LT1 Prep

• I can utilize Cindy Selfe’s article by showing the kairos of her article, and transferring her seemingly radical ideas to today. What Selfe wrote in the 90’s was seemingly unfathomable, finding a link between technology and literacy was fighting and bizarre for most educators in her day, but here we are a short 16 years later, where a classroom without technology would be bizarre and frightening. What is important here is the ever-changing dynamics of literacy and technology. Where this technological path will lead is unclear, but there’s no stopping it. Just like those opposed to technology in Selfe’s 1999 article, many people today are wary of the new links between technology, literacy, race and sexuality. However, as proven by the changes in education and technology since the publication of Selfe’s article, resistance is futile.

• My specific subtopic of my LT1 will be analyzing the association between technology and literacy and race and sexuality. The same way that we can no longer ignore the importance of social media and MSGC to literacy, we need to pay some well-deserved attention to how sexuality and race affect literacy, as well.

• Race and sexuality are such hot-button issues these days, as an educator you simply can’t afford to ignore them. Despite this fact, however, educators everywhere do. Phrases such as “I’m color-blind” or “my students’ sexuality is none of my business” are running rampant in classrooms everywhere, and are complete and total lies. I want my readers to stop “ignoring” these issues and face them head on, incorporating them into their classrooms and acknowledging their importance in teaching literacy. I want my readers to think about the long-term effects of how they react and teach, and incorporate these issues. I want my readers to believe that these topics are of critical concern, not only in education but in day to day life. Why? Because these issues have been swept under the rug for too long, and our students are suffering as a consequence of this neglect.

• My immediate audience would be educators, specifically in the secondary education field. I feel as though this topic would be good for most teachers in the States to become familiar with, but maybe I’ll just keep this paper Georgia specific, for now. The age limit would have to be late twenties and up, because that’s the starting age of most educators. As for socioeconomic standing, I don’t think that really matters much, because teachers can be from any background. However, statistically, teachers are white, middle-class females, so I’ll try to bear this in mind. 

Bringing it All Together

• Personally, I see each of these topics as building on one another and extremely interrelated. Relating these 4 reading is relating like soil to roots to trees to leaves, each are different but inherently connected and interdependent. 
• Selfe's reading gave me a wonderful basis and history of the ideas that we covered with the following 4 readings. It's important to not overlook the time a few years ago when such issues were not as prevalent or the same as they are now. History should never be forgotten, and the history of something so relevant and technological literacy is not one so easily dismissed. The other readings helped me to understand just a few of technology's roles in the classroom, specifically social media, race and sexuality. While these topics may seem irrelevant to the public or private school classroom, in this day and age they are always popping up and must be dealt with accordingly. Together, all 5 articles opened my eyes to the somewhat perilous beauty of technology in the classroom. 
• Becoming a teacher is tough, despite popular opinion (yes, you are correct in sensing that I'm a bit bitter on the subject). The problems that teachers face daily are endless, and are related to every problem imaginable: sexuality, race, drugs, bullying, religion, politics, the list is endless. The ways in which an educator handles these issues is where the significance lies, however. The education classes that I have taken so far discuss these topics, and I would have loved to have read these pieces before those classes. Most of the time I feel as though every class that I take, core or pertaining to my major, are vital to my journey as an educator. Reading articles like these help me to further understand the world and issues that I will encounter as a teacher, and I love new knowledge, so I wish I had known it before I had even begun college.
• Most of my former teachers need to read all of these articles. Growing up in the south means that I encountered lots of ignorant, dogmatic folks who didn't want anything to do with my "new-age heresy." While there were exceptions, for the most part my primary and secondary education was filled with the same religious and political views that I personally find to be very out-dated. The readers of these articles don't need to necessarily adopt all of the principles listed in the works, but maybe just have their eyes opened and become a little bit more open minded. 

Alexander Reading

According to Alexander, teachers and students of writing should consider sexuality in a networked classroom because it offers opportunities, information, and insight that may never be gathered otherwise. Throughout the article, Alexander keeps coming back to the same theme of opening student’s minds to see how culturally and socially conditioned their world is. Due to straight privilege (privilege defined here as something unasked for, not worked for, and often unknowingly receiving the benefits of) most students are unable to ever see the other side of their arguments and truly gain an understanding of how the marginalized group, in this case the LGBQT community, feel and go through everyday life. Teachers must take advantage of networked classrooms because they provide a voice for the marginalized, endless information for the curious, and community for the hopeless. Networked classrooms help to fight the ignorance surrounding sexuality, and tear down the walls hiding the way society has conditioned us to think.

Despite the fact that this piece was fantastic and terrifically powerful without an in-depth study, I can see the benefit of including one. Because homosexuality is unfortunately such a touchy topic, people feel the need to have concrete facts before they can rely on information. The excuses that people find to combat homosexuality are endless and astounding, and a case study or something of the sort would help to debunk some of these theories. An in-depth study could show the long term effects of having networked classrooms, possibly following some of the students and seeing if classrooms such as these actually do make an impact. And as I stated before, people are more likely to believe when presented with statistics. A study like Buck’s could also be valuable if one student, like Ronnie, was constantly followed and analyzed, revealing the inner-workings of the mind. People may identify with the subject followed and, as a result, come to terms with the idea of a culturally conditioned society more easily. 

