Being Digital

I have to admit I am nowhere near being a techie. In fact, in some ways I am technically illiterate. However, despite all of this I still found Nicholas Negroponte's book, or at least the brief sections we read, to be very interesting. For example, I really liked the example of his laptop that he used to compare the value of atoms versus bits. He states, "while the atoms were not worth that much, the bits were almost priceless" (12). I can relate to this as I often feel as if my whole life is on my computer and I would be lost without it. Luckily I have never lost it and it is password protected; however, if anyone ever got ahold of it they could easily steal my identity. My computer is not only the center for accomplishing my coursework and holds all my previous papers in the hard-drive, but it also holds my favorites songs, irreplaceable pictures, friends numbers and addresses, etc. In addition to his discussion of atoms and bits, I also actually enjoyed that fact that this article was dated. In my daily life I do not give a lot of thought to technology because I think you grow accustom to new devices, such as the iPhone, and forget how you ever lived without it. I found it fascinating to read problems that he discusses and then be able to recount in my mind how these have been fixed in the last 10+ years. For example, he discusses digital versus printed books and seems be doubtful that the digital book will ever surpass the printed book. As a book lover, I can attest to the fact that a digital book can never compete with the feel of holding a book in your hand and the smell of old library books. However, in the last few years Kindle has responded to many of the problems of digital books he discusses. For example, he states that printed books are "lightweight, easy to 'thumb' through, and not very expensive" (13). Today, Kindles are about the same weight as an average novel (sometimes lighter), are easily searchable and the books you buy are forever stored on your Amazon account. In addition, the solution to the problem of paper-like screen has been created. However, at $140, Kindles are still pretty expensive. Yet, if one will make this initial purchase, Kindle books are much cheaper than printed because you are not paying for inventory and shipping. Finally, I laughed a little when I read his account of video rental places making billions of dollars on unreturned videocassettes. Not only do videocassettes feel like a lifetime ago, but Netflix has practical put places like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video out of business by not having late fees.

Education and Culture

I really enjoyed the Chinese professors visit to our class this week. I found it interesting to listen to the similarities and differences between English composition courses in China and in the US. For example, they emphasize speaking and listening more and we emphasize reading a writing more. Although this difference might seem strange at first, we must remember that English is not their first language. Therefore, English composition classes must emphasize speaking first or they will not be able to move forward to writing. I actually lived overseas until I was 12 years old so I have always been intrigued by differences between cultures. One of these professors stated that the average Chinese student is much more interested in other countries and cultures than the average American student. I can absolutely attest to this. When I lived in Jakarta I went to an international school with students from all over the world. We even had a day every year when students would dress up in their country's "traditional dress" and bring food from their country. I always loved that day because I found cultural differences fascinating (and still do). However, I had quite a culture shock when I moved back to the U.S. and no one knew where Indonesia was and frankly got sick of hearing me talk about it. I quickly learned that if I wanted to make friends here I would have to discuss pop culture not other cultures. The Chinese professors' discussion in our class reminded me of how much I love learning in an international environment and re-inspired me to apply for jobs at international high schools when I finish my Master's.

Interruption and Minimal Grading

I had a very different reaction to each of this week's readings. The first reading, "Interrupting Our Way to Agency" by Nedra Reynold's, I found rather difficult to agree with. Of course women need to attain agency and the "conversation" needs to be continually added to and changed; however, in the year 2010, I see no reason why it is necessary for women to interrupt in order to achieve this purpose. In addition, the word "interruption" has a very negative connotation. Perhaps the it would help if "interruption" was changed to "speaking up." It was very obvious in class on Tuesday that I view interruption as rude because I did not want to interrupt the conversation in order to give my presentation. On the other hand, I found Richard Haswell's article, "The Complexities of Responding to Student Writing," to be very useful. I constantly struggle with the vast amount of time it takes me to grade 1301 drafts. I tend to lean more on the side of telling the student how to improve their work instead of asking a question or saying "this doesn't work." Sure, I am probably limiting creativity this way but I think that is better than students not understanding my comments (and therefore what is wrong with their work) and thus being unable to change anything. However, being this specific in my comments is extremely time-consuming. I would like to implement an abbreviation list and give the students a key. However, I think that only works when you are the only professor and are not trying have 40 graders grade the same way.