This summer – in classroom’s everywhere…

Since it is not altogether certain that I will want to become a teacher later on in my life it seems sort of presumptuous to call this a “dream project”. My passion for teaching is still somewhat limited, so I would just like to point this out up front.

However, looking at the curriculum I did find a topic that might suit the use of the New Media because the creative possibilities seem endless: extreme situations (11 G.2). More specifically my new media project would be about any kind of initiation – childhood to adulthood, innocence to knowledge, fantasy to reality – and I would start out conservitavely by reading “Catcher in the Rye” in class.

Al Capone’s Heritage: The American Gangster

This teaching unit is designed for English students, grade 10.

Topic: America’s fascination with Al Capone and his contemporaries.

Introduction (5 min): podcast ‘Brooklyn’

1. Task: Listening Comprehension (5 min): Answer the questions about the podcast on the worksheet.

2. Teacher-student-dialog (3 min): Collecting answers

3. Media (5-10 min): Show various clips of ‘classic’ Gangster epics (Godfather, Once Upon A Time in America, Scarface)

4. Deconstruct Myths (20 min): Work out the cliches that surround the Gangster genre. How is the prototypical Gangster being portrayed? Characterize the Gangsters you’ve just heard about. Compare the content of the clips with the content of the podcast.

Out in the Field

On Wednesday 17th 2008 we will actually leave the university for a field trip to the Landschulheim Steinmuehle. This will give us the opportunity to ask teachers and students (gosh, I hope they don’t bite) questions regarding the new media. Two suggestions on my part:

1. Do the students believe that there are benefits to employing the new media in the classroom?

2. Do teachers feel any pressure to implement the new media in class? In other words: is the new media merely being used in order to meet regulations (either from the curriculum or the school board, whatever)?

Grammar School: The Sequel

An interesting task for me since I attented two different grammar schools and had not been very active in the alumni-network of either. Let’s start with the school I actually graduated from: the German School of New York. The crappy design of the page is actually the result of an extracurricular activity that was called Website AG. However, that used to be an exclusive group of techie-nerds with expert knowledge (at the time). Given that it is a very small, semi-private school the access to new media was always excellent.

Instant Personality

Wow, this week’s session on Internet Communication takes me way back. It’s so hard for me to see the potential for internet communication to flourish in an educational environment since it was always my refuge from school. I think that my generation might possibly be one of the first to be completely infested with the instant-messaging virus. Back in the late 90’s you had to have AIM or otherwise you had no life. Well, that’s a little exagguerated but in my case not altogether untrue since I attended a German School in a foreign country with relatively great distances to cover to classmates’ houses and no drivers license.

Internet Awareness Month

The internet allows us to access an almost unlimited amount of information at an uprecedented rate. Therefore, the virtual session “Internet Research” points out that the evaluation of internet sources is of utmost importance; and is right in doing so. Not only does the internet offer the largest information database in the world but also the opportunity to be heard. Authors with varying credibility, educational background, and motivation may make their voices be heard in the democratic realms of the web. We, as researches and, later on, as teachers, have to be aware of this and to also convey the importance of this fact to our students.

Death of the Author – New Media in Custody

By far the most intriguing practical task of last week’s session was the one concerned with the importance of computer skills and media technology:

Salivating Students

Having been a student of some sort for more than 15 years now I, too, have been exposed to different learning theories. It all started when we had to write the letter A for approximately a million times. I don’t remember if there was a reward or whether we all just did so for the pure joy of learning but the teacher’s authoritative position certainly helped. But I learned how to write, right? So, let’s not throw the behavioristic notions out the window right away. Especially since explorative learning always seemed like an excuse for the teacher to correct exams during class while the students were teaching each other.

The Dumbest Generation Ever?

Our generation has been scrutinized as lazy, spoiled, and, most recently, the “dumbest” ever. Mark Bauerlein, an English professor at Emory University and author of the book “The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans”, claims that the ignorance of today’s E-generation poses a grave threat to our political system as historical awareness remains the prerequisite for being an empowered citizen with all the civic responsibilities attached. (For an interview with the author follow this link.)

Exhibitionism 2.0

Wow! I never thought I’d see the day: I have became so self-asbsorbed that I feel the urge to post a blog. Well, here it is: my soul laid out on HTML (or whatever this is). Me full-mooning the establishment. Flashing visitors with my innermost feelings. Ranting about cruelties in Tibet. The possibilities are endless. This is 2.0, remember?