Introduction of "Words to live by..." and the author Joyce Harris-Thacker

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I Learn.--Benjamin Franklin

You could ask almost anybody in the small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia, who is Joyce Harris-Thacker, and you undoubtedly would get a myriad of answers:  Oh, she’s the widow of WV State Trooper David Harris.  She’s a former County Commissioner and the first woman commissioner in Upshur County.  She is an author and a poet.  She’s Natalie Harris’s (Hissam) mom.  She was my typing teacher when I was in high school.  She’s married to Steve Thacker; he’s the best car mechanic in town.  She’s the Director of the Upshur County FRN.  She has more pictures in the local newspaper than anyone else I know.  She is constantly advocating for services to improve the lives of our children and families here in Upshur County.  She speaks at the State Capitol and FBI Center on special occasions to bring attention and honor to our law enforcement officers and their families. 

You could talk to a hundred people, and they all might say that they serve on a board or committee with me, and they wouldn’t be lying.  But, that would exhaust both the writer and the reader to go through that list.

Yes, all the prior statements are true.  I served as a County Commissioner in Upshur County from 1993-2000.  While serving on the  national board for Concerns of Police Survivors, I spoke on many occasions at the state capitol to help bring about change in the lives of our law enforcement officers and their families, and leading the charge for developing national, state and local law enforcement memorials.  I hold a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Education from WV Wesleyan College and a Master’s Degree in Education from Wesleyan as well, taught in the Upshur County public school system, and as an adjunct at Fairmont State for a short period.  Most of the past decade has been spent in my beloved community supporting programs to meet the needs of children and families through the Upshur County Family Resource Network.  In my spare time, I am on a ballfield or in a gym in Marion County watching my grandsons, Trey and Gavin Hissam, wrestle or play baseball. 

This fall after obtaining my teaching recertification through classes at Fairmont State, I will return to teaching part-time in the Upshur County Schools and continue to advocate for children and family services in Upshur County through an abbreviated schedule with FRN.

https://online.fairmontstate.edu/webct/entryPage.dowebct

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKlJOxwyMWU

https://sites.google.com/site/educ6806

"Digital Media Effects on Conventional Reading and Writing Practices"

“Texting is a miraculous thing” according to the TEDTalks Video (as cited in Films Media 2013/2014), and I don’t disagree.  The same can be said for the telegraph, the telephone and the television.  Each has a place in history and sphere of influence on the evolution of the human intellect. But, we are getting ahead of ourselves.  First and foremost, there was speech; and according to TEDTalks “if humanity had existed for 24 hours, writing came along at about 11:07 pm.” Back in Abe Lincoln’s day they spoke like they wrote and was referred to in this text as “fingered speech”. If that is supposed to be comforting, I am feeling more than a little distraught when applying his logic to texting as it might be applied to speech in today's world and quite concerned that reading doesn't make his time spectrum at all.

According to Naomi Baron (as cited in Karp, 2010), American University linguistics professor, we are “producing massive amounts of text compared to what we used to write; and because of the amount of writing we are doing, we tend to devalue what we write.”  Baron equates it to an “all-you-can-eat buffet mentality equivalent of empty calories,” and that “zigzagging through a cornucopia of words, pictures, video and sounds distracts more than strengthens readers (as cited in Karp, 2010).”  Distracted reading like distracted driving is a recipe for disaster in my opinion.  We are all easily distracted in this “automatic and instant gratification” world that ours has become.  It certainly is amazing that after all the time savers invented, we still have no time to sit down and read a good book.  Studies indicate (as cited in Rich, 2008), according to a 2004 survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation of 8-18 year olds, nearly half of the 2,032 surveyed spent one hour and 41 minutes a day on the internet.  Yet, the National Endowment of the Arts indicates flat or declining national reading scores (as cited in Rich, 2008). 

More isn’t always better and shouldn’t be used as an excuse for poor craftsmanship regardless of the craft. Just because there are more tools in the toolbox doesn’t mean the final product is going to be better.  As teachers, we need to teach our students to use the abundance of tools at their disposal to hone their craft and not as a means or an excuse for shoddy work.   I could say more and probably say it better, but I’m out of time!

References

Karp, J. (2010, January 26). Does Digital Media Make Us Bad Writers? | Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning. Does Digital Media Make Us Bad Writers? Retrieved from 

http://spotlight.macfound.org/featured-stories/entry/does-digital-media-make-us-bad-writers

Rich, M. (2008, July 26). Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading? The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

(20142013). TEDTalks : Films Media Group. Retrieved from 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmvOgW6iV2s&feature=player_embedded