Ragin’ Kids

Today my lunch time conversation was with a group of four year olds and I have to admit, kids pay waaaay more attention to the things around them than you expect. I had a good ten minute conversation about Spongebob Squarepants, Goosebumps, and then interesting enough, had a good laugh when one of the boys randomly announced “I am Barack Obama and I approve this message!”

So I have determined three things:

1. My mom is actually right when she said that kids pick up everything we say.

2. These kids are just waaaaaay smarter than expected.

3. Maybe these kids just sit in front of the TV too much when at home.

Who is alive online? Many old people aren’t, for they claim they don’t even know how to use those darn computers, but most people have some existence online. We express ourselves with web pages, and many business owners who advertise will have information leak out onto the web. Speaking of businesses, webpage builders are quite an array of businesses. Myspace, Facebook, Diigo, Netvibes, and numerous other sites are establishing themselves as entities on the web itself. I wonder where people actually meet to discuss these sites, and how much of those management meetings are done online. The most perplexing and advanced concept of these businesses is the fact they are completely online! There is nothing I can grab or touch, but I can view plenty. The style and format of new online businesses is unreal. The ability to communicate through cyberspace opens up a doorway of business transaction that never existed until the last two decades or so. Businesses in the non-cyber world will utilize the internet whole heartedly to improve their marketing. The internet changed everything.

It seems like everyone in my group wrote about Facebook, so I will too. Facebook has a more organized and systematic way of finding people and avoiding them as well. Before Facebook, Myspace was the king of webpages. Upon getting a Facebook, I was shocked that it researched my entire high school class when I signed up. The style of finding people and the part of the program that shows you people you may know is very different and new. Myspace never offered that, but friend requests from disguised porn sites and online dating sites find my Myspace inbox all too easily. Facebook never gives me requests from weird, possibly fake strangers so when I get a friend request on Facebook, it now means more to me and I get more excited to see who it is. My hopes are never up anymore with Myspace, as it is usually a half naked picture of some girl I will never meet but who wants to take my money. Facebook also has millions of applications created by people throughout the world that can be added to your profile. I personally like a set of online games called “Karma” games. It is very inviting to all ages actually, but younger and older people both use it. I often can tell when my opponent is younger, as younger participants will usually quit when they start losing. Once people hit high school, they usually have enough competitive honor to stick it out and finish the game. I play blackboard football and alien exterminator. Both games serve up a lot of entertainment. I also use a makeshift online dating application called “Flirtable,” and I have received messages from women in the age range eighteen to twenty four from all over the United States, as well as the world. I never thought women would actually utilize the site to talk to me, but I was proven wrong. Facebook has more options than many other webpage sites, and is therefore more popular. I still use Myspace too.

When I think about literacy, writing and reading skills is what comes to mind. After reading the article on semiotic domains It has come to my attention that images, symbols, graphs, diagrams, artifacts, and many other visual symbols are significant in the literate world. The article focuses on video games. I never thought one could be literate in the video game world until now. Just like a comic or comic books, video games has it own set of skills and symbols one must get used to in order to understand what to do and how to be successful in the game. We are constantly learning new literacy’s as we progress in life. In this class for example we have learned a new literacy called netvibes. Never before this website would I know what a widget was and after opening and creating my own page on netvibes I now know what all the symbols on that page mean. This class overall is a new literacy to me. I am becoming more literate in the field of computers and web pages. I think it is especially important for someone in my generation to become highly literate in the domain of computer and technology.

When I was reading this article I thought it was interesting how the author said rap music, high fashion advertising, modernist painting, etc. are all under the literacy domain. When I am listening to music I am not realizing I am in a different literate world. I just thought overall the whole article was really interesting.

There is a saying that is generally true, and that is there a nice people and, you know, A-holes everywhere. Some people like to party and meet lots of people, others like to have smaller groups of friends that they do things with, and there is an infinite amount of personality attributes one can have. Specifically, things can be probed at and observed, and an interesting spectrum of people is the shy and the not so shy. Even more specifically is the behavior in cyberspace compared to natural verbal exchange. If a room full of people talk all day, they will realize who is outgoing, who is too outgoing and socially awkward, who is very quiet and sweet, and who is quiet and bottled up angrily. Of course, all of these judgments may not be a hundred percent on par, as moods and life events can make people unbalanced in their thoughts, warping the image they normally portray to others. So many thoughts feelings and emotions can be observed in this real natural environment. Not that cyberspace isn’t real, as the communications still exists, but in a text message conversation through the computer or phone, aspects of emotion and the overall pressure of having someone staring at your face and judging you are not existent. The lack of this pressure as well as the ability to think together a complete thought over a completely self regulated and private system causes the people who may be considered “shy” to come out of there shell and say something. Whether those bottled up thoughts tend to be positive or negative depends on the person, and maybe the mood, but the base personality trait of being reserved finds a more interactive role in the text message world. Many people who are shy and not outspoken will actually prefer this method of communication.

