My Pecha Kucha

If you want to view my Pecha Kucha on the importance of student voice, click here.

Is Mirabel a Princess?

         In watching Disney's Encanto and looking at it through a critical lens, it posed the question; is Mirabel a princess? What does it mean to be one? Linda Christensen in Rethinking Popular Culture and Media, she states, "

What would children learn about what’s important in society?” (Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us). Does Mirabel need to be a princess in order to be important? As Professor Bogad said in her reading Disney slidedeck, "does Princess culture expand kids imagination's or limit them?" This analysis is meant to help broaden how Mirabel may be percieved by adults and kids viewing the film. In most Disney films, a princess is an obedient girl in search of a prince. She is pure and full of obligation. She is well kept, modest, beautiful and passive. She doesn’t cause trouble or question things. She often lives in a castle (or is locked away somewhere. Mirabel is obedient (to a point) to her family, though she does not look for or fall in love. She is not the most “beautiful” according to standards (silly things) though she is modest. She does sit in silence in some ways, so I would call her passive at times. She does question, and causes trouble for herself. According to the list of how a princess acts, she certainly does not fit the mold. I would argue that her home being the center of town and the reason everyone has settled there makes her family as much of royalty as they could be without being in a monarchy. While Mirabel may not teach us about being a princess, she does teach us a little bit about leadership. She teaches us that you are only as strong as your weakest link. When the house starts to crumble she searches so hard for her Uncle Bruno, thinking he is the weakest, but it is ultimately her Grandmother who needs to shed the generational traumas she has held for so long. Mirabel’s values that are associated with her ability to lead are that family relies on one another. She helps to orchestrate her family in a way, although she wasn’t given a “gift”. She has patience and hope, but she feels like she lacks the something special everyone else has. In the beginning of the film, her leadership is more of an orchestration. By the end, she realizes that she is an integral part of her family and helps to lead them through the hardships they faced.

Narrative - Voice and Podcasting

 

            

            As an educator and an individual, I have always considered myself a techno-constructivist. I am open to learning new technology and usually can do so fairly quickly. This was extremely helpful during my most recent Digital Media Literacy class. In this class we had to complete a project in which we came up with a new idea/plan for our classroom in the upcoming year. The techno-constructivist approach I took was very beneficial in this course as I was able to imagine how to use each of these new technologies within my class and I explored some of the technologies we learned; virtual escape rooms, podcasts, and digital newsletters. 

I grew up the youngest of two children to a school teacher and a computer programmer. I have always considered myself adequately versed in technology, though I do admit I can always learn new things. I grew up learning about the power of voice. In high school I  participated in debate, the school newspaper, swing dance, chorus, cheerleading, and so much more to help me find my individual voice and speak out within my class. I continued finding my voice when I went to the University of South Carolina; working in the journalism field and reporting current events and press conferences. I continued to find my voice when I ended up at the Community College of Rhode Island, participating in the school’s theater group and participating in human services class. I ended up at Rhode Island College pursuing my elementary and middle level education certification. It was here that one of my professors, Jennifer Cook, taught me about the power of student voice. Professor Cook introduced me to graphic novels; accessible reading for all students. She also taught me how to reach students as writers, and how to get them to use their inner voice to produce well thought out and detailed work. 

As a parent I have always stressed the importance of voice and standing up for what you believe in to my own four children. As an educator, I have taught my students the importance of finding your voice through writing; often encouraging them to tackle topics that challenge them and that they can be passionate about. Before this class, I had often wondered how I could get students to use their physical voice to speak out on topics; especially since some of my more shy students hate talking in front of groups.

In my fourth year of teaching I was emergency certified for teaching emergent bilinguals, which ultimately led me to the Digital Media Literacy class (as part of my masters in TESOL). We started off the class talking about Prensky’s ideology that young people are digital natives while those who grew up in a different tech time are digital immigrants. Many did not like the terms he used nor did they agree with the ideals, especially Danah Boyd. Boyd stated, “Empowering youth requires much more than calling them native participants.” Boyd believed that students still need to be taught the proper ways in which to use technology; they may be able to work social media, but that doesn’t qualify them as a native. 

