Final Project: Website for Student Teaching Courses

For my final project, I chose to create a companion website for the courses I’ll be teaching at South High School in the spring. I thought this would be a great place for me to post digital copies of all of the assignments, homework, and rubrics as well as a place to post my contact information for parents, helpful websites for students, models of various projects and a place to post digital student work so they can share it with their classmates, friends and family.
My cooperating teacher does not use very much technology in her classroom, which is totally fine, I just thought this would be a great way to get students to think about school outside of school as well as a place to find documents if they misplace them or need extra help.
Students would not be required to use the website—I had a long discussion with my cooperating teacher about this and she thinks that given their age and the certain group I’ll be working with that requiring them to use the internet would give them more of an excuse to not do the work, than be a motivator. The website would therefore be a way to try to get students to keep the schedule on their minds and look for web links that would help them with certain projects and also a great way for parents to stay “in the know” in terms of what their students are doing.
I have posted two example assignments: the podcast for book clubs and the VideoANT project on The Crucible film. I think it is very important for students to have a model to look at while they are doing their projects and I think that if I am willing to do the work then they might be more inclined to do so themselves.
I also included a google calendar of important SHS dates and due dates for the major assignments in the course. This way students or parents can merge it with their own calendar if they want or they can just use it as a resource. I would likely add student activities like sporting events, choir or band concerts or other performances of students in my classes to encourage them to support each other outside of class.
On the “What to expect in H2” page, I have included Ms. Horswill’s (my cooperating teacher) syllabus as well as a PowerPoint that lays out the expectations for the course. Currently the ppt is based on Ms. H’s guidelines…this will likely be slightly changed as I further develop my plan for the spring semester.
I also added links to local libraries to encourage my students to read outside of class as well as for class!
I am very excited to use this website with my students in the spring as well as teach them how to create VideoANT, VoiceThread and podcast projects. It looks to be an exciting spring!
Here is a link to my site:
Ms. Rose and Humanities Too

Podcast Book Review: Absolutely, Positively Not by David LaRochelle

This podcast was created for Literature for Adolescents, fall 2009.

Integrating Media/Film into Curriculum

There are a number of excellent ways to integrate media into the language arts curriculum. A few films I might use would be:

• The film Clueless to be paired with Jane Austen's Emma
• The film 10 Things I Hate About You with Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew
• I have always thought that the 1996 adaptation of Romeo + Juliet would be a great supplement to the classic, perhaps with selected scenes from Shakespeare in Love or the 1968 version. I might also show West Side Story to demonstrate the Shakespearean theme of forbidden love revisited.
• I would show clips of the film version of Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals to go along with his partly autobiographical novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
• If my students were learning about the Civil Rights Movement, I would definitely show Remember the Titans to go along with a text like Coming of Age in Mississippi
• While studying 1984 or Brave New World, I would definitely show at least clips of V for Vendetta and perhaps even clips from the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11
• Cast Away would be a great film to show while reading The Cay or Lord of the Flies
• I would love to find some reason to show It's a Wonderful Life and Iron Jawed Angels in my class as well. It's a Wonderful Life would be a good period film to introduce the era, while Ironed Jawed Angels would be a great introduction to women’s roles in the early 20^th century.
• I would love to use Comic Life, podcasts, and iMovies to give students the opportunity to do their own adaptations of various texts (particularly Shakespeare) and I would use VideoANT and VoiceThread when teaching students about media analysis whether it be of films, television shows or advertising.

Music Autobiography

This is a very challenging post for me to write because I really enjoy a variety of music, but I am not particularly knowledgeable about elements of music and what makes a certain genre. This is has been and remains to be a point of embarrassment in my life...but I will do my best to describe myself using music.

Bands/Artists I enjoy:
Jason Mraz (also with Bushwalla)
Lily Allen
Beyonce
Dan Wilson
Jack Johnson
Regina Spektor
India.Arie
M.I.A
Sia
Justin Timberlake
Julia Nunes
Citizen Cope
Cake
Ani DiFranco

Main things I look for in music:

• Lyrics: I like songs with a message, songs that make me think.
• Dance-ability: I like songs that I can dance to, but only if I'm in a dancing mood...
• Comical element:I really like songs with sarcastic or humorous lyrics. I think music is a great outlet for comedy.
• Creativity and originality: I enjoy original lyrics by the artists themselves, people whose creativity and willingness to take risks has gotten them where they are today.
• A story: I like soundtracks to musicals/broadway shows that tell a story through music.
  

