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The Medium is the Message - Marshall McLuhan

2/15/2013

1 Comment

 
        "It is not the content or use of innovation, but the change in inter-personal dynamics that the innovation brings with it ."  Mark Dererman (on "The Medium is the Message")


    In what is now western Asia a millennia ago, cuneiform tablets were put out in the sun to cure.  In a dark cave in France some 30,000 years ago,  man painted on a cave wall.  Persians and Arabs of the ancient world carefully tanned leather in preparation for messages.  In China 105AD, mulberry tree bark, bamboo fibres and water were mixed together to create paper.  Shakespeare sat in candle light, dipping his quill and creating masterpieces.  Hemmingway pounded away day and nigth on a typewriter.  Now, the soft whir of the comuter and the light tapping on the keyboard can be heard as another literary work is stored on the cloud.
    In 1859, Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution.  I believe that this theory can be used to explain literacy and new technologies.  Literacy is a living organism, ever growing and evolving.  Literacy must evolve, if it does not it becomes stagnant and dies.  Every age throughout time has encoundtred "new technologies" in literacy, if we did not we would still be sratching on cave walls with a rock.
    The 21st Century learner seems to be the most advantaged because of technology.  Due to advancements in literacy, educators and learners can readily access all strands of litercy.  The six strands, as indicated by Alberta Education, are: speak,read, write, view, represent and listen.  More importantly new technologies allow learners to engage meaninfully with literacy.
    Are studens only literate if they can pick up a print version of Dickenson's Bleakhouse?  Are studenst literate because they listened to the audio verson of Anne Frank's Diary and can  write a position paper on it?  If a reluctant reader picks up and devours a graphic novel of The Battle of Batoche, is that student not literate?
    I think we need to broaden our definition of literacy and embrace new technologies and mediums that present that text to us.  As educators, we must rember technology is only the tool that facilitates the learning.  In addition, the most important thing to keep in mind  is with the lightening speed in which technology is introduced do not be afraid to use it in the classroom.  Learn right along with your students and allow them to teach you.  You will be the richer for it.
1 Comment
Heather
2/16/2013 08:04:19 am

Because students’ responses to the Narrative / Essay Writing Assignment vary widely—from philosophical discussions to
personal narratives to creative approaches—assessment of the Narrative / Essay Writing Assignment on the achievement
test will be in the context of Louise Rosenblatt’s suggestion that “the evaluation of the answers would be in terms of the
amount of evidence that the youngster has actually read something and thought about it, not a question of whether,
necessarily, he has thought about it the way an adult would, or given an adult’s ‘correct’ answer.”
Rosenblatt, Louise. “The Reader’s Contribution in the Literary Experience: Interview with Louise Rosenblatt.” By Lionel Wilson.
English Quarterly 14, no.1 (Spring, 1981): 3–12.
Consider also Grant P. Wiggins’ suggestion to assess students’ writing “with the tact of Socrates: tact to respect the
student’s ideas enough to enter them fully—even more fully than the thinker sometimes—and thus the tact to accept
apt but unanticipatable or unique responses.”
Wiggins, Grant P. Assessing Student Performance: Exploring the Purpose and Limits of Testing. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Publishers, 1993, p. 40.

The above are taken from the assessment rubrics for all ELA course--from elementary to high school-- in Alberta. Rosenblatt and Wiggins are behind every assessment procedure. Perhaps this is why our provincial exams are regarded so highly that they are bought from Alberta Education and administered by many other countries around the world.

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    The Born Again Teacher

    I am a teacher who came to education late in life, and like those who are born again I love to preach and teach about my vocation. I am a teacher who is always a student.  Here you will find my thoughts on how to improve my practice as an Educator.  I sign off with "That's my view from the 86th Pew," the reason is that I own an old church pew that sits in my front entrance and the plate on it says 86.  I love that it is a play on words in that the view is what I see as well as what I think. 

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