Hello everyone my name is Melissa Guzzo and this is my 6th course for MET. I am currently in Guangzhou China teaching at an American International IB School. I am originally from Edmonton, Alberta and it has been 3 years since I have been able to come back home for a visit 🙁 I have been in China for 6 years and I truly love international teaching, however the pandemic has put a hold on the traveling part that comes with being an international teacher.

I admit I have many bougie “China designer” bags that my China life has afforded me. And although I would love to share with you my Louis, Hermes, or Dior with you, to get my true daily picture of myself I am using my fancy also knockoff Hershel, why pay original price when you can never tell it isn’t real? However, I do not think they are fake but just magically fell off a truck somewhere for me to get a such cheap prices. I like to think the contents show that I am a teacher who likes to travel light. Masks (not being political, I appreciate they keep me safe, and they are required for public transportation here), computer, phone, AirPods, professional development reading, post it notes, Kleenex (because most public toilets do not have toilet paper, you have to be prepared) and of course hand sanitizer, the sparkly smelly kind are the best, which kill 99% of germs of course.

Text technologies fill my bag, from readings for professional development, I am new to IB so I am diving full in with the inquiry mindset. My teaching toolbox can never be too full so I constantly have books with me to catch those moments in travel or preps where I am able to read. I prefer my text in written form, I just love the smell of a book, but I also have my phone and computers for my IBooks and audibles. This has saved space in my luggage when traveling, however, to me nothing beats holding a paperback. I’m surprised I do not have my pencil, for scribbles to jotting notes on my post it notes, erasing words to re write, I am definitely a pencil over pen girl.

With the readings I found it interesting how Scholes observes an interesting slippage of language, text is technology. My phone is everything here in China, I constantly use Baidu translator as Mandarin is not an easy language to learn, pay for items, my “Uber”, Apple maps to find my way around, photo taking as photos are my story telling on my journey aboard, social media and most importantly keeping in contact with my family, friends and loved ones from all over the world. Scholes (1992) describes this period, he notes, “that the word also begins to shift from denoting material handicraft to verbal or linguistic construction.” A text, then, may be thought of as an oral or written construct. The words I type through text on my phone is creating connections with people all over the world, where I am sharing stories of something that has happened, asking a question, or learning about them. I am facilitating communication which the reading states is a practical art that has played a central role, some claim, in shaping human consciousness. Face to face coffees, dinners had to take a pause and were  through different LMS systems. As the reading states, “as the tools for its’ transmission evolve and proliferate, our modes of communication and ways of thinking are necessarily modified.” The time we are in now, modified, is the perfect term to use. “Once things get back to normal” is not a statement we can live by, this is our new normal and adapting our ways to communicate scaffolds this change.

Technology is how students communicate, it is what they know, it is why I decided to take my Masters in Educational Technology. “Indeed, more recent research suggests that exposure to interactive audio-visual media, such as video games, develops a number of skills that are desirable in today’s information economy (e.g., Beavis, 2015).

I engage with language and communication verbally every day, with students, co-workers, friends and the friendly doorman. My computer is an extension of that. Being in lockdown zooming with family, days of Netflix, online teaching, online MET classes, reading what’s happening in the world, my computer is my text technology portal. It makes being over 13 000 km away seem that not far away.

To me my items say I am how much I really rely on technology. It is my connection to where I am and with my people who are overseas. It is my education, entertainment, mindfulness and a history of pictures to show where I have been all in a tiny device, it is my text. The narrative of my backpack, provides a glimpse into the narrative of my being. While accurate today, the contents represent me right now. 20 years ago, I had my love for reading and would always have a book with me, but I did not have even a cellphone back then or a purse for that matter, my text was less complicated or maybe simple is the correct word.

The reading paints a clear picture of how, “a text, then, may be thought of as a creation. Further, if we consider the last two of the words listed by Scholes (1992), we find that technology is very closely related to text: the tekton (craftsman) is one who is well-versed in a technique (art or skill), while techne carries both the root and the sense of the word technology, being of or relating to an art or craft. In an interesting slippage of language, text is technology.

Looking ahead, I feel the contents will not change much, I just see the technology part smaller and offering us more options to make life ‘easier’. I feel that the joy of pencil on paper will become a thing of the past and that handwriting students will think it is some secret code that older adults use. We evolve, and with that our language and communication evolves as well.

Reference:

Michigan Technological University. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2021, from https://pages.mtu.edu/~rlstrick/rsvtxt/scholes.pdf