Reflections

Life on the Screen: Visual Literacy in Education

I have to start off by saying that I am often very skeptical with articles related to the viewpoints of “celebrities” and Education, politics or social issues.  This article related well to the previous article “Advancing the Field” in regards to certain methods of research being harder to “fit” into the acceptable molds. When the interview discussed communication in it’s different forms, I realized that over time we have attributed knowing the influences colour and music can have and that sort of knowledge as intuitive or merely common sense.   However I do agree that communication needs to be looked at as a whole.  Since I am a French Immersion teacher the role of communication and oral language is integral and used daily so it is difficult for me to agree that communication is not used enough in the classroom.

Mr. Lucas’s concern that we are not advancing emotionally as quickly as we are intellectually really struck a nerve with me.  I have always questions, who is ultimately responsible for the emotionally development of a child?  School programs need to support the development and need to help children interact with each other, but is it not ultimately the responsibility of the parents to ensure the emotional growth of their child?

Class/video reflection:

I found the video Desiderata very moving.  It all seems like common sense information, but for children/students it is essential that we are explicit with this important information.    The message in the video could have gone with any topic in life as it is based on the foundation of respect that we need to teach our students. 

Knowledge itself is the same to me; it is the skills set to obtain that knowledge that is changing.   We still have a desire for knowledge and innovation, but the as we saw in the video it is no longer text or written word that guides us toward the knowledge.  We have a larger outlet to seek out information and enrich our knowledge base like never before.

The Principals of Good Design

Good design being user friendly is allowing everyone to access a medium and begin to navigate the digital culture with these mediums.  Our society is constantly looking for the newest of best product and companies are trying to be innovative and create the “latest” thing.  The problem with this mentally is that we loose the idea of a good design and the utility of the product.   I enjoy the easy read of this website, and although the ideas addressed seem like they should be well known it is always nice to have reminders.

Class reflection July 14^th:

I enjoyed our discussions about the role of educators when it comes to events occurring outside of school time.  I agree with Ken that we wear many hats as educators and that we are never able to truly take them off.  We are responsible for the education of the whole child, and I think this needs to be in partnership with parents and the community.  I agree with Amanda that we have more on our plate than we should, and I think parents could deal with a lot of issues that fall to the school.  I don’t know why the school has become the default for all.