New Media and Global Citizenry

         Has civic engagement been helped or hindered by the digital age?  Have other factors contributed to the fluctuations of civic engagement throughout the years.  

         In the article Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age author W. Lance Bennett argues "that several trends in youth engagement are troubling," which include; a decline in face to face local participation, a big decline in election related participation, and a big decline in interest in news and public affairs. (Bennett p.5)
        One such observation that I have made is who participates in the armed forces today and the attitude towards participation.   Prior to the the 1960's the armed forces were comprised of servicemen from very diverse backgrounds, Harvard grads, teachers, doctors, low wage workers, the sons of the elite (George Bush Sr) and men from the poorest neighborhoods.  Men would often ask each other..."Were you in the service?" as if being part of the armed forces was a part of citizen service.  Whereas, today the our military may be more inclusive (women, minorities, openly gay members) it seems to be less diverse socio-economically and does not have as much of a broad base of men/women from diverse backgrounds.  People today commonly refer to it as "the military" as opposed to "the service."  This service gave those citizens a direct tie and connection to the government and gave them an early, important, and lasting form of participation.  I feel that current generation's lack of a broad-based shared experience like serving our nation during peacetime or during a massive total war could be a very important factor that has contributed to the decline in civic participation.  I think the internet and the digital age just happen to be growing at the same time as participation is declining. I do not think new media is a major factor in decline, but may play a slight role in the decline of civic engagement.

Participatory Culture Reflection

“If it were possible to define generally the mission of education, it could be said that its fundamental purpose is to ensure that all students benefit from learning in ways that allow them to participate fully in public, community, [Creative] and economic life.”

-New London Group (2000, p. 9)

     Throughout the history of the United States the central purpose of a public education was to help make our citizens better informed, and effective critical thinkers.   The belief was that if citizens were both informed and able to think critically they would be more able to participate effectively in the young representative democracy that the founders created in the late 1700's following it's revolution against Britain.  

     Over the past 40 years, face to face social participation has dramatically declined.  Jenkins, for example,  discusses the decline in collective activities such as league bowling.  So are we bowling alone, or just evolving in the way in which we interact and participate as a result of new media and technology. 

     This new participatory culture can be used in the classroom to speed up the interaction between teacher to student and student to student.  This blog for example allows the participant to respond to and reflect upon the ideas and writings of the teacher and the other students in the class.  I think that the main benefit of this new participatory culture is mentioned by Jenkins early on in the article, where he defines participatory culture "as a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support

for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what
is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices.A participatory culture is also
one in which members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connection with one another."
     Although I am not as immersed in this new form of participatory culture as my my niece or nephew are, I still see the value in it.  I have used different modes and felt much more confident and at ease with  "speaking" than I would be in front of a live audience.  We are all not public speakers, and some of us are not as confident as we'd like to be.  Participatory culture allows more to have a voice that can be heard.

R U Really Reading summary

I found the article very interesting.  I have always been a fan of books, magazines, letters, etc.  Technology was more of a social outlet for me rather than another place to find information or read for enjoyment.  As a matter of fact, my partner tends to get the roll of my eyes and frustrated sigh when he picks up his Kindle. He continuously is shifting from one topic to another, and in my mind I always complained it was a waste of time.  His rebuttal is that he is in fact reading. I do believe after reading Rich's article, my mind has changed. Although new media types have their negative side, they also have their positives.  What sticks out most in my memory is when he writes about children who haven't been exposed to much literature and are at risk.  The internet is a great motivator for these children, and has helped to improve their literacy abilities. I also thought more in favor of it as well when he gave examples of the teens.  Everyone really does have their own style of learning, and I guess if it is helping and getting them to read in one way or another, its beneficial.  I think what it all comes down to is what Maryanne Wolf stated in an article titled The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens:
"There is physicality in reading, maybe even more than we want to think about as we lurch into digital reading-as we move forward perhaps with too little reflection.  I would like to preserve the absolute of the older forms, but know when to use the new."

Can the age old art of good teaching learn a lesson from new media?

The key to effective teaching can be summed up with one word; motivation.  Effective teachers from every era and any discipline have found that if you can motivate students than you can essentially turn them on to learning.  But how do you effectively motivate students who are not intrinsically motivated?  Teachers have had and continue to develop various methods that have helped to engage or motivate their students. One of the most effective if not the most effective motivational method is the good old fashioned storytelling.  Why is the film industry so successful, maybe it is because they are so good at storytelling.   I remember way back in United States history class, when we had a WWII veteran tell his story or oral history.  The dull dry dates and events we had been learning about began to come alive, and me and my other teenage classmates were on the edge of our seats and did not even notice that the bell rang and class was over.  

Can the art of storytelling and its ability to help motivate students be successfully integrated into the ever changing world of new media?  David Huffaker, in his journal article entitled: The Educated Blogger: Using Weblogs to Promote Literacy in the Classroom, makes the point that storytelling is a valuable tool to enhance learning in the classroom and promote literacy.  One such tool that can be used to facilitate storytelling is the weblog.  Huffnaker states that, "Weblogs resemble personal journals or diaries and provide an online venue where self-expression and creativity is encouraged and online communities are built. Therefore weblogs provide an excellent tool where storytelling and literacy advance for both individual expressions and collaborative learning."  

As someone who falls between a Luddite and a cutting edge technology pioneer, I feel that weblogs can be very useful for both teachers and students in facilitating learning through interactive storytelling and helping to motivate a generation of students that have lived completely in the digital age.  To be honest I never even considered using the weblog in the classroom, yet now I see that they can be adapted for any age group and across content areas.  The fact that I am even writing on a blog now is a big step for me.  

Introduction

Hello.  My name is Shawn.  I am currently a third year Kindergarten teacher at a charter school in Buffalo, N.Y.  I am pursuing my Master's degree, and I am petrified!  I have never taken an online course before. This is very intimidating, yet exciting.

Just today I began a themed unit in ELA titled "School".  Students are given the opportunity to tell me what they already know as well as any questions they may have.  One that sticks in my head is "How old are you when you stop learning how to read and write?"  My answer.....you're never to old!

I hope to learn as much as possible and in turn become a better teacher for it.  I am passionate about my career, and I want to be the best that I can be for all of the sponges I teach, no matter what age.