Alondra Carrillo-Flores

English 105A

The Series of Unfortunate Events-The Bad Beginning, by Lemony Snicket was the
book my third grade teacher would read to my class and I during story time; it was the only book
I would ever want to hear more about. This series of novels got me wanting to read/hear more
about them because it was about three orphan children who just had a life of misfortune where a
distant family member called Count Olaf is willing to do anything to get the inheritance of the
children. Wherever or whenever something just had to happen to them. However, no matter what
the predicament was they always were so slick to escape from it and keep going. For example, I
remember that they would dress up, create inventions, they also even joined some type of circus
to hide from Count Olaf and I found it funny how the youngest was the one that loved how to
cook. See, the eldest sibling, Violet, was an inventor, the middle child, Klaus, loved to read
books, and lastly the youngest is Sunny who loves to bite things. Knowing they were on their
own, with no parents astonished me because I dont know what I would do without mine. In
todays day I still wonder if children get intrigued the way I did with this series of novels.
After reading my literacy that I came to compare how we are now so advanced in technology
back then people wouldnt even be able to come close to anything similar to technology. Such as
how many people were perhaps too poor or just mainly uninterested in learning or just didnt get
the chance too. Throughout my childhood we were soon exposed to the big apple computers in
the computer lab, when I first entered I remember how every one of my classmates were very
eager to get their hands on them thinking and seeing everyone elses expressions was just

captivating because thats when technology began to take over a lot out of schools. However,
schools then wouldnt let go of the older ways such as hands on activities, or going outside and
teaching children everything in many ways. How I personally began reading and writing would
be about the age of four. My mother always wanted my brother and I to be ahead of the game, so
even before entering kinder I spoke English amazingly for a four year old and I read at a second
grade level. I did not read chapter books they were to advance at that time, but my mother would
always buy us books and made us read them for about an hour or so. When I came down to
writing excelled that more into the first grade because my teacher would want us learning every
last word we could in her class. Those were the days when I found school easy and something I
looked forward to everyday. Nowadays a program called Common Core came about in every
school throughout the nation. I was told that children were capable of learning everything much
faster and easier, that the textbooks or even any book were already incorporated within that IPad.
For me though, I still believe that as a society we all need to keep books around, many of them
contain our history and so does the internet but nothing is better than the original. My literacy
about life would be when I learned piano, music always made it through my brain every key
every note that I learned to hear and play captured my attention. The sound of a piano fascinated
me The hardest thing with piano though was to play in front of a crowd, I dont understand why
after I would perform for the class id be sweating and shaking. My biggest influence toward my
life would have to be my father. As an only daughter I thought I would have more support in my
life especially from him, he never understood my devotion to playing piano, he even mad me
miss the most important recital of the year. The moment he doubted that I wasnt going to
graduate I didnt want to prove him wrong, I just knew that I wanted to be better then who I was
the day before . I hate losing and letting people think they are right because its my life and I

should choose how to live it or not. The things that stand out the most would have to be the
determination I have in life to keep moving forward because without it I wouldnt have been able
to move on to college. In regards to Carr and Prensky, I agree with Carr due to the fact that
internet has changed our perspective in the world because people today cant let go of technology
now, when before everyone else learned with a different mindset, including myself. Digital
media has taken an impact within my literacy because if I have media around me I wont be able
to focus on whats important, which is my education.
One thing that remains in my mind is the matter of how everything cannot be replaced
with technology. The main reason is state this, is related to this quote that says, the friend wrote
in a letter, noting that, in his own work, his own thoughts in music and language often depend
on the quality of pen and paper(Carr page 68). I particularly have chosen this quote in relation
to my own literacy with music. In order for a person to mentally remember what specific keys
look like, one must be able to draw them out themselves and Im pretty sure it would be quiet
difficult to do that on a tablet. Also, when it comes down to our thoughts(as stated above)
many musicians need to right down their lyrics not type them, because in this generation people
tend to remember the way they were taught, with the use of pen and paper not monitor screens
and keyboards.
What I agree with would be how it is proven that many students across the nation have
begun to have problems with reading just as it says, The deep reading that used to come
naturally has become a struggle(page 64) which has also been a conflict for me. In order to
elaborate more on this could connect onto how many children have a conflict when reading an
actual book, newspaper, or etc. Children years behind were capable to read about a year over
their grade level they were in now and they respond with things such as My mind now expects

to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles,
which I personally dont find so productive. Education is made for many purposes in life such as
achieving a career, becoming independent, and also being able to think by ones self. My main
concern toward this would be, how s education truly helping a student think for themselves when
technology is being bombarded in their faces with media? Perhaps if homework was done with
just pen and paper instead of a computer, just maybe even I would do my work more efficiently
and be able to focus more on my work.
Writing is also a very important aspect in school, and being able to understand and
comprehend what one reading is key. The more they use the web, the more they have to fight to
stay focused on long pieces of writing(page 65).On a personal level I find it quiet difficult to
debate on this because even for me it has become a dilemma. If Im on my phone or trying to
read an article there are so many advertisements that makes me want to see what they are making
me lose concentration on trying to find research for a paper. Even as of right now trying to type
this essay notifications of social media keep popping up but Im trying so hard to maintain my
focus but its not easy since as a teenager our lives revolve around social media. Especially
majority of teenagers these days are more focused on social media and their cellular devices
rather than reading a book.
Prenskys argument from my point of view in page 4 third paragraph about how not only
is this technology changing the world but also childrens minds therefore teachers who are
accustomed to their older ways have to adapt to how it is all now Also in regards with Prenskys
argument about how the students brains have even change due to all the technology we have
established in our society, follows the conclusion of Prensky how Digital immigrants have to
change themselves in order to be a part of this more advanced society and start forgetting about

the classic ways. The classic ways are what made society want to advance, so why bother getting
rid of what started education to begin with?
I have lived for almost two decades, and I have been learning something new every day
with or without the use of technology and social media. I continue to agree with Carrs claim
because if a student is having such difficult in reading or writing due to the more modern society,
then the original way of learning should be enhanced. As this quote states, I now have almost
totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or print(65) then yes I do
believe that google has made us stupid since it is hard for even myself to concent5rate on my
education with digital media and technology everywhere.