The internet is a place to be a different person. It is a virtual society with a million of possibilities to be a million different types of characters. A recent documentary focuses on this point; a point that is extremely important to our way of life. In the documentary a teacher, Steve Maher stated that teaching is not a job anymore; it’s a way to entertain. Teens are so used to being entertained day and night by T.V. and Ipods, Facebook and Myspace, movies and the computer that for us to learn now it requires teens to be entertain during school hours as well. Teens are slowly losing their ability to focus because we are so used to the quick results technology gives us. For many people, like a girl named Jessica, the internet is there to hide your true identity. Because Jessica was hurt so badly by people in her life and becuase she so desperately wanted to be liked, she decided to find acceptance on the internet where discretion and privacy are a thing of the past. Jessica posted pictures of herself on the internet using a different name, which basically gave her a new identity. She used the fact that on the internet you can be whoever you want and no one will know better except you. She got what she wanted when people commented on how beautiful she looked. Although this documentary was based mostly on teenagers and the internet effects, there was also parent contribution. A woman by the name of Evan Skinner states, “My fear isn’t that I have bad kids, my fear is that my good kids will make a bad decision; one bad judgment and pay for it permanently”. From this woman’s point of view, and many others, they want to protect their children from the thousands of unknowns the internet has to offer. Parents also notice the edginess their kids get when they come around while their child is on the computer and get worried because they are not sure whether what their child is doing is harmful or not.
I think that although the internet is useful, fun and a place to keep boredom away; it also needs to be treated responsibly. I think that many teens think that the internet is a place where you can do whatever you want to people because you are not face to face. Respecting each other also is a huge issue because the internet allows bullies to continue their harrassment. I also think that parents need to have serious conversations with their kids about the harmful effects the internet has on people when it is misused. People view the internet as a place to escape from reality. I think that is somewhat ok; but if you choose to keep escaping from your problems or people you were going to end up with a pile of problems so big that you won’t be able to sort things out. Over all, the internet should come with a “handle with care” sign because once you immerse your life so deeply into a “fake” indentify you find yourself pretty much without a real identify in the real world.
Welcome!
Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Conversations Beyond the Classroom”! The title of this blog refers to the community of active readers & collaborative learners we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with each other + a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
No comments:
Post a Comment