Given my wide variety of interest in music, I had a really hard time picking one song. So, I have included two. "Free Life" by Dan Wilson and "It's Hard to be a Gangster" by Bushwalla & Jason Mraz.
"Free Life" demonstrates my love of lyrics and songs that make me think. I made a soundtrack/mix CD for a first year experience class I TA-ed in college and this was one of the songs that I included. The song is about how everyone is given a "free life" and it is up to them what they are going to do with it. I really like this song because although some might think it cheesy, I find it to be inspiring. It gives the listener ownership and makes them think about all of the possibilities that life brings.


"It's Hard to be a Gangster" demonstrates creativity, originality and comedy. Jason Mraz is one of my favorite artists and he has done a number of songs with his friend Bushwalla and this is one of their collaborations. It kind of makes fun of people who are trying to be something that they're not and it is done in a humorous way. This song makes me laugh every time I listen to it and to me, that is a sign of a good song!

Documentary in the Classroom

I would integrate documentary into my classroom by having students do a group project on a documentary of their choice (following a classroom discussion and viewing of a few sample documentaries). They would watch a documentary (one from a list of suggestions by the teacher to give them ideas) together as a group of 4-5 students and then respond to the documentary by creating their own. They would interview one another about their reaction to the film and ask them about validity, basis, theme, style, tone, etc. Having them do a documentary response of their own would be a great performance assessment.

Documentary Analysis: Straightlaced

For my documentary analysis, I attended the Minnesota premier of the documentary film, Straightlaced. Below is a preview of the film:

Purpose: The purpose of this film is to discuss “gender” as a social construction that affects everyone, but particularly developing teens. How do society and the media put pressure or relief on people based on their sex and supposed gender? What are teens worried about when it comes to gender? Do they feel safer inside of a box or out of it? How do teens define masculine and feminine? Do they feel there is a gender binary? The film aims to be extremely honest in its discussion of gender by truly allowing the issue and the people it affects to speak freely about it. The film also aims to demonstrate ways in which students feel pressured to conform to a certain “standard” of gender and that they are aware of this pressure and they are willing to talk about it.

Intended Audience: Anyone and everyone. Particularly those who work with young people and people who strongly believe in the gender binary, or those who don't!

Techniques Used: The entire film is composed of interviews with young people—high school students from across the country. There is very little direction and no interaction with the director on screen whatsoever. The technique used here is letting the images and voices speak for themselves. The students seemed to direct the flow of the film and what would be the emphasis. This honesty from them made this seem extremely genuine and open. Rather than a director or other adult speaking or summarizing the issue, the film is only interviews. The students are candid, honest and opinionated. The bias of the film seemed to be more liberal—allowing for a more spectrum-based definition of gender—but it was not particularly blatant, the students had their own opinions and each person was respectfully recognized for their opinion. The film felt extremely realistic—the students sound like others I have known—and they were willing to talk about themselves, which cannot easily be scripted.

Here is a link to the website for the organization that produced the film:

GroundSpark

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

The following is a VoiceThread I did as a companion to a review of Louise Erdrich's The Birchbark House. This was completed as part of a Minnesota-based Native American project for EdHD 5005.

Analyzing News Media

MSNBC Live Newscast Log

10:05:01 Terror suspect in court: news Boston (NEWS-COURT CASES-MURDER)

10: 05:10 Jury weights death penalty in murder of TV anchorman (NEWS-COURT CASES-MURDER)

10:05:24 Balloon boy family plead guilty (NEWS-COURT CASES)

10:06:02 severe storms: ocean city MD, “prolonged beating that we’re taking” “noreaster” (WEATHER)

10:09:05 mike Tyson: scuffle at LAX, fight with paparazzi (ENTERTAINMENT)

10:09:25 Commercials (ADS)

10:11:12 Obama meetings about afghan war options (NEWS-POLITICS)

Kabul Afghanistan direct report, corruption in the government

10:14:02 pilot tried to hit officers with plan! Drove car across runway (NEWS-COURT CASES)

10:15:31 alcohol tests catch 11 pilots each year (CONSUMER INFO)

10:15:40 chimpanzee attack survivor: charla nash, spoke to Oprah, lost lips, ears, nose in attack, doesn’t remember anything from the attack (PUBLIC INTEREST STORY)

10:17:45 Commercials (ADS)

10:22:02 Call of duty: video game controversy (ENTERTAINMENT/CONSUMER INFO)

10:22:23 George W. Bush to kick off public policy institute (NEWS-POLITICS)

