Introduction
As a current teacher
candidate at Brock
University
Since I want these posts to have academic value it is
important that they accord with the expectations as outlined in The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8 Language. In
particular, I am focusing on the grade 8 curriculum for
reading. Hence, abiding by the Curriculum's specific
expectations outlined for reading will be my priority here.
The curriculum states students must “read a wide variety
of increasingly complex or difficult texts from diverse cultures, including
literary texts” and “demonstrate understanding of increasingly complex and
difficult texts by summarizing important ideas and explaining how the details
support the main idea”.[i] Naturally, other criteria listed in The Ontario
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| Chimpanzee Typing. Early Office Museum, New York Zoology Society. 1907. http://bit.ly/1RCRu3u. Public Domain. |
A Critical Disclaimer of Current Trends in Education and Digital Media
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| Demotivational Grumpy Cat Poster. Sabrina Barekzai. July 28, 2014. http://bit.ly/1MnoFUg. Public Domain. |
Current trends in education trend
to focus on texts that are supplied by digital media. This comes in the form of social media, websites of various integrity, and, *ahem*, blog posts. While I have nothing against these forms of
texts in general, I do think that they have a very limited capacity when it comes
to higher order learning or thinking. What I mean by this last statement is that as diverse as digital media might be, its popular content is usually devoid of intellectual substance (e.g. What are the Kardashians
up to?), speech is truncated (e.g. Twitter: 140 characters or less), and, often
enough, peer review is none existent (e.g. reddit.com). While I think it is admirable that teachers want to keep up with the interests and concerns of
their 21st Century students, I do believe that the current digital media trend in
education has some serious deficiencies. To help clarify my position I will highlight just a few reasons as why I think this is the case. First, social media tends to prioritizes information that is unworthy of an enlightening
educational setting, such as gossip (celebrity or otherwise) and yes, I'll say it, pointless memes (seen any photos of someone's grumpy cat lately?). Furthermore, digital media tends to demand concision, limiting complex debates and explanations to catch phrases, slogans, and other platitudes. This truncated style of communication fosters a learning environment with little attention span, patience, or attention for detail and elaboration. In my opinion all of these latter characteristics are necessary for reading complex and rewarding material successfully. It is for these reasons that I think digital media can have an averse effect not only on how we inform ourselves, but also how we explain our positions and ideas. Significantly, I will attempt to avoid these deficiencies in my blogs and try to keep my posts focused on what I view to be essential to having a good foundational knowledge and understanding of literary texts.
Let’s Read Some Books!
As the old saying goes,
“there’s no substitute for the real thing”.
In terms of expanding student’s reading comprehension and knowledge of
literature this means reading books. The
extreme majority of books that are published have been peer-reviewed. Meaning they have gone through a vetting
process which verifies their quality. In
my opinion, the latter types of texts are the type that are worth reading and are
what student in turn should be encourage to explore. The easiest and cheapest way to do so is to visit your local library. However, if you are preferring something more digitally friendly www.readbookonline.net provides access to thousands of free books, poems, plays, and essays on line for your reading pleasure.
As I write my blog entries I will continue to compile resources that I find useful for expanding reading variety and understanding of literary texts. It is my goal to inform my readers of the culturally rich and diverse body of literature that is out there and available to them. I desire even further that people not only read the vast array of literature available but that they also engage in it, that they comprehend the morals and lessons many literary works portray. I want to help students get more out of what they read by helping them engage in the kind of reading that can inspire them and aid them in their personal intellectual growth.
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