Discussion ->Shfive

Michael Wesch: Knowledgeable >> Knowledge-able

Extended Comments: using Sarah Araujo's Blog as part of my blog.

- Wesch discusses how students in the class room are less engaged than ever before. In Sarah's  blog, she mentions certain parts of the video where students hold up papers saying: teachers do not know their names, their classes has 115 students, they are on social networks during class, and  how they spend a lot of money on texts books that they never open. I agree when Sarah stated, it has to do with the teachers, teaching style. From my own experience, many teachers do not know my name, I understand Raeann is not a common name, but when a teacher does not even know your name, it makes me feel like they do not care about their students, and it just a job to them.
- In Sarah's blog, she mentioned Progressive Education, which I have actually never heard of until now. I agree with what Sarah says "I think this kind of education would better please Wesch. Not only that, but students may be pleased more as well". It seems like a better way to get students and teachers involved and be more motivated for the future.
- Although the reading and video were similar with the aspects mentioned above there were a few differences in the video.
-Wesch mentions how media is all around us, and how it pulls students away while in the class room. for example the students who said they are on Facebook most of the time, or on some other social media site. 
- many things in the media can be positive and be spread worldwide. such as the "Free Hugs" video. It started from one guy having no one to greet him at the airport, was put on YouTube, then "Free Hugs" began all over. (Not exact video, but close to it).

 Wesch came up with the idea that in a class room, to connect everyone must have 3 things:
1. embrace real problems that the teacher does not know the answer to 2. do it with students to bring them (teachers and students) together, 3. using relevant media tools ( YouTube, Google, etc).
 -I like his idea, because media has good uses. it helps get the word out about what is going on throughout the world.
As much positive issues are in the world, such as "Free Hugs" there are also negative issues. Here are the two videos Wesch discusses in his video, for those of you who did not watch:

 

I believe this is a good example of ways media is put to use. Dove is so worried about how girls are going to think about themselves when they get older. Yet their products are making other young girls in different countries lose their homes, so that Dove can make their products.

Questions:
Is media the only way people can connect to one another?
Why is media the main way people connect to one another? ( aw shit idk how to ask it)

How as media consumed our lives over time?

SKINS -> US

Pickle News!!!!! READ NOW!!!

This was on WPRI website about the pickles!!!!

Pickle News!!!

Post 4! --> Agrument

The Rise and Fall of The American Teenager
Thomas Hine

-The main argument that I got out of Hine's reading, is where do teens fit in and why are they judged so harshly? He starts of with a quote saying "Maybe I am something special, and maybe I'm not. Maybe I am here for a reason, and I might be going somewhere after this, but then again I might not, I wonder where I fit it". (pg2) Where do teens fit in? withing their family, society, social circles etc.
-Hine's argues that a teenager is considered between the ages of 12 and 20 which is a seven years difference where they experience big physical, emotional, intellectual, and social changes (pg15). I have to agree with him, seven years is a large difference between being 12 and 20 years old. A lot goes on in someones life during that period. I liked when he argued that teenagers are not some exotic species- they are people and that is what makes them so difficult to deal with. In my opinion he is saying that when you are not a teen but an adult you look at  someone younger differently. Which is not right because everybody was a teen once, or will be.
- Hine also states that Institutionally teenagers are treated as something less than real people- sometimes resembling adults, sometimes children (pg17)- what does that mean? are they not real people? Before that Hine mentions how teenagers are an interest to police. Do police believe that all teenagers are trouble? It goes on to mention that adults feel that teens have no desire to learn about honesty and responsibility. Two thirds agreed the next generation would be worse (in 97 survey). I feel like this is another way of Hine saying that adults do look down to teens and that they are some type or "aliens". 
- I believe teens are judged harshly because they are in that faze of life where they are learning to become more mature and grown up. It is hard to do so if they do not have someone to look up to or motivation from others (family, friends etc). If that is the case, maybe that is where adults begin to look at teens as exotic and/or aliens. 

-My question, is why? WHY do teens have to be looked at so negatively? ALL adults where once a teenager, do they not remember their "awkward faze" in life?

