Writing Event

For this module I went to a writing event on campus where the audience got to experience an excerpt from three authors new books. To be honest, I didn’t want to go because I had to leave a class early in order to go. But, after sitting there and listening it was amazing. As they are reading, the audience can just see how passionate they are about their own book. I know that if I wrote a book I would be so proud of myself. You can just see it in their faces how accomplished they felt about what they were reading. This experience made me re appreciate books and the authors that write them. I think that just reading we tend to forget about how much time, effort, and creativity goes into writing a book. One of the authors talked about her book but it was all from her imagination. That was honestly amazing to me. The other author had all poems about her trip to Prague and back and managed to kind of put them in chronological order. The last author managed to create a character who was a female and lesbian, both things that he is not.

I am so glad that I attended this specific writing event because it made me appreciate books again. It also made me feel better in the sense that the first copy is never good. All of the authors also talked about the revising process and about how many times they have to revise works to make them sounds good. The male author gave me such inspiration because he was working 3 jobs, going to school full time, and still managed to write a book. I complain if I have two papers to do in the same week! It just amazes me how passionate some people are about what they do which is why I want to become a teacher.

Timeline of Writing Utensils

Have you ever wondered how writing utensils have come to be or how they have become what they are today? It is a very interesting thing to think about because we don’t really think about where anything came from. As students that want to learn about writing, it is important to learn where the utensils that you are writing with came from. Around 4000 BC someone wrote on a clay slab that we actually learned in module 2. In the 1790’s, the first led pencil was created. Today, pencils aren’t made with led anymore but granite. 1800-1850 is when the first ball point pen was created. I am so thankful for this time because I love to use pen, I have using pencil. In the 1940’s the modern day ball point pen was made that is still used today. I think that without these advances writing would have not been the same. It’s pretty obvious but no one really thinks about what would happen if pens and pencils weren’t created.

We would probably still have to write on clay slabs and most likely couldn’t send in through the mail. In the 1960’s the fiber tip pen was created in Japan and from 1980-1990, which wasn’t that long ago the rubber ball pens were created. Then there is the most recent type of pen that was created in 1997 which is the ring pen. I have heard of this in module 2 but i’m not sure that I would ever use it. The ring pen is a pen with a hole in the middle so that you don’t have to grip the pen as you write. The purpose of the ring pen is so that you don’t experience pain in your hand while writing a lot of material or maybe signing a lot. Although the ring pen does sound neat, I don’t think that I would ever use it. To me, it sounds more comfortable to just grip a pen the regular way.

Technology and the classroom yay or nay?

Technology in a classroom has been a debate ever since technology really took over. As someone who wants to become a teacher in the future, I have to start thinking about if technology is really good for a classroom and if it is what technology will I allow into my classroom? I just got done observing at a school in Pittman and they had a Smartboard, laptops, computers, and tablets. The good thing about that technology is that they can only access certain websites to go on. William Wolff said it best.

Technology isn’t a bad resource for learning. As a teacher you have to set ground rules as to what the students can use it for and what websites they can and can’t access. Teachers now think that technology and the internet is such a horrible place for students to go. But when a lesson isn’t explained clearly or maybe a little extra help is needed, students turn to the internet. Everyone needs to understand that yes, the internet has dark places that students to visit. But not all students use technology as a bad source for learning.

It was so weird that we learned about the first youtube video yesterday in class and it was on timehop today! #tfw2

— Karissa Gardella (@KarissaG_XO) April 23, 2015

When I become a teacher, I am going to embrace technology and literacy in a classroom. Technology is a great thing in a classroom that teachers should embrace. Using things like laptops and tablets in a classroom can help students to develop literacy skills by having help from those technologies for spell check and punctuation errors. I believe that it also helps students because they may not have technology in their homes. If they get to experience technology in school and not for recreation the students have a better chance of becoming more familiar with technology and also improving their literacy at the same time. Both together combines skills of students that are very important for them to learn in school.

Are you a target of Target??

This article is so interesting. Everyone knows the huge security breaches that recently happened at Target but what if I tell you that Target is actually keeping tabs on the customers? According to this article Target loves to know about its customers and Target wants to know everything they can about you whether you know it or not. Target as everyone knows is a grocery/ everything store that apparently want to know everything about you. This article explains that everyone that comes into target has a special ID number that they can connect to your phone, debit cards, and what you purchase. The article also describes that they can tell when women are pregnant because of what they purchase under that customer ID. It never really occurs to someone how easy it is to get someones information but when you depend on your debit card, like myself, they can obtain whatever information is hooked to that card.

