Unit 1 Blog

Hello there readers and TO!

My name is Adam Gallup and I have created this blog for tracking what I learn and have taken away from content covered in my Writing For Non-print Media course; a reflection. For this specific post, I will be addressing the readings that we covered in this first unit, including addressing hyperlinks, images, video, and audio usage in non-print media.

To begin with, I had not thought before about multimodality before, at least not in a focused and detailed manner. From reading the "Multimodality" article, I had not realized that we as a species have been expanding and creating new types of multimodality as our ways of communicating have processed; from cave paintings to written language, from shorthand texting to using gifs. These are all new types of multimodality, as well as using videos, audio sources, and other newer technologies to help us pass our messages across to others and store the information we are looking to share. Within the time of computers alone, we have dramatically expanded the ways that we customize this process with different font styles, text size, text color, PowerPoint presentations, the production of aforementioned gifs, and memes. Truly the multimodality of humanity is exploding. 

The next article that we covered, titled "Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom," helped me further understand my own personal struggles when I was younger as a student, as well as learn ways in which to incorporate different types of teaching and activities with my future students. There is a famous example about a man tasking several animals with climbing a tree (the animals being a monkey, a fish, an elephant, and a rabbit). Of course the monkey was able to do this activity just fine, as he was built for climbing trees. But the other animals were at a significant disadvantage as that was not their strong suit. Had the task been to swim across the ocean, the fish would have won. If it was to drink water from a far away area that was restricted by bars, the elephant would have one, etc. Just as the animals are all different and have their own strengths and weaknesses, so do we as students and learners. It's imperative that we make sure to utilize different types of activities when teaching and testing information that we give to our students. Some students learn best through auditory information or creating musical jingles to remember lessons, whereas others do better using a creative artful approach to consume the information. Then there's the fact that what we teach in school is not always what's right for all students. Someone may have impeccable depth perception and spacial awareness, as well as great physical strength and athletic prowess. This person will of course do well with sports such as football or baseball, whereas a person who has spent their life reading books, exercising their brain, and accessing at the academic level will perform poorly in these areas. We must cater to all learner's strengths and weaknesses if we want to be inclusive of all intelligence types, or else we are making those with less-common/less-acknowledged intelligence types feel inferior or incapable/limited in their potential careers and abilities. Not all students will take away the same info in the same caliber by reading; some need to act it out, draw it out, or create their own personal rendition to make the information their own that works with their strong suits. We must embrace this if we want to be effective educators and truly support our students. It's simply not fair to expect all students to learn the same way.

The following article that we read during this unit is titled "Middle School Student's Social Media Use," and I feel that this is a truly crucial piece of literature for educators to become familiar with. Social media and computer usage has exploded over the past 20 years, and it is impossible to stop it from becoming even more ingrained in society. With the introduction of social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram, newfound ways of bullying, harassment, and assault have been created. Bullying no longer happens in person, but online through anonymous and cruel messages to victims. Stalking and assault is possible by using information and pictures that are shared by students, and many minors have their information publicly posted (such as posting a comment that they get the house to themselves that weekend because their parents are out of town). Without proper monitoring by the parents and teaching by parents, society, and education personnel, this can be extremely dangerous to the students. We as educators should both embrace and educate our students on social media; both in using it for education purposes and lesson plans, and also in making sure our students understand that what they post may be posted forever (future employees and friends can see them) and possibly found by people with malicious intent. In a study of 414 students, 31% of them reported to having posted personal information and/or pictures of themselves (I would not be surprised at all if this number is significantly higher than the 31% reported). 40% of the students reported having "encountered sexually inappropriate material" with these types of platforms. These numbers I also predict to be lower than reported, and these numbers should bother us all. Certain types of exposure can corrupt impressionable youth and alter how they see themselves or what they think is expected of them. While this is bound to happen, we as educators can do a lot to help educate students on limiting who can follow them, what type of information they report, and making sure that they understand their own personal boundaries, limits, and exposure while using these types of sites. While we are embracing this newfound social media technology, we cannot go gung-ho into it without exploring and teaching about the possible dark sides that come with a world-wide-web of social media. This can be started by teaching the students about their digital citizenship, just as we teach our youth about being a responsible citizen in physical society. 