Banks Reading

The focus on race and technology is key to technological literacy, and not in the way that most may think. In this chapter, Banks argues that the intersection between race and technology is one that has been swept under the rug for too long, and is one that is too important to be ignored anymore. The “white interface” adopted by most websites has crushed the individuality that so many internet users crave, and websites like BlackPlanet throw this model out and allow users to create themselves as individuals. From this article’s view on the intersection of race and technology we learn that allowing students to have their uniqueness online will actually promote their literacy, not destroy it.

In his analysis of BlackPlanet, Banks argues to demolish the popular view that the Standard English grammar is the most beneficial way to communicate, and show how important online individuality is to literacy. By taking just this one website, Banks shows the importance of usernames, personal pages and the mechanics behind them, chatrooms, and online feedback. As Banks says, the users of this website “claim” a space and identity for themselves (Banks, 74-5). The point of this chapter, Banks argues, is to alert educators that recreational web use is “just as important a study as any other, because those uses occur in spaces that are removed from the disciplinary forces of schools, libraries, and other organizations where literacy is taught” (Banks, 73). People often look down upon teens using the web recreationally, (as illustrated by the scene from the library on page 73) when it is, in fact, a vital part of literacy education. Banks uses the example of just this one website to prove his point.

Personally, I find the first of the list to be the most important. In every aspect of learning creativity is key and needs to be utilized in order for students to learn most efficiently. Along with the creativity aspect, students also learn better when they work in groups, or for a common goal, such as feedback. The more connections a student makes with the material, the more likely he/she is to remember it in the long run. Students of all ages, but more specifically middle and high school aged are looking to find themselves, and using this technique will only help them. 

Literacy Task One

• I feel confident on my stance on the paper, or what my thesis will be. I've already done a lot of work concerning race/sexuality in the classroom, and the topic of this Literacy Task goes hand-in-hand with said research. 
• Initially, my concerns are finding time for this paper. Being the expert procrastinator that I am, I will need to keep the due date in mind and plan accordingly. 
• Already we've covered when this assignment is due, gone over what is expected, and been reminded several times, so hopefully I am set for this paper. I don't think I will be able to let the due date sneak up on me because this is such an important factor to this class and my final grade. 

Successes & Failures, Race & Sexuality

MSGC/auto-correct

• While I'm sure there have been many failures/successes, I can't come up with one off the top of my head. I suppose with auto-correct I am often censored against my will and end up typing a message about ducks rather than my intended meaning. 

Social Networking

• Once I uploaded a really embarrassing and horrifyingly unattractive photo of myself to my Snapchat story as opposed to sending it to just one friend, which was pretty mortifying. The world was not ready for the amount of double chins that I can conjure. 

I find it hard to decide which of these factors are less integral to a computer writing class. Looking at it from an educator's POV, both of these things cause lots of on-line bullying that leads to mental health issues and in some extreme cases, suicide and cannot be ignored. Race is the longer-standing issue, but sexuality is finally getting some well-deserved time in the lime-light and is no longer being swept under the rug. Ultimately I can't choose, which is a total cop-out answer, I know. Both issues are equally important and deserve the same amount of attention. 

Again, I can't choose. Personally, I think I can relate to both race and sexuality equally. Both of these issues are rather near and dear to my heart, and I'd like to advocate for both. I can't decide which one deserves more attention because I find them both so crucial. 

Social Media - Buck Review

Upon reading the first few lines of Buck’s article, I thought I could see quite a few likenesses in the social media lives of Ronnie and myself. I tend to, for the most part, communicate via Facebook to my roommates if I want to get the word out quickly or share a photo, as well as messaging classmates if we’re in a group project. However, as I continued on through the story of Ronnie, I was a little taken-aback. The list of social media sites that Ronnie was a part of seemed endless, I don’t know how he keeps up with all of that. While I have a few online accounts, I’m usually the last to hear about new social media outlets and am far from the “early-adopter” Ronnie considers himself. I’ve never worried about how many followers I have or keeping them at a specific number, but granted I’m not very up to date with all things technology. Frankly, the deep analysis that Buck gives just from reading through his public tweets freaked me out. I think that may be another reason Ronnie and I wouldn’t relate well to one another, I’ve never found the idea of posting personal things about myself on the internet for everyone to see very appealing. As snobbish as that sounds, I do believe that is the major difference between Ronnie and myself.

Buck’s statement about literacy practices being connected to academic literacy practices is a powerful one, and is only made more so by the social media narrative of Ronnie. As I’ve mentioned before, Buck is able to fully understand and know Ronnie through his activity on social media, and this is often dismissed as “kids just being kids.” But the fact can’t be ignored anymore, social media is an irrevocable part of student’s lives these days, and educators need to adapt. Social media has always been viewed as the enemy, but if used in the right context, can be a wonderful tool for teaching literacy.