Turkle & Wesch

Question: What is the relationship between Turkle and Wesch? Do you see them as allies, or opponents in this discussion of new media and technology?

Sherry Turkle's “The Flight from Conversation;” and Wesch’s “Crisis of Significance” really both resonated with me in their own ways. I would consider Turkle and Wesh allies with a mindset that human collaboration and engagement is key to learning. While I read Turkle, I found myself highlighting and pulling so many quotes that I wholeheartedly agree with. I find that in this day and age, most people (who aren’t teachers) that I talk to about technology don’t even notice the negative effects technology and social media has on us all. Her point about us being together but separate in our own little bubbles is what I witness each and every day as a high school teacher where smart phones and earbuds are part of the standard uniform for teenagers. She writes, “Always-on/always-on-you devices provide three powerful fantasies: that we will always be heard; that we can put our attention wherever we want it to be; and that we never have to be alone. Indeed our new devices have turned being alone into a problem that can be solved.” So often, when students are on their devices they are on Snapchat and Instagram, possibly chatting or sharing with one another, in a silent room with little to no face to face interaction. Turkle also mentions that we are asking simpler questions in a time of smarter phones. Is it that the questions are simpler or that we do not have to ask as many since the creation of Google and Siri? I wonder these kinds of things often. When she states, “We think constant connection will make us feel less lonely. The opposite is true. If we are unable to be alone, we are far more likely to be lonely. If we don’t teach our children to be alone, they will know only how to be lonely.” This thought makes me think of the video below I saw years ago, ironically, online, on YouTube. Is there a happy medium between all of the technology and human face to face interaction? Do we need to limit tech? Or do we just make sure that we use it as a TOOL for learning and not the sole driving force?

Look Up

After reading Wesch, I took away two main ideas: anti-teaching concept and the “kid’s just not cut out for learning” idea. I feel that both Kelly Reed and Brittany Richer provide great examples of that anti-teaching concept, allowing kids to think critically to come up with the questions through collaboration and creation. I instantly wanted to connect this to my Spanish classes, and felt as though I’ve been doing it all wrong. He is right when he says the greatest self-learning comes when there is no teacher in the room, and I think I have been focused on what I needed to teach rather than what the students should/are learning. My hope next year is to introduce topics and themes and have the students drive their learning through creation and collaboration. What are some of the authentic ways we can incorporate this theme in Spanish class? My students, especially honors classes, are asking those administrative questions he mentions like, “What is the test on?” and “How many sentences does this have to be?” and are very rarely getting critical or deep. He writes, “Education has become a relatively meaningless game of grades rather than an important and meaningful exploration of the world in which we live and co-create.” What better place to think about and analyze the world than Spanish class? I sometimes think... oh there’s just no time for that. Or I will just tell them what I think and there’s no time for them to think. (So sad, I know.) I want to work on framing my teaching and their learning around critical thinking and questioning. Both of these writers really made me reflect and left me with a ton of questions. I think they are onto something here.