May #flowers aren’t the only thing #April showers bring! pic.twitter.com/7lANxnfHyb

— Target (@Target) April 30, 2015

The customer ID card can also tell Target if you are married, where you live, how much you make, if you have moved recently, and how old you are. After reading this article it made me wonder about how dependent I actually am on my debit card. Now that I have a debit card, I almost never carry cash. But the scary thing is, if my debit card for whatever reason doesn’t work or gets lost, all of my money isn’t working or is lost as well. Target is a great example of what other consequences come with only using a debit card instead of cash. People only want what is fast and convenient. So what is more convenient than having a card, swiping it, and the store take the money right out of the account. It is so scary to think about what your debit card actually gives access to to stores that someones uses a card at. This article made me realize not to be so dependent on my debit card and to break out cash once in awhile. I work in retail and always joke with customers when they pay with cash because cash seems to be a thing of the past.

Pecha Kucha

 For the Pecha Kucha project, my group and I focused on how the internet and technology is so anonymous that people bully others online without a name or picture so that they never find out who is saying these hurtful things. Since our blog was about teaching and writing, we talked about how the anonymous factor can effect children in school and potentially effect their behavior in school. For schools, bullying is a huge deal that has to be addressed immediately. Kids are now learning to get around this by just becoming anonymous. Kids can become anonymous by creating fake profiles, using a different name other than their own, and by not having a picture or have a picture that isn’t of themselves.

For my part in the Pecha Kucha I chose to focus on Youtube. Youtube is a huge community filled with many of different types of people. In reference to Kevin Kelly’s “Becoming Screen Literate” “We are using life on computer screens to become comfortable with new ways of thinking about evolution, relationships, sexuality, politics, and identity.” I used this quote because it is so powerful and relevant in schools. In schools they even go so far to use text apps from teachers to students to make sure that the students are reminded of what is due for homework. You know what I had to write down homework assignments? A pen, paper, and an agenda book thats it. It is important for future teachers to understand how technology and different social media sites effect children in school. I think that if I had to change anything about the slides I would have changed the pictures. Not all anonymous people are rude and not all rude people are anonymous. But people can now easily hide behind the computer screen and believe that they can say whatever they want because no one will find out who is saying it.

I really liked this assignment and I think that it gave everyone an idea of how greatly technology actually effects students in schools. It also made me realize that internet bullies are never going away, so learn to ignore them now.

No More Facebook?!

What would you do if you couldn’t go on Facebook anymore? When you go on Facebook everyday like I do you don’t realize how much of your life is actually consumed on Facebook. I usually go on Facebook multiple times a day, so many I probably can’t count on my hands. While off of Facebook for a week, I realized how much I depended on Facebook for social contact, something to do while I’m bored, and of course the stalking factor which is awful. Facebook I have come to realize is actually my life. I can keep up with Facebook drama, let off steam from a bad day, get a good laugh, or just scroll to see what everyone else is up to.

Another thing that I use Facebook for is to interact with old teachers, new teachers, old friends, and I actually found my boyfriend through Facebook. While I was off I realized that I couldn’t stop thinking about what FB drama is going on or maybe someone is pregnant! I find out all of my gossip through FB which is both a good and bad thing. My boyfriend really liked that I couldn’t use FB because I wasn’t on my phone all of the time. But, since I couldn’t be on FB i resorted to checking Instagram and Twitter all of the time.

This assignment really opened my eyes to how much I actually am on FB and sometimes I don’t even realize it. When I opened my computer for the first time after the assignment I just automatically clicked F and caught myself. It is crazy how our subconscious works to just automatically do the things we like. I guess since I am literally always thinking about what is on FB my mind just always goes there. Like when I do homework assignments i reward myself to a look on FB and maybe even post a status about how much school sucks and I just want it to be over. I am hoping that I can start to pry myself away from FB to kind of get back in touch with reality.

What would Twitter do?

