h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I recently read an online review of a book by Michael Harris “The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection,” about technology and society. Apparently the book focuses on a specific demographic of people born before 1985. We're the last of a dying breed - we know what life is like both with the internet and without it. We're the people who have made the pilgrimage from Before to After. The review quotes:

”If we’re the last people in history to know life before the internet, we are also the only ones who will ever speak, as it were, both languages. We are the only fluent translators of Before and After.”

I spend most of my time with the "After" generation and I have to say that they seem quite fascinated by "Before".

One example. I was recently teaching about news values, the unwritten rules that editors make about what to include and how much prominence to give it. Negative things, extraordinary events, disasters, elite nations, high profile people etc are more likely to get reported. We talked about TV news, which they hardly watch, and newspapers, which they couldn't even remember really reading.

So I brought a selection of papers in and had them analyse front page and main stories against a news values list. It was a very quiet lesson at the start, they sat and read, enjoying the novelty of turning actual pages and concentrating on large chunks of text. They realised how different papers report the same story in different ways, discussed the news values decisions and swapped papers.

But after the novelty of handling hard copy had worn off, they were able to articulate some disappointment with the format. The news was old, more than one commented that they had already read the story, or been sent it, the day before. One student was frustrated because he'd found a story interesting and he was unable to press "share" and immediately tell his friends. He laughingly pressed the page to show what he could have done on a tablet. Several wanted to go beyond what they were reading, and without clickable links they couldn't get instant background information or definitions.

At the end of the lesson I gave them the option to take a paper away with them. Only one wanted to, and that's because he was going to give it to his grandparents after school.

These students aren't unaware of news, but they neither source not consume it in the same way. I'm also making them read public service blogs as part of looking at the way "new media" influences content. But because blogs are blocked on the school system, they have to read the "new media" in paperback book format!


Here's the review I read of Harris's book. http://qz.com/252456/what-it-feels-like-to-be-the-last-generation-to-remember-life-before-the-internet/

Interesting! I often think my kids will think I am bonkers for not putting their pictures up on the Internet. Who doesn't share pictures of every aspect of their lives and themselves from every angle? Although I like to think their generation will have a bit more decorum about it than the current lot. Doubt it though.

This is a really thought provoking and worthwhile journal coelacanth. Thank you for writing it.

It also sounds as if you're doing a great job working with these students.

Thanks Lanza, I try! Of course I am constrained by the prescriptive specification for their exam in June, but I'm also aware that they will be first time voters in May. These are my second year students, so I'm gradually removing the "scaffolding" and letting them stand on their own two feet as thinkers.

I've worked with this age group for more than 20 years. I tell them that if we lived in certain tribes, I would be revered as a wise woman, an elder. They would consider themselves privileged to be granted an audience with me in my special hut. They would probably bring me presents, and would hang off my every word. They would most certainly not be late or try and sneakily send text messages under the table!

7th November

For this one I had to read carefully what I wrote last year. The link is: F33494?thread=8305323&skip=71

Today my mum is 79 and yes she is still here.

In September 2013 she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, which in someone her age is untreatable. We were told not to plan for Christmas, 50% of people her age with AML are dead by 3 months after diagnosis. A year ago I wrote: "She could make another 6 months, even more. After the 50% drop out in the first 3 months, the decline in numbers slows and a small percentage of people with AML do make it to 9 months, even a year. So we keep telling her, even if no one really believes it"


She made it to the 9 months, and then to the year, and now it's 14 months since diagnosis and she's one of the approximately 5%-10% of AML patients her age who make it this far. She's still on the palliative drugs and has blood tests every 2-3 weeks. She keeps away from infections, goes out in fresh air whenever she can, she's still driving (but never more than about 5 miles from home).

Last month she bought a new TV. Terminal illness. It's a life sentence, not a death sentence.

Happy birthday mum.

Good for her! And for you and all her family!

[Amy P]

I loved the story about the newspapers, and how you would be considered a wise woman. I'm going to try that on the youngsters at my work.

