Blog 5

Like one of my classmates stated the Tulley and Blair article seemed somewhat "outdated" in what it had to say about gender and technology. The belief that males are more into computers than females is based on false notions and assumptions that lie heavily on the gender double standard that has placed females into the category of people who are completely oblivious and uninterested about the world of technology. Over the years these ideas and beliefs have been shattered by the increasing number of females that have demonstrated achievement and knowledge in areas such as medicine, education, media and of course technology.

The Blackmon article was more in touch with current reality dealing with pedagogies that include all students, regardless of gender and ethnicity. Simply because the World Wide Web is available to all, does not mean that different ethnicities are equally represented in cyberspace. Blackmon makes a great case creating assignments that allow students to analyze the different communities that they can relate to. I believe that this allows students to explore cyber communities that extend beyond ethnicity. By doing this students are presented with the opportunity to feel connected to a community that perhaps they had never before explored. Through this activity students discovered and explored their connections to different communities and what this implies in the realm of their own education and development as human beings. Though I do not feel that I would try this activity with my current 9th grade classes, I do feel that 11th or 12th graders would be better suited and would reap greater benefits by exploring and writing about their connections to different communities.

The section on "Feeling Erased in Cyberspace", made me think about my own students and their own feelings about accessibility to resources such as technology and beyond. For the most part my students are all aware of the lack of resources in our school and community. Students know that our school does not have enough teachers, books, classrooms, supplies, computer labs and even desks. My students all know that they live in the "ghetto", South Central, they are also aware about what this implies when their academic achievement is compared through Standardized Testings to students from other more affluent communities.

What puzzles me about all of this however is the fact that despite their awareness about the lack of resources in our school and community, a large number of students posses some sort of portable electronic device. The questions that Blackmon asked her own students about technology made me wonder about what type of responses I would received if I asked my own students these questions. I want to ask my own students, "Is technology equally accessible to all people?" and "What happens to those that don't have access to technology?" Would my students believe that technology is equally accessible because they or some of their friends own ipods and cell phones? Would they feel like they don't have access to technology? I believe that I will learn a lot from my students by asking them to write about these two insightful questions.