Does language shape the way we think?

For this task, we watched Lera Borditsky’s SAR lecture (from May 2017).

My Annotations with the timestamp:

10:35 -This is such a thought provoking question on whether people who speak different languages think differently. Does this have an impact if you speak multiple languages? 

13:21 -This reminds me of “island time” in some places like Hawaii or Fiji where the culture is more laid back and relaxed and not so time focused. People schedule times to meet and get things done, but these times are more of a “soft” time and being late isn’t really a big deal as you are on “island time.”

18:30 – “When you teach people to talk in a new way, you are teaching them to think in a new way as well.” Just this phrase alone makes me reflect on teaching students and how we help them to approach different situations in life such as developing a growth mindset over a negative mindset. If I approach something with positive speech, I think in a more positive way. If I speak negatively, then I approach things in a more negative way.

20: 15 – I wonder the same thing? How are words assigned a gender? I would like to know more about that process when new words evolve? To make this more complicated are there words that are not assigned a gender? In our household we try not to label things as male or female, yet so many items in our life are labeled as one or the other.

28:54- It is interesting how meanings can be easily changed just by tweaking a few words. I think it’s a real art to be able to wordsmith sentences to mean different things. The example with “Chenney bagging a lawyer” reminds me of trying to speak Mandarin and how one word could mean three different things depending on the accent I used when speaking. Needless to say, there were many times that I was laughed at when trying to speak Mandarin because I used the wrong version of the word in the wrong situation. 

33:42 – When they are only focusing on the more significant items such as the toast then perhaps the participant is filtering out the “noise” or what they see as unnecessary features of information. 

45:15 – “Linguistic diversity” is not something I have ever really thought about before. Lera Boroditsky has really opened my mind to how complex language truly is and caused me to consider all the layers of diversity when we discuss language.

Can you guess what I watched and what it was about?

Choosing the last movie, TV show or book I watched or read and depicting that in an emoji story without writing anything orthographically was a challenging activity.  At first, I thought this was going to be an easier task than it actually was. Without giving too much away, I had just recently viewed the series but chose to focus on one part of the series. I began with the title and right away I started having difficulties as I was disappointed with the variety of available emojis to convey the title. I tried both the emoji keyboard on the computer (https://emojikeyboard.io/) as well as my mobile (iPhone) to see if there was a difference of options to use. They were basically the same other than I could put the name of my emoji in the search bar on my phone, which was not available on the laptop version.

I did find it easier to begin with the title and then try to build the plot from there. This was also difficult as I again struggled with locating the emojis I wanted to use. If the initial emoji I wanted wasn’t there, then I needed to figure out what I was going to substitute for the one I wanted. In doing so, I risked changing the story that I wanted to share. I tried to find an emoji that would convey the entire word I wanted to use as when I tried to use syllables or chunk the words into different emojis then the meaning started to change as well. Given that Bolter (2001, Ch. 4, 47) says, “Digital media claims to achieve greater immediacy and authenticity by integrating images (and sound) with prose,” then relying just on the image to convey the meaning could be problematic. The use of both the text and the image almost need to be woven together to exact the meaning of what is being portrayed. When I use the emoji icons in a text message I often only use a handful to state what I want to say and if there is confusion on the side of the person receiving the message, then I have a faster and immediate ability to correct. With just using emojis to convey a longer passage, the longer the passage, the more the increase in misunderstandings. As Bolter (2001) says, “Such icons are meant to put the verbal text in context, as the writer tries to enforce a univocal interpretation on prose that is otherwise open to many interpretations.” In using the emoji icons, we use them to portray an emotion to short bursts of text messages and sometimes the meaning could be misinterpreted. We then rely on using the written words to craft more descriptive responses. So to reiterate, creating my story plot and title in only emojis without written text woven in to support the information was a difficult task. I wonder then if you can figure out the title and then the plot I was trying to explain through my use of emojis?

