Damn Technology

I am finding that the older I get the more I am beginning to see the negatives with technology. Do not get me wrong I am very much up to date with all the new technology. But what I am finding is that children are becoming overexposed and way too dependent on all this new technology. I am a nanny to two boys ages seven and four so I really see firsthand what all this technology does to them. It is very different from when I was a kid. I grew up here in Garden City and there are a lot of parks for kids to go to. As a kid I basically lived at the park. I was there every day after school. I would come home from school, drop my backpack in the house, grab a snack, and immediately run up to the park that was always packed with kids. Now that I am a nanny I am seeing very different things. The parks are never packed any more. And what I am finding is that so many kids go home from school and immediately hit the computers, TVs, iPads, and video games. The boys I watch used to be very gung-ho to go outside and run around for hours. But within the last year I have noticed how addicted they have become to all their technology. The mother of the boys I watch stayed home from work the other week because I had to take off for something and she even mentioned it to me how she went to the park and no one was there. I told her that I try and take the younger one, who is only in pre-k, to the park any day its nice out and how there are many ten people there at a time.  We were both saying how sad it is how technology has changed things. The parents of the children I watch have definitely spoiled their kids with technology but have seen that they have done that and have made some serious changes to better their kids when it comes to technology. I wish more parents would pull back on the technology and force their kids to be kids and run around outside more and find other things to do other than sitting at home on the computer, iPad, xbox whatever it may be.

Thoughts...

So for my second blog I wanted to expand and voice my opinions and observations on the free write we did in class. In the free write in class I mentioned two reasons why I thought so many secondary students struggle with writing. One reason I think is because students just do not care about writing.  I found in my observations last semester that so many students could care less about writing. Most of their writing done in class was half-assed or sounded exactly like each other's because they would just copy each other. I think that students at the secondary level are very much in a "me" stage.  Unless what they are writing about pertains to them personally on some level, they just do not care. I believe there would be more success in writing if sometimes the free writes or assignments allowed the students to express themselves more.
 Another reason I mentioned in my free write was because students do not do enough writing. I found in my observations last semester that students are rarely asked to write in class. Unless it is a specific assigned piece, the students are not writing. In my observations I can honestly say that I only saw one free write. These students are never assigned free writes or journals or any writing where they can express themselves or voice their opinions. Especially with this age group, it makes me think, if they cannot express themselves at all then why would they care?

My First Blog

I have never been much of a writer.  Do I enjoy writing?  Sometimes.  I find myself to be a better writer when I am given a specific assignment.  Maybe, because the only writing I have ever really done is for school assignments.  I have never been the type of person who just loves to write and can write about any and everything.  I am way more of an active person who likes to be outside doing physical activites.  So, for my first blog I am just going to write a finished piece of the free write that we did in class this past week.In starting with the first question from the free write, as stated above, I do not have much of a history as a writer.  I just write what is assigned to me and not much else.  I do not really remember learning to write or who taught me how to write.  I just sort of remember just writing.  But I suppose I learned from past teachers.  Although, I can only remember a select few teachers who even put the tiniest emphasis on writing.  Of those select few only about one or two of them cared more about the content than anything else.  The other teachers just used the method of an over-head projector to teach the students how to write.  They were more concerned with the grammar and the structure then what was actually written.  I guess to them they were just following the orders of the people above them to make sure the student's understood correct grammar and the structure of the essay but to not pay as much attention to what was actually written in a piece.  One specific problem I have with writing is starting.  I tend to find starting a piece quite difficult especially if it is a free write piece and not an assigned piece.  As with most things I figure the more I practice the better I will get at it.  In undergrad I became a better writer due to the fact that I had to write different pieces all the time for so many different classes.  I hope throughout this class this semester I become a better writer and will ultimately be able to teach students how to be talented writers.