Final Project: Character Blogs

Character Blog Matrix

This Language Arts lesson plan focuses on students creating a character blog for a novel of their choosing.  To make this lesson plan more technologically integrative, I adapted the lesson plan to include more technology.  I used exclusively only resources I compiled from the technology inventory I created in a previous exercise.  The original lesson plan detailed only a blog to be created by the students.  For those students who do not excel in writing, I adapted the lesson to also creating a video diary for the character.  In this way, the five or six session lesson integrates more than one form of technology.  I aimed to have students use technology on a personal level, as well as a cooperative level.  They use technology here to communicate, and to accomplish a common goal.  Any adaptions made are bolded.

Session 1:

Row one encompasses the introductory portion of the lesson plan. Students will choose a character from a novel that they wish to mimic for a blogging/video diary project.  Utilizing the novel, they will map out the events, choosing four significant events that they will discuss in their blogs or videos.  As a class, we will discuss the elements of novels that cause characters to be who they are.  We will compile a list on the board for students to see. Students will begin a Webquest worksheet.  They will be searching through Blogger for blogs and what message each blog conveys through its design and posts.  For those who do not finish the worksheet, it will be homework.

 Session 2, 3 and 4:

Rows two, three and four function as research into the students’ blogs.  Those that choose to do a video diary will post their entries onto a Blogger site, so this still applies to them.  In row two, students will utilize their novel and the four main events they chose to begin writing reactions for their chosen characters.  Those that chose blogging will begin to write journal entries right onto Blogger, reacting to events in the novel just like their character would.  Those with the video diary project will begin writing their scripts in a similar way, and may even begin to record their diaries utilizing the school’s webcams if available, or a camera I supply, or one they can bring in.

Row three details the students’ incorporation of the blogging site’s capabilities.  The narratives/scripts that the students have written must correspond with the components of their blog.  Attention to detail here is important, because parts such as the blog’s background, must match the character’s personality.  If students choose to incorporate pictures into their character’s blog, the pictures must also relate.  Their goal is to create an authentic blog their character would create based on how they analyzed their character’s development.

Row four incorporates the first assessment portion of the lesson.  By the end of the fourth lesson, students must have completed at least three main entries or videos to ensure the students are on track.  This checkpoint will be an opportunity for the students to go over with me what they are doing for their project, and to ensure they are remaining as true to character as they can.  I will read over some of their scripts or blog posts, posting feedback on their pages.

Session 5 and 6:

In row five students will have partners.  Working with these partners, the students will be able to identify portions of the blog that need to be corrected.  At the beginning of session 5, I will have a presentation detailing what sorts of things to look out for while the students are reading their blog.  I will provide them with a checklist, and project it onto the screen for those who are more visual learners.

Row six incorporates another assessment portion of the lesson.  After the students go around and look at each other’s blogs (video and blog posts) they will have the opportunity to revise their work.  They will use the worksheet from the Peer editing portion of the lesson in order to strengthen their blogs.  When they have finished they finished editing, they must post a general reaction to their experience with blogging on a group discussion board in order to reflect on their use of technology and what they have learned about their character.

For the final row, students will have the opportunity to view other’s work.  Using a blog rating worksheet, students will walk around to other students’ work and either listen or read their character blog.  Students will decide if reading or watching the blogs makes them feel like they are actually in that character’s shoes.  This will serve as another portion of the assessment for the lesson, to see if students were able to accomplish the task of creating a character blog.  Students will take into account the blog as a whole, taking a look at elements such as the background, music etc.  To reflect, students will comment on at least five peers’ blogs and describe how and why things worked or didn’t work.

Teachers Can Learn from Technology Too

Something I have definitely learned in this class is the potential that technology has in the classroom.  I have always been thinking of how technology can help the students learn, but I never thought of it to fill my needs as an educator.  Technology is an invaluable source of learning for teachers everywhere.  So I went on a little research spree and I discovered www.webenglishteacher.com.  In this website there are plenty of resources to help teachers.  Everything from normal lesson to technology integration lessons that can be found here.  While it is important for our students to be users of technology, we must also be apt at using the resources, and technological inventory readily available for us at our future schools.  Take a look at the hyperlink at the some of the examples of the ways that teachers are integrating technology into their classrooms.  Some of them are ways I would never have thought.  Every teacher stands alone in his or her classroom, but we are connected by a network of resources that we can all use and share to reach our common goal of education.

