Digital Upgrade

Education Needs a Digital-Age Upgrade

1.       I think my teachers could have prepared me better by using a lot more technology in their teaching. Such as doing assignments through the computer and also doing their lectures by computer and slide shows. Also by putting the important things on a website like Moodle so that kids could always have access to them.

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.       I know for a fact that I will have to use computers because that’s how everything is now. I think so far Oakland has done a very f\good job of preparing me for that because almost everything is online and that helps me get use to all of the new websites and technology.

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.       I feel that I can write more comfortable on the computer just because its more private and I can keep mostly to myself, at least until I’m done writing.

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.       If I were I teacher I would try to use technology the most I could. I would do online assignments such as ALEKS and maybe do something in class with online assignments or maybe answering questions through a text or use the i>Clickers like some teachers already do.

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.       I agree with what Virginia Heffernan is saying in this article. I agree that a lot of the jobs that we have now won’t be here or won’t be the same when we get older. There is going to be more technology involved in everything we do by then that it will be impossible to avoid. So we need to start now in preparing for these future jobs and even for the ways that people will be teaching in the future.

Literacy Timeline

My Literacy Timeline

When I was younger I always loved reading books. The first book I remember my mom and grandma always reading to me was the creation of the sleepy bear dunes. It was a mythical story about how it was made and either my mom or my grandma would read it to me almost every night.

I also loved another book that just for the pictures in it.  It showed all of these cool animals and how they would live. I never could remember the name of the book I just knew it as the book with the animals in it.

I started to like books early on because of pictures mostly. The understanding of what those pictures were and what they meant came later on with the help of my mom. So I loved to see all the animals and funny pictures in all the little kids books that we had.

As I grew older I began to read quite a bit. I loved reading mystery and adventure books. Books like the Michigan Chillers and American Chillers series. I’ve read almost every one of them in both series.

But later on around 7^th and 8^th grade I started not to read as much. Playing sports became a bigger and more exciting thing for me to do. So with school and sports, the time for reading just wasn’t there anymore.

Once high school came around I didn’t really read at all anymore. The only things I read were the books that 

I had to for school and they didn’t interest me. That made me start to not like reading.

I never had time to read anything that I wanted. I had school, sports, homework and now a job.

So now my understanding of literature/literacy started to come from watching TV and movies and also listening to music.

But now that my sports are done since I’m in college, I'm hoping to get back to reading more.

Lynda Barry Literacy Summary

Lynda Barry started off her literacy when she was young like a lot of people did. She found that she became literate by drawing pictures. She loved to draw. It made her feel good about herself and as she said, it made her feel weightless. But one day she drew a picture that got her in trouble. It was a bad picture. And from then on she always found herself asking the 2 questions. “Is this good?” and “does this suck?” She could never get that feeling back that she use to have when she drew. That feeling of weightlessness and accomplishment. She wasn’t having fun drawing anymore because of those 2 questions she always had to ask herself. But one day she finally just answered “I don’t know” to those questions and that changed everything. It showed that you don’t have to know if it’s good or not. If you like it then it can only be good. The message that I gain from Lynda’s story is that to be confident in your writing and in the topic you are writing about and you won’t have to answer those questions and doubt yourself.

Why Is Writing Important?

Writing is a very important skill to master in life. Almost every job that there is has some type of writing that needs to be done. Whether it’s writing for a newspaper or writing for research, you have to know how to write sensibly. For my career I want to work with animals. Whether its research, working at a zoo, or being a vet I’m not sure yet but all of those things require some type of writing. If I were to be a vet I would have to write down information about the animals that come in and write down what I have done and what needs to be done. If I would be doing research I would have to write down all of my research and findings. And even if I worked in a so I would probably have to keep track of what I do with the animals. That’s definitely where I would need writing and why it is important.