I read an article by A. J. Juliani entitled “6 Truths About Technology in Education” and have decided to write a response to three of those truths. This is my opinion on truth number three: Truth #3: “Stories will always shape us. They will always help us learn. Technology transforms the stories we can tell, how we tell them and who we tell them too” (Juliani, 2017).

This makes me think of a silly Facebook game that circulated a while back. It basically asked you to post pictures of three fictional characters that when combined make up your personality. When this became a trend I loved checking out all my friend’s opinions of themselves but what was most interesting was the conversations these posts provoked. We began discussing how stories shaped us as people and the different mediums they came from. I realized that all those characters that impacted me. When I watched and later read Gone with the Wind, I connected with Scarlett’s fierce drive to never give up on her goals even when reaching them was hard. She inspired me to never give in, no matter how difficult things got-she is my work ethic. That same work ethic that kept me up five hours doing homework in elementary school because to be a good student obviously took longer and was that same work ethic that masked my learning disability for years. Baby from Dirty Dancing taught me to stand up for what I believe in, no matter the cost. Rizzo inspired my inner feminist and taught me that I was the one in charge of my own relationships. Jane Eyre made me believe that love was not some silly fancy but a deeper connection, it is the good times and the bad. The Odyssey taught me loyalty. The list goes on and on for me. So if my list, limited to books and movies, is so long how varied will the children of today find their influences? As students tell their own stories on social media, day by day constructing an online persona will they strive to emulate the idea of a person they “know” from Facebook? I imagine they will. I imagine that their stories will join together and collectively influence the future.

References

Juliani, A. J. (2017, September 10). 6 Truths About Technology in Education. Retrieved October 04, 2017, from http://ajjuliani.com/6-truths-about-technology-in-education/