Why Use Technology?

This course details why educators should use technology in their classrooms.  All semester, though, we have been forming out own reasons as to why we should use certain kinds of technology.  I found a video online that spells out the top ten reason WHY we should do certain things in the classroom.

Right away, the first comment the video made caught my attention because it is something that we have heard before.  Teachers are not going to be replaced by technology, but teachers who do not use technology will be replaced by those teachers that DO use technology.  This resonated with me because we heard this before in one of the other interactivities.  Those teachers that do not use technology will be left behind.  Aside from that, here is the ten reasons the video talks about, and to me, they seem pretty reasonable and obvious.  It made me think, why shouldn't I use technology?

1) Students love it.
2) It engages the four key elements of learning.
3) Professional development reasons.
4) It makes life easier for us!
5) It improves test scores.
6) Helps students with low attention spans.
7) Learn from the experts.
8) Encourages homework.
9) Saves money.
10) Remove obstacles.

If anyone is interested in listening to what the video has to say about each of these, here it is:

Apps in the classroom

iPad as a Smartboard? 

My last post was about how we must use discretion about when to incorporate technology into the classroom; however, today's post brings about an instance where I think technology is making a great leap, and should be included into the classroom.

For those users with an iPad, there is a new app called Paper.  Paper works similarly to a journal or a notebook.  It lets you draw or take notes.  The article stated that, "one might be devoted to handwritten notes during meetings, a second could serve as your virtual napkin to sketch out drawings and a third can be used to storyboard a new ad campaign."

With all of the different templates that are useable, the potential for this app is infinite!  The reason I wanted to share the news about this app, is because it reminds me of a mini smartboard.  With the tap of a screen, a student can email their notes, share with friends, and on social media.  It takes interactive learning to a whole new level, because now, if you miss a class, you can get the exact replica of a student's notes in an instant.  Students can submit notes to teachers for notebook checks, and can also serve as other formative assessment tools.

To use this, it does assume that every student has access to an iPad or iPhone, and in a perfect world, everyone does.  Some schools provide their students with these tools, and some students are fortunate enough to have one.  As a teacher, it is imperative that we make ourselves familiar with the most innovative, and newest technology so we are not left behind.  Apps like this one, lets us help our students turn recreational devices into tools for learning.  There are a plethora of others apps out there that help students in the academic setting as well, and we as educators can be the link between fun and learning.

E-Readers used to grade essays?

 Facing a Robo-Grader? Just Keep Obfuscating Mellifluously

This article in the New York Times caught my eye immediately.  There is a computer developed that can be used to electronitcally grade essays without the need of a human!  As an English teacher, one of the forms of assessment I would be using would be essays, but what would be the point of having teachers if a computer could grade the work for them? I was immediately skeptical about the E-rater as it is called, because an essay is not black or white.

Upon reading further, I discovered that, "the substance of an argument doesn’t matter...as long as it looks to the computer as if it’s nicely argued."  The student could completely lie, saying something along the lines of "King Kong climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower; however, because of his great size, he was required to take the elevator to accommodate for the weight."  The sentence is grammatically correct, and complex.  To the trained teacher's eye, the sentence is nonsense, but to the E-rater, the sentence is literary genius.

The reason the E-rater is getting so much attention is because it "can grade 16,000 essays in 20 seconds."  A little ridiculous if I may say so myself.  The E-rater may be efficient, but it is not appropriate to use, especially when trying to teach students how to appropriately write.  The E-rater can give feedback on craft, but not on content, because it cannot measure the facts.  I wanted to post this summary and analysis of this article because I think this is a great example of how using discretion when incorporating technology into the classroom is beneficial.  As a future educator, I cannot see myself being a proponent of such a technology, especially while it is not perfected.

Happy Earth Day, Everyone!

Earth Day Games for Kids

USA Today is my Sunday newspaper of choice.  Not only because it is the only one delivered right to me, but because it does a great job at reporting smaller stories that The New York Times or other larger newspapers do not.  Today while I was on the USA Today website, this article really caught my eye.  I love video games, and when an opportunity arises for video games to be used in an educational setting I jump all over the opportunity.

