Technology and Culture

With all of the ever-increasing available technologies that students are exposed to relentlessly, popular culture is continuously defined and redefined. Everywhere we turn, the most minimal activity is sponsored by mega-corporations with the means and technological savvy to barage us with messages of what we should all wear, eat, drive, and think.

Consider sporting events, for example. A few years ago there may have been a Budweiser sign out in centerfield, or a Coca-Cola banner on the side of a basketball court. A golf tournament may have been sponsored by an automobile company, and they would plop one out in a water hazard to advertise their newest line. Tune into a sporting event now and you will see continuously changing court-length digital signs along those same sidelines, flashing and revolving ads behind homeplate, blimps other than Goodyear's, and a wide array of other images designed to shape our own image. Even highway billboards change their hawking pitches as America zooms by at 70 miles per hour.

Popular culture is mass culture as defined by mass media. Carefully crafted text and images utilize technological advances to construct identity. Look around your classrooms, the malls, and everywhere else. Everyone is in uniform - Abercrombie, New Era "Fitteds," Timbs, jeans (skin-tight for girls, opposite for boys). Part of this is due to cultural fads, but the message that this is how you should look to fit in is spread rapidly by ubiquitous media assaults.

Students often construct their background knowledge from popular culture media. I often use the popular cable TV shows "Family Guy" and "South Park" as references, or students bring up these and other popular culture mediums up, when I begin to introduce a new unit or concept. While introducing a unit on religions of the world, one student told me he knows all about Islam because of a recent Family Guy episode. Although probably low on accuracy, at least I had a hook and connection when I replied that I had seen it. For the same reason, I usually tune into American Idol, and other pop culture must-sees in order to be able to connect with students on another, more personal, level.

Mangas have become so big at our school that the librarian is putting together a blog site and students have started an exchange club. They are also planning to do the same with video game cards. Other ICTs that are employed on a daily basis are webcasts, videoconferencing with other schools, and access to online communities.

Like Mike v2 - Gatorade

Here is the another with adults wanting to be like Mike too.

Be Like Mike Gatorade Commercial (ORIGINAL)

Here is the Michael Jordan commercial that was mentioned earlier

Breaking News in Sports, "Through the Eyes of the Learner"

Making connections with students and creating lessons that students can identify with is crucial. Students in the 21st century are faced with various multimedia everyday in our culture. Culture has changed over the years and our education has to be able to change with the times. Popular media and culture can be a way teachers can connect with their students. Teachers and students are submersed in this culture and finding connections with each other can help create a learning environment that can be more interesting and authentic. Technology, sports, television, movies, radio, magazines, cell phones, and the Internet are some of the ways that both teachers and learners can make connections. In the article by Hagood, it states that “Schools teach literacy in the same ways it has been taught for the past century, focusing primarily on the instruction of print-based reading mastery derived from a print-based curriculum (Arthur, 2005; Comber, 2000; Marsh & Millard, 2006; Sefton-Green, 1998).

I personally try to connect with students through sports. Sports are everywhere in our culture. Not only through participating in the activities but it has become a part of the media culture. One cannot turn on the TV without sports being somewhere on, commercials, magazines, radio, … Sports and technology go hand and hand. ESPN for example not only is a sports channel but there is a website, radio station, webcam, cell phone, blogs, podcasts, ESPN360, videos, video games, fantasy sports…. Connecting with students with this popular culture can really create an authentic learning environment both in school and out of school. Literacy needs to stay up do date and teachers need to use this popular culture as a form of teaching literacy.

Fantasy sports have become increasingly popular. It is mainly done online and players can create their own groups or play individually with people all over the world. Don Leu mentions the “global village” and how our world is becoming increasingly smaller. Fantasy sports helps create a way popular culture and communicating in this global village are done. Personally, I think fantasy sports would be a great way to teach students not only literacy but new literacies as well. Fantasy sport "General Managers" need to research players they are going to draft and this is done through internet research, reading newspapers and magazines, listening to the radio, or watching TV. Statistics and past player performance help when drafting and trading players, which can be done face to face or over the Internet and its various forms of communication. Stats can also be a great way to teach math. Blogs and discussion boards are also widely used amongst fantasy sports players. They are used for various things but mainly for asking for input, discussing various games, or just letting others know their opinions on topics that may arise during the season. In many high schools there are classes that use the mock stock market games, why can’t fantasy sports be used. The students will also be able to see the business side of sports and the costs of running teams. One main aspect to keep out is that it should not be done to win money as a prize if it is used in school. Fantasy sports can be done both in school and out of school and what better way than to have students connect with popular culture than with something that has become part of our popular culture as well as something that has become a part of our sports culture.

