In the readings by Gian Pagnucci, he uses plenty of detail on the setting or surroundings of the story. In his first short story called, "Maxwell Street Days" he is very descriptive. He sets the tone for readers to actually feel like they are in Wisconsin on Maxwell Street in the middle of Maxwell Street Day. He allows his tone to make the reader feel very welcomed at this event. He was very descriptive in what the street day entailed so that the reader could imagine it themselves.
In the stories by Michael Ondaatje he sets the tone for the setting of his stories very well. In the short story or poem called, "On Her House" he explains the setting very well. The tone I understood from this short story was that the "house" was rather welcoming. The writer explained that the man couldn't feel lonely if he tried since "her house" was so welcoming. She was always having people come in and out. Towards the end of this short story the tone changes slightly from welcoming to curious and possibly a bit worrying. The last line states, "I remember how frightened I was the first time he came in." This gives me a sense of curiosity and worrying. I feel that the blank spaces Ondaatje leaves in between each mini paragraph gives me a sense of calmness or letting the reader know not to rush and completely take in what he is trying to explain.
In the readings by Gian Pagnucci, he uses plenty of detail on the setting or surroundings of the story. In his first short story called, "Maxwell Street Days" he is very descriptive. He sets the tone for readers to actually feel like they are in Wisconsin on Maxwell Street in the middle of Maxwell Street Day. He allows his tone to make the reader feel very welcomed at this event. He was very descriptive in what the street day entailed so that the reader could imagine it themselves.
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The many different modes of communication that we have today influence my life in several ways. I can honestly say that in one single day I use more then two modes of communication. Not only do these ways of communication impact my regular life, they also impact my writing in my life. Thinking back on the ways of communication I do not believe there is a day where I only use one single way of communication.
The more obvious ways of communication would be by cell phone or telephone. I use my cell phone every single day and some days I use it before I even step out of my bed. I also use the telephone all day at my place of employment. One an average day I answer about 35 phone calls through my office. These two are the biggest way in which I communicate with the world. I also use email every single day. I use email for my personal reasons and I also use it while being at work. Another mode of communication that I use from time to time is plain old "snail mail" for letters or cards. Many times when someones birthday is approaching I will send them a card in the mail to communicate to them that there birthday has been remembered. This is not the most popular way of communicating these days but I still use it. I will also occasionally write an old fashioned hand written letter to some of my older family members that do not live close to me. Some of the older generations in my family do not know how to use email so I write them often. It is an old way of communication but I still use it. All of these ways or modes of communication impact my writing almost daily. When I use email I feel that I can type faster then I can actually write so I tend to get more writing done if it's typed instead of hand written. I also feel that email can even be a more convenient way of communicating instead of a phone call. The person will have the email in a matter of seconds even before they would be able to answer their phone. I do feel that in some ways, some of these modes of communication are not helping me build better writing skills. When writing an email or text message, I sometimes take the "shorter" way and use incorrect abbreviations for some things. I feel that when I am forced to sit down and hand write something, I write in a more correct way. In the end, every way I use to communicate impacts my writing either in a positive or negative way on a daily basis. Throughout reading this article by Marc Prensky I thought alot about the differences between my schooling and my siblings schooling. My siblings are 13, 14, 15, and 17 while I'm 25. I do believe that my siblings and I are digital natives but there are some differences between the 5 of us when it comes to technology and education. We are all "native speakers of the digital language of computers and the internet" but I feel that they surpass me in this group. I remember taking computer classes my last year of elementary school prior to middle school but my siblings started taking computer classes in 3rd grade. Our parents on the other hand would be digital immigrants. While they do understand some parts of the internet and computer they are not up to par accoring to digital natives. My Mother will still have problems finding a certain website that needs to be searched for our not being able to find an email that has been saved to her "drafts".
One way that I feel I am different from most digital natives is when it comes to reading text from a computer. Just a few days ago I watched my brother read an entire 3 page story on his Ipod. Unfortunately for me, I am unable to read directly from the computer. All of the articles or stories that I have to read need to be printed out. I feel that I understand or get more from the article if I am able to write, highlight, or take notes directly on to the paper. That is one way in which I would not be a "digital native". I do believe that understand the differences between digital natives and digital immigrants will help me alot when it comes time for me to enter a classroom as a teacher instead of a student. Students and children are always adapting new ways to learn or understand what is being taugth to them. Using this knowledge I can incorporate new technologies into my lesson plans and daily activities. Part II Could it be possible that our "Ditigal Natives" actually think differently than our "Baby Boomers?" I do believe this is so just by comparing myself with my parents and their generation. My parents and I have very differnt views on alot of things in life but the way we think is a big difference. If I am doing a research project for school while sitting at my computer in my room my Mother will ask me why I am not at the library reading a book. Trying to explain to her that I can reach more information from the internet then one single book never works out in my favor. I also believe it is correct to say that me, as a "Digital Native" is a much better multi-tasker then those of a different area or those that are not digital natives. My parents have learned to multi-task but always seem to get flustered. Every single day I have to multi-task between school, work, homework. sleeping, and just plain living. A better question would be how do our educators of today adapt to the new way our students are thinking. I like the idea of "Digital Game Based Learning" that was mentioned in the article. One good point made in this article about the game based learning was to have the students try and play them for 6 hours over a weekend, you have now added an additional day of school to their weekend. This is 6 hours less that they will watch tv, sit at the computer, or sleep. |