Final Thoughts…

As you may notice there were quite a few entries posted the last few days… that is due to the realization that the course is coming to a close and there were still a number of rough draft postings hiding in my blog. Better late than never, I suppose.

I decided to submit my paper through my blog and not Chalk & Wire because I am changing my major… So. Here is my Reflective Paper.  =)

DigiNatives

Almost all of the students in classrooms K-12, and a large percentage of students in colleges are ‘digital natives,’ or students who grew up with ubiquitous access to digital media. These are those who can’t remember a time without e-mail and the internet. So the question is: How do we get digital natives involved in classroom projects?!

1. Make the Final Product SHAREABLE!
2. PROJECT’S, not Assignments!
3. Encourage students to use POPULAR TECHNOLOGIES they are familiar with!
4. Give the Student’s OPTIONS!

presentations in the classroom

Jerry Seinfeld has a skit where he points out that studies show public speaking is a bigger fear than death. That means, he claims, that if you are going to a funeral you are better off in the casket than doing the eulogy. While there isn’t a lot you can do to melt away your anxiety, your best bet is simply to make a better presentation.

How To Conquer Public Speaking
Helpful tips by Morton C. Orman, M.D.

Principle #1–Speaking in Public is NOT Inherently Stressful
Principle #2–You Don’t have to be Brilliant or Perfect to Succeed
Principle #3–All You Need is Two or Three Main Points
Principle #4–You also Need a Purpose That is Right for the Task
Principle #5–The Best Way to Succeed is Not to consider Yourself a Public Speaker!
Principle #6–Humility and Humor Can Go a Long Way
Principle #7–When You Speak in Public, Nothing “Bad” Can Ever Happen!
Principle #8–You Don’t Have to Control the Behavior of Your Audience
Principle #9–In General, the More You Prepare, the Worse You Will Do
Principle #10–Your Audience Truly Wants You to Succeed

5 Ways to Use Video in the Classroom!

I lifted this article from Lifehack.org posted today in which they declared this year the year of the Internet Presidency (in light of all of the recent announcements from US candidates for president). They then went on to list five ways we could all take advantage of the internet video. Great article… highly recommend for promoting your thinking caps.

Joining in the spirit of the year I have put together a quick list of Five ways to use Video in EDUCATION this year!

• Record Class Presentations – Record classroom presentations. Your lectures will be a great resource for your students to look back on what was said in class. Make your lectures available to the students, but for heaven’s sake, don’t charge them for it. If you record student presentations keep those around (with the student’s permission of course) and show the best one’s to your students in coming years of what a presentation or project should be.
• Video Projects – Nothing motivates a student like using exciting technology to create something amazing! Let the students have the option of using that excitement in their projects for the class. You’ll be amazed how some of the students grab onto something like this. If they post them online they will also be able to share their work with family and friends.
• Instructional Video’s – Do you have a special topic you are teaching that would be useful to take a little field trip. Go out a day or two in advance and record an on site explanation of the topic. This will work great with science, history, archeology, and many other subjects.
• Video Blogs – Create a class blog and have your students record their reactions to literary or other assignments and post them on the blog. Give them specific assignments and have them post those on the blog.
• Use Online Video Already Available – There are massive amounts of video already available online in all sorts of topic areas. Utilize that video in your curriculum. It will increase the student’s retention of the subject and encourage them to seek out educational video’s as well. As more and more teachers get into making video’s there will also be more resources available.

These are just a couple of ideas, but there are surely dozens of other ways to use online video in the classroom. What other ideas do you have? Specifically, how can we, as educators, utilize the budding social ramifications of internet video in the classroom?

“Out of Line”

Assignment Title: Gender Stereotypes are “Out of Line”

 

Annotation: To make students aware of the dangers of gender stereotyping and the media’s role in perpetuating gender stereotypes. Students will work as a class to consider what it means to be “a man” and “a woman” and come up with stereotype statements. They will work individually to write down what they learned from the activity. The targeted grade level would be a Middle School English/Language Arts class.

Embedded Video
Jockey “Out of Line”     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyUOeYO79Oo

Procedures:
Introduction:Write the word stereotype on the chalkboard or chart. Ask students if they know what the word means. Write down the dictionary definition of the word: Scholastic Children’s Dictionary defines the term as: noun: An overly simple picture or opinion of a person, group, or thing. It is a stereotype to say all old people are forgetful.

Lead students to the conclusion that the statements are too general to be true; encourage them to recognize that it is unfair to make such sweeping statements. Help students make the connection between the phrases and the term stereotype.

Write “Act Like a Man” at the top of a piece of butcher paper and ask male students: What does it mean to act like a man? What words or expectations come to mind? (i.e., men don’t cry, men are tough, men are strong, active, sports-lovers, short hair, hard working, truck driver, breadwinner, etc.) Record student responses. This list will be the “Act Like a Man list.” This is a list of attitudes and behaviors that boys are pressured to adopt in the process of becoming men in our society. Men and boys are not born this way; these roles are learned.

Next, write “Be Ladylike” at the top of another piece of butcher paper and ask female students: What does it mean to be ladylike? (i.e., loving, nurse shop, likes flowers, cries easily, long hair, etc.) Record student responses as before. This is the “Be Ladylike list”. It’s full of stereotypes, just like the “Act Like a Man list”. Its walls of conformity are just as restrictive. Women also learn to conform to very specific role expectations as they grow up being female in our society.

Learning Gender Roles:
Ask students: Where do we learn these gender roles? (Discussion prompts: What people teach us these stereotypes? People in entertainment? Sports? Media?)

