I was watcing SNL last week, and a bit on Weekend Update mentioned how the New York City Police Department is introducing the use of cell phone cameras to use as evidence for crime scenes.
Why not use such useful technology if it's handy like a cell phone?
This article reminds me of the recent case at UCLA where a Middle Eastern students was harassed by campus police officers for not having proper ID. When he refused to show his ID to the officers, they dragged him out of the campus library and tazered him.
Here is the YouTube clip of the incident. The recording is not the best, but at least it somewhat captures the incident. It can be a little disturbing at times if you're going to watch it; I warn you.
The Middle Eastern college student used cell phone video recordings from other college students who witnessed the event to help convict the police officers. Such evidence will be useful in the future for other cases.
Monday, April 16, 2007
You Know You are Living in 2007 When...
YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2007 when...
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.
8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have thefirst 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.
11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )
12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.
14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.
I got this email, and I knew I had to put it on the blog. How true is this?
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.
8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have thefirst 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.
11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )
12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.
14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.
I got this email, and I knew I had to put it on the blog. How true is this?
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Video on Demand
To increase student interest in subject material, video clips seems more interesting to students than a worksheet. Students are not going to get anything out of an activity that resembles the typical format of something that is school related. It's almost like we have to trick them into learning now, but we can do that because we have awesome new tools which are stimulating and will increase student learning.
One such system is this video-on-demand system implemented in Baltimore, Chicago, and now Nevada. School curriculums are more engaging because they use video clip teaching tools which enhance student learning. Content comes from PBS, Scholastic, and National Geographic, which are excellent sources to bring into the classroom.
One interesting comment I thought appropriate for us to reflect on was the following: "What distinguishes Baltimore County's effort is that the district has convened teams of teachers in each school to brainstorm ways of using the new resources to their fullest potential across each academic discipline."
What else are we taking this course for? I feel that every student in 307 could answer this question. We just need to raise the question in our school systems; we just need to initiate this change or it will not happen on its own. We have been brainstorming tons of ideas that could use the integration of video clips in the classroom. That's what many of the Hobbs' media literacy projects are doing, because I know that is what my project is focusing on.
Adolescents have so many television programs at the tips of their fingers that are educational. Maybe they seem dry and boring, but if we introduce certain educational programs, or ways to interpret programs, then we can promote learning through hobbies they already engage in. An article in Education Week states that "In today’s fast-paced world, education needs to be spread out over a lifetime, and the main thing we need to teach our young people is to love the process of learning." Video clips will help this, not worksheets. Life-long learning starts with blogging, it starts with video clips, it starts with iMovies, etc. This is how we can help our students be lovers of learning.
Also, the artcle states that "A century ago, there was no way to address these concerns, but, thanks to computers and the Internet, we now have rapidly improving tools that will soon allow virtually all young people to master essential material at their own pace, and to do so at any point in their lives. There will probably always be a place for the classroom, but it will be a place where intense and intimate learning takes place with highly willing students, not a step on an assembly line."
I bet Will Richardson would be in total agreement with this quotation. He offers so many new techniques in his book that we can take with us in the classroom, from wikis to blogs to podcasts to webpags to flickr. Richardson writes that "We are at the beginning of a radically different relationship with the internet, one that has long-standing implications for educators and students. The coming years will be marked by a flood of new innovation and ideas in teaching, most born from the idea that we can now publish and interact in ways never before possible" (133). Let's take his advice and create new ideas we can integrate into the classroom. We are brainstorming many ideas in class, and we can continue or brainstorming in the years to come as well.
We are currently learning about so many materials that we can use in the classrooms to increase student motivation, interest, and drive to become life-long learners. Name any project that students have done in this class; they can be integrated into the classroom, and students will LOVE them!
One such system is this video-on-demand system implemented in Baltimore, Chicago, and now Nevada. School curriculums are more engaging because they use video clip teaching tools which enhance student learning. Content comes from PBS, Scholastic, and National Geographic, which are excellent sources to bring into the classroom.
One interesting comment I thought appropriate for us to reflect on was the following: "What distinguishes Baltimore County's effort is that the district has convened teams of teachers in each school to brainstorm ways of using the new resources to their fullest potential across each academic discipline."
