Sunday, October 18, 2009

Singing Hearts/WMChamberlain's video

Kaila Raisdana
I watched and listened to the video/voicethread by Mr. Chamberlain's class and I was very impressed to see that these students were able to do this. I read the posts and comments and I learned that all of this began with the "Intrepid Teacher's" daughter Kaia. He has been recording and maintaining a blog for her and shares the things she's doing in life with the world! It takes some guts to be open minded enough to open your daughter up to the world and have the world receive her- I say kudos to her father (Jabiz Raisdana). It is very important not only to share the world with our loved one (especially with the mediums with which we are familiar), but to share our loved ones with the world. Sure, some negatives can come of this, but no different in value than the one's that come from sending our children out into the world any other way.
Mr. Chamberlain's class has been following Kaia's blog and viewing her pictures and communicating with Kaia through her dad. Her dad responded to their comments by asking the class to send a video or voicethread so that she could understand what they are saying, because she can't read yet.
I thought this was a wonderful idea! So the class did this Dear Kaia which you can see for yourself at this link.
I then went to Singing Hearts Intrepid Teacher and got a better perspective on what was going on. This was the father's blog and it explained his feelings, analysis, and impressions of digitally recording his daughter online. He also poses some questions that I would like to address:
This could go anywhere and much like the dessert trash/treasure, isn't that the concept we want our children to know and be aware of?
I think to a degree, much like the rest of our lives, we can only control so much. You just have to hope that more good things come of it than bad, and be prepared for it when something negative may occur because let's face it- we learn from both good and bad experiences.
I think the value of this experience is so incredible and mandatory if we want our children to understand the world they are in. I think it is worth exposing ourselves online. This world, being so fragmented, is in need of communication and community. Why shouldn't we be part of something that connects the unconnected and provides useful communication at the click of mouse? I think you can see it as putting yourself and your daughter out there for others to view, or you can see it as creating an online community/resource for yourself and your daughter.
I'd like to think that my daughter would have plenty of people all over the world, not just immediate family, looking out for her if I wasn't there or able to for some reason. To clarify, I don't mean that she wouldn't be taken care of by her family or close friends, but that if she needed advice or help or someone to talk to, she would already have a network of people to learn from. I'd like to know that others knew and shared some of awesome memories of her growing up. These students in Mr. Chamberlains class will never forget her and will feel very connected to her. She is important to them. There will be a bond there that she will someday understand and may someday need.
I think this whole thing is exciting to watch and wonderful to see. I don't have children of my own, but I would like to sat that when I do, I will have the courage and openness that Kaia's father has had.

4 comments:

  1. My class (now school) online presence was actually designed by me to show my students that there are no boundaries keeping them from succeeding. Living in a poor, rural area hurts my students because they don't know what life is like outside our town. Through the internet they are beginning to learn there is more to the world than Noel, Missouri.
    Mr. C

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  2. "This world, being so fragmented, is in need of communication and community. Why shouldn't we be part of something that connects the unconnected..." This is exactly what makes blogging so incredible. You and I both attend the University of South Alabama, I assume that we are both education majors, and are even enrolled in the same class during the same semester-- yet, as far as I know, I have never met you. Even if I had run into you in the hallway or parking lot, I doubt that we would have a meaningful conversation. Despite this truth, your blog (which I ran across because we both commented on James Fawcett's post) has allowed me to get to know you through your insight about Jabiz and his daughter Kaia in Qatar. Blogging enables this to happen between anyone, anywhere, anytime... How cool is that?!

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  3. How wonderful- all of this including the two comments above. I am overwhelmed when I see this happening. You will lead the way! Thanks to you, Mr. C, Anthony, Kaias, Intrepid Teacher - all those following new paths.

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  4. To Anthony, yes, we may or may not have met in person, but that is not how we connect today. It is like the anthropology on youtube says, "Networked Individualism" Barry Wellman.

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