The concepts of acting like a man or being ladylike do not only relate to attitude. There are also physical expectations which are connected with these stereotypes, many of which are unrealistic.

Show Video Clip
For younger students especially, the first viewing may elicit emotional responses. A second viewing vies them a chance to view more objectively. Use a second viewing to focus on additional curriculum content.

Guided Discussion
Ask students:
·        How does this person live up to the “ideal” standards found in the stereotype list from last class?
·        How is she successful at being a woman according to these norms?
·        Do you think women would want to be thin if they were not bombarded with thin images of women, like this, in the media?
·        How do these standards for body image differ from standards for cultural groups such as: African, Canadian, Inuit or various Asian cultural groups? (Consider that the vast majority of models have white skin.) Note: In some cultures, heavy body weight is considered to be a sign of healthiness!
·        What about at different times in history? Has the thin woman always been the ideal? Note: Paintings that pre-date this century often depict full-bodied women. The women Matisse painted were anything but thin!

What about the male images?
Ask students:
·        How does this person live up to the “ideal” standards found in the stereotype list from last class?
·        What messages are being given to men through these images? How are they different from the messages that we get from the images of women that we have seen?
·        Do you think that men are also pressured to look a certain way?
·         Name some media role models who send this type of message.
·        What do men physically have to do to prove that they are “real men?”

Conclusion: Beauty is an idea. Everybody’s idea of beauty is unique. Beauty is a function of culture also. When ideas about beauty make powerful impacts, they can become beauty ideals. What is ideal beauty? We see it everywhere, from paintings, to magazines to TV. Ideals evolve over time, or they can get stuck in a permanent loop. It seems like beauty is all about trying to live up to an ideal. Which is pretty much a hopeless pursuit, because…ideas and ideals are not real. You are! Beauty isn’t just an idea. It’s your idea

Winding up the lesson.
Ask students to share how they felt about the lesson. What did they learn? Were there times during the lesson when they felt angry or sad?
Quick Write: In a personal journal or on paper, have students write quickly for two minutes to record any thought that comes to mind after viewing a program or segment. This activity is especially effective to record personal thoughts following emotionally stimulating programs.

Assignment: Using their Quick Write students should work individually to create a short paper on the stereo-typical image of beauty compared to their personal perception of beauty.

Evaluation Students will write three paragraphs explaining what they learned from the activity. They should include specific examples of stereotypes and explain why they believe those stereotypes are wrong.

Adapting the Assignment
Extension: Research what beauty means in different cultures. Write a short paper (2 pages) or create a visual representation describing the similarities and/or differences.

Remediation: Create a collage of “beautiful women/men” of the western world and compare those to pictures of beautiful “non-sterotypical” women/men of the world to show that beauty is only an idea.

Timeline: Approximately 1-2 class periods. Concept could potentially be extended to last for several class periods through detailed exploration of other cultures.

Primary Learning Outcome Students should have the ability to break down social stereotypes, discover new critical viewing skills and media awareness, and enhance self-respect.

Assessed GPSs
ELA6R2 The student understands and acquires new vocabulary and uses it correctly in reading and writing.
ELA6LSV1 The student participates in student-to-teacher, student-to-student, and group verbal interactions.

TechnoKids!

Technokids is a UK based program that was launched in London in 1995, with ‘the aim of introducing children to the wonders of computers and multimedia by taking the latest multimedia laptops into nursery, prep and primary schools in order to teach children the skills they need to gain the maximum learning benefit from modern technology.’ These kinds of programs aren’t only in the UK, they are popping up all over the US too!

Impressed at the very idea of taking a laptop to a nursery? Wait, and take a look at their curriculum: 

 ”At Technokids, children can:
Create a Website
Learn to touch-type
Compose & Mix a Pop-song
Explore the Galaxy
Direct Animated Movies
Design an Album Cover
Write a Talking Storybook
Publish a Newsletter
Recreate Famous Artwork
Present a Comic or Slideshow
…And much, much more!”

I know what you’re thinking, “Seriously?!” I’m 20 years old and I don’t know how to do all of that! Now, I’m not sure how your nursery school was, but I remember mastering the alphabet as being a astronomical feat. Today’s world literally is a completely different world. What is even more impressive than the program’s curriculum is the gallery where student’s works are on display.

This is a whole new ball game, folks.

 

Kids say the darndest things…

 

 

While on the hunt for ‘relevant images to embed into my blog’ I came across these cute little cartoons. It’s rediculous, but so true! It’s crazy to listen to children use all these technological terms so nonchalantly. At this rate parents, and teachers alike, someday are going to have to carry around a pocket-sized Internet Dictionary in order to hold any sort of meaningful conversation.

On the topic of students, kids do say some hysterical things. This site had a really funny idea for teachers… to keep journals of amusing things their students have written in papers!

-The future of “I give” is “I take.”

-The parts of speech are lungs and air.

-The spinal column is a long bunch of bones. The head sits on the top and you sit on the bottom.

-The inhabitants of Moscow are called Mosquitoes.

What a great way to keep yourself grounded in the classroom. Of course, you wouldn’t want to keep record of who said what, but I think it’s a good idea to find humor in the little things. You really do have to read what else these kids said!

All the techno-garble kids can say can, and probably will, send my head spinning into a terrible headache — so it will be especially important to keep in mind that laughter is the best medicine.

 

 

 

Hello World!

I’m afraid that the actual setting up of this whole thing was a bit too easy for me… which immediately leads me to assume I’ve done something terribly wrong. Haha! So I’ll save the serious blogging for when I know I’ve set everything up correctly.