Social Justice

I have learned a great deal over the last two class periods. I really enjoyed your group teach and gained a lot of new information in the process. I saw all kinds of stereotypes in the past two classes. Gender, ethnicity, and cultural stereotypes were among some of the most obvious ones. I really enjoyed looking at commericals, as well as the Disney movies to see how children are perceiving things. The lessons and ideas they are getting from these sources is inaccurate and damaging. Children are coming into our classrooms with the idea that these stereotypes are correct. We must work to inform them of the truth and put these stereotypes to rest.

Disney movies

Disney movies, books, etc. influence many children and such a young age. The stereotypes that are being portrayed in these movies are very damaging to children. Because children see these movies when they are young, they have no knowledge that these are stereotypes, and not real ideas. Therefore, they go into school or grow up thinking and believing that what they see in the movies is true. It is much harder to "bust" a stereotype later in life, rather than teaching the correct information right from the start. If Disney would make the choice to portray accurate depictions of of characters, etc, children may actually be able to learn something from these movies rather than having stereotypes put into their heads. Educating children about stereotypes in crucial from a young age. Disney has the power to do so.

Social Justice #2

I really enjoyed day #1 of this group teach. I feel the topic, social justice, is something a little different from the past group and individual teaches. It is a broad area, which we can incorporate into all aspects of our classrooms. I really enjoyed hearing about all the favorite commercials/advertisements and how they could be changed to make them less stereotypical. I felt that this was a very powerful activity, since most of us watch t.v. and don't even stop to think what kind of messages these commercials are sending out. The two commericals that were shown in class also had very powerful messages and made me realize how important it is to show "real" people in advertisements.

This activity really made me stop and think about all the advertisements in schools alone. Although censorship is something that I have never totally agreed with, after seeing all these stereotypes in ads and commericals, I now feel that it may not be such a bad idea. I would have no problem teaching these ideas to my students. I think that many students, are unaware of all the stereotypes in advertisements and they are being affected by them. They only way we are going to help our students overcome these stereotypes is by giving them information about them. Knowledge is power, so we must be willing to step out of our own comfort zone and educate them about these ideas.

My favorite commercial

My favorite commercial would have to be the M&Ms commercial. I don't really know why I like this commercial so much....I think I like the music that goes along with it. I don't think this commercial influences me to actually buy M&Ms. I feel that while commercials I like don't really influence me to buy their products, commercials I don't like definitely make me not want to purchase their products. I also feel that there are a lot more commercials I don't like, than ones I actually like, and it seems like the ones I don't like are played all the time.

In class free write

I sometimes wish I was a member of the opposite sex when I see how fast guys get ready for anything. I have to always plan in advance when and how long it is going to take me to get ready for something. Whereas it takes most girls quite a while to wash, blow dry, and style their hair, guys seem to be ready to go in minutes. I am also jealous at the fact that guys can get a nice haircut for $20, and girls usually have to pay a great deal more to get their hair cut and styled. A lot of things just seem simpler for guys, especially when it comes to "grooming" yourself.

Group #4 Poetry Ideas

Hey everybody, sorry I could not make it on Sunday, but here are some ideas I came up with.
I focused on slam poetry b/c our teacher recommended doing something along these lines...maybe just for one day or even 1/2 the day.

• Discuss the goals of slam poetry...what is it all about?
• Have everybody write a poem about something they are passionate about
• Actually hold a slam poetry contest...not sure if there would be enough volunteers for this
• Watch a video/demonstration of slam poetry
• Read article or just make handouts for everybody on slam poetry....I know there is one called "Why Slam" but I cannot seem to find it.
• There are some really good ideas at www.webenglishteacher.com/poetryslam.html

These are just some ideas to make this lesson a little different and more interesting than the "normal" poetry unit. I think if we combine a few different styles of poetry, it will really turn out good. Also, I really think we should start off the unit by composing a class poem....I think this would be a good way to get things rolling.

Chapter #14 Response

I was really interested in this chapter because I really felt I could relate to it. I had never even heard of a multi genre paper until last semester in my Ed 301 class. When the idea of multi genre was introduced to me, I was nervous and unhappy. I would have much rather done a research paper, as I knew how to do that. I felt very out of my comfort zone, taking on this assignment, as I had no experience with this type of assignment. I feel that writing a multi genre paper is often much more difficult for the student because they are not usually asked to put their own creativity and experiences into the paper. Giving students the opportunity to use their creativity and freedom is really important, and not done enough. Most of the time, students are so used to one kind of writing, that when the time comes to do a multi genre paper, they do not even know where to begin. I feel that it is really sad that most students are not even exposed to this type of writing until college. We must give students plenty of opportunities to be creative and enjoy writing. By giving students the opportunity to do more writing of this nature, they will learn how to be creative and draw upon their own experiences, as well as learn technical aspects of writing along the way.