katrinara

I have been thinking about some of the ways that I can gather and 'store' my thoughts about my own learning. I have noticed that one of my many challenges is finding a way to capture a thought in the moment. When I reflect on how my ideas come together, I realize that it is not that easy of a process to recount.
Sometimes ideas flow through dialogue in class-I hear something that makes me pause just for a moment to reflect on whatever is being spoken about. What happens with that though at that time? Sometimes I will be able to address what I am thinking right in that moment-by engaging in the dialogue and thinking out loud in a sense. There are other times when that is not possible. I may be able to write down my though-but then it becomes a random thought captured on a single peice of paper, only to be looked upon again when I am studying or something like that.
At other times, I can be reading something and either there is a connection to something that I am interested in already or there could be something that I never really thought about before. Again, I can write my thought down-normally in a few words or sentences, but more often than not, the thought becomes an underline in the text-a connection left either dog-eared or lost until I glance through the text once again.
Then there are times when watching something-on television, on stage, or just through plain observation, that an idea will connect to something else. I tend to remember these most often. Take for example the doll test video that I wrote about last semester (mediathatmatters.org/6/#). This documentary has stuck with me for a while now, and I am fascinated by what I could learn about MYSELF (my own learning/the world around me/myself in the world/my history/my culture/my philosophy of education...the list goes on), as well as what I can learn FROM OTHERS.
So, what does this all mean? I am trying something new. I am going to document my learning process (an aspect of it, I think) in a few different ways-one being written text (i.e. Livejournal), another may include pictures (digital photoessays), and yet another will be me staring at a video camera lens.

This may not be a novel approach to some, but I haven't done this before. I am curious to see where this goes.

http://www.aboriginallanguagestaskforce.ca/pdf/execsum_e.pdf

I didn't realize that the last time I posted anything was nearly two months ago! A new semester begins and new questions will emerge. I'm looking forward to posting again soon!

Until then,
K

I read something this morning on a student at Ryerson using his cellphone to videotape his professor "getting owned" by one of the students in the class. According to the newspaper that I read, using technology in this way is being seen by other universities as a tool to 'attack' teachers. It was even reported that UofT at Mississauga is trying to develop a policy that recognizes the use of technology in this way.



I am not sure how I feel about that. I feel that it is problematic when someone is being videotaped without their consent. There are other ways to resolve conflicts in the classroom, but in terms of documenting something in a public forum, I am not sure that it was wrong or should not be allowed.

Here is the link to the clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4VeyI1fXCM&mode=related&search=
Or you can search on YouTube "chauncey getting owned"

Here is the link to the news article:
http://www.theeyeopener.com/article/3030

Any thoughts?

Thanks to one of my fellow students in the MECS program, I am now aware of this very valuable resource for educators. If ever you plan on working in the field of ECE in Toronto, you may want to have a look at this guide. It will be useful no matter what, even if you haven't yet worked with linguistically diverse children and families.

If anyone is interested in downloading this document, you can go here:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/manyroots/manyroots.pdf



From the Ontario Ministry of Education website (2006):

"Many Roots, Many Voices: Supporting English Language Learners in Every Classroom

Many Roots, Many Voices is designed to support teachers, principals, and other education professionals at the elementary and secondary levels in working effectively with English language learners. In it, you will find a rich source of practices and strategies that can be put to immediate use in the school and the classroom. You will also find an in-depth exploration of the English language learner, and an annotated list of references and resources for further reading and study."

"Times names YouTube 'Invention of the Year'"



Read the CBC article here: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/11/07/youtube-time.html

For those of you who have received comments from me about your blog entries, I would like to let you know that my intentions for posting comments was to engage you further in some aspect of critical thinking about the readings you were assigned. I failed to realize that posting comments online and in this forum could affect you in a number of ways-embarrassment, frustration, annoyance.
Therefore, I do not think that I will be posting comments related in any way to the evaluation of your blogs. However, this does not mean that I won't post comments at all. I encourage you to post comments in general. Posting comments can lead to interesting discussions on aspects of your writing (experiences, commonality with others, contrasting opinions) that actively engage you in critical thinking and self-reflection. Just keep in mind that your comments may be seen by others. I know that I didn't think about that and I apologize to those who may have been offended.