References:

Bolter, J. D. (2001). Chapter 4. Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print (2nd ed.). Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. doi:10.4324/9781410600110

Catching a Gnarly Wave

Twine: Catching a Gnarly Wave

I had heard of Twinery before, but had yet to try it out. In the beginning, it was fun to start playing around with the story and linking the steps together. Even with the instructions printed off and sitting beside me, things did not make sense until I actually started playing around with it, shaping what I was going to say and providing links and choices for the reader along the way. I found I almost needed to remind myself to provide a choice for the reader to choose, so they feel as if they have control of what they are actually choosing for the next steps of the story. In a way, this reminded me of putting a puzzle together, where the pieces needed to connect together to try and move onto the next step and attach another puzzle piece.  

As I created the Twine, Catching a Gnarly Wave, I reflected on how the idea of what Bolter (2001) referred to as linear and closed script and how script has changed over time with our use of hypertext. I also reflected on the article by Miall and Dobson (2001) where they quoted (Landow 1997, p. 273) in saying that, “hypertext increases individual freedom,” because “users are entirely free to follow links wherever they please.” Using Twine to create a story allowed that freedom of looping ideas together and circling back to make another choice. As a child I loved Choose Your Own Adventure stories and I enjoyed how some of the choices I made linked together and how I could restart the story again and choose a new path. The ease of the Twine hyperlinks allows immediate direction and choice to the path I wanted to follow in the story. One thing I noticed is that in the story I used “I” over “You” to show more personalization and make the reader feel as if they are the central part of the story, whereas “you” makes it seem a little less personal. 

Creating the Twine was fairly easy to navigate and I enjoyed how I was able to insert audio code into my story to try and give it a bit more life. I was able to insert a few sound bites, but the enjoyment soon disappeared as new soundbites were not working and it took me much longer than I thought to delete lines and lines and lines of audiocode. After a few more tries the whole Twine froze and eventually kicked me out. Good thing I had already saved a copy.

References:

Bolter, J. D., & EBSCOhost. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410600110

Miall, D. S., & Dobson, T. (2001). Reading hypertext and the experience of literature. Journal of Digital Information, Retrieved from https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=issn13687506::feae30569d02fbf0a7451897e74be20b

Manual Script:

Reflection on Komodo National Park – The Land of the Dragons

Commentary on Manual Script:

Normally I use a combination of both manual handwriting as well as typing things out on my computer. I lean more heavily on using a computer to capture my thoughts, notes, letters, etc., everyday. However, I do always keep a scribbler on my desk for capturing notes from meetings or lists of what I need to do each day. Those pages are usually covered with an array of multi-colored Post-it notes with little reminders that I leave for myself. When I look at my writing, it is rarely smooth and neatly written.  Usually it is rather messy and more often than not, hard to read by anyone else other than myself.

Knowing that I was going to be writing for this task, I chose to create a brainstorming page of what I wanted to focus on as this would allow me to stay on topic and create a flow to my writing. I also chose to write on a topic that was familiar to me and I therefore drew on a reflection from a travel experience with my family. I wrote as sort of a reflection as well as offering some advice as if I was to share it with a friend. 

As I do not normally hand write this much, I knew I was going to have to be careful to try my best to be tidy. When I first started, right away I disliked my writing and the first few words were immediately full of spelling mistakes. I quickly tore that sheet out of my book, stretched out my fingers and began again. I tried to be careful as I wrote, maintaining my thoughts of what I wanted to say along with keeping the writing legible. I found as I was writing, that writing on a computer allows me to quickly fix what I am trying to write and of course it is more legible to read. As David Collier (Cooke, D. 2012, 1:46) mentioned in the YouTube video: Upside Down, Left to Right: A Letterpress film, “Where technology pushed forward is that we can arrange things in an instant,” which is not easy to do when you are manually writing text by hand. I could feel my fingers start to tire and I would have to adjust the pen I was holding to make it more comfortable. I could see the slight shift in the angle of my writing. As I wrote I also would need to stretch out my fingers from time to time as my hand would tire and at one point I even shook my hand to give it a break. One thing I also noticed as I was writing was how I shifted from printing to cursive writing on and off in the whole piece of writing. I also noted that I was putting too much pressure from my pen onto the paper and that the paper itself started to curl inwards.