Before this class I never really used Twitter. To me Twitter is boring because no one really cares what I have to say! Experiencing a class through Twitter was pretty fun though. I never realized how much Twitter really has to offer technology wise. Before I really got into Twitter, I would use it to of course stalk people like most people do on social media websites. Some of the different things that I liked about Twitter was how easy it is to connect with people. Normally if I were to Tweet someone, it would only take maybe five minutes for a response. Twitter is an easy way to potentially get in touch with celebrities or people that you could never reach on Facebook or Instagram. For me, after this project I still feel like Twitter is my last go to if I have nothing else to check or if I am really bored. Even though I actually got across to some famous people I still really like either Facebook or Instagram. I feel as if Facebook is more of a personal website where you use it to connect with people from everywhere around the world. Twitter is kind of a friend social website that only consist of people that you know personally. What i don’t like about Twitter is how complicated it is to use it. I am lucky that I already started a Twitter before the class but for the people who had to join I felt bad. Twitter is a very complex website I think and it is so hard to get used to. I am glad that the Twitter assignment is over because it was so hard to go out of my way just to make sure that I tweet. I feel like tweeting is just a waste of time too. Honestly I like reading peoples tweets but I hate writing them myself. I feel like really stupid writing something that consists of maybe two words that no one really knows what i’m talking about. Now when I use Twitter I only try and get celebrities to interact with me but maybe I will start using it more frequently.

seriously really proud of myself for making through this semester without ripping all of my hair out #tfw2

— Karissa Gardella (@KarissaG_XO) May 4, 2015

Literacy and Technology – Karissa Gardella

Literacy and technology go hand and hand in todays’ society. Selfe describes that technological literacy means, “Computer skills and the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance” (3). Many people think that Literacy and technology means that you need to know how to use a computer, which is part of it but not the whole picture.

What Selfe said above was the best way to describe what technological literacy means. I believe it is very important to know what technological literacy really means so that you can use both of them properly.

It is important for people in certain professions, especially teaching, to know how to use them both correctly and effectively. It is also important to remember that to be technologically literate and use it effectively, you as an educator need to make sure that the students are using their resources productively to get the most out of what they are trying to learn.  Selfe put it best when she described that it should be used to improve certain areas where maybe the student struggles.

Teachers today, I believe, think that the internet is a scary place and only are dooming the students for failure because of everything that they can get from the internet. I learned in the first module that they actually have websites to let students pay for papers that are already written, all they have to do is pay and print it out. Teachers need to learn how to monitor students so that they are getting the good side of the internet and not the dark side. I understand that this will be easier for an elementary teacher rather than a high school teacher. But I think that teachers need to realize that the internet and technology are not scary things and can actually benefit the students in great ways. Technology in the classroom is always going to be there and is always going to be changing. Teachers have no effect on getting technology out of the classroom so why not embrace your resources and make good out of what you have.

Memex- Karissa Gardella

What is a Memex exactly? According to Bush, a Memex is, “a device in which an individual stores all their books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility” (4). The Memex for some people including Bush would be described as a computer but in the first stage of development. While I read this article I could not believe how similar the Memex was to the modern day computer. The present day computer has a hard drive, allows people to store material, and allows us to read material as well. The only true difference that I spotted was the amount of space that the Memex has compared to the laptops today. Bush when designing the Memex was not to far off from making a regular computer. That is crazy to me because how would someone even know how to make something so complex and so long ago, and now we have something that is so similar.

The Memex was also used for storage of pictures for future use. You would be able to sit at this machine and read what you want and choose where you wanted to start from. One thing that Bush does say is that he created to help with memory. I compared that to the modern day use to the internet. If I ever have any questions or forget something, my first instinct is to type Google in my search bar to get my answers.

I know people that if we are having a conversation and we aren’t sure of something or forget who played a role in a movie, they actually get up to grab their phone or laptop to Google whatever question we have. Like i said before, it is so amazing to read this article and read about how something was created and can be compared to something that was made years later. It is so interesting to read about how people just create things and somehow it ties back to the technology that we have today.

Bolter- Karissa Gardella

Bolter in Chapter 2 talks about writing as technology. Bolter explains the first types of technologies that you can use to write which was the printing press, typewriter, and the Linotype machine. Technology really began developing after the letter press became known. Bolter states that, “The mechanization of writing began in the 15th century with the letter press itself, which was the first text processor” (14). Technology and writing go hand and hand. Technology has helped to enhance a persons writing in my opinion. With technology, you can find different words if you are too repetitive, or use spell check when that little red squiggly line pops up underneath a word. Bolter also informs readers that, “Writing with quill and parchment is a different skill from writing with a printing press, which in turn differs from writing with a computer” (18). This is important because in this sentence, it gives readers an idea of how far technology has come and how much technology has changed in writing. Before technology came about, people wrote on clay scribes or like mentioned earlier quill and parchment paper. Bolter also talks about the raw materials that people used to have to use to do things such as create a book. People had to use things like raw animal hides to create the bind of the books. I really liked this article because it gives an idea to how far technology has advanced within time. Everyone kind of forgets that a computer did not fall from the sky but had to be created by someone. People also forget that to create words, they had to use whatever natural resources they had around them. It is not like today where we have pens and computers everywhere.