Another way I try to connect sports with kids is through Sports Illustrated For Kids. The website has just about everything and since sports are an integral part of our culture having it relate to kids is important. The website http://sikids.com/ can be used in school for various things like stats, research, reading articles, debating, games, trivia,…The article by Hagood talked in detail about identities. Many kids and even adults create identities through sports and athletes. Sometimes this can be a bit overboard but it happens. Michael Jordan even had a Gatorade commercial that had the saying “I wanna be like Mike!” Hagood states that “readers construct identities and gain a sense of place from uses of popular culture” (Dimitriades, 2001). Kids read on the Internet, hear about on TV and the radio, see all over magazines and newspapers about various sports and athletes and create their own identity through this. That is why it is of the utmost importance that these athletes are good role models whether they want to be or not. All too often we hear of athletes being arrested, carrying guns, or being called to the US Congress for using steroids/HGH to better their performance and these are only a few examples. One other thing on the SI for Kids websites is that kids can create their own superstar athlete. It is a fairly simple game and the creation of their own identity through sports is a microcosm of this game.

Literacy...in AND out of school

As it mentions in chapter 19, in the 21st Century, we need to be prepared for something more than just a printed book to be considered "reading." As our perspectives 'of what counts as text and as reading' (Hagood, 2008) change, our way of teaching needs to follow suit. No matter the age of the person, various forms of popular culture and media can effect those involved. (This includes websites, blogs, TV, etc.) We need to embrace this change in order to fit in with the rest of the changing world.
"People share and articulate different characteristics of themselves with different groups, and identities shift depending upon context." (Hagood, 2008) This is definitely true when it comes to all ages of people these days. We all put on some sort of 'face' depending on who we are in the company of, so we adjust accordingly. Especially as teachers, we wear many hats which tend to be ever-changing, so we just have to deal with it. (It comes with the territory, I guess?!?!)
Many of our students today use popular culture to help shape their various identities...text included (Hagood, 2008). These tend to be gender-based when you look at the origin. During adolescence, students are constantly searching for who they are and they often use gaming outlets to create these. Avatars have become a commonplace for children of all ages.
According to Lambirth (2003), teachers seem to think that the use of popular culture in education as invalid and against their teaching skills. Because they view these innovative forms of teaching as challenges to their teaching abilities and shy away from them (Finders, 2000; Marsh, 2006; Marsh & Milland, 2001; Xu, 2001). This leads to a larger separation between what students do between classes and outside of the classroom. (Gallego & Hollingsworth,2000). If students are using a new form of literacy (internet, text messaging etc.) OUTSIDE of school, there is no reason that we cannot borrow that same enthusiasm to promote further learning INSIDE of school based on those same technologies.
We are slowly but surely working our way to balancing new literacies in- and out-of-school. Overall, it's just going to take some time to get used to...we'll see how it goes..........

New Literacies in the Classroom, and Beyond

In a crude survey of my roughly one hundred students that I have in my classes, it was determined that over 83% of them have home access to and use AIM at least 4 times per week. When asked to specify topics of their online communications, the list was what you would expect from middle school tween-agers - boys/girls, music, parents, teachers, schoolwork, and the like. Although access to online IMs is blocked in my school district, the usage of online
communications between the students at home is very much integral to the students' school experience.

Here is a topical example: During yesterday's matinee performance of our school musical, of which I am the Assistant Director, one of the show's stars did an acrobatic flip after running up a wall. It was a dangerous and impulsive move, and the student had been told not to attempt it because of its risks. To make a long and ugly story short, the Director was very upset. The student was defiant and was given a loud reprimand. He was subjected to pretty heavy, and to some, excessive, discipline for the remainder of the show. He was made to sit alone in a separate area between scenes and was told that further consequences would await him today.

As students filtered in this morning, I asked them what the vibe was "on the street" about the incident and how it had been handled. The very first student told me that it was the topic of conversation on AIM all night long. There were rumors that the boy had been kicked out of the show, that he had quit, that the director slapped him, that he was going to be expelled, that his parents had filed a lawsuit, that future show performances were cancelled - all in one evening and all, by the way, not true. But there was a buzz in the school all day because everyone had actively participated in online communication networks or had been text-messaged by the few present who had actually witnessed the episodes. Every student had a slant on it. I don't doubt that what he did had been preordained and also discussed via ICTs.

The students didn't need to be told to log in to read and write about the incident. It was taken for granted that the word would spread from Buddy List to Buddy List. Unfortunately, new literacies are as susceptible to misinformation as older communication methods, but at least there were no surprises first thing in the morning - the incident had been covered in-depth.

The important thing was that students were engaged in literacy. They were actively reading and responding in writing. They formed opinions and expressed them in writing. They were "engage[d] in decoding, encoding, interpretation, and analysis" and "technology and sociality [were] intertwined" (Lewis and Fabos, 2005).