As our project for Digital Media Literacy was introduced I wasn’t quite sure what new technology I could introduce. I also wasn’t sure exactly what to use as my why. I knew in essence why I was teaching and why I wanted students to learn but my direction was still unclear. I continued to listen to the Ted Talks and read the excerpts assigned and they continued to talk to me. Sir Ken Robinson stated, “What great teachers also do is mentor, stimulate, provoke, engage.” This had me thinking about what I do to mentor, stimulate, provoke, and engage my own students. I knew that I pushed my students with writing to new limits but it had me beginning to question what else I could do.

In a Ted Talk about learning from his son baby George, Mike Wesch stated, “real learning is about the questions that you take out of the class that inspire you and force you to take chances.” Wesch’s speech had me really thinking about my own lessons and how inspiring they were. How could I step them up a level and inspire even more. Then, I was reading from the  Rethinking Popular Culture and Media book. I read a chapter called Storytelling as Resistance by Jerica Coffey. In this chapter, Coffey states, “The stories we hear and tell shape and define the way we relate to one another.” That is when my inspiration struck. I knew what my beliefs were, but I still wasn’t sure of the project. 

When Brittany Richer Ahnrud came to the class to speak about Podcasting, I was intrigued as I had never even thought about Podcasting before. I had heard of it but never had really been interested in it. The evening before, we listened to a Podcast to prepare for her arrival and I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would. It brought the narrator's ideas to life, almost in story form. When Brittany spoke to us about using Podcasting with her students, that is when the light bulb went off!

Between the readings and Brittany’s lessons, I finally knew my beliefs and what I wanted to do for my project! I believe that students learn best when lessons engage, provoke, and inspire them. I believe that all students have a voice capable of changing the world for the better. I believe that through student voice (whether it be physical, through writing, or art) students can communicate, educate, and advocate. Students have an important voice in the world that often goes unheard. 

For my project, I decided to use that student voice. Using a Podcasting site called Soundtrap, I am restructuring some of my writing assignments to give students the option to Podcast. This upcoming year, I will spend time teaching all students the basics and having them learn this new tool. What is great about Podcasting is that even my shy students can do it; it is not in front of a live audience and it can be redone as often as needed before being submitted. My emergent bilinguals will also benefit from Podcasting as it will help with speaking and listening skills. While most of our Podcasts will only be listened to by other students I would love to get to a point where we can share the powerful ones with the community. 

While I am still learning all the major ins and outs of Podcasting, I would like to have my students use the Soundtrap site for our first major writing assignment, the Nonfiction Narrative. I think this would be a great entry point for students into the Podcasting world, as it is their own story and requires descriptive details. I would like to eventually work them up to arguing for or against a topic of their choosing. 

This class to me was very beneficial. I learned who I am as an educator and my “why”. I learned several new and exciting technological tools that I can bring into my classroom. I also was given access to several amazing resources on the powers of technology in the classroom. My techno-constructivist self has surely grown; just as I know I will continue to grow as I explore all that I learned from Digital Media Literacy. 

Self-Reflection

	Excellent (9.5-10)	Great (8.75-9.25)	Good (8-8.5)	Passing (7-7.5)	Unacceptable/Absent (under 7)
NARRATIVE: Includes a narrative context about where this project came from, what you did and why it is important to you	✔
YOUR TECH IDENTITY: Explains how this use of digital technology positions you as a technocrat, techno-traditionalist, or techno-constructivist to enhance or change content/context (Scott Noon)	✔
YOUR WHY: Discusses how this project reflects what you believe about how students learn (points x2)	✔
TEXTS: Draws from at least 3 of our course texts, themes or issues (points x2)	✔
NEW:  Demonstrates something new that you could not have done or conceptualized before this course	✔
LINKS: Includes hyperlinks to at least 5 external resources (academic and/or technical)	✔
Writing Style (creativity, style, flow)	✔
Writing Skills (grammar, spelling, format)	✔

