also do lessons about how to use

scholarly, library resources and much more. However, starting with Google, which many of them

use daily, will not only make research seem less daunting, but will also improve their daily self-

directed learning and help them see how other tactics can be seamlessly integrated to learn even

more. The report “How Teens Do Research in the Digital World” states 94% of students report

they are ‘very likely’ to use “Google or other online search engine” for a research assignment.

This is not an incorrect way to research; the problem lies in the runner up being Wikipedia at

75% (Purcell, 2012, p. 4). Teaching students to search the Internet effectively and in tandem with

other sources while constantly checking for accuracy is what will serve these students well.

Rather than looking at doing a simple Google search and going to the library as “different

activities” and “different purposes,” we should teach students how to extend and improve

informal learning to become academic endeavors.

As well as acknowledging how students ‘mess around’ for information and integrating

that into curriculum, I also want to do a better job of celebrating students that investigate and

learn on their own using their devices. I wish I would have established a way for the student with


stop motion videos to display his work, for example. I am sure there were even more students

that had impressive work besides him that could have been celebrated as well, but perhaps did

not feel they had a space to share.

In my classroom, we often use online discussions to begin or deepen classroom

discussions. This year, I plan to have a standing one that runs all year as an optional space to

share work done unattached to a class. If students learn something from ‘messing around’ or

create through ‘geeking out,’ they can share on this discussion board.

It is my hope that with the survey as a jumping off point and the discussion board

available throughout the year, students will be more likely to create and learn outside of class

and then to share it and give and receive feedback. If students see these behaviors celebrated

habitually, students are more likely to perform the self-driven learning that technology makes so

accessible.


Visual Timeline Presentations

Since I orchestrate an English classroom, my attention was caught by readings about new

storytelling capabilities from technology. I am grateful that I have a curriculum that necessitates

getting to know students and asking them about their lives. I cannot teach personal narratives

without asking them to tell me about their past, which is why it is one of my favorite things to

teach. I have mostly sixth grade students (newly entering middle school) as well, which is a time

full of transition and redefining the self. They have a wonderful opportunity with lots of new

kids and all new teachers to reset and alter or solidify their presentations of themselves. In

previous years, I have begun the year with students writing a letter to me explaining what is

important to know about them as a person and a learner. However, after reading “Youth Culture

and Digital Media: New Literacies for New Times” by Glynda Hull, I realized two pitfalls of this

assignment (2003). First of all, it allowed for few ways of expressing themselves besides words.

I encouraged students to include a picture if they wanted, but many did not and it was far from a

requirement. Secondly, it allowed only for a very small audience: myself.

As Hull writes, and I agree, “In these new times […] a familiarity with the full range of

communicative tools, modes, and media, plus an awareness of and a sensitivity to the power and

importance of representation of self and others, along with the space and support to communicate

crucially, aesthetically, lovingly, and agentively – these are paramount for literacy now” (2003,

p. 230). I believe that in other units and products through the year I meet these goals – allowing

for storytelling through media besides text, empowering students to reflect on themselves and

how they present themselves, and space to communicate with one another – but I realized there

was no reason not to do all that with our first assignment.


So with that in mind, this year, students will create a timeline of their lives so far

highlighting the moments that made them who they are right now. They will need to include 8-

15 moments, at least 5 pictures, and at least one other kind of media (music, video, art, anything

they can come up with). Hull reflects that “sustained attention to the visual isn’t a customary part

of schools’ literacy curricula, and in fact, many educators feel ambivalence about a reliance on

the image as a core part of communication. This is despite the fact that visualization plays a

crucial role in reading and writing alphabetic texts” (Hull, 2003, p. 231). Lacking visuals in

instruction is also ignoring “interdisciplinary insights from fields such as communications

theory, film studies, visual culture, semiotics, and the ethnography of media” (Hull, 2003, p.

231). Students will need to use visuals to provide information as well as receive it in the 21st

century. Telling their story with images and media from the very beginning of the year will help

set them up for critical readings of those kinds of media later on.

