Chapter 5: Composing With Media Across the Curriculum

After listening to this excerpt:

Three things I learned about storytelling are that storytelling is joke telling, stories affirm who we are, and storytelling can cross the barriers of time; but, the most important thing I learned, is that storytelling allow us to experience the similarities between ourselves and through others.

Chapter 5: Composing With Media Across the Curriculum

Whitehead warned educators about the danger of inert ideas, ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilized, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations. (p. 89)

I could not agree more with this!! I teach math, so I see this happening A LOT. My students are students who haven't done well in math in the past, and so sometimes, unfortunately, they come into my class with negative preconceived notions. (This isn't always the case, but I do have a handful of students who actually do this)

I have found that students don't have a romance for math. The only emotional connection they have to it is negative; its hard for them or they find it useless and therefore boring. No matter what I do, some students just aren't engaged in my class. They do the minimal amount of work to pass and that is it. They just see it as a barrier between them and their diploma. They are here because they HAVE to be, not because they want to be. (One day, I would love to teach a math elective so the students actually want to be there)

A perfect example of this just happened to me today. We are studying personal finance, a topic that is extremely relevant in everyone's lives. I thought that because of this, I would get more participation and they would do better than other topics. Today in class, we had a pop quiz. It was one problem that we had done together in class Monday! I thought to myself "they will do really well on this. It's relevant and we have spent over a week doing this". I was wrong; only a few people got it correct. Unfortunately, several students turned in a blank paper! I'm very upset to say the least. I feel like I am doing a bad job because I can't seem to get through to them and help them to understand HOW important math is and will forever be in their lives.

I saw this video posted on Facebook last week it is worth the watch! I made me laugh out loud for real!

This is a great video, I think, to help illustrate in a humorous way what happens when students aren't mentally engaged. When they lack the want to learn a topic, it isn't hard to space out, fall asleep, or just in general not pay attention. And, again, with math, I feel like a lot of students just hear my voice as "blah, blah, blah, blah", like the teacher in Charlie Brown.

I am constantly looking for new ideas to get my students engaged during class and to help them see math is more than just memorizing a bunch of  'boring, old, useless in real life' formulas.

Hobbs, R. (2011). Research as Authentic Inquiry. In Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.

Media Literacy PSA

PSA

I believe that my PSA has a clear theme: Be mindful of what you post on Facebook. It is easy for a post to get caught in a downward spiral and before you know it, someone is the victim of cyber-bullying. I believe that there exists enough evidence to make my point. Anyone can log onto Facebook, or any media site really, and see negative posts and images and people arguing their opinions. It wouldn't take long to find nasty comments being made and people expressing their hurt feelings. I use a lot of color, both in the backgrounds and the text. Even though this is supposed to be emotional appealing and somewhat dark, I still want to make a positive impression on the viewers. I believe that bright colors and nice pictures will help me do this. The dramatic low music adds a nice calming, although suspenseful, aspect to the video. The last scene sums up my PSA perfectly: Think Before You Post.

Chapter 4: The Power of Representation

Chapter 4: The Power of Representation

But just as my own direct, real-world experience of the world is selective and incomplete because of my perception and interpretation processes, media representations are also inevitably selective and incomplete. (p. 73)

I think that this line speaks volumes. It is absolutely correct; no one has seen everything or done everything. There is simply no way that each of us has our own direct, real-world experience with everything that we have knowledge about. An author will make a representation based on their own thoughts, ideas, and interpretations of a topic. They use their own experience, mixed with the ideas that they have picked up from other sources.

My favorite example of real world experience vs. mediated experience that the text mentions is the difference between just listening to music and actually making the music. When you listen, you can think up all different ideas that you think the musician is trying to convey. Maybe it's obvious and you guess correctly. But maybe you never actually get what is being said. On the other hand, if you make the music, then you and you alone know exactly what your piece is saying. And unless you tell, other's might never know.

This thought can also apply to students. They mainly learning second hand, meaning someone (teacher, parent) is there to expose them to new ideas and knowledge. In fact, most of what we know is secondhand. We base our own opinions on what we think certain experiences would be like.

I've never to New York City, but from all the different representations of it that I've seen/heard throughout my life, I can close my eyes and see Times Square, Central Park, and even Ground Zero. I have an idea of what they would be like in real life, and how I would feel if I were there.

The work 'thrift' itself has the connotation of something that perhaps we don't want anymore, or something that is cheap. I believe, however, that it can have a different meaning when it comes to learning and knowledge. Thrift is a good word to describe the process of how experiences and knowledge are shared. I picked this image of "thrift" because I feel that we all have a lot of secondhand knowledge. As mentioned above, all the things that we "know" don't come from our own experiences. Someone or something passes their knowledge on to us, and chances are, we will pass it on to someone else. We are constantly 'giving our experiences away' to other people, and we are also constantly being given someone else's. Learning is a never ending process, and without the sharing of our own real-world experience, ideas, thought, and interpretations, all we would ever know is what we have actually lived through.