These games strategically combine fun, fast-paced graphics with facts towards living a greener lifestyle.  This synergistic effect is a prime example of incidental learning.  Students are learning one concept while doing something else. Incidental learning is a great tool to use in the classroom, especially when the subject matter being presented is boring to the students.  The incidental learning will distract them from the actual target objective, while still learning.  The games in the article cost money, but educators can adapt this learning strategy into any material and formulate specialized games or tasks for specific topics.  Using technology in this way is just another example of how using multimodal forms of educating in the classroom can bolster learning!

Pineapples Don't Have Sleeves

Pineapples Don't Have Sleeves

The phrase mentioned above is found on a standardized test.  the article is quite interesting because it demonstrates what happens when active students meet ineffective assessment.  this phrase confused students, which sparked them o take action because they thought that it was crazy that a standardized test THEY paid for would contain something they could not understand.  Students began to ridicule the exam, making a joke out of the expression.  I found this interesting because my Assessment class is currently looking at how to create effective assessments.  I think that this instance serves as a warning for teachers everywhere.  We are charged with a responsibility to make assessments clear to students.  We always should keep that in the back of our heads, and sometimes the students don't realize that we hold this power until they take the exam.  Therefore, it is very important that we take preventative measures and try to create the most effective assessment for them that we can.  If we learn that an assessment is not effective as in this case, then we must use that as a diagnostic tool, and create a better exam.  This process is repeated until the exam has been made as most effective as possible.  If you have time, I would suggest reading this short article about the dangers of creating assessments.

Interactivity #5

Lesson Plan Analysis with NETS-S

 

      The teacher I interviewed for my interactivity is employed as a full-time English teacher at Camden County Technical School. She was actually very knowledgeable and proactive in incorporating the standards. I discovered quickly that her district was not pushing for the NETS-S just yet, but the NETS-T had already begun their entrance into the school.

      

Her school had begun to implement the NETS into their school.  She explained that at the rate things were developing, it would take the school about 2 years to reach full completion of implementation of these standards.  She said teachers at her school have begun to model proficiency in technology.  Every lesson that they need to teach must use some form of technology.  These technologies can include anything from projectors to online tools to proficiency with Microsoft.  The skills they learn in the classroom must be skills that enhance real life skills in the outside world.  It is interesting that the school is pushing the standards, but not the district yet.  She said this means that not all of the teachers in the school have become familiar with these standards yet and are not making technology a part of their lessons as they should.  These standards help bolster the level of interest for students especially in an English Classroom where students may not be fond of reading.  For example, the first standard is to Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning 
and Creativity.  Incorporating technology into lessons that students find boring may provide some intrinsic motivation for the students.  They may want to actually complete projects or assignments because they deem it “fun” and do it because they enjoy it.

When we began talking about the standards, I was definitely surprised.  She seemed to be very knowledgeable about what was going on.  She easily provided me with the path that the school wanted her to go on; however, then she began to talk about things that are needed in order to make these standards work.  She said that something important is for teachers to know what resources they have.  She said that training was an important aspect of this implementation that is needed in order for it to succeed.  This made me think of two things: 1) Teachers are not being proactive in their quest to provide the students with the most comprehensive teaching.  Why would the teachers not be aware of the resources provided to them? As a future educator, I would actively seek out this information myself; even before school wide training sessions were held.  I would especially make sure that other teachers were knowledgeable and helping their students to the best of their abilities. 2) Technology is needed in the classroom.  Those standards aren’t only there to be set requirements, but they also provide excellent support.  We as educators should incorporate any support we are given into our planning.  In this way, we can provide students with a more synergistically valuable education.

Technology in Use

I wanted to share an example of a way in which students can use technology in a language arts classroom.  For this project, the students found examples of poetic devices in popular songs today.  This is a great way to make learning these devices accessible to students because students can relate to the pop culture references. 

The students make great use of the internet, and video recording device.  The ultimate product is a video encompassing definitions and examples of all the devices they learned.  Technology integration worked wonders for this lesson.

Interactivity #4

Lesson Plan Map Analysis

I chose this lesson plan because utilizing an online blog is great medium through which to practice some creative writing.  A blog that every group member has access to is a space that allows for great group collaboration, because the final product is something tangible, created solely by the students.  It also demonstrates the accessibility of online technologies.  If the students had access to a computer and internet, they could access their project from anywhere.  If they didn’t have access to those tools, the lesson plan gave them options to do work in class.

