Brain Feast!

“So how do teachers deal more productively with technological literacy? Where do they begin to address the issues identified in the preceding chapters?” Cynthia Selfe asks on page 146 of her 161 page book, Technology and Literacy in the Twenty-First Century: The importance of paying attention. Good question, I respond mentally, and I prepare myself to receive her smart, critically constructed answer… And it never really comes.

While reading this book, I waited, excitedly, for the solution, and waded, less excitedly, through nearly 150 pages of history. While Selfe rambled on and on about the Technology Literacy Challenge and the Clinton Administration, and repeated various statistics that prove that technology has not been the solve-all that it was sold to the American public as, I held on, knowing that at the end of this very dry, very long tunnel, a gloriously descriptive, practical prescription detailing the perfect balance of technology and traditional pedagogies in the classroom (and how to achieve it) awaited me. But alas, it never came. In class, we debated a lot about why Selfe organized this book the way she did and to what result, and many students complained about the history-heavy “preceding chapters”. At about this time, the contrarian inside me awoke and brought with her great clarity. Despite the fact that I shared the painful experience of trudging through the murkiness of Selfe’s first eight chapters with my classmates, I realized almost instantly how much I actually appreciated those chapters and how useful they really were to me. I realized simultaneously that Selfe’s “solution” may have even been too long. After all, it doesn’t take many pages to issue the most profound, effective call of action of all: think.

Personally, I appreciate knowing what I now know about the short history of technology in the United States, and as an academic and future teacher, I recognize that this knowledge is vital. Selfe cannot give the answers; realistically, these answers don't exist. Progress with technology and critical pedagogies requires smart, thoughtful students, and thus, smart, thoughtful educators to guide them. Selfe’s subtitle speaks volumes: progress begins when we start paying attention, when we starting thinking. Selfe’s brain food feast brought us all together, and once the food coma wears off, we have no excuse but to use our knowledge to become more proactive and effective.