Foot: The Socially Networked Classroom

 Chapter 1

To start off, I was so excited that this book enclosed a lot of activities that we have worked through in class. Sometimes it's hard to write everything down and get the names for all of the different assignments and strategies. I have scribbled down notes in this book about the ones we have done in class so far. The basis of this class is learning about multiple modalities and all of the various ways to teach a lesson. While I think that is excellent because it definitely is more interesting than sitting in a lecture hall, when I think back to my own experience we never used any of these technology ideas. I'm not sure if my teachers didn't know about it or they just didn't use it. Dr. Kist said, "Often, it is the new teachers who get caught in the squeeze between their knowledge of new media practices outside of school and the realities of rules that have been set up in school" (Kist 6). This is so true that it scares me. I can remember Dr. Hutchison talking about her experience when she was a newer teacher and even when she had experience. Other teachers use to pick on her and practically make fun of her because of her mission to help students. I can imagine what it would be like to go into a new classroom and want to bring all of this change about. More than likely, a lot of the other teachers would not like it and would probably be afraid that you would do a better job than them. I'm glad the book is set up in the Starbucks manner. This allows me to see only slight changes and use of technology that I could implement in my future classroom that might not seem to obvious and threatening to those around.

Chapter 2

I am enthralled with the multigenre project. We did multigenre projects in high school but they were on paper. It was like we all fed off of each other and I guess that's what we WANT to happen in the classroom. Given an ordinary paper project probably wouldn't have been that exciting, but because we get to add sparkle and pizazz it's like a whole new assignment. It's interesting to see how the assignments of Dr. Kist have progressed into more media projects, along with wikis and blogs. A huge issue dealing with this new techno world is safety. There are so many advantages to it, yet without the right steps it could be a disaster. I was pleased with the list of safer sights that can trap the public outside of the students learning. Those sights, like Ning and Moodle, might be the best places to start with until you get approval or the correct precautions to start a more open sight. In time, I think more classrooms will start using the not as exclusive types because it lets students know that anyone could be reading their writing and it's important to concentrate and decide what you want to put on the screen.