Overall I thought the lesson plan had little to no gaps.  The lesson plan did a great job channeling what the students know to help them produce an online blog.  They learned HTML coding, as well as how to navigate blogs, to ultimately help their creative writing style.  I think where there was a gap was when it came to examples.  The United States is not an example of a Utopian society they may find in literature.  I think the lesson plan needs to incorporate more literature that helps target the learning standards.  Incorporating Utopian examples from more literature will bolster the how much it targets the standards.

Utilizing a blog site is essential to achieve the curriculum goal because it allows for students to simulate the collaboration necessary to establish any community.  Students could have filled information out on a poster, but using a blog site they could be anywhere, and work on the project.  It allows for a more fluid group work experience than just an in class assignment could provide.  Since each member can make their own blog post, the Utopian society becomes a group effort with personal touches.

Adaptations, adaptations, adaptations

Something I have come across recently is the strong need for adaptations in the classroom.  I do not mean adaptations for specific students.  When I say adaptations, I mean thinking on your feet--improvisation.  What happens when a projector doesn't work?  What happens if the computer you wanted to use isn't playing a video?  Most relevant, what happens when not everyone in your classroom has access to technology that is needed in classroom participation?

Teaching is like acting.  Everything you do in front of the classroom is a reaction to something.  You teach your lesson the way you know your students learn best, and you also assign them homework that they need.  So when something goes awry in the classroom it would make sense to follow this path.  If you're teaching and the projector doesn't work.  There better be a back up lesson, or a way to still teach the lesson without the projector.  I experienced this in one of my classes held in University Hall.  The projector failed to turn on, and so the professor cancelled class.  This was wasted time that could have more appropriately been used had he moved on to another subject or done the lesson with adaptations.

When students lack the appropriate tools to participate in the classroom, it seems that there is nothing that a teacher can do remedy that situation; however, there are many things that the teacher can do.  In my classroom, I would allow for time in the classroom for the students to work on a project or a paper if they didn't have a computer at home.  If students need dictionaries, or tools they can only obtain at the library or at school, then I would assign library time.  If a student can't have access to these tools at home, then it is the teacher's responsibility to make an adaptation in the lesson plans to help the student lacking that access.  It is important that a teacher is flexible, and ready to change the lesson on the spot.  This is something that is important for a teacher to know because of the unpredictability of the events of the classroom.

"Social Media Offer Classes a New Feed"

I was perusing USA Today while baking cookies, and this headline caught my eye immediately.  The article began by saying something we all know:  Those students that obsess with social media while doing work tend to not do as well on quizzes.  But an even more recent study has shown that those teachers that incorporate students' social media such as Twitter may actually be helping the students learn!  I think what resonated within me most is that one of the professors said "social media is here and we as educators have to acknowledge that."  I think this comment is what makes classes such as these so valuable.  Technology and the future of technology is inevitable.  Trying to avoid technologies and social media is a fruitless effort.  I feel like incorporating technologies that are relevant to the students and not just useful will provide a synergistic effect that will give them the best possible education.  The article also gave an example that one professor is doing.  Jen Lee Reeves of University of Missouri actually has her students tweet about the lesson during class.  When she goes back to check her phone it is all there.  I like this way of incorporating technology into class because students like Twitter, and it is a fun and innovative way to get students to collaborate, or to take notes.  I think that I will use something like this when I become a teacher at a school.  It sounds to me like it is a live version of a discussion board.  Of course, within limits, I would like to use this, because I don't want to be left behind when it comes to technology and social media.  If social media is going to be present in my students' lives, I may as well use it.

Interactivity #3

Going into this project, I was with the mindset that finding technologies for teaching English would be difficult because we don’t rely on computers, or other technologies like that.  That misconception was quickly shattered when I discovered a website with many different lists, and techniques for incorporating technology into an English classroom (www.tewt.com).  I quickly learned that technology doesn’t equal electronics.  In an education setting, a technology is more like a tool.  Technologies such as Discussion boards and collaborative writing parallel the kind of work we did with this exercise.  They use group work to achieve a common end product. I was happy to see that we included Google Docs in our technologies, because we won’t know the potential of technologies until we actually try them ourselves.  One of my favorite technologies that I found was a comic book.  A comic book is such a great way for students to analyze a story map because it incorporates visuals, and also the literacy aspect that every student has to master.  The most interesting find was that technologies are not housed solely within an electronic device.  A technology such as Wordle (a website that formulates word clouds) is an exercise that can be done without a computer.  Then there were technologies such as Ning and Edmodo (educational social media).  With these technologies, a student could create a profile for a famous author or character and practice their literacy skills again!  The potential for the use of technologies is infinite and requires minimal effort to incorporate it in an effective way.  Now that I have accumulated a list of different technologies I can use in my classroom, this list has become a technology for me to use.

