Wesch vs. Turkle

 After reading both of these articles I see each of them having a significant view of the role that technology plays in society today. I believe that both Turkle and Wesch are partially allies in the sense that they are both strong advocates of the role that technology plays in the modern day world; however they also have strong opposing viewpoints.  They both have solid reasons for their opinions regarding technology and I find myself agreeing with both of them. Technology is important for students to develop their critical thinking skills; however it is important to keep in mind that technology should not consume our lives.

Throughout Turkle's article, the overall message was that as humans we are desperate to connect through our devices. Turkle describes how we are distracted by the use of our phones and other devices around us. I found so many connections to Turkle’s piece…..at times she was literally describing how technology and communication with others in my own life were occurring on a  daily basis.  The other day I stopped and realized my son, his dad and myself were all in the room together...everyone on some type of device.....not talking at all to each other. My heart broke the other day when my son made the comment "daddy is always on his phone"....however the next night his dad made a similar comment " I kept asking Riley about his day but he was too busy on the tablet."

                

Texting vs Talking

 Turkle states that in today’s society we are essentially sacrificing conversations for connections. Instead of having intellectually stimulating conversations, we are having brief interactions with people who hardly know us other than what we portray on our social media profile, which is how we “want” to define ourselves.  She emphasizes that face to face conversations teach us patience in order to listen to one another’s ideas, however instead we are posting how we feel and waiting for others to comment on our statements.

We are tempted to think that our little “sips” of online connection add up to a big gulp of real conversation. But they don’t. E-mail, Twitter, Facebook, all of these have their places — in politics, commerce, romance and friendship. But no matter how valuable, they do not substitute for conversation.

One example from her article was the mentality that some have where they complain by saying, “No one is listening to me,” and in order to solve their loneliness, they turn to Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites. As time passes, we expect more from technology and less from one another. Turkle is pointing to a problem not so much with technology, but rather in the decreasing value that people have in communicating with one another. Technology allows us to get access to information/people whenever we want it. This means that we can connect across space and time and interact with 'whomever' regardless of who is across the table from us... unfortunately this creates a social problem... not because of technology, but rather in the fact that people not valuing the people in their immediate environment. We can blame technology, but it might be a statement more about the quality of the relationships we are creating face-to-face.

 WE expect more from technology and less from one another and seem increasingly drawn to technologies that provide the illusion of companionship without the demands of relationship. Always-on/always-on-you devices provide three powerful fantasies: that we will always be heard; that we can put our attention wherever we want it to be; and that we never have to be alone. Indeed our new devices have turned being alone into a problem that can be solved.

Wesch embraces this sudden shift in technology. Wesch believes in using technology to change the education of students. He makes strong points about the use of technology to connect individuals all over the world, and as an educator makes the point of explaining how it transforms students into producers of knowledge rather than consumers. Wesch says students should go from being knowledgeable to knowledge-able. He also makes the point that even though with technologically yo can easily connect, share, collaborate and publish, those are actually very hard concepts. There is a need for critical thinking skills and for students today to embrace real problems and search for meaning within their learning.

Most of us know from our own experience, the best learning almost always occurs in the

absence of a teacher, for it is then that learners are free to pursue with great passion the questions that are meaningful and relevant to their own lives. Focusing on the quality of learning, rather than the quality of teaching transforms the entire educational agenda. As for myself, I have increasingly focused less on simply trying to convey good information and more on inspiring good questions. It struck me that all learning begins with a good question, and if we are ultimately trying to create “active lifelong learners” with “critical thinking skills” and an ability to “think outside the box” it might be best to start by getting students to ask better questions.

Gender stereotypes....How/When should these be discussed???

