Hello everyone,
I’m Tovey Fan, and this is my last term in the MET program. I’m taking ETEC 523, 540, and 565 as my 8th to 10th courses. I live in Coquitlam, and thanks to my Chinese background, my job is to provide private and personalized tutoring and mentoring in both life and multiple subjects for many Chinese high-school and university students. I came to Canada when I was seventeen, and I came here for a psychology major at SFU. I worked as a special education teacher for autistic children in Burnaby and Coquitlam starting from my 3rd year at SFU. After a few years, I became quite worried about the prospects of many high-school and university students from Chinese immigrant families because they cannot adapt to the environment. That was why I delved into assisting those teenagers both in terms of studying and living. I took the MET program thinking about how to assist them on a broader level, and online-jumpstart those who are still in China but prepared to come here.
I took the above picture of the stuff in my bag that I carried around with me daily. The bag I’m using is the Microsoft Surface bag that I bought along with my Surface shown in the picture. Other things are the charger, a notebook, and a pen. All these items are my daily needs. I believe these items tell a lot about me: an ambulatory and simplistic lifestyle, a student who learns and takes note wherever and whenever possible, a teacher who may explain questions anytime and anywhere if needed, a digital native, requires a projector for class, … you name it. The same bag would have been the same without a laptop and with lecture slides, teaching/learning materials, and/or printed book sections/papers ten years ago. In fact, my bag was like this when I was an undergraduate student, less than five years ago. In the future, archeologists might say “Oh, look at this guy. He was dependent on digital devices like everyone else in that time period. We can find phone and PC debris along with almost every skeleton found in the early 21st century.”
Text technologies
I believe that my bag is the incarnation of text technologies. The pen, the notebook, usually accompanied by several pieces of class materials, constitute ample printing, writing, and reading spaces. The laptop, MS Surface, on the other hand, provides infinite digital writing and showing space. In fact, almost all of my writing and reading activities resulted from my studying and working are accomplished on the Surface. Its portability allows me to write or read anytime I would like to, and one of my favorites is to use it on Skytrain when I commute for work. It also allows me to connect to the Internet anywhere, anytime (with my iPhone hotspot). I also use it for another important reason: drawing. Many students of mine require online tutoring, but tutoring math/physics/statistics, etc. online is almost impossible because I need to draw diagrams and write formulae to show them the thinking process (think about geometry!). With Surface, I can first connect to my students and share my screen with them using Skype, and use the touchscreen to draw diagrams using the painting app embedded in the Microsoft operating system. With this function, I am even able to teach a class without a blackboard or whiteboard, as long as there is a projector. Digital traces abound in my bag.
Traditional text manifests itself through the pen and the notebook. I use them for several purposes. First, I write down my ideas and lesson plans when I prepare for classes. Second, I jot down ideas and problems I have when I study. Third, I use it to teach, if necessary, when random students in my working environment ask me random questions in random subjects. Therefore, the pen and the notebook create an ample space of reading, information retaining, writing, creating, teaching, and reflecting.