I personally only like to use text message if I am at work or school, as I feel verbal conversations over the phone or in person get things done much, much faster. I can type at the speed of an AIM junkie, but I can talk faster. I do not react different to any form of communication, but I can talk faster. Just keep it simple please.

      What happens when you mix a two year old and a 3 year old with a 22 year old babysitter at eight in the morning on a Saturday?  I’ll tell you what happens.  Absolute chaos.  I worked in a daycare for over a year and developed many relationships with the parents of the children in my classrooms. The parents of two of the children in my school especially enjoyed how well I worked with their children, and asked me to baby-sit after I left my job.  I have been babysitting these two girls for over a year now and every time I go over, it’s another adventure.  These girls are adorable, sweet, and have two of the biggest personalities I’ve ever seen at such a young age.  But they can definitely be a handful.  Good thing I know how to handle those two little buggers, but not this Saturday.

            I went over the house exhausted from putting in an 11-hour shift the night before at my waitressing job, and I did not want to get out of bed at 7 am.  I got to the house and the girls seemed calm and very distracted by the television.  I was excited that I’d be able to relax for a little while they were enthralled by Barbie’s Princess and the Pauper.  But as soon as mom left, the kids were up to their old tricks.  We played some games, I read them a couple of stories, and I tried to teach them some new things about shapes.  When they became restless, I suggested we play dance party.  That lasted about five minutes.  Then my worst fear happened.

 I took the two girls upstairs to get dressed and they teamed up to go against me!  A two and three year old discussed in secret how they could make me upset.  I thought they loved me!  The 3-year old told her younger sister to take all the clothes out of the closet and throw them on the floor.  When she started doing that, I told her to stop immediately.  The 3-year old told me that her sister “could do what she wants.  It’s our house.”  When I told them I was the adult and I made the rules and said making a mess was unacceptable, she told me she never wanted me to baby-sit again.  And you should’ve seen the dirty looks I got!  The two girls held hands and walked away from me.  They wouldn’t speak to me the rest of the day.  Talk about a major downer.  I felt discouraged and sad after I left the house.  

That incident taught me a lesson about my future in teaching.  Sometimes I may have a student who does not like me because I will be forced to scold them or simply because they don’t like an assignment I have given.  Some teachers don’t have respect from their students and therefore they have no control over them.  It is extremely important to maintain good classroom management skills and through my personal experiences, I have learned that at any age, children could change their attitudes at the drop of a hat.  It’s very important to maintain that you are the adult in charge and you have to gain control.  Show them you mean business without being too harsh.  It is the only way to gain your students trust and support; I’ve learned that the hard way.

            Technology in the advanced spectrum is a realm of mystery as it appears to us, but to others it may seem more of a reality than a figment of their imaginations.  The people who create websites and applications for the computer, the creator of a Personal Computer or a Mac operating system, or Mr. Bill Gates himself, are very aware of what is going on with the computer and how it functions for our use.  We mere human beings, the people who use the internet, and Microsoft applications, among the many other applications that exist on our computers and laptops, are simply using the machine without knowing all of its strengths and the power it holds.  As I spoke about in a previous blog, the computer is not really learning from us.  It has previously been programmed by a genius who has given the machine every function that he or she wants it to perform.

            This machine can do a wealth of different things and perform an endless amount of tasks.  The YouTube videos we viewed today in class demonstrated how amazing the people who create applications really are.  The one video showed a stick figure who climbed around the screen using different icons to perform different tasks.  It was very entertaining to watch, but I can’t imagine how someone used computer graphics to develop such a spectacle.  Along with the idea of icons, it is interesting to see how us normal people have learned what each icon means without having to be told.  We used our literacy to determine the different symbols used on different websites and in different applications.        