10:22:50 Forbes 5 most powerful people:

5. Google founders 4. Federal Reserve Chairman 3. Russia’s president 2. China’s president, 1. Barack Obama (CONSUMER INFO)

10:23:57 Christmas tree at Rockefeller center delivered, lighting December 2, from backyard of 5^th grade teacher (CONSUMER INFO)(ENTERTAINMENT)

10:24:29 Commercials (ADS)

10:28:04 Fort Hood shooting, Hasan to be charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder, military system-potential death penalty, needs to be released from the hospital first, had repeated contact with radical Muslim cleric (NEWS-COURT CASES-MURDER)

10:31:20 10^th victim identified from Cleveland, serial killer (NEWS-COURT CASES-MURDER)

10:31:31 family accused in child sex abuse case (NEWS-COURT CASES)

10:32:07 States facing budget disasters, not only California (NEWS-POLITICS)

10:32:26 White House meets with abortion-rights advocates/”women’s rights groups” abortion debate could stall health care debate (NEWS-POLITICS)(HEALTH/CONSUMER INFO)

Reflection:

This newscast was incredibly fast paced. I had a hard time trying to follow the pace while simultaneously taking notes. One of the biggest things I noticed was how much they crammed into a small period of time—17 different issues/stories were covered in 30 minutes! Some of the content was not particularly uplifting, 4 of the stories regarded murder. There was one public interest story about the woman, Charla Nash who was attacked by a chimpanzee about 9 months ago. She appeared on Oprah yesterday, so the story was basically re-capping that interview. They showed only her answer to one question that was particularly emotional in regards to her daughter and they also showed the point at which Oprah leaned over and wiped something off of the woman’s face. This seemed to be an appeal at the heartstrings of the viewer and make him/her want to find out more information about this woman’s sad story. They mention that the White House met/is meeting with abortion-right’s activists. This was an interesting way to phrase this, because most people I know who believe in “abortion rights” call themselves “pro-choice” not “abortion activists.” The story about the famous Rockefeller Christmas tree was interesting because it framed it in a way that assumes everyone loves and celebrates Christmas and that it is the “American” way. They also mentioned that the tree came from a 5^th grade teacher’s back yard and “wouldn’t it be great for her students to talk about!” This could be interpreted in a variety of ways, but again I saw it as assuming a universal association with Christianity and it made me uncomfortable. Another thing I found particularly interesting was the portrayal of the individual who performed the shootings at Fort Hood. All of the photos were older, of him in his military uniform. Not pictures of him in the hospital or in prisoner garb. I felt this was a very interesting element of that story.

Media Texts I Use During a Given Week:

Television:

Websites:

• Gmail
• Google
• Shelfari
• Class websites/wikis
• Facebook
• Blogger
• Dictionary.com
• Amazon.com/Borders.com
• Wells Fargo

Radio:

• KNOW (91.1): Minnesota Public Radio
• Cities97 (97.1): Clear Channel
• KDWB (101.3): Clear Channel

Commerical Internet/Cable Access: Comcast

Reflection: How do you think this ownership influences the content of the media you are exposed to?

I know and simultaneously regret that I am influenced by Google on a daily basis. I use Google as my main search page, I use Gmail for my main form of communication, I use GoogleDocs for writing/sharing papers with students and colleagues, etc. The search results I get from Google are always my first choice and I oftentimes believe things that Google tells me, even if another search engine doesn’t. It affects what articles I read based on results, how I communicate with my friends and family and more. Facebook also affects the way I communicate and what I think is important. If Facebook recommends a friend for me or something I be “a fan of” I consider it seriously. I like to think that MRP is as un-biased as news shows come, but I am sure that I like listening to them because of their slightly left-leaning bias. Shelfari has helped me to see the more social elements of reading through online book clubs, discussions and sharing of my book shelf.

Teaching Critical Analysis of News

I think teaching critical analysis of news programming is extremely important. I think one way to get students to really think about the potential biases of news media would be to start with the extreme: The Onion. For this activity I would give my students some articles from The Onion, without telling them it was from a fake newspaper. I would then have them read the articles and talk about them: What was it about? Why do you think the newspaper included this story? If a student hadn’t figured it out yet, I would tell them where it came from and introduce the concept of news parody and why it exists. We could then talk about Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show vs. regular news television broadcasting. I would have students work with a partner and each watch the news for that night on a different station and take notes and then do a pair-sharing activity during class the next day that would lead to a class discussion.