"Hope" for the future...

I found Michael Wesch's presentation extremely interesting and wish i could have actually been present rather than watching it via video post. A very valid point he made about how knowledgeable students are these days which is something we cannot necessarily control, however we CAN teach them how to be knowledge-ABLE in positive ways that benefit not only the individuals, but the people in their social networks as well. It does seem to be a continuing question to wonder how we can teach NEW ways of reading and writing when we cannot even master 19th century techniques. My take on this is, the personal interest we see in students to learn for themselves through such technology as the internet makes it that much easier for them to want to learn. They already have a personal willingness to understand the technology presented to them in society, and therefore we have the job of shaping how and for what purpose they will use it for potentially. Knowing that there are endless possibilities of personal learning intrigues young minds to want to surf the web and figure stuff out on their own based on the tremendous amount of information given through the internet these days. I say this as opposed to the 1960’s where Wesch states teachers would help students acquire info yes, but there was hardly any information to find by means of different sources.
We see and understand that the media we entangle ourselves in helps us communicate with the world around us and create relationships with people we never thought we could. We as students see this as a positive because now media has seemed to become a form of expression. For example, on facebook or twitter we tell our friends and followers what we are doing at that very time or what our intentions or feelings are when in reality we may not be able to express such in person or to a wide array of individuals at once. When students see the ability technology and media has on their own lives, it now becomes more interesting to learn about. I feel the connection that was missing back in the day was the lack of understanding by students of the benefits of such basic skills as reading and writing (not saying it wasn’t important – rather the future importance was not well comprehended)

My name is Hope and I am a 2nd year middle years education student. I moved back home from B.C after playing university-varsity volleyball for 2 years. Being that i had an active lifestyle growing up it was rare that i was capable of using the internet when it first was introduced to me, and when i did use it i was monitored as well as sent outside to play if my parents thought i was on it for too long. Nowadays i find that i use technology way too much and without noticing even. My dad is a computer programmer and it is handy to have a technologically savvy person readily available to me.
I think that it is very beneficial for technology to be in the classroom and can remember using one of the most basic and only forms used when was in elementary school which was "all the right type". My cousin is only 4 years old and has a Leapster. These handheld gaming devices surprised me when i found her playing and fully comprehending the learning material within the game. It was more or less taught to her by herself or her brother who is only a year or two older than her. It scared me but also intrigued me how easy it is for children to catch on in such a way. We are well aware that age plays a huge role in the development of children's cognitive abilities but i think it has proved just how large of a role it plays when technology starts to be visibly affective in children that are not even in kindergarten yet. In this class i want to be able to understand how children learn so quickly about growing technology and how i can keep up to date with the things they learn on their own time from technology.