GLEE Response

Hi all!
Sorry this week has been insane and continues to be that way. I have not had a chance to do my response to the GLEE episodes yet but I promise that they will be up shortly. Sorry for the delay!

My Digital Life

Hi everyone,
So here is my digital life project. I tried to embed it but half of the screen was getting cut off so I am including the link instead. I hope you enjoy it!

Click for Youtube link

Quotes: From Knowledgable to Knowledge-able

1) The “message” of this environment is that to learn is to acquire information, that information is scarce and hard to find (that's why you have to come to this room to get it), that you should trust authority for good information, and that good information is beyond discussion (that's why the chairs don't move or turn toward one another).

In this quote, Wesch is talking about the problems of classrooms today and especially ones that claim to be “state of the art”. The points that he makes in this quote resonate throughout his entire piece. Wesch believes that most schools and professors do not embrace new forms of media and would rather just continue in their old fashioned ways. Classes are portrayed as the only place where you can get information on various subjects. They do not take into consideration how easy it is to pick up a book, do an online search, or ask somebody for information on a certain topic. Classes are framed as the” be all end all" and professors are shown as the only person capable of relaying this information.

Many classrooms are set up with the professor as the main focus. Whether it be a massive lecture hall or a relatively small classroom, the teacher is front and center. They control what material is taught, how it is taught, and what criteria will be used for grading. Interaction and discussion between students is not encouraged and in many cases highly frowned upon. Students are expected to simply absorb this information without question or comment and then regurgitate it on an exam.

2) Our old assumption that information is hard to find, is trumped by the realization that if we set up our hyper-personalized digital network effectively, information can find us.

This point emphasizes how massive and incredible digital media can be. Wesch emphasizes this point many times throughout this article and it is one of his main arguments. If you want to learn about something, there is no longer a need to go out and actively seek the information for a prolonged period of time. Gone are the days of sitting for hours and hours in a library researching a topic. Now, if you happen to be interested in a topic, you can look it up on Google and find thousands of websites on the subject ranging from overviews to in-depth analyses. You can also use websites, like the one mentioned in the article, that will send you links to pages that have to do with the particular subject you are curious about. All of this new digital media is making it extremely easy to have a very personalized experience. Even advertisements are becoming more personal, based on your interests and likes. With so many forms of media out there, Wesch points out that information is no longer hidden away somewhere but, with little effort, can be right in the palm of your hand.

3) Though many blame the technology, these activities are just new ways for students to tune out, part of the much bigger problem I have called “the crisis of significance,” the fact that many students are now struggling to find meaning and significance in their education.

Wesch comes up with this theory because he firmly believes that students are becoming bored with the things they are learning in school. Instead of the strict subject guidelines that were put into place so long ago, Wesch suggests teaching subjectivities. Within the discussion of subjects, he points out that many students feel that once they have “had” a subject they are done with it and never have to take it again. He also allows his students to have more of an input into what they learn and gives them more flexibility with how they learn it.

I have to agree with Wesch’s theory of “the crisis of significance”. Many of the general education courses that I had to take seemed completely irrelevant, meaningless, and just plain boring to me. I could not understand why they were significant to my education or when I would ever have to use any of the information that I learned. I felt that I should just focus my attention on my major and courses I was interested in. It is also frustrating when you are struggling in a course that the college is forcing you to take and you cannot see any worth in taking it. This caused me to experience exactly what Wesch was describing. Once I had passed a course in a subject that, I had issues (math or science for example) I was so glad it was over and vowed to never, ever take a class in that subject again. Rather than actually taking anything away from the class, I was just thrilled that it was over and never had to be taken again.

This article has some really astonishing media statistics that tie into Wesch’s discussion of just how massive the media environment is.

Talking Point:

It is obvious that teachers need to change their teaching methods and/or subject matter to accommodate this new media craze. I wonder what people will suggest that teachers do. I am especially interested in what the teachers in the room think and if they plan to do anything differently.

The Crucible

So it's time for me to promote the place where I work for a little bit. Trinity Repertory Company (right here in Providence) is playing The Crucible from now until the beginning of March. I figured this somewhat tied into the class because many of the main characters are teenagers (played by adults). It is a very good production and we offer student discounts with a valid student ID! I would really recommend it.

The Storm Anyone?

Reflection: A Tangle of Discourses

While reading Rebecca Raby’s, A Tangle of Discourses: Girls Negotiating Adolescence, I tried to fit my own teenage self into the discourse categories that she laid out. Of course, I fit into “the storm”. I was moody, angry, rebellious, experimenting, and hormonal. I was constantly snapping at my mom about the stupidest things and would not tell her too much information about my personal life. I went out with boys that neither my mother nor friends approved of because I just didn’t care what anyone thought. I had the idea that I knew what was right for me and it didn’t matter what people had to say. I found my relationship with my mom changing because I craved acceptance from my friends above al else. I tried to see how much I could get away with and how much trouble I would get in if I was caught. Needless to say, during some parts of my teenagers years it was probably pretty unpleasant to be around me.

In high school, I tried to be friends with many different types of people. My lunch table (which, of course, was the Mecca of high school world) consisted of the artsy kids, the theater kids, some athletes, Goths, punks, skaters, and more. As a part of “becoming” I surrounded myself with many different types of people to see where exactly I fit in. I was really involved with the theater program at school and had many sleepless nights trying to figure out why I didn’t seem to fit in. There were many times where I considered quitting the program all together because I felt like I just didn’t belong. I think it is really hard for teenagers when they are trying to figure out who they are. The media, their peers, their parents, and their own minds are all telling them different things about what is “normal” or “cool” and it is really confusing.