When we were assigned to read and blog about any chapter in our textbook I can honestly say I was seeking out the shortest chapters.  I started flipping through the table of contents and a few of the titles caught my attention.  I started reading one chapter but found myself lost and I was having to reread part after part.  I decided to go back to that chapter when I had more time and brain cells to understand what was being said.  Then I started to explore some of the chapters on Legos.  I have a 7 year old son who loves Legos and my classroom has bins of Legos to use during center time or for STEM activities.  I started to read the chapter Lego Fascists VS.Fox News.   It was interesting to read but again I found myself not really connecting to the chapter…..another article I will have to go back to.  So instead of trying to be efficient with my time management I had now spent 45 minutes half reading about 3 different chapters. So I took a short break and starting talking with my boyfriend about the class and some of the topics we had been discussing.  I shared with him how some of the articles we had been reading and how I felt disconnected because I didn’t think it connected with my 2nd graders.  Some of the suggested activities or action ideas surrounding the ideas of racism and gender stereotypes was not appropriate for 7 and 8 year olds.  Then I started to think how you could introduce such an important, yet at times controversial topics.  Would my students understand what I was trying to teach them without crossing certain boundaries. I went back to the text and looked through Part 3 which had articles examining race/gender/class/sexuality. The first title I came across was Girls, Worms and Body Image. I was intrigued how worms would be incorporated in this article and also made me think of when I was little. My sister and I loved playing outside in the garden and my dad would often tell us he would pay us a 10 cents for every worm we could find. I turned to the chapter and under the title was ...

A teacher deals with gender stereotypes among her second and third graders.

In a class activity Lyman discovered her young students were aware of gender stereotypes.  She asked the girls to write down facts about boys/men and the boys were asked to write facts about girls/women.  For example, women have the responsibility of caring for children and the home, men earn a higher salary, and women are more sensitive than men.  Lyman was  disappointed and realized things have not changed much from when she was a child in the 1950’s. Lyman did not want her students believing that these stereotypes were true and decided to act.

Lyman finally decided to let her students analyze gender stereotypes in toys and the media.  They started with Barbie and the students quickly realized the doll did not resemble “real” women. The young children made mention that the women in their lives looked nothing like a Barbie doll.  Lyman went on to ask her students why they thought the toy company designed Barbie in this manner.  Her students replied that men like women to look that way; skinny, long legs, and large chest.  By doing this activity Lyman wanted her students to realize the hidden messages and illusions advertisers use to sell their products.

In the culminating activity Lyman created an old fashioned 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 (handwriting, 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 critically about their treatment: girls were upset at how Lyman treated them and the boys enjoyed all the attention and slack they received. In addition, boys and girls could learn how to be aware of other forms of gender discrimination in other situations. This was an interesting and important activity......I thought about the activities she did with her class and wondered if they would work in my class. Would there be push back from parents?.....what were there thoughts on gender stereotypes?Would they think this was not what I should be teaching their young children? It would be interesting to find out from the author if she faced any push back from administration or parents.

aahhhh!!!  I forgot to include why worms were included in her title and what initially drew me to this chapter!!!    Lyman had talked through some of the stereotypes with her students after the first couple exercises and tthought she had started to break through to them....until one day a heavy rain forced hundreds of worms up from the ground.   During recess all the girls were screaming and running from the boys who were picking up the worms.  She felt the playground scene could have happened in 1950/1980/2000.....not much had changed over the years.  She did eventually get the girls involved with touching worms and showed they they weren't scary and that girls could play with worms and get dirty!!

What's a tizmo??

During one of my ELL classes last semester my Professor shared many  great sites with us in hopes we would use for ourselves or to share with our students.  One really cool website she shared was called Tizmos.   We only looked at it briefly during our class and I never went back to really explore what it was all about.  I am excited to be able to spend time going through this site and providing a tutorial of all its great features!!  So let’s first start with what is a tizmo?  A tizmo represents an online resource that you can drag, drop, and categorize on your Tizmos page. Each tizmo contains a screenshot and link to the online resource and allows you to customize the title and other options.  Tizmos lets you discover and share online resources with your students. It only takes 60 seconds to set up your page and sign up is free with a valid email. It’s a kid (and teacher) friendly visual bookmarking site. It captures visual images of websites so members can access their bookmarks from any computer. As a teacher, all you need to do is add the websites your students frequent to the Tizmos homepage. Then, when your students want to go to a particular website, all they need to do is click on the image. You can even assign tags to the websites, like kindergarten, first grade, free time, to make it even easier for the children to find what they need.It's that easy! Here is one tile on my Tizmos homepage.