The article "From Queen May to Big Boy: A Century of Multiliteracies," we learned about how newfound technology has changed the way that we teach (in that we should use the new technologies and such to help involved the students who were raised in that time and with said technologies). The NCTE (National Society of Teaching English) strongly recommends that English educators branch out from "traditional" ways of teaching English, and I strongly support this with how much technology has become a part of our daily lives now. We no longer communicate solely through letters, but instead have texting and email as well. Instead of responding with words, some youths respond and communicate through emojis and gifs instead. Just as technology and communication has changed, we should also change and adapt our ways of teaching the language that we use to communicate. We can use current public happenings to implement into our lessons, such as how the author of this article mentioned using the Big Boy public statement that asked customers and fans if they should change the Big Boy character or not, and then having students paste pictures of Big Boy's head over other publicity advertisements to symbolize a similar type of media or publicity stunt by companies. Using media types like film also create new ways to engage the students in stories and plots, not just by having them read a book. It also adds to the previously mentioned multiple intelligences, helping those who are mores visual learners or people strong in reading body language to better take in the lesson or story that is being presented. The author also mentions what a future classroom may look like, and that there will still be classics such as Shakespeare and Dickens being taught, but by using different lesson plans and technology formats to present them. If we want to stay relevant to students and continue to teach them what are considered staples of education (standards), we should do our part and learn the newer technologies and ways to implement them, things happening in society, and alternative ways of teaching.

This runs very well into the next reading that we had, titled "Building a Classroom (and Virtual) Community." There are many new technologies that teachers can use to apply lesson plans, share grades and course work, and connect with their students. One in particular that is similar to SRU's D2L is Schoology, a relatively new online online learning management system. This allows students to access their calendars, assignments, grades, and communicate with their teachers anywhere, so long as they have access to the internet and a connected device. Articles like this one help expose new and experienced teachers to the types of technologies that can be utilized in classrooms, and how to stay aware of what's new and upcoming. The author does a great job in setting up a plan of application, stating how implementing 2 new technologies every year (and focusing on mastering them) will allow a teacher to have 10 technologies in their arsenal after a 5 year time period. This can be used interchangeably and can help greatly with course work, lesson plans, and changing up the way that teaching is done to prevent stagnation. He also mentions how LMS's such as Schoology will help overcome sick days and in climate weather days, making sure students still have access to lessons and videos from home (so long as they have the technology and internet connection necessary to access them). We have just experienced a tumultuous year filled with virtual learning, and thinking that we won't have more of this or an embracing of virtual learning in the future is wishful thinking. All educators should be learning more about technologies such as these to find new ways to teach class, apply presentations and lessons, connect with students, and stay present in the day's technologies.

The final article in this unit, titled "The Role of Affect in Adolescent's Online Literacies: Participator Pressures in BookTube Cultures," addresses several important aspects of young adult life with the technologies that we have today. First off, I was unaware before reading this article that such an online community existed, and thought that BookTube referred to a newfound website that was about reviewing books and other texts. Learning that it was actually a smaller community of YouTube made me wonder why I had never learned of it before, and also made me curious to the types of content and reviewers that were out there. The article talks about what it takes to become a successful or recognized reviewer, interviewing and following two specific BookTube reviewers in the process. Both interviewees mention how there is a lot of pressure to have certain things in their video reviews, such as high quality cameras, sound systems, and large bookcases or display shelves covered in books behind them while viewing. This can be a problem for someone who is trying to enter the review community as a YouTube personality due to financial limitations and other living conditions. There is also pressure felt within the community when it comes to what type of reviews that you do, in terms of making sure that your point of view on the text doesn't go against the common opinions on books (you have to be liked to be followed). While it's good to have your own unique niche and quirks within the community and as an individual, some reviewers feel like they had to create an online personality to use while on camera, being someone that they're not in order to fit the mold necessary to gain and retain a following. I feel that this is very applicable offline too, as young students tend to want to fit in and will do what the crowd does, often not wanting to go against the grain for fear of reprisals and being mocked. It does seem like a good community to be a part of if you're wanting to gain additional input on books that you've read, but being a reviewer may not be for everyone, and not just due to financial limitations. It takes a lot of time, editing, responding to followers, prepping for the next video, and organization needed to time publications and the likes effectively. I can see how some people could thrive as reviewers, but also how the expectations of being a reviewer can be truly daunting to someone who may want to get involved. 

Overall, this unit was effective in exposing myself and my fellow classmates to the newfound expansion of education, interaction, styles of learning, and the growth and change of digital societies and involvement. This includes online interactions and learning networks, as well as the developing cultures and identities that came from such new areas of interactions. As we progress forward with technology, articles like these will be important in hindsight (and foresight) when learning how to teach students and get them involved in our lessons, as well as making sure they have the right support and education on properly using technologies.