For English 3241, the class was assigned a digital project as the last project for the semester. There were several options each student had to present their information digitally. Huy Nguyen and I (Josh Jordan) chose to present our project with a photostory. Photostory is a way to present information through a picture slideshow with the option to have music and voice overrides. Huy and I did our project on school violence, specifically bullying. We had originally chosen a different topic, but after failed attempts to find valuable information, we decided to do bullying. One of the assignments in class was to watch a speech by Dr. Tyson who showed examples of projects from his middle school students. We wanted our project to be the same and create awareness on school violence. When researching school violence and bullying, it is easy to find an endless amount of resources and information to present a two to five minute presentation, so we tried to keep the information important but general at the same time. One of the problems we had was using Huy’s voice to narrate the story. After talking with Dr. Crovitz, I understand that with basic programs it becomes more difficult to present the information as perfect as you may envision it, but we felt that we got our point across. Overall, the photostory was not too hard to figure out and I especially, being technologically disabled, had fun with it. I would like to do the same thing for another class, but experiment with the moviemaker. After viewing some classmate’s assignments, I feel the moviemaker is an even better way to present an assignment or information to the students. The digital project was fun and a great way to end the semester.
This assignment is one intended to spark the students creative intelligence. It will be a hands-on research paper that will include some creative analysis as well. It will be targeted towards seventh grade students encouraging them to understand the perspective of those who are deaf.
Before we go over the outlined assignment, I want us to look at a video first then we will discuss it!
The United States has a population of approximately 600,000 people who are deaf. Understanding what it means to be deaf is a good way to appreciate what a lot of people take advantage of, LISTENING! “A Deaf World” is an individual assignment which will require some analytical thinking with a little hands-on research.
Each student is to think about an everyday event, whether it’s playing soccer or eating dinner with your parents.
Once you have established the event, you must try it without hearing and reflect on your experience. The more detailed the reflection, the better the grade.
Once you have reflected on your personal experience, you must imagine something else you would consider a challenge being deaf, and what it would be like to have your hearing suddenly taken away from you. Ideas include driving a car, crossing a street, going to school, or being injured in a war(Use Your Own).
Once you have an idea, write a detailed description of what you think would be challenging about that particular situation and how you would adapt your life being deaf after knowing what it is like to hear. Be sure to include how interaction with other people would be different and remember to be descriptive.
Last, I want you to imagine a world where the majority of people are deaf, and a very small population are able to hear. What do you think would be different and how. Include detailed examples and be sure to think outside the box. In this section, I want you to conclude with something you take advantage of and how you intend to change it if you even choose to.
This assignment is intended to make you think, so I encourage you to be creative. Use descriptive language including vocabulary words we’ve gone over so far. You will be graded on how much thought you put into the assignment, and how well and clear you conveyed your thoughts. There is no restriction on the amount of pages your paper should be, but a thorough and detailed paper should be at least two pages.
If there is any trouble understanding the assignment, feel free to collaborate with your classmates and try working with one another to gain as many ideas as possible! Although it is an individual assignment and I expect each student’s paper to be original, your classmates may be a valuable asset to spawn your creativity. If there are any other questions or concerns, please let me know so you are clear on the assignment.
This assignment is due in one week(next Friday), so you all should have plenty of time to let your imagination run free and finish the assignment on the appropriate date.
This assignment is good for a several reasons. After completing this assignment, you should be able to think analytically about other situations and see things from a different point of view. You will also learn how to be descriptive with your writing, which will benefit you when you go to high school and hopefully college. This assignment will also teach you how to work with others, assuming you take advantage of your fellow classmates and help each other.
HAVE FUN!
This assignment is a good example of Georgia Standard ELA7R2 because students are encouraged to use the vocabulary learned thus far in their paper. The assignment also requires the student to be able to produce writing and establish an appropriate organizational structure which is what Georgia Standard ELA7W1 requires. Last, this assignment also suggest Georgia Standard ELA7LSV1 because the students discuss the video clip and are encouraged to help one another with ideas. The teacher is also an available source for any help that is necessary.