Katrina

I am working on a research study right now that focuses on ECE students' perceptions of very young English Language Learners' (ELL) home language use in the classroom. I narrowed my interest to ECE students because I am curious about what the ECE program at Ryerson is preparing us to 'do' as professions in the field with respect to language and communication.

This study focuses on language, in particular, bilingualism and second language acquisition. Having recently graduated from the undergraduate ECE program, I do not necessarily feel well-equipped with the theory/knowledge-base AND the practical experience to work with linguistically diverse children and families. Therefore, I chose to focus on pre-service teacher education as an area of interest in this class titled "Linguistic Issues of Minority Language Children".

Even if you are just entering the program, or you have had experience working with ELLs, or you have experienced learning English as a second/third/etc. language, I am curious about your thoughts about language and communication, and the potential challenges we may face as educators of children who do not speak the same language as us.

NOTE: This information WILL NOT be used in my study.

Katrina

I find it disturbing that I had not known that this existed. What is it that I am talking about? Google "the doll test" or visit this website and have a look. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed that you did. As a recent graduate of an Early Childhood Education BA program, I am disappointed that this did not make it into some kind of mandatory reading...ANYWHERE!



Visit: http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/6/#
If that link doesn't work, you can Google "A Girl Like Me" directed by Kiri Davis

On a side note, this form of information sharing has made me realize that (a) we don't seem to give young people enough credit in terms of documenting and sharing what they know, and (b) the essays, poster sessions, and personal response papers that tend to overwhelm us as undergrad/grad students should not be the only ways that we produce, document, and share our knowledge and growth as learners in the field of ECE. What can we learn about advocacy and activism as students using learning tools like this? I think that this kind of information sharing is really powerful and revealing.

Any thoughts?

An intense class discussion took place today in my Theoretical Frameworks in Early Childhood Studies course. We were engaged in a dialogue about a "No Christmas" rule that occurs in school settings nowadays. It was interesting to see a very visual division in the group around whether or not they were opposed to this conventional rule. It was very revealing in that there was a perception around inclusion that mediated the entire discussion.



I am just curious what others may feel about this common classroom rule. For myself, I am not sure how to negotiate between a celebration of ALL holidays (as some suggested doing), with that of total exclusion. My concern was based on the fact that Christmas is 'celebrated' in Canada with special time off school, as well as in a hugely commercialized way. Any thoughts?

A friend of mine sent me something to think about. We have been talking about diversity and inclusion in our graduate program, but have had a narrowed focus thus far. This is not to say that the topics we are discussing are not important. However, we are still not focusing on one aspect of diversity that continues to be pervasive in generally all cultures. Tell me what you think.

Katrina

A friend of mine emailed this poem to me and I thought that it would be good to share it with others. If we could all see as clearly as this child, what would the world be like?

This poem was nominated for best poem of 2005, written by an African child:

When I born, I black

When I grow up, I black

When I go in sun, I black

When I scared, I black

When I sick, I black

And when I die, I still black



And you white fellows;


When you born, you pink

When you grow up, you white

When you go in sun, you red

When you cold, you blue

When you scared, you yellow

When you sick, you green

When you die, you grey



And you calling me colored..

