Tools and Literacy
At the time I went to college, the emergent use of technology, namely computer, has make profound differences in the form, structure and quality of writing and written text. I noticed that with the word processors, people could easily edit their paragraph, either adding new ideas or deleting some extraneous ones. The quality of the article, in some way, may be enhanced due to the convenience of the editing, while the repeated editing may increase the possibility of incongruity, and incoherence of the overall article.
As I read a passage in Bomer’s (2003) article about how kids viewed the pillows not as tools to relax themselves but as toys that they can move and toss them around, I was intrigued that the author held a vision that the muddled incident is a process of learning and can possibly pique students motives of writing and allow them to develop ideas for writing. In my writing class at elementary school, we were usually given a topic and had to write about it with little support (e.g. explanation of the topic, some brainstorming steps, etc.) Both the surface structure – handwriting, punctuation, style, and grammar - and content were highlighted. Based on Bomer (2003), the ideality of the tool that comes out of my writing teacher is very different from the one the in the present article. Her edition of cultural practice was to have students do intentional things – sitting in the classroom, behaving themselves and write as instructed.
Vygotsky’s notion of pivot in connection with play stands out to me. He postulates that children have to detach an object from its meaning in order to play. Through the process of attributing meanings to objects and actions, and meanings that are not presented in objects or actions, children would be able to conceptualize abstract concepts, ideas and formulate new modes of action and thoughts. It reminds me of a scene I saw in the playground the other day. Two little girls were sitting by a table. On the table, a tea pot and tea cups were displayed. Though I did not see any food on the table, the kids seemed to pretend they were having an afternoon tea. Also, both of them kept talking to an “invisible” guest on an empty seat. Though we were not able to see their imaginary guest friend, they were very polite and using all those gestures that people consider the way the guest should be treated. A set of tea cup and an empty chair, in these girls’ minds, symbolized their guest. These two girls attributed meaning that are not intrinsically presented in the situation and brought a surplus of meaning to the context. By taking on a subjective role, a child learns by playing, symbolizing and finally elaborating their ideas through spoken or printed words.
When we were talking about the use of concrete tools such as mechanical pencil for literacy development, I thought about different types of ball pens that can meet various needs of writers. Two years ago when I first came to the U.S., I brought a lot of ball pens with small and sharp tips because my experience of using ball pens made in the U.S. was awful: my handwriting became messy and untidy. However, when I came to the U.S., I suddenly found out those ball pens I brought with me became less useful, meaning that my English handwriting looked better when the words were written by using ball pens with dull tips. I realized that because writing alphabets requires fewer strokes while writing characters takes more strokes. When the tip of a pen is sharp, writing with it can clearly represent the complicated strokes in a character; and when the tip of a pen is dull, writing with it can enlarge, and deepen alphabets. Also, the ways we determine the tidiness or beauty of the handwriting vary from culture to culture. A simple tool like ball pen we are using everyday to facilitate the formulation of the ideas, elaboration of thoughts, and structuring of the texts to share with the audience across time and space can serve different functions and cultural practices. This is something that I would never have thought about if I didn’t read this article.
As I read a passage in Bomer’s (2003) article about how kids viewed the pillows not as tools to relax themselves but as toys that they can move and toss them around, I was intrigued that the author held a vision that the muddled incident is a process of learning and can possibly pique students motives of writing and allow them to develop ideas for writing. In my writing class at elementary school, we were usually given a topic and had to write about it with little support (e.g. explanation of the topic, some brainstorming steps, etc.) Both the surface structure – handwriting, punctuation, style, and grammar - and content were highlighted. Based on Bomer (2003), the ideality of the tool that comes out of my writing teacher is very different from the one the in the present article. Her edition of cultural practice was to have students do intentional things – sitting in the classroom, behaving themselves and write as instructed.
Vygotsky’s notion of pivot in connection with play stands out to me. He postulates that children have to detach an object from its meaning in order to play. Through the process of attributing meanings to objects and actions, and meanings that are not presented in objects or actions, children would be able to conceptualize abstract concepts, ideas and formulate new modes of action and thoughts. It reminds me of a scene I saw in the playground the other day. Two little girls were sitting by a table. On the table, a tea pot and tea cups were displayed. Though I did not see any food on the table, the kids seemed to pretend they were having an afternoon tea. Also, both of them kept talking to an “invisible” guest on an empty seat. Though we were not able to see their imaginary guest friend, they were very polite and using all those gestures that people consider the way the guest should be treated. A set of tea cup and an empty chair, in these girls’ minds, symbolized their guest. These two girls attributed meaning that are not intrinsically presented in the situation and brought a surplus of meaning to the context. By taking on a subjective role, a child learns by playing, symbolizing and finally elaborating their ideas through spoken or printed words.
When we were talking about the use of concrete tools such as mechanical pencil for literacy development, I thought about different types of ball pens that can meet various needs of writers. Two years ago when I first came to the U.S., I brought a lot of ball pens with small and sharp tips because my experience of using ball pens made in the U.S. was awful: my handwriting became messy and untidy. However, when I came to the U.S., I suddenly found out those ball pens I brought with me became less useful, meaning that my English handwriting looked better when the words were written by using ball pens with dull tips. I realized that because writing alphabets requires fewer strokes while writing characters takes more strokes. When the tip of a pen is sharp, writing with it can clearly represent the complicated strokes in a character; and when the tip of a pen is dull, writing with it can enlarge, and deepen alphabets. Also, the ways we determine the tidiness or beauty of the handwriting vary from culture to culture. A simple tool like ball pen we are using everyday to facilitate the formulation of the ideas, elaboration of thoughts, and structuring of the texts to share with the audience across time and space can serve different functions and cultural practices. This is something that I would never have thought about if I didn’t read this article.
posted by June at 8:47 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home