Reading and Discussion #10

1. Social media has allowed the reader/viewer of content to become active and participate in a discussion or product, i.e., responding to a writing, discussing the material, adding to the material resource, etc. Now, unlike before, the common person and add to (and sometime remove) material from a work, which allows the reader to play an active role in the development and modification of digital media.

2. "Cosmopolitan Practice" is the practice of youth as they integrate, navigate, and produce ideas, text, images, video, etc. online by forging ways to cross language, cultural, and geographic boundaries that most were not able to do before the digital age of information and most youth being able to "plug in" to the world. The youth can work together to provide each other with the information they need or want on a variety of topics to produce a great body of information that superceeds their formally exclusive differences. For schools, this broadens the learning environment and can help enhance multicultural learning, but the bulk of the information found in schools can now be found elsewhere via the Web.

3. It supported critical media literacy by causing youth to communicate with each other through the media that affects them. The youth put forth their ideas, sought out their peers' opinions, and then were able to modify their ideas using the peer-to-peer interactions as a mold.

4. Technologies should be used to collaborate and expand knowledge so as to be able to create new technologies, new products, and develop new experiences between the students beyond what was achievable in the traditional, pre-digital age classroom.

5. The stories I watched were made for a massive audience, and it shows. The authors knew that others would be watching their product, so they sought to interest the views and draw them into their stories. Not only that, but we know that the audience can immediately add their two cents on the topics within the video and how the video/story was displayed. Through this seemingly instant method of communication all those who view the original product can develop their opinions and views by observing everyone else's comments and reactions. We no longer live in a time where the student develops a product and that is the end of the story.

6. "When they tell me their passion, I could tell them my passion and we spark up a conversation from there." (Avila & Pandya, 2013) This quote exemplifies the major interactions between any two people who find themselves involved in the same digital space. Not only can we just show our opinions, products, and ideas to the world, the world can show us theirs. And it doesn't end there, collaboration and discussion takes place and new ideas and connections are developed which lead to more communication and connection with other individuals. This process develops a web of peer-to-the world communication across the world. A web that I hope never becomes unraveled.


I added the above image, because it provides us with a view of the most popular digital spaces we can share content, filter content, become social, and apply ourselves to the world.

References:

Avila, J., & Pandya, J. (2013). Critical digital literacies as social praxis. (pp. 63-80). New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing.

Week 10 Activity #2

I watched the following Digital Stories: Knowing, Tuesdays with Morrie, and Failed Rap.

I chose to focus on this video:




Point of View:  The point of view is in first person. I hear the voice of a man speaking about himself.

Dramatic Question:  The dramatic question is "I know what you're think, and your right. I'm not mad."

Emotional Content:  The main character tried to live his dream as a rapper, but ultimately did not succeed in the conventional sense. Instead, he uses his rapping ability to outreach to young students to keep them on the right track and provide a good role model for them to follow. He may never had helped kids if he did reach his first rapping goal. I relate to the main character, because I too work with students who will most likely fail to reach their dreams.

Week 10 Activity #1

I was unable to view the content videos. Each time I tried to load them, an error appeared that read: "No plug-in available to display this content."

Reading and Discussion #9

"Corey showed me and read to me what he had written on his info link...having heard Corey use the word prejudice, I asked him if he knew what the word meant and he blew my mind by saying that prejudice was prejudging someone based on the way they looked. (By this point I wondered if I was talking to the next Martin Luther King Jr.)" (Avila & Pandya, 2013)

It's amazing how easy it is to understand the prejudices in this world, but for a young boy to understand prejudice and how it works, well, that is a sobering thought. How easy is us to judge and prejudize others from only a single glance? Teaching our children what prejudices are at a young will help destigmatize discussing prejudice online, face-to-face, and throughout everyday life. Hopefully, learning about prejudices at an early age will help stave off real prejudiced behavior later in life.

The following video discusses the direct and immediate effects of active prejudice on children in an older social study made famous in the educational community.

 References:

Avila, J., & Pandya, J. (2013). Critical digital literacies as social praxis. (p. 54). New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing.

Jane elliott - brown eyes vs. blue eyes [Web]. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqp6GnYqIjQ

Digital Storytelling and Reel Works

I watch the following video:


1. I liked the digital story, because it gave a reason behind why people sag their pants, there were interviews with many views, and a very straightforward investigation.
2. I learned that there are very many views of the sagging pants phenomenon and that the reasons people share this fashion are varied and their standards of dress are different.
3. I expected the digital story to be uninteresting and full of bias, but it was very entertaining and shared a balanced view. I did not expect the surveying section of the video; I thought is was going to be a dry documentary-type video.
4. There were many young people who voiced their opinions in the interviews, because they have opinions and the interviewers allowed them to represent themselves in a fashion that was easy on those being interviewed. This video helped me understand a bit about the sagging pants trend (which I still see as disgusting). These digital stories are an easy and modern way to tell stories, share opinions, and spread knowledge throughout the world. Self-esteem can be built by designing, creating, and displaying modern projects (like digital video storytelling) for the world to see. Students can feel as though they are talking to the world, and the world is listening.

PSA

Take a look at my PSA:

I used statistics to get the viewers to notice my PSA and keep them interested with a couple of bright pictures to start out with. Then the images become darker and hopefully pull in the viewer to understand that media does have an effect on our youth. I used the Info Bomb method to get my point across to the viewers. The viewers will see nice, bring, happy images that turn to images of a darker nature involving death, so I suppose the shock value is present.

Reading and Discussion #7

Discussion #1:
 I will use the information found on page 219 of the textbook which touches on the increased use of media by children ages 8-18. It amazes me how much children use and are exposed to the media. On page 220, I will use the suggestion that critical media literacy should be of the literacy curriculum to be taught to all students. On page 222, the text states that, "Many teachers are still unclear about the import of integration and instruction (of media literacy)." I will be sure to include a direction to teachers to include media literacy in their curriculum in my PSA.

 Discussion #2:
 I read Critical Pedagogy and Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice, and I learned that being critical in our pedagogy is not a standard practice and involve the local culture and background knowledge of our students and the school environment to be effective. Teachers need to understand that the knowledge we teach and experiences we give to our students are not contained within the school grounds, but extend with the students into their neighborhoods and homes. As such, teachers need to understand that discussion and discourse between the teacher and students needs to occur so that the instructor can identify how the students relate to the media around them and their specific community. Further, I learned that education and teaching skills can and should never be mastered, so that we as educators can change with the times and our students to that we can forever grow in skill to meet the needs of our students in the ever changing culture and social structure we find ourselves in. I like critical pedagogy, in that it is an ever changing study of the culture and experience of our students and the practice of meeting the students on their level by using the knowledge of their social framework. Even though critical pedagogy is useful, I am afraid that some educators will dive too deep and become too critical and overstep their bounds into the students' cultures and experiences and loose their status among their pupils. I can see too much time and energy being spent on critical pedagogy and not enough on direct education and learning experiences.

PSA Storyboard

Ahamrick6 PSA Storyboard from ahamrick7