I really enjoyed class today, from presenting our RAFTs to learning about what it takes to be a Yearbook teacher, and listening to our guest speaker talk about getting adequate sources, evaluating sources, and curating sources. I'm learning a lot about practical new media activities and methods of learning to use in my future classroom, and realizing that school does not have to be cut and dry literature is really exciting. I have garnered information and experience with so many different new media sources, including Twitter, Padlet, Storyboardthat.com, pixton.com, Voicethread, Facebook, and so many other media. Instead of punishing students for using social media, I can embrace social media and bring it into the classroom, increasing the ability to have my students be engaged in the classroom.
The speaker, who is part of OSU's English department, showed us a cool app called Scoop It, which allows you to scoop articles that you find poignant or interesting, and to write commentary about that article. This would be a great tool to use in my future classroom, to encourage students to research by finding interesting articles, and to comment on them. Also, she talked about curating sources from Scoop It as well as Pinterest. Online, I found a definition for curation: "In its simplest form, curation is the gathering of content about a specific topic or niche that is found on the web and is later shared with others in a purposeful manner "(http://www.copypress.com/blog/anyone-can-curate-that-means-you/#sthash.8HjU0cya.dpuf). Students can gather sources in a particular niche that they are studying or researching, and then share their sources with other classmates. I also thought it was very cool that our guest speaker gets paid to travel and to review and write about plays. I enjoyed class a lot, and this being our last class, will miss it!
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
TOTD
I enjoyed class a lot yesterday because I learned a lot about integrating new media activities and projects into my future classroom. I want to make use of new media as a way of getting students more engaged and interested in activities in the classroom, and to be able to hear everyone's voice, even the students who do not speak up during class. Voicethread is a great app to use in the classroom because students can record themselves, type a comment, or even video record themselves in response to a prompt on a powerpoint. Especially for leading an online English class, which I have been thinking about, Voicethread is a great medium with which to creatively hear all students' voices and a way that they can dialogue with each others. I plan to use Voicethread and other similar apps in the classroom.
I also liked learning about Padlet, an open space on a website which allows students to easily post pictures and add text, creating a website project within minutes. I also thought the added framework of having to do things through a journalism aspect was genius, because I learned about what it is involved in creating a photo montage, from a historian's point of view, for an audience of activists. My group decided to target the issue of child immigration, especially in light of child immigrants coming alone from countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala. We first found pictures on Google to show how children historically children have been migrating to the U.S., starting with pictures of Irish and other racial immigrant children coming to Ellis Island in the 1800s. Through this activity I could learn about a current events issue in the news, and how to create a historical photo montage, keeping the audience and author in mind. It is a great activity to have students explore journalism and be creative.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Ticket Out the Door, Week 5
Wow! Lots that I learned today, namely, since my group presented our ELA midterms, I learned how much it takes to put together a good lesson plan. And even when you put together a detailed lesson plan, sometimes things can get messed up last minute, like how Twitter decided not to work for the other subgroup's activity. That situation made me realize that it is always important to have a plan B, just in case plan A does not work out. I also realized that it's important for me not to get too attached to my lesson plan, that everything should go the way I think it should go, because then there is no room for flexibility or open discussion. If I have my own agenda for how things should go, this leaves no space for students to feel that they are also being heard, and that their thoughts and contributions matter.
Not only does flexibility matter, but also being fully prepared in terms of creating lesson plans that address at least one of the common core standards, and to show in writing how each activity contributes towards the students' progress with the common core. For me as and educator as well, it's good to see what the activities I am facilitating are doing for students in a qualitative way. It is also interesting and exciting to start including new media into lesson plans, whether that be Facebook, Socrative, Twitter, Padlet, etc...I feel that it is a great way to get students involved in the class, and for students' voices to be heard, especially the quieter students who often do not speak up during a class discussion. Having anonymous postings on a screen is a great way for everyone to open up and be more authentic without fearing judgment from peers. I'm looking forward to learning more about how to create lesson plans as well as new media, activities, and ways to facilitate learning in the classroom.