Hobbs, R. (2011). Research as Authentic Inquiry. In Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.

PSA Storyboard

With my story board, I want to bring attention to negative and insensitive posts on Facebook. I see all kinds of insensitive postings, that somehow express beliefs that not everyone shares. Lately there has been so many events that have happened that are making a stir on social media. People are taking this events and turning them into memes, mocking them, and just all around jabbing fun at someone else's expense.

What I don't think people really realize is that what they post can have an affect on their Facebook friends, some of whom are family, or even children. People need to stop and just think before they hit that share button. Hopefully, with my PSA, I can keep at least one person from posting something harmful.

The audience for my PSA can be all people on social media. Young people aren't the only one's who post things that are insensitive to other people. Adults are just as guilty.

Persuasive techniques that I am attempting to use are plain folk and individuality. The main technique that I am using is emotional appeal.

Chapter 3: Critical Questions, Close Reading

Chapter 3: Critical Questions, Close Reading

• Critical questions are different because they're fundamentally interpretive- there are multiple answers possible. (p.54)

I find this interesting and I definitely agree. In the text, it mentions that teachers use questions a lot as a form of learning and to get information from the students. Unfortunately, teachers use a lot of closed questions; questions which can only be answered in one way--the correct answer. I believe that I fall into this category. Most of the time, in Math, there really is only one correct answer to a question. I find myself at a loss of what to say when a student answers incorrectly in class. I usually go with "not quite" or "you're on the right track...keep working".

I know I need to incorporate some critical, open-ended questions into my discussions. The only time I really get to use these types of questions is when I am asking a student HOW the got the answers. For as black and white as math usually is, thankfully there is sometimes more than one way to ARRIVE at the answers. When I ask for an explanation, students usually struggle. They give me a few words, and even then, it seems like they are presenting the findings in a questioning way. It seems to me they have not been asked to verbally explain their critical thinking skills in a math setting.

This is something that I would like to work on in my own classroom to help to make my students more comfortable thinking critically and answering critical questions. If I could do this, I believe that my students will be more confident in answering the not-so-open-ended questions.

Barking Seals:

I selected this cartoon because I feel like it really aids in the closed question idea of math. A student having a thought or idea that is off target, and the teacher only being able to say that they are wrong due to the fact that there literally is only one correct answer to this problem. Unfortunately, through my own schooling and my teaching, I have found that there isn't a lot of room for interpretations of correct answers. You either get the question right, or you get it wrong. There usually isn't any room to read between the lines and each student offer up their own ideas and reasoning.

DECONSTRUCTION: Five Critical Questions

1) Who is the author and what is the purpose:
The author is an unknown cartoonist. The purpose, I believe, is to get a laugh out of the audience regarding the topic of math. Even as a person who likes math, I can easily see how this cartoon can be found humorous. Unfortunately, because math does seem to have a bad reputation, it's easy to just joke about being "bad at math" and leaving it at that. People use this as a reason to justify the fact that they struggle with or dislike math. And when you don't like something, it's all too easy to agree or identify with a satirical image based on that topic.


2) What creative techniques are used to attract and hold attention?Humor is definitely used. I even chuckled at this. Another technique used is relativity. A lot of people, not only students, can related to this child.


3) How might different people understand this message?
I think there are a few ways this cartoon can be understood. One point of view is from a person who is good at/likes math. That particular person could see this as nothing more than a funny little cartoon about math. They might laugh and then never give it a second thought. Another point of view is from someone who doesn't like/ struggles with math. This person could see it and scoff, thinking how true it is and that, because the struggle is real, it isn't very funny. The angle from which I see it is from a math teacher's point of view. I did laugh, but I don't particularly think it's funny. I think more along that lines that it's too true for it's own good. It's no secret math is hard, and it's no secret it's probably the most hated subject.


4) What lifestyles, values, and points of views are represented?
The point of views that I feel are represented are listed above. As far as lifestyles and values go, since this is just a drawing in black and white, I feel like not a lot jumps out at me. I think this image is what the text means when it says that the power of communication comes from the way that messages represent reality in some way. Show this to a calculus 3 class, I bet they chuckle. Show this to a remedial math class, I bet they don't.


5) What is omitted?
Because this is a "funny", there are obviously things omitted. For example, the truth about how a lot of students actually have negative feelings about math. Also how teachers, like myself, struggle with trying to not just tell the student they are wrong, but to try to help them understand WHY.