Interactivity #2

Instructional television seems to have been the most influential form of technology during this particular time period.  The entire clip seemed to revolve around its evolution, usage and benefits.  This leads me to question as an English teacher, what place would this have in my classroom today?  From what I could gather in the video, the instructional television was the center of learning.  If learning came from this media, what role did books play when all learning centered on watching television?  This reduces the importance of reading and analyzing in an English classroom because televisions are made the most important teaching tool.  Since the nation wanted to stress science and math instead of English, was diverting attention from literature to television the government’s method to accomplish this task.  Technology does not always have to be beneficial in the classroom, especially if the instructor does not know how to properly make use of the material to connect with their subject area.

            Television/film has had a great impact in teaching English because of it’s difficulty in usage.  Many teachers of the past used television incorrectly.  They would just use “TV programs as a time-filler or show a movie as a reward for good behavior rather than use it as a text for critical analysis” (Domine 46).  Even when television took an educational turn with Channel One news, the teachers had “no control over the programming, and couldn’t really use it as part of the classroom curriculum” (46).  Historic films can be made objective; however, when it comes to transferring literature to the big screen, accuracy is sacrificed, as classic canon is traded for Hollywood action shots that will generate revenue.  Students have to make a decision because television entices them to watch more exciting films rather than the accurately depicted ones. For those of you that have seen Easy A, Emma Stone’s character explains how one movie version of the Scarlet Letter is accurate, while the other one just has Demi Moore talk “in a fake British Accent and [take] a lot of baths.”  She continues to say that saying that this version “was freely adapted would be a bit of an understatement.” Grace’s mother said that “the more the students liked a film, the less they learned from it” (44).  When we show our students books turned films, are we showing them what the author intended to see, or what consumerism forced the book to become?  Its not whether the book is better than the movie, but how accurate does the movie portray the book?

Even when educational programming was attempted, the interview states that it was very limited; sometimes broadcasts would be of music recitals, how to pronounce words in French, or how to correctly brush teeth (45).  But how does that show themes in a book, characterization, or how to analyze plot?  Television can be applied for many different materials; however, English teachers are very limited in the way they can utilize this technology.  Oftentimes, as stated above, television is used incorrectly.

(I complied the images together to make this image and added the quote as well)

WORKS CITED

Domine, Vanessa. "A Social History of Media, Technology and Schooling." The National Association for Media Literacy Education’s Journal of Media Literacy Education 1 (2009): 42-52. JMLE. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .

Domine, Vanessa. "Rethinking Technology in Schools Primer." New York: Peter Lang, 2009. Print.

Easy A. Dir. Will Gluck. Perf. Emma Stone. Screen Gems, 2010. DVD

IMAGES FOUND USING GOOGLE:

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 

Boy standing in front of door 

Alice in Wonderland Movie Poster 

Just Too Much Information

I stumbled across this article while doing research for another class, and was taken aback by the relevance that it has to my life at this time.  Moments before finding this article, I had read Dr. Domine's posting about online professionalism, and I found Pamela Paul's article in The New York Times about posting too much personal information on the internet. 

"There are things I'd rather just not know about you," Paul says to open her article; she complains how people in this age share too much information that does not need to be shared.  She compares the shared information to a "lodged piece of corn," never to be unseen or forgotten.

With this in mind, as future educators we must proceed with utmost caution regarding the material that we post to our Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.  (you take your pick on your favorite form of social media); however, no matter the playing field, the rules never change.  Once something is posted on the internet, it can no longer be removed.  It is important for us to make the right decisions about how we want to be perceived by others in a professional environment. 

Perception is the key to success anywhere.  Perception is what gives a potential employer their first impression of us.  Paul says that something we believe to be "witty, original and winning often comes across to the rest of the world as sloppily confessional, self-promotional or trite."  We may be doing postings for our personal enjoyment, and self-expression, but we cannot control who views our material, or what their interpretation of our beliefs are.

We must not only monitor what we post ourselves, but also what others post on our walls or profiles.  Walls and profiles are a direct affiliation of the owner of said object.  The article also quotes Adam Werbach; he says that “People will post things on my Facebook walls — political statements that are just strange — religious rants that don’t reflect my values,” but because of the liberty that the internet allots to people, he cannot control the views of his friends and that may form a misconception to anyone who reads his posts.

