Final Project Narrative

Being a youth worker for the last three years has opened my eyes to the reoccurring cycle of students dropping out of school and turning to another life. I work for the Boys and Girls Club of Providence and am stationed at Roger Williams Middle School.I have single handedly witnessed students and teachers arguing for 10 minutes straight over something so pointless. I've seen teachers lock out students they've labeled as hopeless  or troubled. The students that choose to attend their classes, spent the majority of the class period talking to their friends or logged on to social media networks. While the students who choose not to attend class spent their time walking the hallways and meeting up their friends. But you know what, I don't blame them. Everything nowadays is centered around standardized tests and scores. There is no socio-emotional learning, check ins, or conversations. All there is assumptions. Assumptions made purely on perceptions rather than facts. 

Needless to say, there is no sense of community in the classrooms. But what if we did have classroom community and unity. What would it look like? What would it sound like. I can tell you this, we would have/see a lot less students being kicked out of the classrooms. Students would be in their classrooms because they know their teachers want them there and because they know they will learn new things in a meaningful way. I believe students learn best when they have genuine and sincere relationships with their teachers. In order for that happen, instructors must emphasize their role as educators. And all educators must accept that they will have to learn from their students if they expect their students to learn from them. This is how we will ignite learning in the classroom(s). One way I will implement a sense of community in my youth space is by creating a community toolbox filled with activities and resources for both educators and students. Some of these activities will include Ice Breakers, Getting to Know You's, Energizers, Team Builders, Attention Getters, and resources on Diversity and Inclusion. This google drive document will be available on September 1st of 2020. 

Pecha Kecha

https://www.loom.com/share/913c124d63894c35ac4515e048cf6b6c

Sugata Mitra- A School in the Clouds

Viewing Sugata Mitra's Ted Talk brings me back to Wesch v. Turkle. Wesch wanted his readers to realize that technology is not going anywhere. As the years progress, more and more youth will turn to social media platforms for entertainment. So, why not utilize it. Sugata Mitra believes "Schools as we know them are obsolete". His statement is 100% valid. For example, the health curriculum with the Providence Public School System is rarely ever updated. Its discouraging to witness a 15 year old struggling to complete a diagram on internal and external organs and not being able to understand the functions of those organs. I believe this is one of the reasons why the Providence Public School System is in deep with the state of Rhode Island.  The curriculum must change with the times. We need to find more and more ways to incorporate technology in our classrooms/youth space. In my program, I try to plan activities that embrace the use of technology. No disrespect intended but we're fooling ourselves if we think out youth do not learn from the things they see online. I can tell you this, at my school,  kids are learning more on their phones than what their learning in the classroom. Its sad. 

Turkle V. Wesch: Allies or Opponents

Sherry Turkle and Michael Wesch approach technology's role from two different view points:




Turkle believes that technology prevents human interaction and conversation, and Wesch sees technology as a platform for dialogue and interaction. Neither professor goes out of their way to attack technology, but they do take different points of views to what it does to face-to-face interactions.

Turkle argues that people are constantly attached to their devices and seem to have lost the art of having conversations as well as being alone. She points out how when we are alone for more than a few minutes, we  reach for our devices.











She illustrates her point by using  the example of a man who claims that people in his office don't want to be bothered, but after a minute of self-reflection writes, “I’m not telling the truth. I’m the one who doesn’t want to be interrupted. I think I should. But I’d rather just do things on my BlackBerry.” She points out that young people, as in the case of the sixteen-year-old boy she mentions, would like to "learn how to have a conversation."


Solution: Turkle argues that we must have technology-free zones in our homes or cars, and take a stance for a no-technology day (or even hour) in our classrooms or offices, from time to time.




Wesch agrees with Turkle that connecting with people, especially our students, has become more of a challenge in this day and age when the first questions being asked in the classroom are; "Is this going to be on the test?" He believes the traditional teacher standing in front of the class  model no longer works with students who text right in front of their teachers or use class time to go on Facebook. 

Wesch's Solution: He says that we need to change the physical layout of our classrooms and rid ourselves of the old mold; we need to recreate a community where we are all on our devices simultaneously together. In this way, he  contradicts Turkle's notion that we are "alone together." He says that educators need to think of ways to inspire our students, so why not use a platform with which they are comfortable?



I believe that both authors share valid and equally important points. There is a time and place for technology, and, as Turkle states, there is a time and place without it. I think they could become allies if they illustrated their points face to face.

Disney's Moana

How does it feel to think about Disney through the critical lenses posed by Christensen and my slides? How did these frameworks help you think about Moana?
Growing up, I never payed that much attention to how my childhood was being influenced by the  media. When I was younger, I played with Bratz dolls, Barbie dolls here and there, and would play dress up and house with my sisters. But I loved, loved, loved to watch Disney movies.When I  watched Cinderella, I would imagine myself as the princess waiting for a handsome prince to take me away and we would live happily ever after. However, after reading Linda  Christensen’s, “Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us,” As a youth worker working with middle school youth, and as an aunt, I now am seeing Disney movies in a new light and that light isn't pretty.  Christensen challenges her students to see beyond what Disney has displayed all throughout the years about gender roles, race, socioeconomic status, and etc. Christensen also questions the effects media has on children.