The site is very easy to navigate. The account is free to set up however, there are some paid plans that offer more options. The free member ship includes :

•  50 Total Tizmos
•  3 Folders
•  1 Video Tizmo
•  2 Custom Images

After you have set up your account you will go to your homepage where you can start adding tizmos!! In the top right hand corner of your homepage is a menu bar with different icons. To add a tizmo you click on + icon (add tizmo) and you will be prompted to type in the web address of the site you want to add to your homepage. You may also tag the site as well or just click add site. After you add your site a tile will appear on your homepage. The tile is is a clear visual representation of the site. Then all you need to do is click on the tile and it will bring you directly to the site. You can delete a tile at any time or edit the information at the bottom of the tile. It is important to go directly to the address you want to add the correct URL address. At the bottom of your homepage there is a space where you can share your tizmo homepage link.

Share Your Page:  

Once you have set up your homepage there are a few other tips for organizing your page. You may want to re-arrange tizmos into a different order on your page. You can easily sort them by dragging and dropping tizmos. To share your Tizmos page, first you m make sure it's marked as public. To mark a folder as public, click on the gear icon next to the word "home" on the left side of your page then check the box next to "Public".

Once you've added tizmos to your page, you can quickly share it with students by giving them the URL shown in the address bar on your browser. This is usually http://tizmos.com/<username> where <username> represents what you used to sign up with on Tizmos. My URL would be http://www.tizmos.com/katielmc  Now I can share my page by having students and other teachers visit http://www.tizmos.com/katielmc

The Tizmos bookmarklet is a special kind of bookmark that allows you to add online resources to your page without actually having Tizmos open. If you were browsing the web and come across a resource that might be a great addition to the classroom; with the bookmarklet, you can just click "Add to Tizmos" on your bookmarks or favorites bar and have the site show up on your page next time you visit your Tizmos page.

Sometimes the screenshot of a website isn't very clear or doesn't say much. Tizmos premium members are able to select from pictures on the target online resource after it has been added. For example, instead of a regular tizmo that shows the Sesame Street website screenshot - a picture of Murray Monster was selected and displayed on the tizmo.

Video tizmos help minimize student distractions and allow them to watch videos from Youtube.com or Vimeo.com right on your Tizmos page. You can even specify an exact minute and second start time to show students a specific clip in the video. The picture below shows the video player when a video tizmo is clicked on your page. Video tizmos are automatically added when YouTube or Vimeo videos are detected.

Just like real folders, tizmo folders give teachers a way to organize their tizmos under different pages for students to access. For example, a teacher might categorize her tizmos into subject areas like Math, English, and Science. The teacher can choose to also keep any of her folders private. The folder icon allows premium users to add folders to their page. Once your folder is added, you can add new tizmos or move your existing tizmos to your new folder. To move existing tizmos to a new folder, click the small wrench on a tizmo and select a new folder on the form.

  The Tizmo homepage provides step-by-step, clear instructions on how to setup and use your tizmo page.  Also there is a blog that provides up to date information and resources with top teaching tips and educational products.  The only annoying part was an ad would pop up and last about 4 seconds before you could x out of.

A

Digging into Disney

I honestly can say I don’t have much of a relationship with Disney (books,movies, Disney World, etc.)  I grew up watching animated Disney films but never had a strong desire to be like any of the female characters nor did I have these grand visions of who my Prince Charming might be someday.  I don’t recall dressing up in Princess gowns or watching certain movies over and over again.  I viewed the movies from a pure entertainment only standpoint.  I was very active in ice-skating, Irish Step dancing and softball as a child.  I definitely didn't consider myself a tomboy but Disney movies/characters were enjoyable for the short period of the film….. there was no carry over or discussion about the film after it was over.  Even as I got older I couldn't understand the obsession with some of these films.  On occasion I could see the blatant gender stereotypes of women but I never really analyzed a film through a critical lens.

I have a hard time relating to Disney fans…..I have friends that will go to Disney World a few times a year.  The one and only time I went to Disney World was when I was 19 years old and tagged along with a friends family.  It was during our Spring break but my friend had much younger siblings so we were fully immersed in the Disney experience.  We had fun, it was a magical place but again I had a hard time understanding why people would go there more than once a year or every few years….lol I for one do not have that kind of money to go that frequently nor do I have the time to obsessively plan and schedule every part of my trip around when a specific character was going to be at a certain restaurant or ride.