The Gruesome Twosome are exasperated at my annoyance when I take them somewhere to meet their friends. Often we'll be on the way already, when a message comes that it's later, or in a different place. I think that is extremely rude and obnoxious (in some cases) but they see it as normal. For me, once you've made an arrangement you can't just, full in the knowledge that people are already travelling - they have made the effort to be on time - well, you can't just change arrangements to something that suit you better because you overslept, or it's raining and you don't want to go outside... or whatevs (as they used to say)

Regarding the availability of news on new media, I think it is now more important than ever to teach people (not only the afters, some of us Befores need this lesson too) to be choosy, or at least critical, of what they read and always be aware of where they are reading it. Sources, dear boy, sources.

to your mum

As is usual, I find Sho has voiced what I would have said. (She gets up earlier than I do)

But yes, wise women!

And good wishes for your mother.

Oh, happy birthday to your mum. I remember reading your journal last year. How lovely that she's not only still here, but still evidently enjoying her life.

Your previous day's posting resonated with me in that I sort of agreed with that student's frustration at not being able to press a button. When I read a newspaper or magazine I find it frustrating not to be able to look up a particular word meaning or reference there and then. As I read all books on my kindle now, if I don't know a word I just have to move the cursor to it and lo! there's the definition.

Deb

This weekend I am spending time supporting a friend whose mum died this week. It was sudden and unexpected, though not entirely a surprise. But my friend is devastated and has to suddenly make so many decisions.

I've reflected over the past year about whether it is better to know you only have a limited time, like my mum, or to go suddenly, like my friend's mum. I think I'd like to know. I wouldn't want anyone to have to go through what my friend is having to face.

"I have never quite got the Smiths" [Solnushka]

I tried to like them, I really did. Just didn't work for me.

" I think it is now more important than ever to teach people (not only the afters, some of us Befores need this lesson too) to be choosy, or at least critical, of what they read and always be aware of where they are reading it." [Sho]

That was always important, but the Internet has levelled the playing field so that the credible sources and noncredible ones seem to be lumped in together.

[Amy P]

Thanks paulh, perhaps now more than ever it's the role of an educator to guide students to the credible sources and away from noncredible ones.

I wish I was more familiar with the ancient Greek teachers, I suspect Plato might have had something to say on the matter.

I like the idea of being able to say your goodbyes and tidy up your cupboards.

Deb

Remembrance Sunday.

One of the best bits about teaching is the trips out. Even better are the ones organised by another member of staff. I've been on a few over the years, but one sticks in my mind. I went on this trip two years running, about 8 years ago.

This was a one day visit to Belgium, to First World War memorials and museums, organised by the history teachers at a previous school. So I've spent time at Tyne Cot, been in the trenches and seen the exhibits at Sanctuary Wood, Hill 62 and the In Flanders Field museum. I've been to Ypres and heard The Last Post at the Menin gate at dusk.

It's a long day but a very sobering one, for adults and children alike. Tyne Cot particularly is perhaps when you start to realise the vastness of the casualty numbers. Both times, some students had been given pieces of paper with family names to look for at the cemeteries, others were visibly moved to discover, unexpectedly, their surname on a wall, in a register or on a grave.

This week I've reminded the 17 and 18 year old boys in my classes what they might well have been doing 100 years ago.

Education. It's not just about what's in the exam.

[Amy P]

Flagwatch.

I have a nice drive to work, the first half is rural, through country lanes and little villages, the second half is the more fast pace of a motorway. This change of pace also takes me mentally from quiet village to noisy school. At the end of the day the physical and mental journey is reversed.

Maybe it's just my part of the country, or maybe it's more widespread, but I drive past quite a few houses with large flagpoles in their garden. Not all have flags flying all the time but there are 4 that almost always do.

3 of these are usually showing the Union Jack, although I noticed this morning one had been replaced by the Red Hand of Ulster. During recent elections, 2 of these houses were also displaying posters announcing their intention to vote for what appeared to be the Standing at the Back Dressed Stupidly and Looking Stupid Party, so I expect more of that in the coming 6 months.

The other house changes the flag more regularly, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. Last week for example they flew a giant pumpkin against a black background. They have 2 variations of a Jolly Roger, the Invicta flag of Kent, a St Georges Cross and of course the Union Jack. Occasional appearances are the Armed Forces Day flag and a Confederate flag, others I see but don't recognise. I often wonder if they keep track of which ones they fly on which days, and whether they make the flags or are given them as presents.

So, is my little pocket of England unusual, or do lots of houses have their own flagpole?