Reflective Post

Technology makes life easier. There was something wrong with my computer last month. I couldn't get assess to internet. It felt like I had lost my both arms. I couldn't do anything. I cannot imagine how people can live without a computer today.

Blogging is relatively new to me. I was not used to posting messages. I guess it has something to do with all those negative news about people abusing the use of internet.

You see there is a conflict. On one hand, you cannot live without a computer. On the other hand, to a certain extent, you are afraid of using it.

The good news is the more we understand the potential control technology have on us, the more likely we are to control the technology to do things our own way. For example, the posting 'Games' on my blog suggests playing computer games could be of beneficial to children. Because of the new affordances such as interactivity and multimedia, children frequently involve in virtual world where reading and writing are encouraged. Some games require children to solve problem. Understandably, children's problem solving skill is enhanced.

Multitasking

I asked my daughter about multitasking. This is what she replied me.

"Human is born with the ability to multitask. You don’t need to be taught how to multitask. For example, I’m listening to music, singing and writing at the same time. And the most common example, people always chat with a lot of people in facebook at the same time. It is very common for us to multitasking. As now, you might be listening to music or chatting with your friends. Well, you never just do one thing at a time, right? When your mom asked you a question and you are listening to Avril Lavigne’s ‘Skater Boy’, you won’t wait till the songs end and tell you mom the answer right?"

I kind of agree with her that we are born with the ability. And technology makes it easier for us to do more tasks simultaneously.



Games

"Don't say that you love playing video games," my daughter's teacher said to her students who are going to have a secondary admission interview soon.

I guess the main reason why playing video games should not be mentioned during an school interview is that it is often associated with violence and problem of addiction, implying that a student who loves playing video games may not achieve acadamic excellence.

I tend to believe that games enhance learning. When we play games, we will try to read games reviews or sometimes we even involve in forum to discuss strategies with others who share common interest. We read and write a lot during the process!

Of course we need to carefully choose right types of game as well as to  maintain a healthy 'online' time management.

This is one of the games I play (amateur surgeon).

Collaborative Writing

When I was asked about collaborative writing, the only thing that came to my mind were group assignments. The fact is that we involve in collaborative writing almost every day. We seek advice from our peers on a particular forum; we are on facebook sharing feelings with our friends, etc. I guess the amazing thing is that we don't even notice it or maybe we just never think about it because somehow it has become part of our life.

More than words

Normally a child speaks his first word when he is about one year old. It is interesting to find that parents like showing their little children flash cards to help them learn words. I saw a baby playing an ipad flash cards in his baby cart (though it may seem a little extreme, pictures help little children to memorize words).

Many youngsters nowadays like comic books more than novels. Newspapers and magazines – the latter in particular – use pictures for illustration. All these show the importance of pictures as visual aid. Pictures allows readers to use their own imagination.

Source: http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/

Other than a mere visual aid, pictures have also the important duty of convincing us of even the most unbelievable. There is a familiar old saying – ‘seeing is believing’. You can often hear people say they won’t believe something unless they can see it ‘with their own eyes’. A science book will tell you water boils even at 0^oC, provided that the pressure is low, but such unbelievable and intuitively challenging phenomenon is only believable when you have seen it happen, and pictures provide a nice medium for that even if you don’t have the time or equipment to perform such an experiment. In other words, pictures convince readers to believe what the author wants them to believe.

Fanfiction - online reading and writing

Ever since the Internet was invented, more and more net-related stuff has become part of our everyday lives. People like to watch news online; social networks myspace or facebook are also very popular. This is especially true for my family, although in my case the one website that has sparked my children's interest is online reading and writing.

At first, I thought reading online was just their extra hobby, and I never realized the good that came with it. Seeing them read stories and gradually come to like them and eventually start writing some was my first comfort, but the real surprise came when they started making friends on the site and absorbing their culture. By giving reviews to a particular writer and getting a response, you get to communicate with the writer and sometimes you see that you share the same interests and become pen friends. The same goes with being the reader.

My son Jeremy (Secondary Six):

I discovered fanfiction.net not long ago, and I’m already hooked. Sometimes, besides reading stories, I write some too. At first, I thought that the popularity of each category depended on the popularity of the original story only. However, over time, I’ve come to learn that the ease of adding new elements to a particular story is also a factor.

There’s one important difference between writing a story book and writing a story that you constantly put online. You cannot publish your book when it’s only half-finished, but the case is much more flexible with fanfiction. Even if it’s not finished, you can publish it online and update the story later with new elements. Plus, you get really motivating reviews that make you want to finish it. The online system is also very convenient. You can store favorite stories in your profile and you can access it as long as you can access the internet.

However, the best thing about fanfiction is perhaps the chance for you to get to know people from all over the world. Sometimes, the writer and the reader may share the same interests and become pen friends. You get to learn other things besides writing stories by keeping contact with them.

My story: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6149855/1/LA2_in_Lunar_Knights

My daughter Daisy (Primary Six):

My brother showed me this website one year ago. Then it became my hobby to read the stories there.

It was so new to me at first. I was so excited about this website because I can see what the people think about my favorite animation character. I opened an account at once and started writing animation and books.

At first, it was fun to write. But as time pass, it became a way for me to kill time. Still, it was fun to read stories. It was at that time when I realize I like to read stories in fanfiction more because unlike books (the story may not always be what you want it to be), you can change it.

But if you don’t know what you want, you won’t be able to rewrite it. However, when you read stories of other authors, you will fell excited when the author wrote what you want.

My blog

I successfully built my blog!