Not only does flexibility matter, but also being fully prepared in terms of creating lesson plans that address at least one of the common core standards, and to show in writing how each activity contributes towards the students' progress with the common core. For me as and educator as well, it's good to see what the activities I am facilitating are doing for students in a qualitative way. It is also interesting and exciting to start including new media into lesson plans, whether that be Facebook, Socrative, Twitter, Padlet, etc...I feel that it is a great way to get students involved in the class, and for students' voices to be heard, especially the quieter students who often do not speak up during a class discussion. Having anonymous postings on a screen is a great way for everyone to open up and be more authentic without fearing judgment from peers. I'm looking forward to learning more about how to create lesson plans as well as new media, activities, and ways to facilitate learning in the classroom.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Ticket Out the Door
"There is more than one way to burn a book..."(Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury)
Wow, what a great class today! I learned so much today from my fellow students' midterm presentations, particularly about power structures within literacy and censorship, what it means to have "American" values from a journalistic viewpoint, and the difficulties of assimilating into a new culture. I realized, on a deep level from the students who presented on "class", that knowledge is truly the key to freedom and individual agency. However, people don't just need access to factual knowledge, they need the ability to read critical literature, literature that makes them critique, question, and not accept everything at face value. Also, there are more ways to burn a book than physically burning one. For example, teachers can burn books metaphorically by discrediting literacy, discouraging readers, or not allowing students to read the books they want. Without active reading, the existence of books do not matter.
When the "race" group Google searched "American family", I was shocked to see that there were no ethnically mixed families in any of the photos. I acknowledge that there was at least diversity among the families, i.e. African American families, Asian families, etc...however, it was a wakeup call to see that mixed race families were not depicted. Being half-Japanese and half-caucasian, I realized that America still has a way to go in honoring the presence of mixed race families, and encouraging the mixing of races. The poem "Elena" by Pat Mora brought up by the other "race" group really touched me because it reminded me of how the loss of my mother tongue, Japanese, signified a severance of a more whole, authentic relationship with my mother. I felt very close to her growing up, but I always felt that not being able to speak Japanese fluently with her also blocked me from accessing an important part of her identity. I realized how difficult retaining one's mother tongue and culture is when assimilating to a dominant culture, but also how crucially important it is in keeping one's own culture alive, as well as genuine relationships with one's parents and family in one's "mother" culture.
Wow, what a great class today! I learned so much today from my fellow students' midterm presentations, particularly about power structures within literacy and censorship, what it means to have "American" values from a journalistic viewpoint, and the difficulties of assimilating into a new culture. I realized, on a deep level from the students who presented on "class", that knowledge is truly the key to freedom and individual agency. However, people don't just need access to factual knowledge, they need the ability to read critical literature, literature that makes them critique, question, and not accept everything at face value. Also, there are more ways to burn a book than physically burning one. For example, teachers can burn books metaphorically by discrediting literacy, discouraging readers, or not allowing students to read the books they want. Without active reading, the existence of books do not matter.
When the "race" group Google searched "American family", I was shocked to see that there were no ethnically mixed families in any of the photos. I acknowledge that there was at least diversity among the families, i.e. African American families, Asian families, etc...however, it was a wakeup call to see that mixed race families were not depicted. Being half-Japanese and half-caucasian, I realized that America still has a way to go in honoring the presence of mixed race families, and encouraging the mixing of races. The poem "Elena" by Pat Mora brought up by the other "race" group really touched me because it reminded me of how the loss of my mother tongue, Japanese, signified a severance of a more whole, authentic relationship with my mother. I felt very close to her growing up, but I always felt that not being able to speak Japanese fluently with her also blocked me from accessing an important part of her identity. I realized how difficult retaining one's mother tongue and culture is when assimilating to a dominant culture, but also how crucially important it is in keeping one's own culture alive, as well as genuine relationships with one's parents and family in one's "mother" culture.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Ticket Out the Door
I learned several valuable things during class yesterday, especially that it's important to look at the power structures behind reading and writing, and especially with multiple literacies. During our pinwheel discussion, one of my fellow students asked, "Who owns facebook and Twitter?" Her question made me realize that I myself take many different literacies at face value, instead of thinking about the power structures that lie especially behind social media and websites. What kind of agenda do companies such as facebook and Twitter have, and what kind of message are they trying to impart?Students need to be educated to not take everything at face value, but to analyze, question, be critical of, and scrutinize literacy, not just in books but in the web and media.