What else are we taking this course for? I feel that every student in 307 could answer this question. We just need to raise the question in our school systems; we just need to initiate this change or it will not happen on its own. We have been brainstorming tons of ideas that could use the integration of video clips in the classroom. That's what many of the Hobbs' media literacy projects are doing, because I know that is what my project is focusing on.
Adolescents have so many television programs at the tips of their fingers that are educational. Maybe they seem dry and boring, but if we introduce certain educational programs, or ways to interpret programs, then we can promote learning through hobbies they already engage in. An article in Education Week states that "In today’s fast-paced world, education needs to be spread out over a lifetime, and the main thing we need to teach our young people is to love the process of learning." Video clips will help this, not worksheets. Life-long learning starts with blogging, it starts with video clips, it starts with iMovies, etc. This is how we can help our students be lovers of learning.
Also, the artcle states that "A century ago, there was no way to address these concerns, but, thanks to computers and the Internet, we now have rapidly improving tools that will soon allow virtually all young people to master essential material at their own pace, and to do so at any point in their lives. There will probably always be a place for the classroom, but it will be a place where intense and intimate learning takes place with highly willing students, not a step on an assembly line."
I bet Will Richardson would be in total agreement with this quotation. He offers so many new techniques in his book that we can take with us in the classroom, from wikis to blogs to podcasts to webpags to flickr. Richardson writes that "We are at the beginning of a radically different relationship with the internet, one that has long-standing implications for educators and students. The coming years will be marked by a flood of new innovation and ideas in teaching, most born from the idea that we can now publish and interact in ways never before possible" (133). Let's take his advice and create new ideas we can integrate into the classroom. We are brainstorming many ideas in class, and we can continue or brainstorming in the years to come as well.
We are currently learning about so many materials that we can use in the classrooms to increase student motivation, interest, and drive to become life-long learners. Name any project that students have done in this class; they can be integrated into the classroom, and students will LOVE them!
Technorati Results
I included two charts I saw from the TECHNORATI report which I thought were relevant to class material. The chart on the left shows how much people are increasingly blogging about issues, crises, and events that take place in the everyday world. Perhaps a great technology project to have ongoing throughout class would be to have every student have their own blog, and then students could blog about current issues and topics that are currently happening in the media. This activity is preparing them to be active participants in their communities, and especially the world. Students can learn to express their voices on key issues to a larger audience--not just me as their teacher.
The second chart on the right hand side, I found appropriate, because it reminded me of issues raised in The World is Flat. Look at how many bloggers there are per language! We are basically tied with Japanese, which shows us how active they are with producing texts via the internet. This graph shows us how essential it is for teachers to get their students to produce authentic material to a wide audience. Blog their opinions; let them share what they have to say with more people (adolescents just want to be heard).
The website also recorded that "Technorati is now tracking over 70 million weblogs, and we're seeing about 120,000 new weblogs being created worldwide each day. That's about 1.4 blogs created every second of every day." Each classroom could continue to add to those statistics.
If we really interest our students, they could continue to blog way after they leave our classroom. Imagine the mark we would leave on them when we can give them this life-long learning tool that they can use and operate daily for the rest of their lives. Doesn't that seem more authentic, more beneficial, more fun than a worksheet?
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The Simpsons
For my project this block, Staci and I are working on a media literacy project focused on teaching satire through an episode of The Simpsons.
In place of class today, Staci and I worked in the library on our lesson plan. For those interested in using The Simpsons material in the classroom, first consult my del.icio.us page which includes parodies from literary novels and plays, but also consult this webpage on Simpsons material.
Our project will show the episode entitled "Bart Gets an Elephant." The synopsis is as follows:
In a KBBL Radio Contest, Bart is given a choice of $10,000 or an Elephant, stupidly, Bart choses the elephant. They fail to give Bart the elephant because they expected him to pick the money. Bart complains, and with the two workers jobs at stake, Bart is given an elephant. Bart names it Stampy. Homer gets the idea to charge people for elephant rides, and to see the elephant, but he realizes he doesn't make enough money to support his family, and the elephant. Bart refuses to give the elephant to the Ivory Dealer, but that was Homer's suggestion. Homer got stuck in a tar pit, and Stampy pulled him to safety, and Homer gave Stampy to the Zoo out of respect.
