Weekly Reading 12

List from p. 169 (top 5):

1. to increase students' knowledge of the mass media in society

2. to develop students' skills in using digital technology tools

3. to modernize the curriculum and make it more relevant to students

4. to promote creativity and self-expression (thereby lowering incidents of plagiarism)

5. to help students use their own voices for advocacy and social change

Quotes from text:

p. 168:  "A passionate teacher, armed with a good idea, can be tremendously inspiring to other colleagues."

I agree that passion for teaching should be the ultimate criteria for wanting a teaching career. I think that passion not only motivates colleagues, but also students. I despise math, but I had a college algebra teacher who made it fun and new because of his passion and delivery. I think delivery is the second most important criteria. If you have a great idea and passion coming out of your ears, it won't matter unless you deliver your message in a dynamic way.

p. 173: ". . . stand-alone courses in digital and media literacy are generally available to only a tiny proportion of students, not the whole population."

I understand doing DML as a separate course, in order to maintain focus and so that it won't "become invisible" in every classroom, but I think this course should be put in the core classes that all students must take because it is so important and relevant to today's students. I know when I was in high school, driver's ed was only offered to juniors and seniors. . . that seems counterproductive to me. By the time you are in those grades you probably have some experience driving--why not education the students who have less experience, and be proactive instead of reactive?

p. 179: "When it comes to cell phones, educators in some schools are discovering that policies based on respect and courtesy have a bigger positive impact than those based on control and prohibition."

I am sort of on the fence about cell phone use in class. I think they are great distractors and there is no way to filter out social media on a personal cellphone, like you can on a computer. Of course, cell phones now are like mini computers, so I can see how they could be a handy tool, but maybe just sitting the students down in front of a filtered computer would keep them on-task better. Not sure how I feel about this debate, I don't have any experience with it and teaching yet. 

Weekly Reading 11

The astounding video by Sarah Stuteville was captivating and direct. She used her love for journalism to begin the Common Language Project. With this project, she travels the world with her two friends to seek out the truth and often persecution of other cultures. In Chapter 8, there are also stories about teachers who try to get their students involved with global current events. As Hobbs relates on page 145, redlasso.com allows students to look at news stories, blogs, etc. of over 150 cities across the US. This enables students to get a feel for cities that they have never visited. Mr. Landis helped his students by teaching them the process that journalists use to question and identify news sources. News and media are everywhere. We come in contact with current events through shows even like House and The Simpsons by the characters voicing their opinions and views. For example, the forms of media that I have used to do this blog have shared common opinions about teaching world events.

PSA final

I created a video with statistics and facts about the sexualization of tween girls. I intended to reach tweens as well as their parents. As for persuasive techniques, I used fear as my leading motivator.