Digital Dichotomy

I thought for this post it made sense to break down components of each piece and then make a final claim.  Wesch: Crisis of Significance  Wesch begins his article by stating that students today are struggling to find a sense of meaning and significance in their education. He references a small sample study he conducted in regards to his own students. “131 students reported reading less than half of the assigned readings, and further perceived only 26 percent of the readings to be relevant to their lives.” Similar to his TED Talk, Wesch mentions the often stated notion that "some students are just not cut or for school." Wesch claims that this doesn't sound absurd, but it is. He poses the thought of replacing the word school with learning. To say "some students are just not cut out for learning" sounds far more egregious. But learning/school are supposed to be the same.  Wesch goes on to state that school has become a “game of grades...

Sleeping Buffy For my assignment, I reflected a lot on gender roles in Disney films and specifically how the princesses are damsels, powerless, and victims. I grew up in a single parent household and my mom had a lot of shows she called "guilty pleasures." My mom, my brother, and I all watched Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, Charmed, Gilmore Girls, etc. Though I actually did enjoy some of those shows, the one that always stood out to me was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. To this day it is one of my favorite series with countless strong female protagonists. I found this very eerie image of the prince from Sleeping Beauty watching Aurora sleep. I immediately began to think of how he looked like a vampire standing over a victim. I decided to run with that and in my poorly executed edit, I replaced the prince with Nosferatu. I also opened the eyes of Aurora, and gave her a vampire hunting kit as if she is anticipating the arrival of the vampire. I feel like maybe I missed the...

I spent the morning creating a digital whiteboard presentation through VideoScribe. It was a lot of fun making despite it being a little confusing. I downloaded the software and went to export my first creation. Unfortunately, when I went to export the video I made, it was unable to render, which takes over an hour. For the time being, I'm sitting on a 3.5 minute video that I can't upload. For those reading this in class, please let me know if you're interested in watching it on my laptop. I'll be attempting to upload again this afternoon. In the meantime...here's a link to the VideoScribe website. I believe this struggle is on my end and not reflected on the product itself.

In this chapter of Rethinking Popular Culture and Media (pg 198), Delgado delves into the typical Hollywood tropes of teacher movies. More specifically, Delgado analyzes the relationship between a white teacher and students of color. In order to break down the teacher/student dynamic in these movies, Delgado spends the chapter breaking down scenes and components of the film Freedom Writers . Delgado doesn't quite know what unsettles her about films like Freedom Writers. However, she does know what she wants in a film that explores the teacher/student relationship in films.   Delgado states that these movies should not depict heroes or villains, rather, there should be a realistic take on how race and class plays out in schools.  According to Delgado, such a film does not yet exist. Instead, we have Freedom Writers , which begins depicting violent new captures follow the verdict of Rodney King in 1992. The film really begins with the scene below: What follows thro...

Throughout my childhood, Disney has played an important role. Beyond seeing the films, I had a plethora of Disney related memorabilia scattered throughout my home. I remember excitingly collecting toys from McDonald's, VHS tapes, and clothing items. I remember dressing as my favorite characters for Halloween and to this day, my favorite Christmas ornaments are Aladdin, Simba, and Hercules. Today, I look at Disney through the lense of a nostalgic adult viewer. I feel as if I grew up during the best time for Disney. I clearly have a bias because I feel as though Aladdin, The Lion King, and Hercules are still some of the best movies of all time. This also makes me think of my inherent biases against female protagonist pictures. I gravitated toward the male protagonists and showed very little interest in Disney Princesses. Although I absolutely enjoyed films like The Little Mermaid, Snow White, and Pocahontas, they didn't resonate with me the same way. I wonder how many cou...

"Teens may make their own media or share content online, but this does not mean that they inherently have the knowledge or perspective to critically examine what they consume." In  "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,"  Prensky attempted to attach terminology to those that have grown in an era of technological advancements. I believe while Boyd understands the ideas of "immigrants" and "natives," he believes the focus is on the wrong thing. I enjoyed reading Boyd's analysis of a "digital native" because Boyd wasn't much concerned with the terminology. Instead, Boyd was concerned with painting of any tech-savvy youth with such a brought brush. Boyd argued that we are too caught up on the terminology rather than the connotations they carried. By trying to categorize technology users, we are overlooking the importance of becoming competent users. This is exactly what I did in my last blog post . Boyd states that the main...

What is a  digital native ? For those opposed to clicking the hyperlink and reading, feel free to watch the somewhat cheesy video below of children summarizing the same information but more vaguely:  So do I consider myself to be a digital native like these adorable twerps seem to be? Am I constantly connected? Absolutely. Am I "the web?" Sure, why not! But I have a hard time categorizing every person into the notion of either a native/immigrant. I also wonder if it's possible for a native to transition into an immigrant. According to  The Huffington Post , digital natives are those born during the rise of digital technologies. But what about during times of digital advancement? Am I losing my native status because I don't the latest apps or  know what  Snapchat streaks  are? If it were up to me, I'd say so. Each day, my students at  Central Falls High School  make me feel more and more like a "digital immigrant." They often ask me if I ...

Hi all! My name is Vinny. I've been in Rhode Island for almost a year after moving from The Electric City. I have just wrapped up my first year of teaching which is exciting! This summer I plan to primarily take courses at RIC. Outside of work, I will be doing some rock climbing, exploring of RI, and going to the movies a lot.