References Boyd, D. (2015). It's complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. Yale University Press. (n.d.). Sir Ken Robinson: How to escape education's death valley | TED Talk. Retrieved June 27, 2022, from https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_death_valley?language=en. Noon, S. (n.d.). Are you a techno-constructivist? Are You a Techno-Constructivist? | Education World. Retrieved July 6, 2022, from https://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech005.shtml Wesch, Mike. (n.d.). Learning From Baby George | TED Talk. Retrieved June 28, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP7dbl0rJS0 Marshall, Elizabeth, and Sensoy Özlem. Rethinking Popular Culture and Media. Rethinking Schools, 2016. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816

Why I Said No to Coca-Cola

 For my blog I decided to focus on the chapter "Why I Said No to Coca-Cola" from Rethinking Popular Culture and Media. This chapter takes place on pages 19 and 20. In this chapter, John Sheehan focuses on the reasons he went against the rest of the school board (as vice president) in Douglas County, Colorado and voted against the introduction of Coca-Cola into their schools.

Sheehan argues that “[he] can no longer accept the notion of our schools becoming brokers for advertising space or, worse yet, middlemen in the merchandising of products directly to our students.” (19) He feels that the use of marketing within the schools put unfair pressure onto students and makes them less like people and more like a business transaction. He lists four main reasons he is against the idea.

His first reason is that marketing and public schools just don't mix well. Sheehan states, “Public education has an agenda that is already crowded enough. When we become marketers and distributors, we confuse our mission. I worry about a time when our educational goals might be influenced or even set by private companies targeting our students with their own narrow messages.” (19) He goes on to talk about how major companies major markets to target are kids, specifically schools. Our schools are already overrun with marketing, which puts less emphasis on education and more on the consumable world.

Sheehan's second reason is that by allowing these companies to come into our schools, we are opening the doors to consumerism. He states, “The pressure to buy and measure our success in life through the things we acquire is overwhelming. Education should offer away for students to seek a good life that means more than just wealth.” (20) What message is the consumerism giving to our students? That they have a price and they can be bought and sold like the products they bring into our schools?

The third argument that he makes is that businesses are targeting schools because they are a captive audience. He states, “There is something unethical, in my opinion, about viewing our captive audience of students as targets for current and future marketing efforts.” (20) This targeting leads students, educators, and families to feel like the purpose of school is not just education, but for the marketing of products as well. The only focus should be on the education of students.

Sheehan's final argument is that we are letting legislators and the public off the hook. Sheehan says, “My state ranks pitifully low in funding for public schools, but when we sign up with corporate giants like Coke, we are sending the message that a multimillion-dollar market is ours for the taking.” By saying this and making this argument, he is arguing that even if schools are underfunded and mismanaged, these corporations are getting them "off the hook" by bringing their advertising into the schools. This is giving local power away to big corporations; corporations that do not care about the "target audience".

Overall, I really enjoyed this article. I found so much truth in it and I really do feel that our schools are not the place for consumerism and marketing.

Digital Tool Walkthrough - Smore

 I wanted to play around with a digital tool I had never used before to learn more about it myself and teach other educators about it. In looking through a toolbox of resources I found Smore; a digital newsletter site. Since I would like to get the school newspaper at my school back up and running I felt this would be great to learn about as it may be an awesome contender for our virtual platform. So lets get started!

1. In your browser type https://www.smore.com/ or click this link!

2. You will arrive at the homepage. Click on the Sign up now (it's free) in the upper right hand corner. 

3. Signing up is very simple; you may either use your saved Google information or type it out. I suggest clicking sign in with Google. 