One of the significant differences I reflected on between that of using a computer for digital writing and the hand writing, is that after writing out this reflection, I actually felt more pride in the ownership of the end product where I probably take writing with a computer more for granted as it is easier and more comfortable to use in my daily life. It is also easier to make copies of if I was to share it. This in turn reminded me of what Harris (2018) mentions towards the end of the podcast entitled, “The Printed Book: Opening the Floodgates of Knowledge.” In it he talks about, “Cultivating the progress of knowledge in our own time,” and how much has changed and advanced with the printed word. It makes me realize how we take for granted the technologies we use everyday! I am thankful for this advancement considering how much work it is to produce even a small passage writing by hand. I am dating myself, but I recall still hand writing lecture notes and essay writing in university. I remember being so excited when personal computers became accessible and we no longer had to use the university computers with the green or orange text on a black screen. 

References:

Cooke, D. (2012, Jan. 26). Upside down, left to right: A letterpress film. [Video]. YouTube. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6RqWe1bFpM&feature=emb_logo

Harris, B. (Producer). (2011, June 11). How it began: A history of the modern world. [Audio podcast] https://howitbegan.com/episodes/

Unscripted & Unedited 5 Minute Story:

Escape from the Beast

“Escape From the Beast the story takes place on May 3rd 2016 here’s a little backstory first my family and I were living in Fort McMurray during that time both Derek and I were teachers he was a junior high teacher and I was in elementary vice-principal and we had two young children if I had served a few days before but only hit the community on May 3rd it was hard to miss the impact of the fire was already creating the air was thick with smoke in her vehicle to a dusting of Ash on them according to all the experts the fire was not supposed to jump the river and race over to the community so we continued on as normal on the schools are still open I remember that day very well we had been at school and the fire was constant talk among everyone around 10 a.m. we can clearly see a massive orange Hue Over the Horizon with a black stripe below it and it seemed to grow around 11:30 apparent came running into the school to get her child as apparently the high school was evacuating word had spread through social media and suddenly we had Parents coming and streams to get their child or the child next door or a colleague’s child things were very busy helping parents as well as eating staff who were getting heightened we heard that one of the elementary schools on the side we’re shoving students into buses as well as their own vehicles and heading to the Mac Island Recreation Center downtown we ended up letting some stuff go home and rescue a pet or gather their spouse who was sleeping due to working night shift which also included the principle as he had a high-needs child that he was concerned about we can do you need to let the kids leave until the bell rang at the end of the day where we gathered the remaining students all into the gym and waited for parents to arrive at this point it was just myself and a couple of teachers left I recall take a deep breath looking at Andrea who was a teacher beside me and we both realize that we had not even been thinking about our own children who are in daycare together I sent her to get all the kids and take them Her house you should know that from my house to my school was a 5 minute drive and to my husband school is a 2 minute drive and Andrea live near us however the sitter was at least 20 minutes drive away in the direction of the fire and the streets were packed with everyone trying to leave so that 5 minute drive was more like half an hour talk about increasing stress level eventually the last key was picked up from school and Derek and our kids were there to get me we headed to the house rapidly talking about what we are going to do that was when Derek said that we had very little gas in the car and at the gas stations were all closed we made it to the house ran in and grabbed some Essentials like the passports computers a couple of toys for the kids and well Frozen mr. Freeze’s because it was hot out and seemed essential at the time only grabbed a Jerry can because if we did get gas then we were getting extra so we decided to try and leave the city and if you don’t know anything about Fort McMurray there is only one Highway that runs through the city and that is the only way in or out our choices were to head south towards Edmonton or north to the oil sands sites such as Suncor this whole time we were also glue to Facebook and Twitter watching the news and getting concerned as the south end of the city had been closed and now everyone was trying to leave North As We join the traffic which was literally moving at a snail’s pace we could see large chunks of Ash falling and hitting the car and a helicopters in the area dropping fire retardant we did not make it far as we are worried about our lack of gas a few blocks away there was a large area that was cleared for new Housing Development that we pulled into and waited we sat there for hours contemplating what we’re going to do if we can knock it out from where we waited we had a good view traffic and can see it starting to ease up then jerks on Twitter that there was still one gas station was open and that the cells as a city had also been reopened we decide to head to the gas station to see if we could get gas ahead of us in line were a handful of other people as well as police cars and fire truck also filling up beside my throat 10 minutes and then the police are telling people that the station had to be closed because of fire was heading towards us thankfully we did get gas and started on her way and just a few blocks away you can see trees on fire Although I certainly felt anxious this whole time we did try to keep calm for the kids we slowly move to the city with the remaining traffic all around us you can see the trees and houses on fire Ash falling from the sky abandoned vehicles and a constant orange Hue We must have gotten about one kilometre outside the city before we start to relax as it finally felt after such a long day that we were no longer trapped it took us a whole day to go to Edmonton we literally crawled down the untoned highway with thousands of others working their way to Edmonton and I’ll pause history here is there is more to tell but that is for another time” 

