Internet tragedies

Just a warning, this will not be a happy post. (except for the bit at the end, which is mostly funny.)

I've encountered two different news articles today that have caught my attention and got my mind to thinking. One is incredibly stupid and the other is terrifyingly sad.

First the stupid.

The U of M MSA president created a private facebook group making fun of another member of MSA. You can read about it here but in summary, the facebook group was a joke between two members of MSA who didn't like the actions of a third, and created a facebook group. I suppose the lesson to be learned in this situation is that, generally, the internet is not private. The MSA president could have vented to his friend after class, over the phone, or in a coffee shop about his issues, but instead decided to use facebook as his medium. What he thought was merely a joke between friends turned into a scandal because he thought the internet was a private medium. It is not.

Now the sad.

First, read this in its entirety. What is so terrifyingly sad about this case is the girl was led to believe in a reality which simply was not true, and this deception would not have been possible without the anonymity provided by the internet. To this girl, the internet was real, she was talking to a real boy, with whom she felt a deep connection, and when he turned hurtful, I imagine it was like a close friend had slapped her in the face.

What I want to say in response to this is as follows: The internet is very real, and it is recorded. At the same time,anything you find on it can be false. You can be talking the person you believe, or someone else. A photo you are looking at could be accurate, or it could be photoshopped. The person e-mailing you asking to hold onto millions of dollars could be the prince of Nigeria, or it could be a scam.

One of the major problems is that the internet is anonymous. I feel that instituting a system where you explore the internet, but always identified as yourself, would alleviate many problems that occur on the web. In essence, it would more tightly tie the world of the web to reality, and force you to interact with people and places in the same ways you would in real life.

Looking over my post, I feel like it lacks focus, but I've been working on it intermittently over a few class periods, so thats understandable. I'll leave it as is.

I've got sweet bo-staff skills, but....

Ok, so for my social studies methods class, I need to create a lesson plan. I did so, and submitted it, but did not create a specific outline for a lecture I had included in my lesson plan.

As I sat down to create my lecture, I realized something: I have no idea how to create and give a lecture.

Lecturing is an important skill for any teacher. Although it should not be used too often, it is still vital for any teacher to be able to transmit information effectively. I remember in my college classes that teachers had various abilities to create lectures, highlight important themes that tie the lectures together, and to perform the lecture well, allowing for note-taking, questions, response, etc., and the teachers that were able to lecture well really stood out from the pack.

I'm sure that there are skills and information required for creating a good lecture, and I don't know any of that. I would love to have a lecture workshop that gives lecturing strategies, composition ideas, etc.