4. After you've signed in, you will be brought to the welcome page. You may select if you are making a newsletter for education, business, non-profit, or other. Since mine will be for the school setting, I chose education. 

5. After click education, it will bring you to a walk through page. Click on learn more about Smore at the bottom of the page to access that (or scroll down). If at any point you are done with the walk through you can also just click start a newsletter in the top right (or the very bottom if you scroll all the way through the walk through. 

6. Once you have clicked to start a new newsletter it will bring you to a page to create your own or start from a template. For the sake of time and since it is summer, lets choose the summer template. 

7. This will bring you to a newsletter full of summer resources and information. You can scroll through and edit any of the information currently there. You may also get rid of resources you do not wish to include. 

8. As you can see I edited the text at the top of the page to fit more for my current class. You can continue to scroll and edit as needed. 

9. When you get to the bottom of the newsletter you may also add in anything you want using these easy hyperlinks!

10. Once you are done, scroll to the top and click Done Editing in the top right corner. 

11. Once you have hit the done editing button, it will display a click to edit button where that once was. You will also have sharing options displayed at the top of the page. Click the way to wish to display and enjoy!

I really enjoyed the overall ease of use of this tool! I love that it has many options for premade newsletters and that you may even make those your own. I feel like this would be a great resource to use with students, however the only Delta I see is that the free version only allows for three newsletters (I used one to create this walk through)! If I want to use this for the year with students I will have to go "Pro" and pay. There are plans for the site ranging from $79 to $999 a year. Although if your district feels like funding it, the pro plans have even more resources!

Project Ideas - Student Voice

 My belief is that students have a voice and they can use virtual platforms to communicate, educate, and self advocate; thus changing society for the better. When these students find that their voice is important and not as unheard as often though, they are empowered and their learning may grow exponentially.

My plan: 

Introducing my students to podcasting.

Giving my students their nonfiction narrative assignment with the added element of a podcast. 

Having them tell their story using sensory details to paint an image to the listener.

Having students think about how this event changed them and their life. 

Allowing them to listen to others to understand those around them. 

Continuing to use podcasting for other responses to hear so many more voices that do not often share.

Added element of starting up the school newspaper again at my school so that students may voice their opinions through their words. 

A School In The Cloud

 In his Ted Talk "A School in the Cloud" Sugata Mitra speaks about the accessibility of education through the use of the internet. Mitra traveled around the world to some of the poorest areas, giving students access to technology and then watching them flourish as learners. He did this through an experiment called "A Hole in the Wall" where he quite literally gave them access to this technology through a hole in the wall. He also gave them "grannies" using a method he penned called S.O.L.E (self organized learning environment) in order for them to have access to an educator. These grannies were retired school teachers.

Throughout Mitra's Ted Talk, I found myself reflecting upon the period of virtual learning during this pandemic, and even the world of teaching beyond. During the start of the pandemic, we were thrown into the virtual world with no training. We studied, we adapted. Many lessons were trial and error; as educators we saw what worked and what didn't. We set up virtual classrooms for students to stay on top of their work, we held Zoom or Google calls, and we did all this while sometimes still wearing our pajama pants 😂. Students also had to adapt. They had to learn to socialize while not being in a social setting. 

The main difference I see between the virtual classes of the pandemic and the S.O.L.E classes is that students were not physically together in our virtual classrooms. Using S.O.L.E, students are together in a space without a teacher. The teacher is there virtually to ask a question but the learning is really student centered. The have that space to socialize and really learn from one another. So this made me think about why in our virtual classrooms students seemed to struggle. It is simple, students hit a point they turned their cameras off and we were told we couldn't force them to keep them on. What would've happened with more face to face interaction.

I have seen how smoothly a virtual class can go in my own experience as a student through Rhode Island College. This smoothness is dependent on the students and their participation. I think we are taking a right step by keeping out Google Classrooms updated for students who are out, but I do think that if we ever go virtual again, we MUST have a way to keep kids interacting.