As you can see from the material here, students will form an understanding of satire from this episode. They will use multiple interpretations of this text to see what the writers of The Simpsons are saying about societial issues and ideas. I liked this particular episode because it focuses on economic exploitation and exploitation of natural resoruces/animals. This is a prevalent issue in the world right now, especially with global warming, of which I am extremely opiniated and concerned over.
The episode also emulates the "American Dream" and greed, which are also interesting and necessary issues to tackle in the classroom. The homework assignment to follow would be to have students find examples of satire in the world around them, from movies, TV shows, the internet, books, comic strips, plays, etc.
Satire exists everywhere, but showing students in the form of a play from the 1900s will not appeal to them. The Simpsons are very popular among adolescents, so this activity will defintely grab student attention and show how relevant satire is to their everyday lives.
In place of class today, Staci and I worked in the library on our lesson plan. For those interested in using The Simpsons material in the classroom, first consult my del.icio.us page which includes parodies from literary novels and plays, but also consult this webpage on Simpsons material.
Our project will show the episode entitled "Bart Gets an Elephant." The synopsis is as follows:
In a KBBL Radio Contest, Bart is given a choice of $10,000 or an Elephant, stupidly, Bart choses the elephant. They fail to give Bart the elephant because they expected him to pick the money. Bart complains, and with the two workers jobs at stake, Bart is given an elephant. Bart names it Stampy. Homer gets the idea to charge people for elephant rides, and to see the elephant, but he realizes he doesn't make enough money to support his family, and the elephant. Bart refuses to give the elephant to the Ivory Dealer, but that was Homer's suggestion. Homer got stuck in a tar pit, and Stampy pulled him to safety, and Homer gave Stampy to the Zoo out of respect.
As you can see from the material here, students will form an understanding of satire from this episode. They will use multiple interpretations of this text to see what the writers of The Simpsons are saying about societial issues and ideas. I liked this particular episode because it focuses on economic exploitation and exploitation of natural resoruces/animals. This is a prevalent issue in the world right now, especially with global warming, of which I am extremely opiniated and concerned over.
The episode also emulates the "American Dream" and greed, which are also interesting and necessary issues to tackle in the classroom. The homework assignment to follow would be to have students find examples of satire in the world around them, from movies, TV shows, the internet, books, comic strips, plays, etc.
Satire exists everywhere, but showing students in the form of a play from the 1900s will not appeal to them. The Simpsons are very popular among adolescents, so this activity will defintely grab student attention and show how relevant satire is to their everyday lives.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Blades of Glory
Connecting with my last post, a new and popular movie (Blades of Glory), is also a hot topic among adolescents.
I saw this movie yesterday and could not help but think about the same idea we learned from our field trip: use movies to help students learn literary elements. In Blades of Glory, the first few minutes of the movie deeply describes each character in a flashback segment. My revelation was this idea:
Here I am, sitting in a movie theater, decoding this information so I can make predictions, judgments, and assumptions of characters, and I am doing this unconsciously. How did I learn to do this? Isn't this exactly what we want our students to do when they engage in a text, whether it is print or electronic-based?
The opening scene I describe is very funny, which would really capture students' attention. Will Ferrell has the ability to grab anyone's attention, especially that of a sleeping class. Students will be more interested in decoding the characterization in Blades of Glory than a literary text. Start with an example like this, and then characterization might be better understood when examining print-based texts that students read in class.
I saw this movie yesterday and could not help but think about the same idea we learned from our field trip: use movies to help students learn literary elements. In Blades of Glory, the first few minutes of the movie deeply describes each character in a flashback segment. My revelation was this idea:
Here I am, sitting in a movie theater, decoding this information so I can make predictions, judgments, and assumptions of characters, and I am doing this unconsciously. How did I learn to do this? Isn't this exactly what we want our students to do when they engage in a text, whether it is print or electronic-based?
The opening scene I describe is very funny, which would really capture students' attention. Will Ferrell has the ability to grab anyone's attention, especially that of a sleeping class. Students will be more interested in decoding the characterization in Blades of Glory than a literary text. Start with an example like this, and then characterization might be better understood when examining print-based texts that students read in class.
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