How Disney Depicts Women 

 Linda Christensen asked her students if they agreed with Dorfman's position that children receive a secret education in the media. If she were in front of me today, I would answer yes. Girls are taught that the soft, fragile, and dependent women always find their prince charming(s). Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, and Ariel were all searching for their true loves and were waiting to be saved by a prince charming and live happily ever after. Let us not disregard their killer "assets". These princesses were white, thin, had long hair, had small waists, and were considered to be perfect in every way. They were nurturing, domesticated, and above all, they obeyed the "man". These little girls are watching these movies and thinking to themselves, I have to beautiful if I want to find a man. I have to be graceful, soft spoken, and dismissive if I want to come across as attractive. If I like to read, I have to keep that to myself because a man will always choose beauty over brains. I have to lose my independence in order to find my true love.  I for one am glad my nieces are over their princess phase. That may sound rude but I don't think I could watch Cinderella with them or any other Disney with them for that matter and not become a raging critic.

Disney's Moana

Watching Moana through  a critical lens posed by Linda Christensen lowered my frustrations with Disney. After listening to Dr. Bogad's slide deck, I thought about Moana. I wondered what set this movie apart from the other princess movies. After watching this movie for very first time, I see why it has been used for critical analysis.
                                   

How does Moana stand apart from the "other" classic princess movies?

                            

Moana is depicted as powerful and self-reliant female lead. Not only does Moana not need a man, she does what men, including her father and Maui, feared to do.


Unlike other Disney movies, romantic love is non-existent in Moana. Moana's love is for her island, her people and her family, not a man.


Moana has strong bonds with other women in her life, primarily her mother and grandmother. In other Disney movies, female characters are pitted against each other in the evil stepmother vs. good stepdaughter relationship. Here, it is the female relationships that allow Moana to do the forbidden and cross the reef to save her people. While Moana's father forbids her from going, her mother helps her pack and the spirit of her grandmother guides her safely across the reef and is there when Moana's self-doubt sets in later in the movie.


Moana is a more representative princess. While other Disney princess seems to have small waists and long legs and arms, Moana's body has more average proportions. Moana's heritage also means children of different races find Moana more to be more of a representative.


Moana is not just a princess, she is a leader. Not only will she become chief of her island one day, but she tries on more than one occasion to leave the island in order to save it, when others are afraid. Eventually, she returns her people to their original way of life as voyagers.

GroupMe Tutorial

Group Me is a free, user friendly messaging app designed for people to keep in touch with their friends, family members, co-workers, acquaintances, and so on. Whats so great about group me is that its compatible with all IOS, Android, and Window devices. So its not one of those exclusive iPhone applications. Thank you! You are also able to connect through various social media platforms such as; Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

                                                  How It Works:

 Once you open the application or have created an account, you will click on the paper and pencil icon. A drop down bar with three options (Start Group, Scan QR, and Start Direct Message will pop up. If you are looking to create a group, you will be prompted to name your group. Whats so cool about group me is that you don't have to waste your time manually putting in contact information. Your phone will sync your contact list. All you would have to do is place the people you want in their respective group, From that point on, you can send direct messages, photos, videos, emojis. Basically anything you wanted to send, you could.

The Golden Circle: Simon Sinek

I

n his TED TALK, The Golden Circle, Dr. Simon Sinek's attempts to explain why some people and organizations are particularly able to inspire others and differentiate themselves from other organizations successfully by introducing the Golden Circle. The philosophy behind the Golden Circle idea is that humans respond best when they communicate with parts of their brain that control emotions, behavior and decision-making.







Elaboration of the Golden Circle:


What: What does your organization does? Every organization whether its not for profit or a for profit organization knows what they do. Apple sells high quality IOS devices, Boys and Girls Cub of Providence provides parents with an affordable before school and after school space for their children.





HOW: What procedures, what sales networks does the organization(s) use for its products and services. Apple sells their products by utilizing social media platforms, hiring celebrities to endorse their products, and by paying television networks to broadcast their items. Not for profit organizations such as, the BGC resort to some of the same measures to advertise their organization. They are active on various social media platforms such as; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and so on to "sell" their organization to community members but most importantly parents.


Why: Sinek believes the Why is the most important message any organization, business, or organization can communicate. He strongly believes "a why" inspires other people to do what you want them to do. Whether that's; making a donation to their organization/business, volunteering, and etc..Sinek's theory is that successfully communicating the passion behind the 'Why' is a way to communicate with the listener's limbic brain.

Rethinking Popular Culture and Media- Girls, Worms, and Body Image By: Kate Lyman

Kate Lyman gives examples of her classroom experiences when she explored the idea of gender stereotypes/roles with her 2nd and 3rd grade students.


Key Concepts:


- Women and adolescent girls have gone and continue to resort to certain measures to look like the models they see in magazines by adopting different lifestyles (extreme dieting, body shaming,


- Male and females still have the same gender expectation of 60 years ago: women are expected to take care of the children and maintain the household while men support their families by working.

The manufacturers of Barbie made her up to have a tiny waist and big boobs. In addition to those "assets", they gave her long legs, skinny arms, and tiny feet. This type of advertising sends a hidden message that woman should aspire to look like barbie. and that women want to look like her. If they do, they'll have no problem catching the attention of a man and they'll be considered beautiful.



** Ads in women's magazines also have a hidden message: If you consume a product (cosmetics, perfume, cigarettes, weight loss) you will look like a model.



Exploration: Lyman created an old Sinek's theory is that successfully communicating the passion behind the 'Why' is a way to communicate with the listener's limbic brainfashioned school day in her classroom where boys and girls were treated differently: girls wore dresses and boys wore slacks and shirts with collars; chairs and desks were in rows; students followed an "old-fashioned" schedule (hand writing, spelling bees, rote math, and textbook science); lines were divided based on gender; boys were treated differently from girls when it came to classroom participation and work.



This exercise made the boys and girls alike to think their treatment towards one another: the girls were upset at how their teacher (Lyman) treated them and the boys enjoyed all the attention they received.