newly inspired

Tutoring is great. I thoroughly enjoy talking one-on-one with students and being completely flexible to go wherever their minds are. Today we talked about internships and what CEO's of banks do. The topic of "entrepreneurship" came up. I feel strongly that the thoughts and ideas and passions we have as youngsters are the most important things. Encouraging the youth to record and act upon their ideas of how to change the world and make businesses out of their visions is of utmost importance to me. A study by the Kaufman foundation points out that 3 million new jobs are created by firms that are less than 5 years old. While job loss is generally attributed to established firms and companies who are striving to appease shareholder's pressure for profit through efficiency; meaning fewer employees, more product.

He expressed his interest in golf and becoming a caddy as a summer internship. Not really sure if this interest was cultivated within or from a trusted sibling as a way to make "progress," but in the same breath we began to talk about "hard work." I recently read, and tried to convey, the concept of the 80/20 principle. 80% of the profits come from 20% of the employees/efforts. 80% of the results come from 20% of the actions. 80% of the cola is drunk by 20% of the cola drinkers etc... In my own life, I wonder how the 80/20 principle applies. I have always identified myself with the most hardworking lot. Sometimes I wonder if my choice to substitute teach instead of apply for regular classroom teacher is the result of my desire to be seen as "hardworking." Recently I was hired by the Stratford district as a general substitute. Some of the students like substitutes because they are "real" people. As opposed to their regular teachers, who are demonic robots? I tried to explain how much bureaucratic assessment and meetings teachers have to jump through in order to satisfy their job requirements and hopefully he is more respectful of his regular classroom teachers and his academic program.

But I guess my choice is simply not a financial one. I am inspired tonight about creating a workbook and mini curriculum that helps young adults through the identity crisis. I woke up this morning and spent most of the day without focus. I felt like I wasted most of today. Although I read Howard Gardiner and worked on midi using protools, it was not satisfying. After attending a small business workshop at the local library this evening, I feel inspired to compile and create this. I am going to create a seminar, a workshop, a curriculum for myself. And I am going to employ it upon myself. I will set my own goals and objectives. I will be my own mentor and coach. And I will complete it. Championbird style 

Embracing Twenty-First Century Literacy in Public Education: An Analytical Look at the Possibilities and Challenges of Technology's Influence on Literacy

Embracing Twenty-First Century Literacy in Public Education:

An Analytical Look at the Possibilities and Challenges of Technology's Influence on Literacy

by: Ben Brown

One of the most important problems facing public education is the increasing demand for literacy in a technologically-dominated century. Technology is exponentially increasing in power and prevalence: students are glued to cellphones, while teachers log-on to new reporting software and even ad-ridden online textbooks. With growing up texting, students have a natural inclination to figure out the latest gadget with an impressive proficiency, but often seem to only use this knowledge for entertainment and socializing purposes. The problem is that the internet has become a place that creates distractions and destroys students' attention spans and ability to concentrate on more one-track activities, like reading. This multimedia fixation is turning students away from libraries and moving them toward busy multimedia features. Although, this can capture the interest of people with short attention spans, absorbing information in a controlled manner is more beneficial to a learner's ability to retain information and focus on more longer-termed projects. The immediate reward a person feels when they are able to simultaneously check seventy emails while sending texts and posting Facebook updates provides the illusion of productivity. Devices like smartphones and ipads are preventing people from focusing and are instead forcing people into an ADD-laden streams of thought. Though the unfocused use of technology is currently polluting the minds of students and the upcoming generation, it is also a tool that can be easily utilized to make students more involved in their own learning.

Armed with technology in people's pockets, in order to engage students and teach literacy skills, teachers need to find a balance between traditional education and 21^st-century technology. Often, a student blurs the distinguishing line between academic writing and social writing,like the difference between “4” and “for.” Furthermore, many students think “writing for pleasure” means updating his or her Facebook status, or writing a 120-character tweet. Writing or reading anything more than a page is seen as punishment because students have not been taught how to beneficially use technology for professional networking and communication.

With such technologies as Facebook, Blogspot, and even text-messaging, students are constantly writing—more than ever—without actually recognizing that they are doing such. This is a great opportunity for teachers to incorporate into curriculum. Teachers are consequently more relevant, connected, available, and meaningful to students' and students move from being passive consumers of multimedia to actively producing and contributing to society. In order to overcome the cons and provide quality education that encompasses entertainment as well as academic rigor, curriculum must cultivate and nurture the ability to focus and think deeply.

As a home-bound tutor, I will address this problem by embracing twenty-first century literacy while confronting its challenges. I will help students become aware of the constant distractions that plague multimedia technology in order to become better at prioritizing their time and focusing on their goals. Introducing decision-making strategies will help students make better choices in their lives. Students need to develop filters through which they can actively weed out mental distractions. They need to make informed choices about who they associate with, both in-person and online. Through honest self-reflection and personal assessment of their brand, students uncover personal strengths and build upon them. Students learn to identify with what works and what doesn't work for them. From here, they develop their own plan of action and learn for themselves the challenges and possibilities of embracing technology.

Strengths Explorer

I shared The Clifton Youth Strengths Explorer (https://www.strengths-explorer.com/) with a student. It is a simplified version of the Strengths Finder 2.0. We had the same top theme: Futuristic. This is pretty cool because it might help to explain why tutoring sessions seem to be working so well. I also have discipline, analytic, focus, and restorative in my top five themes. Not really sure what to do with these themes, except that I feel more confident to continue on the path that I am going: continue using my monthly planner, continue setting goals, continue working on making projects grow, and continue self-improving. Along with the "focus" theme, I learned that "single-mindedness" is not always such a bad thing. Having too many coals on the fire, I oftentimes feel overwhelmed and buried beneath all the projects and tasks on my ever-expanding list. So when my friend pointed out that I do tend to have a few too many things going on at once, I connect my need to have "single-minded" focus and the lack of satisfaction that comes from its antithesis.