Hmm... Santrock

I am currently enrolled in an anthropology class with an emphasis on studying the culture of youth and young adults. The majority of our class discussion revolves around the idea of agency held by children. We talk about how children are functional members of society and serve various purposes as human beings as opposed to just being children. We also talk at length against the idea of children being open vessels, ready to be filled with the knowledge of adults. Although it is the obligation of adults to educate the youth. while reading Santrock's text book i find very little recognition of childhood agency. the majority of the information that we read seems to stem from studies done by old white guys who for some reason dubbed eligible to make the statements that they do. i suppose i do not fully understand the studies that these guys have performed but not once does it mention these scholars addressing children or asking them what they find to be the most effective for them to learn. maybe this idea is a little too extreme, but certainly children have some kind of preference in the way they would like to be educated. again i am obviously not by any means a seasoned educator of any kind, but i really think that it would be interesting to address kids and see what they feel is an effective way for themselves to be educated...

Technology in the Classroom

Throughout the course of this semester we have talked a lot about the importance and the presence of technology in the classroom. As i have continued to think about the increase in technology this day in age the more i am tempted to argue against the use of technology in schools. Obviously computers are here to stay and there is no escaping that, however i do not feel as though we, as future educators need to be necessarily concerned about catering to the technological needs of America's youth. Obviously young people use and will continue to use technology for all sorts of purposes, perhaps schools should focus more on being an outlet for kids to be more technologically hands off. The fact of the matter is that the technology of today is over simplifying tasks that were once thought to be common sense. Again, technology is going to used at great length by young people all over the world, does a place of education really need to further its use?
My other concern with an increase in technology in the classroom means that children will be exposed to even more advertisements. We are a nation of consumption and living beyond our means and over exposing our youth to technology is only going to further this dilemma. Truth is that it is impossible to open any web page without being bombarded with pop ups and advertisements for any kind of material items. This problem first arose in schools with the installation of channel one news. This is a news program geared to kids in school. The catch is, channel one news will provide your school with TVs and all sorts of technology as long as the school agrees to air their program at some point to students during the school day. Having had channel one all throughout junior and senior high i slowly began to realize advertisements and commercials make up about half of the fifteen minute program. i find channel one very suspect and see it as the foundation of the use of technology in our schools in order to pump kids full of advertisements even while they are at school.
I recently read the book Feed by MT Anderson. it is an apocalyptic novel about how corporations infect the minds of people all over the world, constantly advertising for current things that kids think are cool. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who disagrees with this blog entry.

Response to Chambliss

I can only hope that if I remain in education for forty years or more that I am still as passionate about it as Mr. Chambliss.  Honestly it is hard for me to think too far past this week, but being able to listen to a man who has been in the field that I am about to enter for more than forty years excites me quite a bit.  My only quarrel that I had with education as a career path was going to be the possible monotonous lifestyle that I am sure many teachers fall into.  It was extremely relieving to know that within the field of education there are more opportunities than just teaching.  Obviously I look forward to teaching in a language arts classroom someday but to know that there are other possible outlets put me a little more at ease.

I also really appreciated that even after 40 years in education, Mr. Chambliss still had a rather positive attitude about his career.  One of the main things I aim to do as a future English teacher is to instill in young people a love of literature.  Chambliss said something along the lines of a life in public service allows for many rewards.  And again, if I am able to turn at least a few students onto written word, that will be my reward.