Hello! My name is Trista, and I’m looking forward to the course together. I added some more information about me to my blog’s home page. I look forward to getting to know you throughout ETEC540.
The bag I have chosen for our first task is the backpack that I use for work. Although I am an online teacher, I teach from a school most days and need a backpack to commute. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of my with my backpack on my way to work, but any fellow teachers could probably visualize what we look like on our way to work. While it may not be the most professional-looking, I quickly learned that using a backpack is more practical to get from point A to B.
My bag carries items that I have deemed essential to complete my day-to-day work and to feel more comfortable when not at home. In the picture, you will see the following job-specific items: my plan book, laptop carrier (including my laptop/charger), pen, and headphones. I deem the other items as more personal care essentials: Kleenex, napkins, a small first aid kit, hand sanitizer, deodorant, floss, and a mask. While the latter items aren’t necessary for my job, they are my ‘in case of emergency’ items because I need to feel prepared for several scenarios.
In thinking about the word ‘text,’ I chose to think about how text tells a story. While written text literally tells a story, I believe that stories could also be verbalized and contained in an item. When looking at the items in my backpack, they tell a story about who I am in my job and how technology has allowed us to evolve.
My backpack, first and foremost, has been used from the time that I was a university student to being a teacher. This alone tells a story of my lifelong learning journey. Looking at the contents inside my backpack, I am drawn to thinking about the written text in my plan book and the digital text contained within my laptop. These embody the written words that immediately come to mind when thinking of the word ‘text’. I think that having both a physical form of text and a digital one speaks to the nature of how teaching is evolving and is an example of a text technology. Part of my story as a teacher is learning how to develop my practice to integrate more digital/technological opportunities while still acknowledging that lower elementary students, in particular, need the foundational skills of using pencil and paper.
The remaining contents of my backpack can tell a story of how our technology has changed over time. There are consistent changes in how our lives can become more accessible with advancements in technology. When I consider how my same backpack looked 15 years ago, I wouldn’t have been taking a laptop to school to complete my work, nor would my paper be limited to a single notebook. A mask and hand sanitizer definitely wouldn’t have been seen in the same way as they are now. If an archeologist was to look at the contents of my bag now, these two items might have been especially indicative of the globalized pandemic we’ve all been living through. As the years go on, technology will continue to evolve and change. Laptops, headphones, and notebooks will still exist, but their purpose and/or capabilities may change to offer more efficiency.
The “What’s in Your Bag?” assignment is a unique way to introduce ourselves here in ETEC540. This quick snapshot of bag contents is only one part of my story. As we continue through our course, I look forward to discovering more about how text technologies have evolved and will continue to change over time, especially when thinking about my teaching.