Peaceful Home

When I was in high school English they made us read "A Separate Peace." At the time I hated the book and the characters -- how could Gene be so foolish? How could Phineas decide to stay so ignorant and blind? After reading through the emotional roller coaster that is cleverly disguised as a short novel we find the point of the entire mad affair: it is because of Gene's regretful actions that he is able to face himself and accept his failings and mistakes and find a separate peace, or a peace apart from the world that others do not have the luxury of once the war is ended.
I never wanted to associate myself with Gene (or Phineas for that matter) but I found myself going through such drama that to emerge on the other end brought me peace I never thought I could feel and even a depth that I thought I had lost. Each person must find their own separate peace or risk being torn apart in the malestorm of life. Part of this life, as much as I've pieced together in my short years, is finding acceptance with what you cannot control. A bending in the wind if you will.
I recently listened to the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast's song "Home" which (obviously) does not occur in the Disney movie which I think is an awful shame. It shows the turning point in Belle's thinking:

"Is this home?
Am I here for a day or forever?
Shut away
From the world until who knows when
Oh, but then
As my life has been altered once
It can change again
Build higher walls around me
Change ev'ry lock and key
Nothing lasts, nothing holds
All of me
My heart's far, far away
Home and free!"
-- Music by Alan Menken,
Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice

I think the reason we all fear change is because we think that it will change us -- make us less of ourselves and more of our circumstances. And although the events of our lives do indeed shape us there is a part of us I believe cannot be touched and altered unless we let it be. To me this part is basically good, loving and caring although it is also selfish, but its selfishness is easily swayed if something greater is placed before it. I believe we all want to make more of our lives which is why we are able to accomplish so much in so short a time and when we find that the best part of adding to our lives is giving to others they we do so gratefully. Of course we too often see the opposite -- once hurt we retreat behind our selfishness and take rather than contribute, some to the point where the take to the point of destruction or hurt.
So which will it be? Will we be ruled by our selfishness or accept that those things that we fear cannot overcome our very essence and choose to give despite the pain brought to our door?
I have no answer, only faith.

Post #5 Conclusion

So looking back over this course I'm happy to note that I did know a great deal of the media types and uses and I've been able to add on through the semester. I think that I would keep my previous assessment that I have the skills to learn and implement new media in the classroom atmosphere if not complete knowledge of how to do it originally.
I think some of the useful ways to keep up with this fast paced trends is to collaborate with others as to the best use of their time and resources. Such groups as ULA and UALC have listservs and mailing lists to help keep innovation in our library practices.
Obviously any implementation in the classroom/school library needs to be consistent with the age group and learning needs but I think it would be very interesting for a Jr. High or High School to have an internal wiki, and maybe with younger ages have a classroom blog that parents, students and staff can log in to contribute ideas and enjoy their children's progress together. Technology is useful to help share ideas however it should never upstage the education itself, hence the importance of having age-appropriate technological activities. If the students are spending all of there time on the technology projects then they will only learn how to manipulate machinery, not how to implement the lessons.
Thanks for reading!

Podcast Technology Project #5

Blog Post #4 Web 2.0 Organization

Once upon a time librarians had the market cornered on organization: subject analysis, access points, barcodes and call numbers were accepted as the very means of finding and arranging information. However today Web 2.0 tools enable any and everyone to do just this without a guide or strenuous decisions over which subheading to use and we librarians find ourselves reeling. We thought our system was --although not above reproach perhaps-- simple and refined and that we had employed all of our knowledge and practicality to enable users to access and browse but instead we find what we consider hard earned labor and understanding as difficult and fussy. One way to meet the user needs better is to simplify our system focusing on actual physical access rather than on the organization. The "get it now" is becoming the "get it yesterday." But does that make the system completely obsolete or misunderstood?
It's impossible for librarians to appease every user but finding the mean of usefulness is what we have aimed at all along, however Web 2.0 programs seem to suggest that we have indeed missed the mark in some ways. Delicious, for example allows the user to create their own tags which they can use later to organize and use as access points. Looking at my own account the tags I can't see them functioning up to standards of a subject heading. Although they are useful to me that doesn't mean that it translates equally across to other patrons understanding and so we can easily be caught up in confusion traced back to semantics. Subject headings are basically their own language or code: once you learn how to use them the rules don't change, but if you never take the time you will undoubtedly miss a great deal of information with this straightforward tool. In this regard subject headings are merely a consensus of appropriate tags, whereas Delicious allows users to create their own subject headings to suit their personal needs. Nothing wrong, but again, not entirely equal and therefore equally useful.

Post #3 The Machine is Us/ing Us

This post is named after a YouTube video similarly titled. Basically the video expresses that the Internet's prevalence in daily living has become a defining activity in our lives. Text is written and rewritten without any loss, new technologies merge multiple forms of media to create and expand our knowledge of expression. Through these daily activities we have changed our way of thinking to the abstract and ephemeral. We are creators, we are dreamers in pixels, and our only limits are our lack of understanding when trying to express ourselves. Digital medium and information are no longer limited to what we see on the interface placed before us, instead it is focus on the full content itself rather than being restricted by the design.
Because digital content is teaching us a different way to not only connect and create but how to think about ourselves and information in general (it is rare nowadays to actually lose content permanently due to company precautions to protect their servers and thereby also their interests), this is what it means that The Machine is Us/ing Us. Digital content has redefined our standard of living as well as our viewpoint towards society in general. We are Us/ing Us through our own use of The Machine itself.

Blog Post #2 Handheld Devices

If given the budget of $10,000 I would purchase about 30 internet tablets. These could be used both inside and outside the classroom to help children in their research individually or in groups of two or three at most. The internet tablet also has audio and video watching capabilities that can be used to flesh out lesson material. Since it also includes word processing software notes can be taken and ideas formed during the experience itself and backed up digitally for students to work on later. Of course there is also online word processes that can be used as well.
Depending on their durability the internet tablets could be checked out by teachers during a field trip to help students use the web appropriately to connect to their surroundings and gain more understanding of the social, political or ecological environment. Teachers could also use the device during field trips to help keep organized and find additional material for their students to investigate as new ideas present themselves in the added context.
Faculty and staff could use the tablets during their conferences for note taking or additional on the spot research just as teachers could use them to make lesson plans wherever they go. Also in case a computer shut down they can be used temporarily until the technical problem is fixed.

5720 Post #1

As an educator, what are your present strengths and weaknesses in technology? How do you plan to use your strengths? How do you plan to address the weaknesses?

I would say that my present strengths in technology would be the interface itself. I can learn a program with enough use and with the opportunity for either hands on training or written instructions or explanation. Just having the opportunity to "poke around" the program with help me orient myself a great deal. Most of the jobs I've had in the past require me to adapt quickly to the programs and equipment specialized for that field.
My weakness I suppose would be without having the system entirely explained to me (it's scope and the "why"s and "how"s of using the program itself in the job process) I have a very hard time remembering the steps to using the system.
My quick learning curve means that I can become organized and be fully functioning with very little time. This will help my environment not suffer to wait for me to play catch up.
I think the most important way to address my weakness of not understanding the processes themselves is to make sure that I ask the appropriate questions and examples when I am training or learning the system. I've learned in the past that when being instructed I am as much responsible for my training as the mentor or coworker assigned to do so. By being open with my confusion less time will be wasted on my lack of foresight and awareness of the processes that I encounter.