Analysis: Escape From the Beast

For this task, I used the voice typing tool available in Google Docs. I wanted to use a tool that is more authentic to what I would have students use in the classroom as this is a tool students have quick access to on their Chromebooks and Google accounts.

The story I chose to tell is one that I have told before. It is a story that holds a powerful memory for myself, my family and one that about 80 000 other Fort McMurryites, although each person’s story has its own nuances. 

As I started, I found that I was very conscious that I was telling the story in more of an “oral story” and less of a “tell a friend” type story. While I read, I could hear my voice adjust back and forth from that of a stilted tone to a more relaxed tone. I also found that because I could watch my words appear immediately in the Google Doc that it was a bit distracting, so I had to look away until I finished telling my story. I found that if I continued to focus on what was appearing on screen that my story would lose its momentum and my focus would then turn to all the errors that were appearing on screen.

Overall, the voice tool did pick-up on the majority of the story I was telling and did not have the level of errors I was expecting or predicting. Looking at the errors, I noticed the most obvious being that the story was just one long paragraph with absolutely no periods or other punctuation to separate or emphasize thoughts. As this was laid out this way, when reading the story you become lost in what the meaning was because it is all bunched together and becomes rather difficult to read. I also noticed that although the text did seem to pick-up on capitalizing proper nouns such as Fort McMurray, Edmonton, Facebook and Twitter, there were some other words that were randomly capitalized such as “Ash”, “Hue Over the Horizon” or “Frozen”. Another error I noticed was how some of the words were interpreted to be something other than what I had intended to say. When I tried to say, “parents were coming in streams” it was interpreted to be “parents coming and streams”. Or when I said, “Derek heard on Twitter,” it was interpreted to be “then jerks on Twitter”. This would be partially due to how clearly I was speaking and the cadence to my voice. 

Now, if I had wanted to go slowly through this story, I could have stopped and started and added punctuation as needed. However, it was my intent to simply keep speaking, tell my story and see how the voice to text tool interpreted what was being said. To use this in the classroom setting, you definitely would have to teach students to slow down, speak clearly and pay attention to punctuation along the way. A student using this program would still have to have basic editing skills; capitals, punctuation and grammar, or the final product would take a lot of time to sift through and make sense of. 

I think that in oral storytelling you can use your voice to emphasize parts of your story and oral storytelling also allows the audience to see your face and the gestures you make with your hands; which in turn gives emotion and feeling to your story. Years ago, as a first year teacher I had a guest speaker come in and do a workshop on how to tell an oral story. She had emphasized the use of facial and voice expressions and hand gestures to help bring the audience into the story with her. I held that memory in the back of my head while I told the story and found myself doing those things, even though nobody was around or could see what I was doing. When writing a story we have to focus on the punctuation we use to add emphasis to the written word and allow the reader to use their imagination in creating imagery, but it does not quite carry the same weight as the spoken word can. 