The very first act we completed in this Masters' program, as I recall, involved signing up for an AIM account. It has served us well. I often begin my UConn assignments by checking my Buddy List and sending a greeting to a few colleagues. I have also relied on the communication process to inquire about class expectations or problems/questions I may have about a task. AIM has really served as "the maintenance of social relationships" since we have had limited face-to-face contact with most of our colleagues (Lewis and Fabo, 2005). The IM exchanges have helped me to complete my assignments, feel connected, and stay on top of information flow.

If you can't beat em, join em

Instant messaging is one technology that should be utilized in classrooms. One of the best aspects about IMing is the fact that it is “instant.” Questions can be asked and answered instantly. If in a lesson a student has a question they can IM a classmate or even the teacher without interrupting which will help with classroom management. When taking notes a student may not have heard something and may need it repeated but instead of wasting time having the teacher repeat it or disrupting class to ask a friend the student can IM someone for the answer. Instruction time is so valuable that this will help increase it, a good thing when trying to market IMing to higher ups.

Another aspect that IM can bring to the classroom is it is great for communication and collaborative work. Kids can instantly share information, help each other, and get different perspectives without even leaving their seat. If structured correctly it can be a great tool. One example may be to have students discussing a topic in class with a partner. Sharing information or reflecting on something they read. The partners can “chat” answering questions that are assigned or what they read. Then to get a different perspective they can change partners without even changing their seats. They can just start a conversation with another buddy in the class. Another example is it is a great way for students to create a study guide for a test. They can easily answer questions for each other and then put them into the study guide. Another positive is that teachers can also save transcripts. The will make evaluating a bit easier because the conversation is in writing so grading content can be done, but also to see if their students are staying on task.

The article stated on page 475 that instant messaging is multimodal. As teachers this may make IM an even more important tool. As we know there a great number of times student are absent from class. With IMing being multimodal we can counteract the excuse well “I wasn’t here so I missed the notes, assignment, group work…” Instant messaging can let kids be in class with out being in class. The teacher can send transcripts to the absent student. With the capabilities of IMing now talking and video are possibilities. The student can hear the lecture and be a part of group discussions.

IMing also helps the very shy reserved student or students with learning disabilities. Many times kids can be mean and make fun of each other for asking stupid questions or talk about each other for not knowing an answer. Many kids are embarrassed to ask questions and sometimes to look “cool” and not be considered a nerd they don’t answer questions as well. IM can let the reserved kid ask the teacher a question without the embarrassment.

With all technology there are always pitfalls and problems. The article brought up language because of the shorthand, spelling and grammar which we all know occurs. But the article also stated that the students are spelling things out. “Our participants were especially consciousness with those individuals they were trying to impress” (Lewis and Fabos, p483 2005). If used in class with a teacher making an impression will more than likely occur.
Another pitfall may be cheating. This would be difficult to police except if the teacher had lessons that mostly required collaboration and not allow the computer to be on during assessments in which kids had to work individually.

Other problems maybe kids staying on task and not “chatting” about prom dresses, boyfriends, sports, or cars. But if a teacher is saving and collecting transcripts that could help lessen the off task IMing. Another problem maybe is that students will always hide behind the computer screen and never really learn how to talk properly face to face. The way of the world is behind a computer screen with people either in the same office or a colleague half way around the world. But professional face to face etiquette is just as important as online “netiquette.”

Instant messaging is a great teaching tool that needs to be utilized. It is what kids know, it is the way of the future, and will enhance learning. Students will be motivated in the classroom and practice new literacies at the same time. Many computers in school systems block instant messaging so that is a roadblock that needs to be addressed. But if teachers are willing to structure their lessons to include IMing the positives outweigh the negatives. In my opinion the old saying of “if you can’t beat em, join em” holds true for instant messaging in the classroom.

IM

To me in 2001(when I was a freshman in college), instant messaging used to be just a social tool to keep up with old friends from home and to get to know new friends better that I met in college (yes, my roommate and I would even IM each other in the same room!). Up until now, I had never really seen the benefits of using this collaborative tool in the classroom, however, it makes great sense!

Students can practice their "netiquette" since typed text is the only way to determine the tone of an IM conversation. They can multi-task and talk to several people at once (as mentioned in the reading), as well as continue other tasks at the same time. IM offers real-time conversation, rather than the waiting game of other correspondences like e-mail.

The one drawback (similar to what we see with text-messaging nowadays) is that students prefer to use shorthand to type and text, including numbers, shortened words, etc. Unfortunately, this habit can transfer over into their school writing if they're not careful.

Before we can invite this tool into our classrooms, there are several hoops to jump through with the higher authorities in the county to explain the educational purposes and advantages to tools such as this. I'm sure this will prove to be a tough feat, but well worth it in the end.

Instant Messaging

IM is a fast, easy, and cheap way to communicate with people in just about any location. It is a great tool for collaboration with others, to keep in touch with friends, share information, and news that is happening in the world or in your own personal life. For example sharing with family and friends that you had a baby (Congratulations Carrie).