In the video “Growing Up Online” Directed by Rachel Dretzin and John Maggio; a number of high school teenagers are interviewed and tell their stories about how the internet has changed or affected their lives. The videos introduction starts out with a few teenagers and parents telling brief stories about what’s going on with the internet according to them and what they think about it. After that, the video continues on a Friday night at two “parties”; at one of them there are six friends playing video games online on their computers. At the other “party” which is across town at a community center there is another group of teenagers uploading dance videos onto YouTube and checking their MySpace. Both of these teen gatherings have something in common, it is the internet! Without the internet these teenagers would probably not even be hanging out together, if they were, they would be doing something totally different. On this documentary video stories about teenagers are told. All of the stories though are of how the internet and social networks like MySpace have negatively affected people.
There was a high school student named Sara who had an eating disorder. She kept it a secret from everyone even her parents. Only the people who were on online forums knew about it. Those people had the same problem as her though, that is why she felt safe telling those people her secret. Sara described what she did by saying, “I’ll go on websites, I’ll go on forums. I’ll look for something called Thinspiration, it is basically an inspiration to stay and become thinner than I am now”. What she was doing was going online and communicating with people online who had the same eating disorder as her. Those people inspired her to stay thin and become thinner which was obviously not a good thing because an eating disorder is something that is very important and wrong; it should not be taken lightly. Sara had one side of her which she showed in public, and another one which she only showed online. Social networks also serve as gateways to lead on stalkers and cyber bullying. A 7th grade boy described in this documentary commit suicide because of cyber bullying. Things like that have made parents be more aware about what goes on online and what their kids are involved in.
The internet can be an important tool that can make our everyday life easier, but it can also be a used as a weapon that can lead to tragic events such as suicides. My life pretty much revolves around technology and also the internet. Whether I’m checking what class assignments are due the next day, or what I’m going to do Friday night with my friends; I’m using the internet. I use my phone and computer every day. In this modern day world that we live in it would be very difficult for a student like me to go a day without using the internet. Checking online what assignments are due is a must; otherwise I would fail the class. Also, I have to type most of my assignments on a computer and then print them out. Even for math class I have to use the internet sometimes. There have been times when something in math class is not very clear to me; so what I do is go into YouTube and learn how to do it properly. Those are some important times when technology and the internet are a must to use. Other times I just go on MySpace and socialize with my friends. Sometimes I even shop online if something is cheaper or if there is something that I wanted but couldn’t find at the store.
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
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