I was watching the movie Knocked Up, and there is a repetitive scene where the mother tells her daughter to “Google It,” anytime she doesn’t know how to explain something. It’s quite hilarious because most people know that any child who googles murder for example, will be subjected to images, dialogue, and situations that are inappropriate for any child. In saying this, I feel it is very important for our children to be informed and to be knowledgeable about what the media is feeding them. I personally feel that too many kids these days are lacking information about issues and problems that are really important, and that effect them directly or indirectly. MTV, for example, has been a huge media icon for pretty much every generation of children who have had cable television. Only these days they don’t play music videos. They are promoting sex, partying, and situations that are extremely inappropriate for young children. I’m not trying to come across as a prude, but I wasn’t subjected to these types of situations till my later years in highschool, when I was probably able to make better decisions between right and wrong. I really enjoyed the article and it actually sounded a lot like what we’ve gone through as a class this semester. I feel a class like this for middle schoolers and high schoolers is very important, simply because those kids should be more familiar with media literacy and how they are being targeted. It’s actually probably as important for parents and adults to be knowledgeable of media literacy as well, in order to be a more informative guide for their students/children.
I think the idea of having this cheatsheet for next semester is a good idea. The only situation I can see being difficult for the students is it is a bit complicated. It is easy to read and understand, but for someone who doesn’t speak the language of blogging, it might be intimidating. If the class was constantly referring to the sheet throughout the semester, I don’t think it would be a problem. I know my blogging could improve, and after analyzing the sheet, I could definately improve my blogging with the help of the professor and the cheatsheet. It seems like it would be most effective as a gradual process of learning to blog, being that it is broken into different categories and sections. Hope this helps!!
When trying to understand media literacy, it is important to comprehend the concept of what is going on and to ask the right questions in an attempt understand what is actually happening. It’s not always good enough just to know what the commercial or ad is trying to tell the audience. It is also important to understand why and how! There are five major concepts to understand when thinking about media literacy. The one I feel is most important is that all media messages are “constructed.” When you think about that statement heavily for a moment, you start to realize how all of us have been somewhat brainwashed over the course of our lives. How many things are emphasized as important to us because of something that has been visually conjoured-up to our sex or age group. It’s actually quite scary to think about, because some of the stuff that teenagers are being subjected to are inappropriate. In order to have the ability to cognitively be aware of what is going on, it is important to ask the right questions when something is presented to you. For example, you can ask yourself who created this message, or what is used to attract my attention. If you can analyze why something is appealing to you, it might help you understand media literacy a lot better. Ultimately, this is important to me personally because we should on our own be the determining factor on what is important to us, not the tube!
When I read the assignment due, I have to say I wasn’t too excited about watching a forty-five minute presentation from a former middle school principal. After about two minutes of hearing Dr. Tyson speak, I was immediately captivated by his pure dedication to children and his students. It is a very genuine quality to witness, as a principal discusses his passion for child development. Dr. Tyson starts off his presentation talking about School 2.0, and how most schools today operate on School 1.0. The later deals primarily with rules, routines, and right answers rather than focusing on what children really connect to! In School 2.0, student is engaging in authentic activities. Mabry Middle School, which is where Dr. Tyson taught, has an annual film festival where a group of students are encouraged to create a film that the world can benefit from. I think global distribution of work done by sixth, seven, and eighth graders is an ingenious idea. If someone were to ask me, “Josh, what can you come up with to motivate middle school children,” global distribution of projects would not be my answer. After watching some examples of students films, I was blown away at the intelligence and creativity that was spawned from such a great idea. The topics were what I would consider to be very advanced for that age group. It was obvious how dedicated they were, and how much more I was intrigued as opposed to reading a two- page essay. Dr. Tyson talks about his definition of an effective educator. He says, “and effective educator is one that collapses the distance between children and meaningful contribution.” I think that is a great philosophy, and hope one day I can work for a school or principal that has that attitude on a daily basis!
I have really enjoyed learning and becoming interested in something I knew very little about. The book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms is a very interesting book and has spoken to me in a way which isn’t overwhelming and quite simple! After reading the chapter I started looking on the web at other blogs relating to education and really liked http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/! Check it out if you got some time.
This is my first experience with a blog and about as far as I have gotten in the digital world, but I am excited to become more confident in this particular field!
