The contents of A MacPherson’s bag.
For this task, I picked the bag I bring to and from work every day. We are very fortunate; our administration always has a “welcome back” gift at the beginning of every school year. This bag was the first year where the gift has proven helpful year after year. This bag is my go-to carry-all for what I need five out of seven days a week. It can carry a laptop, plus file folders, and students work without getting wrinkled or damaged. I am always amazed at how much I can fit in this bag. This backpack can even extend at the bottom to afford a deeper pocket. I bring this bag to and from work every day. It carries most of the items needed for me while at work or after. I have redacted out some wording on the items for privacy.
What is in my bag and why do I need to take them with me?
- Keys to my classroom and various filing cabinets and drawers
- Each filing cabinet and desk drawers have different locks, so I have to carry many keys.
- The pouch contains my necessities such as hair ties, hand cream, Tylenol and ibuprofen, a hairbrush.
- This pouch comes with me, wherever I go, so I would say that although it is in my backpack, you could easily find it in my weekend day pack.
- The binder contains class lists and my marks.
- I will generally only carry this binder at the beginning of the year because I have set up many O365 apps for my classes, and I want to make sure I have all the names correct.
- Ziploc bag with headphones
- These headphones/earbuds let me listen to music or student projects while in a joint office.
- McCafé coffee reward card
- I drink coffee every morning and would hate to lose out on a free cup of coffee.
- Three masks
- COVID, need I say anything else?
- Pencil case with pens
- I do not know why I had this in my backpack, as I have everything in here at home. I will rethink bringing this home in the future.
- Laptop
- We are a district that is BYOD. Most teachers are issued a laptop from which to work and take with them. This laptop is how I keep in touch with my students and colleagues.
- Rubbermaid container
- I am always bringing some reusable container home, as it contains my leftovers from the previous night’s dinner.
- Smoothie cup
- When you have yourself and kids to get ready in the morning, there just isn’t time to drink it all at once.
- Coffee mug
- I always have a coffee at home but this mug will contain my second cup of the day.
- Reusable shopping bag
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- On the day of the picture, I had a bag to bring home, as it had brought some supplies to school. As I took this picture, this bag made me a bit sad, as I am disappointed that I cannot go to Trader Joe’s for the moment. Their Vanilla Bean cake mix is my favourite boxed cake mix and a significant reason for shopping there.
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A little bit of this and a little bit of that…
These items are all considered text, as in some capacity, they have literal words written on them or are using symbols on how to use them. The stickers on my laptop, which have written text, provide a brief glimpse into my professional experiences and personality.
When viewing these items, such as the binder, laptop, and other items, an “outsider” might believe that I am either a student or individual who must carry many objects, as I have two different versions of bags but each with its advantages. With only two items considered “typical” technology (headphones and laptop), they represent how I interact with text and technology. The laptop is an asset with which I can communicate with my students and provide documentation to complete assignments. This laptop has proven helpful, as it has also taught me how to use speech to text in Word, read aloud in various apps, and help my students use different apps to translate English text to their native language. Although this one device is just one piece in my bag, it has allowed me to teach all students with varying knowledge or capabilities. In addition, I have a set of earbuds, although wired ones, that affords me the chance to listen to students’ audio projects while I am in an office with other people. The paper copy of the McCafe card is not a proper form of technology, but to get this, I had to use technology, a chip reader, and a credit card to purchase the coffee from which this card is attached. As they are a mix of text and technologies, these items demonstrate that I am an individual who can weave between many digital and written literacies. If you haven’t noticed, I do not have my phone in the photo. At this time, I was using it to take the picture. However, to take the photo, I had to go to my charger upstairs and retrieve it. I feel very fortunate to keep my phone in place, out of sight, and my mind when I come home.
Questions I considered for the above paragraph:
- How might these items be considered “texts,” and what do they say about you, the places you inhabit, the cultures with which you engage, and/or the activities you take up?
- Thinking about the title of the course, what are the “text technologies” in your bag, if any? What do these items say about how you engage with language and communication?
- What do the items in your bag say about the literacies you have?
What would this same bag have looked like, say, 15 or 25 years ago?
This question was a favourite. If we are meant to go back in time, I would like to revert to the backpack being called a knapsack.
The year is 2006. My bag would have likely had: This bag would have been in the style of a ‘messenger bag,’ had many more binders, a lot more paper, a much bigger laptop that would have probably had a USB wired mouse, a much smaller wallet, fewer keys, hair elastic, wired headphones, food containers of some sort. The bag would not have contained any masks, reusable bags, and no rewards card.
The year is 1996 (yes, that is 25 years ago). The bag would have been a knapsack. It would have contained my school lunch, likely in a paper bag with Ziplocs, a wallet with cash (for buying French fries at the school cafeteria), textbooks, an anti-skip Discman, and transit tickets. However, this knapsack would have had a whole set of necessities to keep me dry had the day called for rain.