I think that this deconstruction brings to light different ways to see this media message. If I were to show this to my students, I am sure that I would get 28 different interpretations of what it's message is. As I continue to teach math at the college level, I will look for ways to ask my students open-ended questions regarding the topics that we are studying. Obviously, if we are solving equations or using specific formulas, there is only one correct answer. However, I will strive to find ways to get my students to use their critical thinking and reading skills in a math setting and to help them better verbally explain their problem solving process.

***

Hobbs, R. (2011). Research as Authentic Inquiry. In Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.

Idea of PSA

ATTENTION: THE FOLLOWING IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!

***

--Identify the topic for your PSA:

The topic for my PSA will be posting violent or hateful content on social media. I decided to use this topic because it is something that I feel very strongly about. Especially on Facebook, my main social media site, I see all kinds of insensitive postings, that somehow express beliefs that not everyone shares. Lately there has been so many events that have happened that are making a stir on social media. Several probably come to your mind instantly. People are taking this events and turning them into memes, mocking them, and just all around jabbing fun at someone else's expense. Some of the examples that I see over and over again are marriage equality, images using the American and Confederate flag, political rants, sporting incidents, and the biggest seeming to be anything to do with someone with the last name Jenner.

I get tired of seeing people make fun of these topics, and much more, just because they don't agree with them. I have opinions on these topics, just like everyone would. However, I don't, nor do I even feel the need, to blast my Facebook profile full of pictures depicting my beliefs.

When I see someone do that, I feel like want attention and people to agree with them and sadly I feel like they think: "my way is the way it should be, because it's my opinion, and I'm not wrong because what I believe is correct and I refuse to open my eyes and accept that it's not 1950 anymore".

What I don't think people really realize is that what they post can have an affect on their Facebook friends, some of whom are family, or even children. People need to stop and just think before they hit that share button.


--Identify the Audience for your PSA (Teens, Teachers, Administrators, or Parents):

The audience for my PSA can be all people on social media. Young people aren't the only one's who post things that are insensitive to other people. Adults are just as guilty.

--Research the topic and 3 facts or statistics you will use to shape your PSA:
I will use the following sources to get my information:

What to do if you're being bullied on a social network. (n.d.). http://www.bullying.co.uk/cyberbullying/what-to-do-if-you-re-being-bullied-on-a-social-network/

Cyberbullying Statistics. (2013). http://www.internetsafety101.org/cyberbullyingstatistics.htm

Shontell, A. (2013, July 9). 7 People Who Were Arrested Because Of Something They Wrote On Facebook.  http://www.businessinsider.com/people-arrested-for-facebook-posts-2013-7?op=1

Guenther, J., & Zehnder, A. (2013, July). Social Media: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. https://ascent.usbank.com/insights/social-media-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly

Chapter 7: Life Online

Chapter 7: Life Online

• At least 26 names of cartoon characters are linked to porn sites, which means that kids searching for their favorite movies and TV shows accidentally stumble upon porn. (p.128)

First of all, I definitely didn't know this. Secondly, this makes me sick. This is obviously done intentionally by the porn companies. But why? Why do they feel the need to purposefully put innocent children at risk online? It's disgusting and disrespectful and I wish it weren't true.

• As a parent, my daughter and I had a conversation about why it's not appropriate to share with other friends a captured stream of highly personal instant messaging with another person that was conducted with the expectation that it was a one-to-one conversation. (p. 137)

This statement really surprised me. This is something that I have never given any thought, but something that I am guilty of, both receiving and sending. Just today I received a text which contained a screen shot conversation and I was asked for my opinion. I have sent conversations as well as pictures that I have taken a screen shot of and not given it a second thought. I think that from now on, I will be more mindful to the subject.

• Scary Maze Game Videos

This isn't a reaction to a specific quote, but to this apparently familiar prank. It is one that I've not heard of. I suppose I can see how it would  be funny to prank a family member or a close friend. Get a few laughs at someone else's expense. Then I think from the subject of the prank's point of view. I would be mad if someone did this to me. I wouldn't think it was one bit funny. I hate horror films and bloody, gory, nasty images, so I would be upset to say the least. And to pull this prank on a small child? Shame on parents. 

I made this meme to show the truth of the anonymity that the internet really does provide. It allows users to hide behind their computer and be whatever/whoever they want to be. It is all too easy to lie about your identity, to post harmful and hateful images and texts, and to not have to pay for your deceptions (at least not immediately). While reading this chapter, I instantly thought of a song by Brad Paisley titled "Online". It's joking mentions a lot of ways lies make their way into people's online personification. If you have never heard the song, I highly recommend watching the video; it's definitely worth a look.

Hobbs, R. (2011). Research as Authentic Inquiry. In Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.