Readings- Kist

There were a lot of really interesting points that were brought up in the assigned readings.  There was loads of information about various, new technologies and ideas that completely took me by surprise.  Each article I read resonated with me differently, leaving me with more knowledge and a state of surprise.  The articles made me wonder about how different classrooms will be in the future as technology keeps advancing and what kind of impact, whether it be positive or negative, this will have on the teachers, students, parents, etc.
This made me think about how we had to set up Facebook and Twitter accounts for our class.  I have also heard of other classes and schools requiring students to make accounts for these social networking websites.  In the article "I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You", it states that generally speaking most people age 30 and older find these sites to be insane.  This would then mean that the parents of the students who are making these accounts find what they are doing to be completely irrelevant.  How do these parents really feel about schools requiring their students to make these profiles? As generations pass I believe it will be completely acceptable, but right now I wonder how controversial this is.  This less than traditional method also made me think about the article "Video Games in the Classroom".  It is rather compelling to think about a classroom being transformed into a typical living room, including gaming systems, films, and computers.  In this setting and environment, while it may seem a bit odd, I believe it could really work.  Students learn best when they are able to relate to the lessons that are being taught, and students can easily relate to technology because it is such a major part of their daily lives.  "Salen’s theory goes like this: building a game — even the kind of simple game a sixth grader might build — is equivalent to building a miniworld, a dynamic system governed by a set of rules, complete with challenges, obstacles and goals. At its best, game design can be an interdisciplinary exercise involving math, writing, art, computer programming, deductive reasoning and critical thinking skills. If children can build, play and understand games that work, it’s possible that someday they will understand and design systems that work. And the world is full of complicated systems."  Even though they are gaming, they are also learning important lessons, ranging in all subject areas.  I do not know if I would necessarily use gaming because I am not that well versed in that field, but I do believe we could incorporate movies, music, different websites, etc.
One of the most shocking things that I read was from the article "Publish or Perish".  In the article Steve Jobs states, "40% of people in the U.S. read one book or less last year."  This was extremely shocking and depressing to me. I cannot even imagine reading only one book for an entire year.  It is so important for people to read and to read for all purposes. Whether it be for education or pleasure, people need to be reading.  I am not necessarily a fan of kindles or iPads, just because I enjoy physically turning the pages, but I do believe it is a great new technology to get people to read more.  Russ Grandinetti, Amazon's Vice President, states "people buy 3.1 times as many books as they did 12 months ago".  This is really incouraging.  If making books easily accessible online, gets people to read more, I am totally for it.  The problem here, is that this probably only works for those who have access to these tablets, which cost hundreds of dollars.  I see these tablets more for personal purposes opposed to being implemented into schools.  Some school districts just simply don't have the funding for these tablets. 
With technology always upgrading and changing it is impossible to predict how our class's will be conducted in the years to come, but I know that technology will have a very prominent role.