My son Riley is 7 and enjoys Disney films.  He was completely hooked on the CARS movie and Lightening McQueen was his hero.  I have to admit Riley’s dad and I got swept up in buying any and all products that had to do with the CARS movie.  When he was 3 years old he would watch it over and over, repeat lines from the film, sing the songs and knew all of the characters.  Today, he still enjoys the movie but his interests have shifted.  He doesn’t remember as many lines and has parted with some of his CARS collection.  He enjoyed the film for the pure joy of it….he did not critically analyze or look for underlying themes.  I hope this is not something he does for a very long time….I don’t feel it is necessary until a certain age to begin dissecting films for these stereotypical themes.

I can see where Christensen is coming from in some ways, yet I do think Disney taught me some good values. I do see many Disney films dealing with the concept of “hope”. Protagonists overcoming impossible obstacles to lead happier lives. Whether the obstacle is poverty, a punishing stepmother, or a character’s own peculiar traits, Disney heroes always bounce back and triumph in the end. In the eyes of many children, Disney characters represent the power of hope, encouraging children to apply hope in their own lives....aahhh but again maybe this the unrealistic portrayal of life events. On the other hand, Disney’s characterizations of females and femininity are disparaging. Many  Disney princess plots are driven by love interests, and the princesses themselves recognize their worth and value through being the "lucky" one to be chosen for marriage. Disney movies often guide young women away from power by altering the treatment of magical powers between male and female characters. In the Little Mermaid, King Triton’s use of his magic Triton is seen  as kind-hearted and good. Yet, in the hands of a woman (Ursula), it is without a doubt considered evil and wreaks havoc in the kingdom.  Even female protagonists with magical powers like Rapunzel and Elsa are considered dangerous and locked away. Disney sends young girls a clear message that  females should only earn power through beauty.  Although I never spent much time analyzing the underlying themes of social injustice in Disney films before now, Christensen is right in regards to  the way women, the poor, and minorities were treated in these films.  It took me a long while to even start to recognize the diversity of our world. I grew up in a predominantly white Catholic neighborhood.  I went to Catholic school from K-8 then onto an all girl’s private high school. After reading the section from Beverly Tatum, I realized I too had limited opportunities to interact with people different from my family. My information, views and interactions with people from other cultures/communities was distorted by the second hand information I received form my parents, grandparents and even some of my teachers.

The first time I watched Frozen I really enjoyed it.  My son was about 5  and we watched it many times.  I never really noticed anything distasteful -in terms of social justice—about it. After Frozen completely inundated every aspect of our world…..songs on the radio/commercials/merchandise etc…..my son soon grew less interested in the movie.  I also think he started to realize that the main characters were girls and all the toys were geared towards girls.  Now at the ripe old age of 7 he rolled his eyes when I asked if he wanted to watch Frozen with me for this class.   After thinking about the movie in terms of when I had watched it a few times with my son, I tried to reflect on what I thought would be expected in terms of princess culture.  I felt  everyone could identify with Elsa. She wasn’t your typical princess. She wasn’t your typical Disney character. She was born with magical powers that she couldn’t quite control.  She had good intentions but ended up hurting her loved ones and cursing her kingdom by mistake. She was not perfect—actually flawed, in a way that resulted in real mistakes and real consequences. I felt she could be interpreted in a unique way and that others could relate to her on various levels….emotional repression, gender and identity and even about broader social acceptance and depression. Watching Frozen with a critical lens, I did see some themes of social injustice.  I noticed that people of color were completely absent in this film while the opening song sounding a lot like Native American music.  I also noticed that the strength of the sister love/bond was overshadowed  by a Anna’s love interest and “fairy tale” dreams. On the other hand,  the story line engages the audience because it undermines expected tropes and stereotypes, over and over. It’s far from being a typical princess movie.  The handsome prince is evil. The person with the magical powers is good. Not only are both leads female, but they talk and care about things other than men. It is Anna and Elsa, not the men, who save the day, repeatedly—and a noble act of sacrifice rather than a “kiss of true love” is what wins in the end. Every time I watched this movie I was always expecting to see that life saving kiss!!