CURR 550: Summer 2017

Wesch is an advocate for allowing students to find a genuine meaning in their education. The idea of students doing just enough to pass, or memorizing only what they will be tested on is not a new phenomenon. Honestly, I get frustrated when my students ask questions like, "Will this be on the quiz?" or "Can't you just tell us which words to study?", but then I remember my own experiences as a high school student and how I am guilty of the same thing. It's not that they are bad teenagers or students, but they have been conditioned to learn in this way- and I think Wesch would agree. While Wesch's idea of allowing students the opportunity to find meaning in their education in their own way through technology, that can be hard in a high school setting. The process can be time consuming and while I am lucky enough to have a lot of flexibility with my curriculum, my students already loose SO much class time to NECAP, PARCC, and ESL ACCESS mandated testing...

In our group we decided to push back against the idea that Cookie Monster has to be a boy. It all started with the idea that Cookie is blue and has a deep voice so he must be a boy! So we used a variety of materials to create a gender neutral Cookie Monster. We stereotypical gender norm props, fabrics, physical features and colors. So Cookie Monster has a flower in one hand and a weapon in the other. Blue fur, pink fur, and long eyelashes. A tin foil cape with a tulle collar. 

I am fairly familiar with the website builder tool WIX because the technology teachers at my school use it with their students. I’ve never built my own website before using any type website builder/creator, but I have been wanting to create a website to share with my colleagues in order to support differentiation, modification, and support our ESL students. Here is my visual and textual journey using WIX: First thing you have to do is sign up. It’s free (unless you want to pay for premium content, but in my opinion it isn’t necessary). All you need is a valid email: Once you are signed in you are ready to create, you don’t need to download any applications, so as long as you remember your login information you can access your website from any device. After you sign in you will have two options Artificial Design (ADI) or Wix Editor: The ADI option uses " artificial intelligence" to create a website for you. They design a website for you based on an pe...

What is your relationship to Disney and animated children’s culture?  What role did these texts play in your life as a child, if any? In that of any children you share time with? How do your memories challenge or reflect Christensen’s claims? How does Frozen meet or challenge your memories of princess culture? I grew up loving everything Disney and other popular animated movies/TV shows. Besides owning practically every Disney movie on VHS, I also owned and enjoyed cartoons like Fern Gully, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Gargoyles. There was no bias when it came to cartoons for me! I loved watching  princess movies (Little Mermaid was a personal favorite) but I never wished to pursue a career as a princess. I would have much rather play basketball with my older brother, but I do admit that at some point I probably planned to find a Prince Charming of my own.  Another thins from tonights reading that was a valid point is the blatant racist depiction...

I enjoyed Boyd thoughts and position on the “digital native” because it not only discussed important key points, but I believe that it also helped me understand why I couldn’t commit to being “digital native” or “digital immigrant” in my previous post. According to Prensky I fall into the “digital native” category being born after 1980, but I still don’t feel that way. Yes I can easily navigate the web, prefer graphics to standard simple text,  and grew up in the ‘right’ decade, but  I still believe that I straddle both digital labels because despite all my tech fluency I still do not understand HOW my computer actually works. That is why I go running to the school IT teacher when I click too fast and accidentally download something that I believe to be detrimental to my computer (OMG! Is it a virus!?!). Boyd said,“[t]echnical skills are increasingly important. Few teens have a basic understanding of how the computer systems they use every day work.” If teens are the d...

The words 'native' and 'immigrant' are not new to my lexicon, but when a third familiar word 'digital' falls in front of them I had to do my research. After learning about theses new terms, I couldn't help but instantly categorize my parents as "digital immigrants". When my father received his first iPod Touch as an early Christmas gift about 10 years ago it was my job to show him hope to download and put music on it from "the iTunes". The first time I showed him, he took specific and thorough notes on his yellow legal pad. We added an array of musical titles from Bing Crosby Christmas to  his entire library of the Beatles. Long story short, despite his notes and my numerous tutorials, ten years later (yes his iPod Touch is still kickin'!) my father still has his seasonal music pop up in his shuffle while at the gym. This is not because he is some sort of Christmas fanatic it is simply because he has just found it easier to skip th...

Welcome to my CURR 550 blog! My name is Leah, I am a high school English- ESL teacher at Cranston High School East.  I enjoy Martha Stewart, early 90's West Coast hip-hop,  Vegetable gardening,  and living vicariously through PBS's Rick Steves.  I am looking forward to the next two weeks and hope to find new and engaging ways to incorporate digital media literacy into my high school classroom.