            Although I consider the people who make the programs and systems to be extraordinary, I will also take credit for my fellow computer operators and I being well educated and skilled enough to operate such applications.  We are also extraordinary people because we have learned how to use such complex machines.  Also, without us this technology would not flourish.  We are the consumers.  We are eager and willing to take in new knowledge and incorporate it into our daily lives so that we can continue to watch technology progress as we demand the need for bigger and better equipment.

            After reading the article Semiotic Domains:  Is Playing Video Games a “Waste of Time”, I realized that my prior opinion about video games has altered quite a bit.  I grew up an only child and had to find ways to amuse myself when my friends were not around.  I’ll never forget the Christmas I opened up my very first Nintendo gaming system.  It was like a pot of gold gleaming in the sun; bright and shiny, and blinding enough to let tears develop in my eyes.  I was overjoyed and filled with such excitement, I had to crack open one of those games and start playing.  I never would have guessed 15 years later I’d be evaluating myself during those crucial years.

            Video games have evolved so much over the years.  The gaming systems and the games they play are so technologically advanced, the kids playing nowadays are able to learn more from playing then we could have guessed.   The children are learning hand eye coordination, problem solving strategies, memorization skills, revision techniques and many other skills from operating and playing these games.  There are educational video games that children can play as well.  These games allow the child to feel as if they are not completing a task.  Instead, they feel like they are just having fun playing games they enjoy.  So to answer the question listed in the title, are playing video games a “waste of time”?  Absolutely not.  I think these games can teach a child in more ways than one and as a future educator, I can only hope my students will pick up an educational video game and learn something while having fun.  That is what we as teachers really want from our students, right?

Play on Kids!

So after sitting at work for five hours and going through a series of WHY is this kid not listening, why does that kid listen, why does that kid have to bully EVERYONE, why does this kid have random moments of just screaming his life away, I have decided, its time to figure out what makes certain kids behave the way they do, and what is the best way to get around it and work with the kid without them realizing that you’re pulling one on them, because these kids happen to be way smarter than expected.

First, the clingy kids. There is one little girl, who every time i come in, she just kind of hovers around me, hugging onto my legs or whatever she is capable of, constantly taking my hand, and so on. After a while it becomes annoying and apparently telling her to go play with her friends goes not work.

Second, the kids that just don’t get it. Don’t climb on things. Share. Don’t hit. Stop crying and wait your turn. Just stop! These are the kids where you sit back and wonder, are they not getting the right attention at home, are they serious, or do they really think its funny. They make me thankful for nap time.

Third are the cryers… my idea with them is just leave them in their own corner to cry because lets face it, nothing is going to shut them up anytime soon and they can’t always get their way. There are so many different kids with so many different personalities and its enough to drive anyone insane. Right about now its time to figure out how to figure these kids out before I go insane.

It isn’t easy being a teacher.  I know this first hand because I was a teacher at a daycare, I’ve been taught by teachers, and I have observed teachers.  Their work is unlike any other work done by a professional.  Teachers are the people who provide countless others with an opportunity to learn and grow.  I have been observing a fifth grade class for my Teaching in Learning Communities program, and I have seen many things at this school and in this classroom that provide me with a heads up on what to expect when I enter the teaching profession.
Today in the classroom I observed, the students were expected to get into three different groups and each group was to perform a different task.  One group was to independently read, the other was to read on the computer, and the third group was to learn from the book what the teacher was telling them.  At first, it seemed as if all of the students were very attentive and doing as they were told.  But after the first switch of groups, the children seemed to become uninterested and got off task very easily.  In the reading group, one student decided to ask if he could sharpen his pencil.  The teacher replied with “you don’t need a pencil to read”.  Then the same students waved his book in the air, looked around, fiddled around with something inside his desk, played with crayons, and did anything else possible other than reading.  The group on the computers started typing.  The teacher instructed them to read only so they were addressed for getting off topic.  The group with the teacher fiddled with their pencils and looked around when they were being taught.  The group work did not seem to be effective after the first switch, so it was easy to tell that they were growing bored and antsy.
When the class was asked to get together again and use manipulatives for math, everyone seemed eager to answer the questions and get the right answers.  They were excited to use their own white boards to write down answers to the questions the teacher asked.  Everyone raised his or her hand when asked what the answer was.  From this experience, I learned that using manipulatives with students, especially ones at an elementary level, is the best way to teach a lesson.  The students stay focused and on track and as a teacher, it is very rewarding to have an entire class enthused about a subject that you are teaching.