Friday, February 27, 2009

Italian Blog Site - "Transparent Language"

This is a really neat blog site about current events in Italy and written in

English called Transparent Language - Italian Blog...
Check it out! Click here.

You know Venice has been celebrating Carnevale. On the blog for Feb. 20th, there's a recipe for a traditional pastry served at this time called Chiacchieri de Carnevale which means literally, "carnival chats". Have a great weekend, everyone! Ciao for now...

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Blog as "Architectural Literacy" - A New Constructivist Typology for Reading and Writing


Again and again, throughout this Chapter entitled "Blogging and New Literacies" by Diana Penrod, I was struck by the author's use of the word "build". She uses it to emphasize a new and emerging "constructivist" philosophy of 21st Century educators. Blogging is concerned with constructivism - it teaches children to not "write" creatively anymore, but to "creatively" write. Now, literacy takes on a three-dimensional quality within time and space, whereas formerly, it was expressed two-dimensionally with paper and pen. I believe Penrod is trying to describe the "blog" as a new context known as "Architectural Literacy" - a constructed or built space or page that is created from an array, perhaps infinite, of form and function. Formally, the context is created. Functionally, the student has power to self-express.
This new typology of literacy is concerned with a different context apart from the traditional classroom where students were traditionally engaged. It is plain to me as a former architectural designer, that graphic design is coupled with the creative license to explore and integrate information as text to the newly-made, two-dimensional (yet virtual and very much three-dimensional) web page. And this is key; the virtual webpage is and can be extremely three dimensional in nature. The boundaries of information a student can explore and integrate into his or her own self-made environment is infinite as is the design palette of time and space coupled with technological globalization of information access. So, after all this being said, the blog is really just a new forum for reading and writing - but, it's not that simple.
Similar to the Renaissance period following the Dark Ages, we now experience another "rebirth" of knowledge and information access. It is now an age of technological globalization where information through internet access is at our fingertips. The "blog" has become a new and creative form of a design canvas born out of "virtual proportion". The parameters of reading and writing are caught up in a "virtual world".
The blogosphere allows us to construct infinitely on a webpage, and then integrate a finite or infinite (editable) form of written expression through text. The "blog" is a design process that can alter and transform as the writer sees fit. Still, written text is editable and evolutionary. It therefore lends itself to the realm of education as a powerful instructive and learning tool, as advocated by Penrod. And, she is correct in thinking that a writer first constructs the very environment that will foster the creativity of self expression of ideas and attitudes through text.
The blog as "Architectural Literacy" is a newly, evolving branch of Constructivist Theory pertaining to the Internet and Information Technology. That is what Penrod is trying to say. Now, as educators, we are "building" our students literacy skills through teaching them how to access the internet and then to write about what they learn, read what is written, and build literacy skills through a very new and creative form of expression called a "blog".
Does the blog lend itself as the best medium for written expression as claimed by Penrod? Is it really all that good for children, and children with special needs? I believe that depends on the child, and how adept the child is at dealing with the possibilities. I believe that once again, like learning how to use a computer, the computer is only as good as the user. And, similarly, the blog is only as good as the blogger, and in the pereception of the blog by an audience. I do agree that blogosphere is ripe ground for eliminating preconceived jugments and perceptions about the diversity amongst students. How well any given student progresses through use of blogging will be a unique outcome every time. So many factors are involved, that are impacted by motivation and desire to make use of the medium; one's own world which will propel the process forward, or drive it back to traditional means.
Perhaps we should be teaching our students more about fusion between text and visual arts -- both two dimensional and three dimensional. Then perhaps the virtual screen of the computer might utimately be done away with and then our words and stories are projected into our real world to enjoy as we ourselves move through our real, built environments. Isn't this art? We could see text and art fused in the atmosphere to read and enjoy through harnessing the thought processes entrenched in our brains. That could be art. Our next advancement would be to do away with a "screen" and use advancements in technology to live in our own virtual worlds, ensconced in reality, without being tied to computers at desks! Wow! How would we do away with a keyboard? What technological device could "read" our brains and "construct" our thoughts into laser images or holograms for all to read and share? Isn't that our working memory compartmentalized, packed up, and ready for transport until we find the next virtual webpage? Are we ready to build our next blog? Without help from teachers or instructors? That seems to be the goal of blogging according to Penrod. Oh well, it's also the literacy builder in me wanting to revolutionize the learning process; to take the blog out of the computer and create a new context for it, such as back in my brain to be changed and edited again and again, as publishing one is so easy. So gratifying! So fun!
But, like a dusty journal, over time will it last to reap the benefits? To reference back to any particular time and place in order to remember a place in our journey. Is the blog just a constructed pathway of "built literacy" to know ourselves and learn along the way? Yes, I think it is. And, according to Penrod, it is a path to be traveled with or without others. It's the others we take with us that make the difference in what we learn. And, it's the space between us that makes us know, when we're alone.


Honey, apples, and daisies!

Juice - E !

Buon Salute (good health)!

Monday, February 23, 2009




This is my dog Dave - at least what he almost looks like...he's a Jack Russell Terrier, and I'll post a real picture soon....

1st Post - 2/23/2009

This is a blog test about my favorite daily beverage...Jill