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I feel like in my quest to "make the worse seem better" (Lady Gaga), in my narrowed view of the education world I lost sight of my human story. I spent a fair bit of time traveling in my 20's and learned some incredible things about culture and the human experience. I remember returning to my tiny little town feeling so small, and that my extensive university education was only leading me to my life education. I have continued teaching and in the last 10 years endured personal challenges that have also shaped my view of the world.
Until today, with the re-awakening of my traveler's spirit by the inspirational keynote speaker Wade Davis, I had forgotten how my human journey was influenced by the ethnosphere I have experienced in many different countries. I have been reminded of my threads woven in the world and how they are creating a tapestry of the life of Jones (Hmm... maybe a book title. Oh wait, too close to the "Life of Pi"). My escape out of Africa, as it were, was gilded with gold embossed tattoos of middle eastern culture and people. Over the past 10 years, as tattoos sometimes do, those cultural lessons and connections to people have faded in colour but permanently embedded certain filters from which my lens views the world. I was reminded today how truly paramount those filters are. The layers of filters thrust in front of your world view need to be deep and plentiful. We need to collect as many filters as possible, knowing that the world bank of filters is infinite.
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Disclaimer: This is entirely my opinion and I welcome debate. I used the terms they/them so as not to be binary or gender discriminatory.
I try not to be offended by other’s opinions and actually encourage debate about all topics, as it promotes growth for individuals and society. I am often the first to play devil’s advocate and to try to expand my horizons by viewing concepts from a different perspective. I find that “debate” has turned nasty on the internet. People don’t see, or maybe care not to see, the impact that their words have on others. It's very easy to be a keyboard warrior who slices through issues with the deftness of a hot knife through butter. I imagine that the warrior feels righteous and justified in their thought patterns, and likely harbours a little narcissistic need to share their “enlightened” position with the ignorant masses (those individuals who believe, or are, something completely different from enlightened warrior). Here in lies the crux of my issue with keyboard warriors. Living as a minority in society, I regularly view the ill-informed enlightenment of others; I am often flabbergasted at the cruelty and mean-spirited evisceration of any and all individuals who are different from the so called “norm”. In the warrior’s pursuit to educate others, they reveal their own ignorance about issues. I have used the word ignorant/ignorance a lot here. Maybe I should define it, because I honestly feel that it captures the keyboard warrior's true status of subject matters they feel so entitled to discuss. Definition of ignorance (according to Meriam Webster Dictionary)
Warriors attack their victims with vehemence and vigour, while hiding behind the shield of freedom of speech, thought and expression. They hide behind the front line defence that is the virtual anonymity of the internet and the screen from which their skin glows blue. There is an idiom that says “the pen is mightier than the sword”. In the digital age of social media, I think that idiom is more relevant if we change the pen to a keyboard. We are bombarded by the written word in small 140 character bursts. We feel well informed from shared unvetted information passed around like notes on a crumpled piece of paper, written in haste and circulated in malice and obtuseness. The seeming revolutionary access to infinite information has been rendered to schoolyard bullying. The digital age of enlightenment has manifested itself in pockets of societal evolution; however, as a human race we continue to perpetuate the very principles that have, throughout history, brought civilizations to extinction. Racism, bigotry, sexism, and phobias of all kinds related to humans and the human existence continue to plague our globally connected society in increasingly polarizing and violent ways. Napoleon's manifest destiny today would be a numbered list, in bold, over a gradient background dotted with emojis and worded to reference the pop culture memes associated with the cultures he intended to destroy. Our modus operandi has not really changed; only our delivery has. I am reminded periodically that history does indeed repeat itself. The keyboard warriors of today spewing propaganda and bias from a seat of perceived superiority is beyond frustrating to me. It is often down right desultory in its expansion of phenomena. It lacks true investigation and understanding. The question I often ask myself is: “From what place of woundedness does the keyboard warrior derive their vehemence?” In my experience the traumas of existence often fuel the fire of oppression for others. It is an intellectual conundrum to metacognitively understand the source of a keyboard warrior’s bullying, and simultaneously allow your emotional brain to have an aneurism over the intense hurt that it conjures. I will continue to struggle with the dichotomy that occurs through interactions with keyboard warriors. I will use the online platform to spread positivity, love, and empathy. I will try to further my understanding of the primal need to create hierarchy amongst ourselves in order to feel whole. It occurs to me that this very exposition may, to some people, seem condescending and like the verbal mudslide of a keyboard warrior. The irony of sitting at this keyboard typing my thoughts is not lost. My intention is only to ask my questions and articulate my frustration. I hope that rather than incite pain and disgust, it incites thoughtful and investigative discussion around our use and misuse of a very global platform . I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to integrate my passion for technology into our school culture. This has made me think outside the proverbial box about cross curricular application. I long for time to work with other teachers to co-teach, but alas this is very difficult to come by. I have connected with a few colleagues but we are really using our own time to get any projects done. I recently reached out to our Global Perspectives and Foods teachers. We have really been trying to create a sustainable food program at our school. One of the needs to commence this as a "winter" project has meant finding space and the ability to essentially grow food in a basement. We have the necessary room and lights now to tackle watering. Given the school schedule, there is not always someone in the building to water the seedlings. How do we get around that? This is where we come in. We brainstormed a way to water without actually being there. In other words, we Googled automated watering systems. Instructables has a million DYI systems. We made a choice, based on parts availability and the schematics presented. Away we went. There have been bumps thus far, and we are by no means there yet, but boy has it been fun! I will post a video of our process soon.
I have finally finished the entire course planning for all five courses. I have 3d game lab up and running in conjunction with MOODLE. All feedback from students and TTOC’s is that this is working well. This is blended learning at its finest. I will post the lore (in another post) with some of the projects done so far of the 2 games running simultaneously on 3d game lab. The Modeling and Animation 12 course is linked to the Modeling and Animation 11 course so that students interact with one another. I am incredibly lucky that my 12’s are so willing to help the 11’s and act as incredible mentors (Ben and Chance you guys are so amazing!). The grade 10’s have had the opportunity to try their hand on and off with coding Python via codecademy, broken up by some challenges. Today, because it is a double block and we have more time, they had options: half choosing to work on scratch and code small games, and the other half choosing to work on a bridge challenge for span and weight using only cardboard. The results are phenomenal. I have included pictures and video of how amazing they all are! |
Lori JonesStriving to explore flip: explain in order to engage! Archives
September 2017
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