technology and kids
Functional Illiteracy: The Repost
People who know me know I’m struggling this semester. I try to explain how my students seem weaker this year; how I can’t get them to use capital letters (or, in some cases, how I can’t get them to stop randomly capitalizing words that don’t need to be capitalized); how they won’t stop writing “im” instead of “I’m”; how I can’t get them to stop using the letter “u” when they mean the word “you.”…
To Touch or not to Touch?: That is the Question
My son’s 11th birthday is fast approaching. He has not asked for a cell phone, but he has asked for an iPod Touch. In my mind, this device brings its own set of problems. It’s expensive. It requires Wi-Fi to send text — which is not always available. I worry about his grammar deteriorating with all the stoooopid abbreviations. He is only just beginning to learn the nuances of conventional grammar, and texting interferes with all of that. Texting will also open him up to the no-so wonderful world of cyber-bullying. Then again, having an iPod Touch would hold all his music and his old first generation Nano has long been maxed out. He could download free Apps and purchase some with his own money.
And it is the only thing he wants for his birthday….