When using this voice tool with students, I do try and tell them to just “tell the story” and not worry about the punctuation as it can be edited after the story is written. However, this has its own problems associated with it, especially with students who have difficulty editing work. Many times, students get frustrated with seeing one large paragraph, with no punctuation and errors in grammar. Sometimes I think just scribing the story for those students who need help would be easier. Having personally gone through this experience and tried out the tool on my own has now given me a deeper perspective to what I ask of my students. This perspective has emphasised the importance of being more diverse in the ways to tell and share a story. 

Task 1: What’s in My Bag? 

I have a couple of bags on the go, but I thought I would choose to share my “play” bag over my “work” bag. This bag is always ready to go and easy to grab for after school and weekend adventures with my family. I am lucky to live in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Alberta and my family and I try to take advantage of the adventures to be had right in our backyard as often as we can.

Let’s take a closer look at what I currently have got in my 42L Gregory backpack:

1. Strava app on my iphone
2. Bear Spray
3. Extra carabiners
4. Stormproof fire starter
5. Medical kit
6. Hand warmers
7. Dog bowl
8. Dog treats
9. GoPro
10. Hiking poles
11. Sunglasses (with case and glass cleaner)
12. Hair scrunchie
13. Toilet paper
14. Kleenex
15. Hand sanitizer

Need for the items:

The current items in the bag will do in a pinch and are some of the basic items that are always in the bag when I head out, however, what is not in the bag is fresh water and snacks for the family. These are usually added just before my family and I go out on our little adventures. The items do vary from season to season and the activity that we are going on and can increase in quantity if I need to carry my children’s hiking poles or other items that they may get tired of. Not to worry, as the bag has quite a bit of room and the ergonomic supports help when the weight increases. 

All the items have their purpose and need for whatever may come up. Hiking poles to use on that difficult terrain, sunglasses to block the sun, hand warmers to stuff in mittens or winter boots when the temperature drops. Of course, what hiking bag would be complete without a medical kit to aid in any injuries that occur. So far so good, as I have had the kit in the bag for a year and have yet to crack the seal. Then of course, a roll of toilet paper for the obvious and some tissue for that runny nose. Hand sanitizer for helping to clean your hands and a fire starter kit to get the campfire going. Extra carabiners for dangling the bear spray from and any other items that can be dangled. Oh, and let’s not forget the dog bowl and treats for our little buddy that joins us for all our excursions. 

Text Technologies:

As you can see from the image, there is an iPhone open with the Strava app on it. I use Strava to document our hikes and keep track of how far we are walking and the elevation gain as I wander along on our family hikes. I document these hikes with a text description of where we are hiking as well as adding pictures along the way. Also on my phone is access to our “Shacks On The Road” Facebook Page that I use to post pictures to when I travel and go on our family adventures. I again document our adventures with text and photos. Added to this I have a GoPro to take pictures and videos of our family outings so that I can later create a fun montage of the adventure. The GoPro does not always get used, however it is ready when I want to document something. These videos would then go on our YouTube channel with text descriptions of where we were in these adventures. When we think about technology we always reference it as something that is digitized. One thing that I find interesting is how text by itself is seen as technology and how it has evolved over time as the world is rapidly changing. Much of the other gear has basic text technology on it that would be applied in the manufacturing process through technology of some sort and describes what the items are such as the firestarter. 

Literacies: 

I think the items in my bag portray two main literacies that come to mind. One is that I am quite digitally literate in being able to communicate with my online community of friends and family as well as being literate in the skills of mountain living and adventure. I am a family first person and full time educator, so we can’t always get out and adventure as much as we’d like during the school year, but we do our best. When summer hits we are outside daily either here in the mountains in Alberta, or on the beaches of Pacific Rim National Park.

In The Past:

Interesting enough, these are similar items that I have always carried around in my backpack over the last 15-20 years. The difference of course is that the items, although they serve the same purpose, have now been updated to its current form. Therefore not much has changed other than appearance and perhaps better functionality. I also don’t think I would have had quite that small of a video camera and the phone technology has obviously improved.