In terms of being “at risk”, I did not really feel the pressures of doing drugs or drinking alcohol. The people that I hung out with didn’t participate in those activities so they never asked me to do those things with them. In middle school, there were some instances of violence that occurred and some pretty scary situations that came up. By high school these threats had mostly disappeared and I never felt at risk.

Teenagers are labeled as being a “social problem”. This is a very harsh statement to be using on such a wide range of people. I remember going to the mall a lot with friends in high school and we were constantly harassed by the store employees and especially the mall security guards. Employees would be keeping an eye on us waiting for us to steal something when we had money to make a purchase. Mall security would get really mad if you were standing and talking to a group of friends. The Warwick Mall actually has a system in place now where there cannot be anymore than three teenagers in a group, which is common among malls now as shown in this article. I almost wanted to just walk in and be like “I have money, I am here with my friends, we don’t want to rob you or cause any disruption we just want to go shopping”. That of course would have made them even more skeptical of me so I just dealt with the glares.

In terms of “pleasurable consumption”, I was and still am very guilty of that. I constantly needed the latest clothes, shoes, and pieces of technology. Whatever my friends had, I wanted bigger and better. I also went through many phases in terms of dress during high school so I was constantly buying new clothes. Until I got a job, at 15, I was spending my mom’s money. I didn’t think twice of asking her for massive amounts of money each week to go shopping or to the movies. If a pair of pants was $50, I didn’t care because I knew my mom would buy them for me. It amazes me now how much money I actually spent and how terrible it was that I took my mom’s hard earned money and just threw it away. Once I got a job, I controlled my spending a little more and didn’t need to keep up with my peers.

This article proves the contradictions that teenagers are facing in society today. They are being told to be independent but also dependent at the same time. It is said that this is a time of exploration and self discovery, yet they are not allowed to wear certain things to school or speak up about what they think is right or wrong. They are stuck in the middle of childhood and adulthood with no place to turn.

Hyperlinks and Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us

In her article, Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us, Linda Christensen explains the various stereotypes that can be found in children’s movies, television shows, cartoons, and literature. As a teacher, Christensen, wanted her students to analyze these various form of media and uncover the racial, gender, and class stereotypes that they portray. While doing this she wanted her students to realize how much of an impact the media had on them. Her goal was to expose them to the mass ideologies that society has and encourage her students to try and not buy into them. By the end of this project, Christensen endorsed her students to complete projects, write articles for newspapers, and reexamine the way they feel about the media‘s portrayal of certain people.

At the beginning of the lesson, it was hard for the students to accept that they had been manipulated by the media or that some of their views came from what the media has exposed them to. It was especially hard for some of them to even accept that such blatant stereotyping was in some of their favorite childhood movies. It is difficult to think that the movie you loved as a child and watched a hundred times could be brimming with terrible labels and false representations. As a child, you simply absorb whatever messages the film, television show, cartoon, or book are giving you. It is easy to believe that all Native Americans wear headdresses, live in teepees, and dance around fires like the ones in Peter Pan do.

Christensen and her students looked at various types of media and analyzed their portrayals of men, women, poor people, rich people, people of different ethnicities, and people with different body types. From this research they found out many powerful things. For example, they found that there was a lack of female characters in many of the media they looked at. When there was a female character, she was usually overly sexual, submissive, or completely dependent on a male. Many of the students were outraged by what they discovered and some even threatened to boycott media all together until better representations were created.

Disney has been one of the companies that has come under much scrutiny for their portrayal of women, men, and various ethnic groups. This website shows nine of the worst racial stereotypes that Disney has had in their films, cartoons, and books. In Christensen’s article, she notes the portrayal of Arabs in an episode of Popeye, “later, the 40 thieves come riding through the town stealing everything-food, an old man’s teeth, numbers off a clock-even the stripe off a barber pole”. This description is very close to the portrayal of the merchant and some of the other characters in Aladdin. As an adult, it is interesting to look at some of these characters and think how you just accepted them at face value when you were a child and now cringe at their derogatory fallacies.

This video also contains many racial stereotypes that are portrayed in television shows and movies that are aimed at children. While many of these examples are from Disney movies, Betty Boop, Looney Toons, and The Flintstones are also included. From these clips we can assume that all African Americans have very harsh Southern accents, are incapable of speaking in complete and coherent sentences, and look like the terrible “Mammy” archetype. We can also assume that people of Asian descent like karate, wear glasses, and constantly have very stereotypical Asian music playing near them. These examples are what contribute to the “secret education” children are receiving from the media.

The last page that I found goes along with Christensen’s overall goal for her class. This website lists ways for parents to combat stereotypes and teach their children about them. While simple, the suggestions on this page can be a useful tool in teaching children to not buy into biases. By exposing children to different types of people, different types of media portrayals, and different ways of life, it may be easier to prevent them from absorbing the mass ideologies in our society. If parents help to mold their children’s opinions early on, perhaps they can prevent them from becoming mindless absorbers of the media’s messages.

Talking Point:

In class I would like to discuss why Disney seems to be the main company under attack for their stereotypical depictions. While I believe they are a main contributor, I do not think they are the only perpetrator. It was extremely difficult to find anything about Nickelodeon’s shows or movies. I am certain that Nickelodeon is also guilty of perpetuating some stereotypical images. It is difficult for me to believe that the same research on Disney’s sometimes negative portrayal of women, men, certain ethnic groups, and the like have not also been applied to Nickelodeon.