 Words of Encouragement!

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A Tangle of Discourses: Girls Negotiating Adolescence

 Tangle of Discourses: Girls Negotiating Adolescence
    -Rebecca Raby

When I read this article, almost every topic reminded me of growing up in high school and what it was like to be a teenager. (Reflection after quotes)

"Adolescence is discursively framed as a stage that seems to require a degree of self-reflection, it also marginalized (in terms of voice and self-reflection) and often laced with current, popular concern about adolescents as dangerous, ungoverned and in need of control" (pg430).
- I have to disagree with  the fact that there is popular concern about adolescents as dangerous, ungoverned and in need of control. I do not think people give teenagers enough credit. I know when I was a growing up as soon as I turned sixteen I found a job on my own. not all teenagers are the same. In most cases teenagers and all children are a reflection of their parents. So if people believe teenagers need control, then that is a reflection of how their parents raised them.

"In contrast to their parents, teenagers' [coast] through their teenage years smoothly and with little self-consciousness'" (432).
- Once again, I cannot agree with this. When I think back to my high school years. Senior year was awful, girls were ruthless with one another. People would talk behind my back and be two faced to me, it was definitely not smooth for me. Being a teen is not easy your between Adolescent and adulthood, and have to find where to fit in between. To say that teenagers are not self-conscious, would be a lie. My mom has always referred to it as an awkward stage, and I would agree. Everything about you changes, most of which one cannot help and it definitely would make them self-conscious.

"If teenage hood is a time of experiment, then they may do so by buying new experiences and products. Self-expression and identifications are intricately expressed through certain types of fashion" (347).
- This is one thing I will agree to. I remember back in middle school, I was so busy with school and dance, I really did not hang out with people much. I was a bit goth, not because I was dark spirited or anything, I just like the fashion how things looked. When I would go to the mall with friends, I would never shop in Abercrombie or Hollister. To this day, I still have my own style, I love Savers, and going to Target and finding something I know others probably would not wear. I feel that self expression is carried through out your entire life and not just when you are a teenager.


-Other thoughts; What I got from this article, is that people have a misunderstanding about teens, everyone is an individual and no one is the same. You also have to look at other dynamics. Such as their life style growing up, what type of parents do they have, and what type of community do they live in. You cannot generalize and say ALL teens are dangerous and need control, and you also cannot say ALL teens have a smooth life with no troubles.

Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us

1.) Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us
2.) Linda Christensen 

3.)      In this reading, Christensen argues about what cartoons are really showing, underneath the fun and love stories. She starts off by saying what she should have learned from movies (cleaning dwarves' houses etc). In reality, that is not how life is. Christensen tells us that her waist did not dip into an hour glass: and was apparently doomed. It discusses how cartoons are shaped around one race, sex, class,or one country over a weaker counterpart (126). In the study she did with her students, Christensen started off by showing old cartoons, because the stereotypes are so blatant (129). Christensen also uses arguments that her class had about cartoons and what they show.
         To explain more about Christensen's arguments, she is talking about cartoons that show racism, sexism, class differences etc. In the text it mentioned different cartoons. One that came to my mind, which seems like a good example, is Aladdin. it shows a vast difference between Princess Jasmine and Aladdin. there is not middle class either Rich, or poor. which in this case Only Jasmine is rich. When it shows were Aladdin lives, everyone is poor, and dressed the same.
          Christensen also wrote about arguments her students had towards cartoons. a student Kenneth noticed that most of the older people in films were mean and unfriendly, mainly because they were not as good looking as the main character who was usually young and pretty. Young women wanted to see race of actors changed, but did not challenge the class or underlying inequalities that characterized lives (131). In my opinion, everything should be changed or there should be a movie made showing that everyone should be equal.
          The main idea of this text was for Christensen to show her students what is going on in cartoons and what is never really focused on. Without watching the movies, just thinking about them, I do realize what is actually happening between class, sex, race, and the roles of the characters. 


You could also look at it this way: (found online, not saying I agree with it)