Technology may not only be a tool that could be detrimental to a student's learning ability, it can also be detrimental to the new teacher seeking employment.  Just like technology can be beneficial to a student when it is learned to be used properly, so can technology aid the teacher in the classroom.  Not only do students need to obtain a literacy for technology so that there is an equal balance between social and educational technology, but so does the future employee.  We need to reach a point where we either don't use technology for social media purposes and have "TMI" on our profiles, or learn--like the student--how to create a balance between technology for educational purposes and entertainment. 

Needless to say, the information she covers is quite haunting to think about as it relates to the future job hunt. I sit here writing this now, thinking frantically: Is there something on my Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr (the list is ongoing) that would make me an unfavorable candidate for a job?  The profile we created was our responsibility to maintain, and now it is our responsibility to make sure that it does not stand in the way of us getting a job.  While the article has a hint of humor, the matters it covers are very very real, and very applicable to us.

If anyone is interested in reading the article, here is the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/fashion/tmi-i-dont-want-to-know.html?ref=technology&pagewanted=all

Interactivity #1: Technology and Communication

Accessibility is a key concept when it comes to any teaching situation.  As an educator it is important to make anything in your classroom—homework, projects, notes—easily accessible to the students.  In cases like Olivia, her lack of access to a computer hinders her ability to complete certain tasks. If something is going to be assigned that requires a computer, it is pertinent to allow time in the classroom for students to work on the computer just in case there is no access at home.  A teacher can’t assume that a student can immediately access a computer at home.  This lack of computer causes inaccessibility for the education of students.  An educator must understand the importance of using technology, but must make accommodations when needed.

            1) Text Messaging: Labeling text messaging as number one is an understatement; I first discovered text messaging in the 8^th grade, and would go over my text messaging limits by the hundreds.  In college, I have sent and received upwards of 10,000 messages per month. Text messaging has helped my life because it allows me keep contact with long distance friendships.  I can instantly send a text, and have a full conversation with anyone no matter where I am.  On the other hand, it has hurt me because while I love talking to people, I have become less inclined to call someone on the phone because I can just send them a text message.  And I do miss late night phone calls, but those have turned into late night text sessions.  I do not believe texting has severely affected my ability to speak to others, but it has allowed me to avoid interactions with others by hiding behind a phone.

2) Social Media: I have been using websites like Myspace, Facebook and Twitter since the 7^th grade. Through Myspace I learned HTML coding, and other computer language, like binary code, that has helped me in some of my classes.  Through Facebook and Twitter, I have access to so much news, and pop culture information that I don’t need to leave a single page in order to find out the most current events or celebrity gossip.  While these social networking sites have helped me connect with more people, increased my knowledge of internet ins and outs, and opened new ways for me to access information, they come at a price.  When it comes to getting work done, these sites all get in the way.  Just like texting, it seems that the sites can’t be put down, and are a tool for procrastination.

3) Blogging: Blogging, just like the social media sites, have opened new doorways for me when it comes to communication.  Not only has blogging strengthened what the social media sites taught me, but it also allows me to keep a journal of sorts.  I love to write, but being so busy, I can’t always force myself to sit down with a notebook and pen to write what I want.  With blogging, since I always have my computer, I can sit down anywhere and post a random thought, or share a picture I like with others. This forms an online journal that allows me to practice my writing.  Blogging has made my hobbies more accessible.

After watching “Learning to Change, Changing to Learn,” I was taken aback by all of the innovative ways that those students used technology.  Maybe it wasn’t really innovative, but it was innovative for me because I had never thought like that.  When the student mention that “writing and reading have been taken over by technology” I quickly returned to my previous paragraph in which I mentioned how I keep an online journal.  The one student made the connection between online gaming and in-class group work especially impressed me.  Who knew there were so many transferable skills I was learning by playing Call of Duty online.  The one girl mentioned that her phone was attached to her body—a third arm—and that is precisely how I feel.  Another mentioned how his website is an extension of himself.  Through Myspace, facebook, and twitter and even blogging, my personality and interests shine through.  The one student was right:  Technology is “paving the way for us to move forward as a species and a civilization.” Keeping in mind students like Olivia, and students from “Learning to Change, Changing to Learn,” it is important to maintain a healthy balance between using technology so students aren’t left behind.