Twitter as Educational Tool?

I was stumbling around Facebook late one night (ok, tonight... and it's currently 4:00 AM...) when I came across this article:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/06/08/twitter.school/

The headline reads: "Twitter Finds a Place in the Classroom."

The article basically follows a middle-school teacher who, instead of shunning the use of technology, allows his students to be on the internet, "as long as they're using Twitter."  As he lectures in class, he poses questions to the students.  Now, whereas before only a select group of students would consistenly speak up, he now finds that he is getting a more well-balanced response from the class via Twitter.

This article really got me thinking... Although I'm so much of a social media whore nowadays (I've got Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Youtube AS WELL AS three emails) that any article related to this kind of medium will get me "thinking."

ANYWAY, I got this off of a friend who at first shot down the idea outright, speaking of getting the children AWAY from their "extreme dependency on technology."  However as soon as I read this article I thought to myself, "huh..."

Sure, on one hand the internet can be a very sketchy place, and many people will argue that it has no place in the classroom, BUT:

WHAT IF we were to create an environment on the internet, a sort of safe haven forum that allows everyone to participate in an intelligent manner?  What if we then took this idea of a "safe zone" and applied it to people who are just coming to realize the internet's potential?

By starting in middle school, we would be able to "get them" while they are still young, and uncolored by the distractions that are facebook and youtube and what have you.  This would teach the students that the internet is more than just a cheap dick joke or meme-source; it's a place of discussion and intelligence.

Also, as stated at the beginning of the post, the teacher in question noticed that he got a wider base of response from his class, not just the kids that always tend to "dominate classroom discussions."  The slight anonymity that the internet (and in this case, Twitter) has given his class allows a lot of his shyer students the opportunity to speak where they may not have felt comfortable before.

And maybe, just maybe, by reaching out to the students in this way, we can see a change in how the internet is run, where facebook and intelligent conversation can run side-by-side.

Now, I realize that this is EXTREMELY and utterly optimistic and idealistic, but I think that by starting young, and by fostering an environment that is both safe and intelligent, these children might be able to change the way the internet is perceived (at least by a lot of America, at any rate).

Reflections on the Mainland

It has always been interesting to me - why I chose to go to school in the midwest.

When I tell people that I am from Hawaii, the first thing they say to me is normally something along the lines of "You live in HAWAII?  Why on God's Almighty Green-And-Brown-And-Blue Earth would you choose to come to the Midwest???"

And you know, on paper the arguments seem to stack against this decision.  The school I'm at now was the only place in the Midwest that I applied to, and the only school that I auditioned at live.  They didn't give me very much scholarship money, and I could have easily gone to school at home for about $5,000 a year...

So why this school?  Why would I choose to put myself in debt for a majority of my life for a school that is a twelve-hour plane ride away from a place that I can even remotely call home?

I have always told myself that I was a fairly independent person.  I have told myself for the last few years or so that I wanted to "get off the rock," as people say at home, and explore the vast world out there.  And on some level it's true.

HOWEVER.  I think on some level, perhaps subconsciously, perhaps Flying-Spaghetti-Monster-induced, I knew that I wasn't very happy at home.  I was an awkward duck.  And I mean SCHMAWKWARD (disclaimer! This doesn't mean that I'm not awkward now - I have my moments... Ok, a lot of moments).  I knew that a change of pace would really do me good.  It would get me away from my parents, who I love to death, but will talk about maybe in another blog post, as well as take me out of the "Hawaiian-style" mindset.

Now, this is not saying anything against local people.  This is one of those "It's not you, it's me" type of situations.  I simply do not think that I have a "local kine" mindset.  Everything seemed so contrived, and so, like, falsely chill (if I can coin a term); at least at my high school.  It was likke no one was there to learn anything, and I think I picked it up at a fairly early age...  I did not try in school, I hated doing homework, I still pulled slightly-above-average grades... People were just stupid.

*Now I realize that this is probably a similar situation to a lot of people out there, but let me have my say! :P*

I think actually the addition of pidgin helped it, if I'm being completely honest.  At least the pidgin that I was exposed to.  And no, not this kind:

Hawaiian pidgin originally started when the immigrants from all different countries started coming to work in the pineapple fields and the like.  In order to understand each other, they mixed and mingled their languages to form what is know as pidgin today.

Now, some pidgin can be intelligent, when people actually do mix the languages.  That is of no problem for me... The problem lies within these (VERY) often white-boys that simply think "Ho bah, we go beech o' wat" is pidgin.

These are the people that get confused by words such as 'intelligent,' and it kind of drives me nuts.

These are just some things I think about.

And I'm not saying that by moving to the mainland everything is fixed and everyone is happy.  No, there are still gripes I have, but on the whole, being in this academic (and social... very social... VERY social) enviornment has really changed me for the better.

Well I've had dinner and the writing mood has worn off, so I think I'll end it here.

Thanks, and bye!