What follows are my thoughts on a video we watched in class on companies' predicting clothing trends in advance of their advent.
Glad am I that I am not obsessed with being cool. I feel as though I would be an enormously successful cool-hunter, as I have always been one step ahead of the game with regard to style (it comes naturally). Major corporations should contact me at 907-790-9881 to gain advice on what styles will be "in" in the near future (I charge $100,000.00/1 minute).
I find the phenomena of style and trends extremely interesting on a psychological, sociological, scientific and philosophical level. Why is it that 20 years ago (7300 days ago) mullets were "fresh," yet now they are considered as ugly as sin? I also find it interesting that trends ebb and flow in cycles (for example, tight pants are "in" nowadays, as they were in the '70s). It is only a matter of time before mullets will be sported by every cool kid in school. I predict 2028.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Introduction
My name is Andrew and I am currently enrolled in the UAS M.A.T. program. I am 22 years old. I lived in Suburban Seattle from age 0 to 18, Colorado from 18-22, and will be living in Juneau until age 23, at which point I will begin my teaching career. I enjoy listening to music (my favorite band is the Beatles and my favorite singer/songwriter is Bob Dylan), reading novels and the New York Times, watching DVDs, hanging out with friends, working out and eating good food. At some point in my life I'd like to live in Vermont, Montana and Appalachia. I love fog, rain, mist and the color blue.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Article Assessment #1
What follows are my thoughts on "Listen to the Natives" by Marc Prensky.
I found this article very interesting. To be perfectly honest, as I am a digital immigrant, I am still a bit of a traditionalist with regard to using "technology" in the classroom. As a mathematician, I believe that it is wrong for a math teacher to advance too much of a technology-oriented curriculum. K-12 math is extremely basic, and every single one of our students (with few exceptions) should be able to master the curriculum without significant recourse to computers.
Would Prensky, advocate elementary school students' not learning how to add, subtract, multiple and divide manually, but on a computer? While computers carry profound advantages, a disadvantage of theirs is that they enable humanity to a certain extent to turn off their minds.
While Prensky had a good point that teachers need to take students' interests into account when teaching, I believe that most students are too immature to recognize what is and is not good for them. If eighth graders had a choice as to what they would study in social studies class, I believe that a large percentage would opt to study the personal lives of such Hollywood celebrities as Britney Aguilera and Christina Spears (or whatever the hell the names of the pop stars the kids are into these days are). In certain respects I despise Hollywood from the core of my being and believe it is rotting society.
While cell phones, computers, televisions, iPods, etc. are important, we need to ensure our youth don't get sucked into them and lead meaningless, dull, superficial lives.
I found this article very interesting. To be perfectly honest, as I am a digital immigrant, I am still a bit of a traditionalist with regard to using "technology" in the classroom. As a mathematician, I believe that it is wrong for a math teacher to advance too much of a technology-oriented curriculum. K-12 math is extremely basic, and every single one of our students (with few exceptions) should be able to master the curriculum without significant recourse to computers.
Would Prensky, advocate elementary school students' not learning how to add, subtract, multiple and divide manually, but on a computer? While computers carry profound advantages, a disadvantage of theirs is that they enable humanity to a certain extent to turn off their minds.
While Prensky had a good point that teachers need to take students' interests into account when teaching, I believe that most students are too immature to recognize what is and is not good for them. If eighth graders had a choice as to what they would study in social studies class, I believe that a large percentage would opt to study the personal lives of such Hollywood celebrities as Britney Aguilera and Christina Spears (or whatever the hell the names of the pop stars the kids are into these days are). In certain respects I despise Hollywood from the core of my being and believe it is rotting society.
While cell phones, computers, televisions, iPods, etc. are important, we need to ensure our youth don't get sucked into them and lead meaningless, dull, superficial lives.
Traditional Oral Storytelling Meets Technology
Why am I studying traditional oral storytelling in an educational technology class?
On the surface, traditional oral storytelling and "technology" clash. When one reflects upon traditional oral storytelling, one's thoughts transport them to an earlier time, a time come and gone, a time that is past. One travels backward in time. When one reflects upon "technology," one's thoughts tend to be more future-oriented. One travels forward in time.
While I consider myself to be a progressive person, I hold many traditional beliefs. I believe that traditional oral storytelling is a beautiful institution that humanity should not permit to descend into extinction. Humans have been orally storytelling since the dawn of the spoken word and should continue so long as we are physically capable.
Instead of replacing, we should enhance traditional oral storytelling with something more technologically advanced. For a child, one of the best parts of the day is falling asleep to the smooth, gentle, even whispery voice of their mother or father telling a story in the traditional oral manner.
On the surface, traditional oral storytelling and "technology" clash. When one reflects upon traditional oral storytelling, one's thoughts transport them to an earlier time, a time come and gone, a time that is past. One travels backward in time. When one reflects upon "technology," one's thoughts tend to be more future-oriented. One travels forward in time.
While I consider myself to be a progressive person, I hold many traditional beliefs. I believe that traditional oral storytelling is a beautiful institution that humanity should not permit to descend into extinction. Humans have been orally storytelling since the dawn of the spoken word and should continue so long as we are physically capable.
Instead of replacing, we should enhance traditional oral storytelling with something more technologically advanced. For a child, one of the best parts of the day is falling asleep to the smooth, gentle, even whispery voice of their mother or father telling a story in the traditional oral manner.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Assessment on Videos
In class we watched two videos produced by students and one produced by professionals. What follows are my thoughts on the videos.
Despite my fatigue from a long day at school, I enjoyed watching the video projects, all three of which interested me. I found them to be creative and engaging.
The First Video
I found the first project to be the cutest one of all.
The Second Video
I found the second project to be krazy and kreepy (I believe that the way I (mis)spelled these two adjectives reflects my view of the character of the video quite well).
The Third Video
The last project intrigued me the most, in part because of its Big Brother undertone (I was pleased to note that the name on the identification card featured near the end was "Winston Smith," who was the main character in 1984 (one of my favorite books)). Another reason this project piqued my interest the most is that many of my thoughts and daydreams in life revolve around technological advancement.
On iTunes, I subscribe to the Car Talk podcast.
Despite my fatigue from a long day at school, I enjoyed watching the video projects, all three of which interested me. I found them to be creative and engaging.
The First Video
I found the first project to be the cutest one of all.
The Second Video
I found the second project to be krazy and kreepy (I believe that the way I (mis)spelled these two adjectives reflects my view of the character of the video quite well).
The Third Video
The last project intrigued me the most, in part because of its Big Brother undertone (I was pleased to note that the name on the identification card featured near the end was "Winston Smith," who was the main character in 1984 (one of my favorite books)). Another reason this project piqued my interest the most is that many of my thoughts and daydreams in life revolve around technological advancement.
On iTunes, I subscribe to the Car Talk podcast.
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