Not only will this help build skills of storytelling beyond text, it will also help me get to

know them better that a letter that looks like all the other letters I receive. Also, instead of them

turning it in for a one-sided student to teacher interaction, this year they will present them. This

way, they will be defining themselves not just to me, but to each other. As Hull says, stories help

build self and community; “we formulate notions of ourselves by telling ourselves stories about

who we have been in the past and who we want to become in the future” (Hull, 2003, p. 232).

This is crucial especially at pivotal points in our lives, like the beginning of middle school.

Another article that inspired this curriculum change is by Curwood and Gibbons who

advocate for “multimodal counternarrative, the way in which individuals employ multiple modes

of representation to push back against oppressive master narratives” (Curwood & Gibbons, 2010,

p. 59). Now, I think it may be a bit dramatic to expect eleven and twelve year olds to


“simultaneously highlight and resist cultural ideologies that may otherwise function to

marginalize them or silence their voices” (Curwood & Gibbons, 2010, p. 59). However, I hope

that empowering them to talk about themselves and giving them space to reflect on who they are

and want to be will move them towards the confidence needed to reject marginalization when

needed in the future. I agree that it is paramount to “allow space for identity expression within

schools” that may someday build to saying ‘This is who I am’ when assumptions are made

otherwise (Curwood & Gibbons, 2010, p. 60). When entering a new school, defining yourself is

the bravest thing you can do. I look forward to my students defining themselves before others

even have the chance to make assumptions.

My timeline model that I will present to introduce myself can be found in entirety here

and a selection screenshot below.

Digital Literacies Goals

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/ms-duncan-s-life-story


So far I have created three assignments to start the year with that will hopefully set a

positive culture and give me the insights needed to maximize technology use in my classroom.

As I continue to review my year’s curriculum, I plan to use the article “Can We Teach Digital

Natives Digital Literacy” to revise my units and lessons (Ng, 2012). A graphic organizer from

that article that I find helpful is included:

(Ng, 2012, p.1067).

I plan on diving into the full article throughout the year, but this graphic is helpful when

trying to reflect on my year-long curriculum. I believe I do an adequate job of instructing

students on searching, evaluating, and selecting resources using cognitive literacy skills, but

intend to include more photo-visual analysis this year. I also know I cover social-emotional well

in terms of how to relate to one another in person and online, but feel I could incorporate more

cyber safety aspects to make sure they are not just kind to one another, but protecting

themselves. In my class, students learn a wide variety of tools and ways to use their devices that

covers technical literacy, but I want to include more reproduction and branching techniques

where they take something already made and reinvent it. This mode of online creation is popular

and would be a great avenue for teaching how to use material online while following copyright


and other elements of netiquette. I believe reviewing these aspects of literacy as I revise each

unit will keep me challenging and reinventing the purpose behind computers in my classroom.


Resources

Bennett, S., Maton, K., & Kervin, L. (2008). The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the

evidence. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 39(5), 775-786.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00793.x

Curwood, J. S., & Gibbons, D. (2010). "Just Like I Have Felt": Multimodal Counternarratives in

Youth-Produced Digital Media. IJLM, 1(4), 59-77.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/ijlm_a_00034

Hull, G. A. (2003). Youth Culture and Digital Media: New Literacies for New Times. National

Council of Teachers of English, 38(2), 229-233.

Ito, M., Baumer, S., Bittanti, M., Boyd, D., Cody, R., Herr-Stephenson, B., Horst, H. A., Lange,

P. G., Mahendran, D., Martínez, K. Z., Pascoe, C. J., Perkel, D., Robinson, L., Sims, C.,

& Tripp, L. (2010). Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out: Kids living and

learning with new media. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Murphy, K. (2013, March 11). Tom Daccord Leading Learning the Future Keynote 2013 [Video

file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded

&v=xwi7SWiktZ8#at=1984

Ng, W. (2012). Can we teach digital natives digital literacy?. Computers & Education, 59(3),

1065-1078. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2012.04.016

Purcell, K., Rainie, L., Heaps, A., Buchanan, J., Friedrich, L., Jacklin, A., . . . Zichuhr, K. (2012,

November 1). How Teens Do Research in the Digital World. Retrieved August 24, 2015,

from PewResearchCenter website: http://pewinternet.org/reports/2012/student-research