For those who have taken numerous child development courses over the years, especially language and cognitive development, you will definitely understand my point of view. The importance of a supportive and enriching environment, as well as the innate abilities of the child, suggest that both nature and nurture work symbiotically to help a child development optimally. When it comes to literacy, which is an extension of many areas of development, I think that computers do little to enhance such a supportive, nurturing, and enriching environment. Like the authors indicate, computer screens offer no dialogical exchange between child and object, and therefore the human presence and support that helps to facilitate learning is non-existant. This is not to say, however, that computers are not useful at all. I think that there are many fun and entertaining educational literacy games out there that could enhance learning, but not when the setting is a child in front of the screen without any parental support right there. I think that yes, the computer screen "merely presents another surface that displays print" (p.89), but it can be a bit more 'interactive' than workbooks and tracing sheets.
When it comes to the difference between opening up a book to read or loading up an e-book to read, I think there is absolutely, 100%, no comparison! As I was reading and commenting on other students' posts, I realize that I am definitely not alone in my thinking. How comfortable would it be to snuggle up in bed with a computer screen to read a 'book'? How easy would it be to run to the bookshelf and grab a stack of books to read with whom ever when you have to load it in your computer and see it through a screen? The intimate and tactile experience of reading virtually disappears when you read off a screen. There is no cracking the spine for the first time, or flipping the pages, knowing exactly where your favourite part is because you have 'dog-earred' it. Our ideas and practices related to early childhood literacy would be severly challenged and limited if we were to facilitate learning in this way through the computer. What is scary to me, and it was brought up in the first paragraph of the reading was the fact that the concept of a library is changing, and I don't think for the better. Can you imagine a library without books? Is this where we are headed?

Optional Component: Other photo-blogging services

I searched for another service like flickr using 'photo blogs' as my keyword phrase in the Google search engine. Although there were many hits, I noticed one called PHOTOBUCKET, located at www.photobucket.com. Like flickr, this photo and image hosting service has benefits like free membership (with optional premium paid service), accessibility and 'link'-ability to other services like blogs and eBay. With 50MB of space and 2500MB of bandwidth per month for free members, photobucket.com provides users with more space than other photo blogging services like flickr. However, there are some major limitations to this service with respect to privacy and censorship. For example, this service has the ability to delete a member's pictures and lock the account if they find the images to be 'offensive' or 'pornographic'. What those words mean exactly is not certain. Also, global access limits some features of privacy control for members' photos and images in terms of organizing them and displaying them to friends and family. In addition, photobucket.com is not as aesthetically pleasing to the eye as flickr, but it appears to be updated regularly and easy to navigate.

There were many things that I could reflect on when reading through Nolan's chapter on The Technology of Difference: ASCII, Hegemony, and the Internet. I noticed as I looked through other people's posts that the focus was generally on the section on the Internet written in English. However, there were other things that struck me as significant that I would like to focus on. My focus begins with the assumed understanding that most know about the 'birth' of the Internet. I can say in my own experience, and from talking to others that the genesis of the Internet had been a mystery. I realize that I, like others, had really taken this technology for granted-not trying to find out more about where it came from and for what reasons. I feel that we are more and more, losing the need to scratch beneath the surface, as our previous readings earlier in the semester have suggeste. It's unfortunate to think that 'prosumerism' is not spreading through the education system. By not sharing knowledge and integrating the mechanics of this technology by collaborating and educating the young, we are not benefiting anyone but the corporations who tell us what to think and what to do with respect to computer technology and the Internet (at least it seems that this is what is happening in schools). Honestly, who in our class, really knew about open source software or blogs? I think that it is a shame that we use this technology every day without knowing what it really is and why it so invasive in the first place. So does this mean that we will all become Linux users? I truly don't think so, but at least we would be aware of options that many of us didn't believe we had. Maybe it would actually make us realize that we as educators, have to become more knowlegeable about what we use and then we may actually end up using it in different ways and for different reasons. Just as we learn in school about simple machines, our digestive system, and photosynthesis, maybe we also need to learn about computer and Internet technology. This may seem unreasonable though, since I am sure many of us also have very limited knowledge about how a car engine works, and we use cars more so than before. And, not everyone use cars or computers. But really, did any of you ever imagine that in less than a decade, you could get a computer for $100 or surf the Internet through your tv cable line? Then again, maybe there are those of you out there that are not aware of anything else but what I just mentioned-a bit scary to me, but fascinating at the same time!

