Pay Attention! Or, what is our brain on the Internet?

I feel like I am having a difficult time writing this paper because I am not enjoying the topic. I understand that it is creative, and we can write about our own ideas, but I am just not that into it. It is causing a strain on my focus. Getting over that, I always have a problem clarifying my thesis. The topic that I want to write about is there in my first paragraph. However, it is just not clear enough. I always get the “So?” at the end of my introduction paragraph. I read the paper over and over again but I feel like I never really explain my points as well as I could.

I am grateful that Professor Kaufman leaves us notes because I really do take them into consideration. Her notes are the first things that I revise, and then I read my paper over again to see what else I can fix. By the time the paper is due I feel that I will have revised it enough to have a decent paper. My biggest issue so far is analyzing my quotes. I use them to support an idea, and then I write about one sentence. I feel like just using the quote defends my idea and that I do not need to go any further. I need to work on analyzing much more.

I have many concerns with Paper #2. My revising is going well, but at times I feel like my ideas are too similar to Cathy Davidson’s ideas. For example, she thinks crowdsourcing and iPods can be very valuable to a classroom, and I happen to agree with her. I would like to talk about crowdsourcing and iPods in my own paper, and so I guess my question is: are we allowed to use Davidson’s ideas for a 21^st Century classroom in our own papers? I don’t want to repeat what Davidson writes, but her book does contain many innovative concepts that would complement my own vision for a 21^st Century classroom.

Another concern I have is about my thesis, and I feel like I’m struggling to come up with a great opening paragraph. Right now, my thesis is “A 21^st Century classroom should be completely virtual and embrace technology. By marrying the world of iPads, Kindles, SmartBoards, etc. with the world of learning, society can manufacture more geniuses than ever. If the modern classroom prepares individuals for the future by hinging on an outmoded way of thinking, then it will soon become impossible for society to advance as a whole.” I tried to make my current thesis as specific as possible, but I’m still not sure if it’s good enough. I’m also struggling with finding quotes to use from Davidson’s book, because there are so many good ones that bring up many good points. However, all the good quotes are very long, and I’m not sure if I can manage analyzing them well enough.

My final concern with Paper #2 is that it’s too long because as of now, I have a total of 6.5 pages. I’ll definitely need to omit a few paragraphs to make my paper shorter. If I can somehow come up with a better thesis, find a balance between my ideas and Davidson’s, and make my paper shorter, I think I will eventually be able to reach a point where I’m satisfied with my work.

Hi all,

I’ve arrived in Warsaw, and just finished my first day of work here–I miss you all! I’ve been thinking a lot about the theme of our class and our work together, mostly because I have no cell phone here, and can only email after I finish work for the day.

Today, we arrived in Warsaw in the early afternoon and then went from the airport immediately to a myriad of sites–below you will find an image of a memorial at the Gensha Cemetery–the largest Jewish cemetery in the world with tombstones dating back several centuries. The image I am choosing to share is one of the memorial for Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit, a writer, educator, and pediatrician who opted to refuse freedom for himself, and instead accompany the orphans from his orphanage to Treblinka.

Education Reformation: Down with the Old School, In with the New School

            When was the last time you jumped out of bed at 6AM purely because you couldn’t wait to get to your 8:10AM class? What if that 8:10AM class was really at 11AM, and the classroom was full of the latest gadgets—i.e. ipads, ipods, smartboards, etc.—would you find it easier to get out of bed and make that trek to school? Perhaps, instead of beating ourselves up over chronic oversleeping, we should be spending our waking hours helping to shift our classrooms into the 21^st Century. Gone will be the gray walls, dirty carpet, bland boards, broken seats, smelly markers, and mammoth textbooks! Let’s replace these outdated, caveman-esque locales with stark stainless steel walls, cushioned seats, and most importantly, e-reading devices, interactive smartboards, and an instructor that knows how to work with and against these tools. We need to revisit the way our classrooms are designed so that the learning environment students live in is relevant to their own lives and ambitions. We need to reinvent the discipline-specific classroom. For example, a writing classroom that replaces textbooks and notebooks with (insert specific invention here) empowers students to stay focused and driven, because reading, writing, and annotating (all unique cognitive processes) are streamlined into one tiny gadget.

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writing students stay focused and driven by replacing

Hi all, Here are your “writing groups” for Paper 2–

1: Randy, Amy, Raul

2: Jose, Ching, Konstantin

3: Shahzad, Liz, Maura, James

4: Melin, Aaron, Nilson

5: Jeremy, Jun, Jillian

6: Leyda, Conrad, Amzad

7: Cristian, Michelle, David

8: Anna, Daniel, Mimi

On Thursday, March 1, you will be meeting with me in my office (VC 7-290K) for Individual Conferences. Please make sure to be on time with a copy of your most recent draft. There will be no regularly scheduled class that day.

9:20  Jun

9:30  Raul

9:40  Maura

9:50  Leyda

10:00  Jose

10:10  Liz

10:20  Amy and Konstantin

10:30  Cristian

10:40  Randy

10:50  Amzad

11:00  David

11:10  Anna

11:20  Michelle

11:30  Melin and Ching

11:40  Conrad

11:50  Mimi

12:00  Jeremy and James

12:10  Aaron and Shazad