Brad Gritters EDT 626 Blog

What is a participatory culture? Participatory culture is an environment that allows students to express themselves artistically. It is giving someone a voice in their community to produce something that is helpful and effective. In the classroom, it could be seen as a culture that helps students really make sense of what they are learning in schools. It allows them to connect what they are learning in school with their world outside of school. One responsibility that teachers have in the classroom is to create a culture that promotes the students to express themselves positively to those who are around them.  I thought Henry Jenkins described the culture that a mentor could create very nicely. He summarized this environment as having 5 main qualities to promote student growth. Here is what he stated.  How can you embrace the best of participatory culture into everyday practices of your classroom/schooling? Navigating participatory culture in our day and age must be done with ...

The article WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT CHILDREN AND TECHNOLOGY discusses the positives and negatives that technology can have on children as they mature. In the day and age that we live where children are more connected to technology than ever before, makes this article very relevant to everyone. The article states in its foreword, “children have access to smartphones and tablets before they learn to walk and talk.” This sentence alone naturally will raise red flags for many parents and teachers. Anyone who cares about our future must have these conversations about technology to ensure we are implementing technology properly in our homes and in our schools. Childhood is a time of rapid development for our children, and it has become very clear to all that children are spending a lot of time online. “During the first three years of life, a child’s brain may create over one million new connections per second - essential for the development of hearing, language and cognition (Center on the Dev...

Dewey believes that we as human beings learn through our experiences, but it is important that we understand what Dewey means by the word experience. An ordinary experience is something that happens in life that has little to no special significance in a person’s life. When someone just goes through the motions in life, there is nothing significant that will stand out to that person from each day.  According to Dewey, AN experience is something that happens that shapes a person in their life. It is an experience that will allow a person to change and improve something that will take place in the future. It is an experience that we would call memorable. I view it as a moment that inspires someone to change their life for the better!  As educators it is important that we follow Dewey’s definition of AN experience within our classrooms. Our job is to create A learning experience that engages our students fully. It needs to impact students enough so that they can learn from the cl...