After our class discussion about Children as Photographers, where we talked about photography as a social act, I went home thinking about why we take pictures. What I reflected on as I pondered this question was the video-blogging piece about documenting the documenter. Similar to the questions posed in that video-blog, I began to think about what part of an image is important to the photographer, what the intent is, and what is being reflected by the image presented to others. The idea of ‘seeing through the camera to the world on the other side’ is a fantastic way to think about perception, and how different or similar it may be with your own.
The link to the Children as Photographers website is a great resource for seeing how children use photography as a way of communicating with others. It was interesting to see how the photographs were organized, especially by age and gender. Cars and bicycles made repeated appearances with the boys set and I noticed that there were lots of animals in the girls set. I was curious to see if there were many differences in the Country category, and I realized that I could not tell what was where without having known previously. Often as I looked at a picture that caught my attention, I wondered about the context in which it was taken, by whom, and for what reason. I never really gave pictures that much thought before, but after reading about the research that resulted in this website, I am finding that I am inquiring about photos in general more, and even when I reflect on the pictures that I have taken recently, I tend to spend more time thinking about what was happening in the photo when it was taken.
The self-reflective quality that photos help us uncover is a tool that we can use far beyond the photo album we keep on our bookshelf. Like we discussed in class, cameras and picture taking can be integrated into the curriculum in a variety of ways-by areas of development and learning centres. Instead of thinking that children as young as 5 don’t know what to do with a camera, let us try to plan and implement activities that will empower children to be reflective, creative, and social participants in the classroom by giving them the opportunity to be on the other side of the camera!

I am unable to respond to the Access Grid experience we had as a class because I was at a meeting for the ECE director search. Jason told me that the Access Grid lab was supposed to be a new experience for most of us and that reflecting on the experience we had would be what we would constitute our post. Since I believe that the experience that I had at the director search meeting was new to me, I am reflecting on that experience. Because of a non-disclosure clause, there is limited information that I can talk about, but the one thing I would like to say about that experience (which is an ongoing process until the new ECE director is named) is that I was completely unaware of the many roles and responsibilities of an ECE director, not to mention that of the faculty. Never once did I think that I would be a part of shaping the future of the School of Early Childhood Education-it wasn't until I was told that the decisions I made collectively within this committee would influence the next five years of a teaching career at Ryerson, did I realize what I was doing was not to be taken lightly. Being on this committee is making me a member of an integral body dedicated to finding the best candidate for the position of director. But honestly, I never really put much thought into what our director did or has done for The School of Early Childhood Education within the whole Ryerson University context. I am still learning, even now as a fourth year student what the roles and responsibilities are of the director, and I am sorry to say that I haven't really made an effort before becoming involved on this committee to finding out more about the dynamics of the School of ECE. I have been rather self-involved, thinking mainly about getting good grades and serving mainly my needs-pretty selfish I must admit. But I don't think that I am alone in this course of action. I know that by being involved as a member of this committee, I will gain knowledge about not only the politics around faculty hiring and university guidelines, but also about what principles and measures are taken that effect the dynamics of a School such as ours. Early Childhood Education is fundamental in our society, we all know that, but it is taking very long and has been a challenging process in making everyone else aware of our importance in society-and we continue to be faced with hurdles every day. You may think that what I am saying has nothing to do with the role of ECE director, but I think it does. And if we are not aware of that as a body of students learning to become educators within the School of ECE, then we have a lot of work ahead of us in that we must find ways to become more knowledgeable and empowered by the decisions we make and what we learn at Ryerson University. I will do my best to share the knowledge that I have gained through this experience to make The School of ECE at Ryerson the best that it can be...at least for the next five years!

Here's an article about digital bullying in highschool...I thought it might be interesting

http://msn-cnet.com.com/2060-10802_3-0.html?tag=nefd.bl

Goodmorning Sunshine
Originally uploaded by kaera5.

I am asking myself questions and finding the answers just by playing around with flickr! Pretty cool! This is for Part I of the Digital Imaging Lab.
I think I will be using this more often :)

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.