I also found the pinwheel discussion very helpful and a great way to get all students involved. Listening to everyone speak from the viewpoint of the author allowed me to understand the readings on an even deeper level. Through articulating questions as a provocateur, I was able to process what I thought were the most important themes in the readings, namely critical literacy, and multi-modal literacy. Two things I want to know more about are project-based, student-based learning (as opposed to teaching to the test), and other activities that are helpful in students becoming critical readers and writers. One thing that interested me the most was the idea one of my classmates brought up about students as interpretive communities, having a fluid literacy identity and literacy history. I want to help students delve more into their personal literacy histories and bring their thoughts out onto paper.
Monday, June 16, 2014
The Role of Journalism
The media is a strong tool that shows me about what is going on in the world. Sadly, however, I do not check the news very often, except for what I see on T.V. while working out at the gym, what I hear from other people, or see on facebook. For a news source, I prefer the internet because it allows me to browse through quickly on what is going on locally as well as nationally and internationally. If I want to find out what is going on in the Middle East, for example, I can search "News in the Middle East" on Google Search, and it will take me directly to news sources featuring the Middle East. I enjoy listening to the radio and watching TV at times, but I prefer searching for news online.
Growing up, I remember my father frequently reading the newspaper during breakfast before work, and sometimes I would read it too. It made me happy or sad, depending on what kind of news it was. Having the newspaper physically there on the table made me read it and discover what was going on in the local community. I kind of miss having newspapers around to browse through while having some tea or coffee in the morning. While I do not get physical newspapers now, as a child and teen I enjoyed the physicality of flipping through pages, while sniffing that familiar newspaper smell. Sometimes my dad would talk about the articles, but most of the time I would peruse myself, especially sneaking off with the comic section on Sunday mornings. I think mostly my dad and I read the newspaper. I remember feeling immense joy in high school when I saw my article featured in the daily paper.
A couple of weeks ago, I was reading about the story about the Isla Vista shootings near UC Santa Barbara in California. I read many different articles on the story, some had the same evidence, while others revealed more and gave me a closer look on what happened with the student who decided to kill his roommates and some sorority girls as well as harm random strangers, before taking his own life. This story was of interest to me because I have friends I studied abroad with that were affected in some way by this incident. I was first alerted to this news through facebook, a friend posting about it as a status. I wondered what would drive a human being to do this. I watched videos of newscasters as well as interviews with friends and family members of the victims. The stories all seemed to add up to each other, not contradict each other. They basically had the same story line, but some news articles added more, while some had less information. How much information each article had also depended on how much time had elapsed since the incident.
Growing up, I remember my father frequently reading the newspaper during breakfast before work, and sometimes I would read it too. It made me happy or sad, depending on what kind of news it was. Having the newspaper physically there on the table made me read it and discover what was going on in the local community. I kind of miss having newspapers around to browse through while having some tea or coffee in the morning. While I do not get physical newspapers now, as a child and teen I enjoyed the physicality of flipping through pages, while sniffing that familiar newspaper smell. Sometimes my dad would talk about the articles, but most of the time I would peruse myself, especially sneaking off with the comic section on Sunday mornings. I think mostly my dad and I read the newspaper. I remember feeling immense joy in high school when I saw my article featured in the daily paper.
A couple of weeks ago, I was reading about the story about the Isla Vista shootings near UC Santa Barbara in California. I read many different articles on the story, some had the same evidence, while others revealed more and gave me a closer look on what happened with the student who decided to kill his roommates and some sorority girls as well as harm random strangers, before taking his own life. This story was of interest to me because I have friends I studied abroad with that were affected in some way by this incident. I was first alerted to this news through facebook, a friend posting about it as a status. I wondered what would drive a human being to do this. I watched videos of newscasters as well as interviews with friends and family members of the victims. The stories all seemed to add up to each other, not contradict each other. They basically had the same story line, but some news articles added more, while some had less information. How much information each article had also depended on how much time had elapsed since the incident.
About Me!
 |
| Reading and Writing go hand-in-hand when it comes to being creative and expressing yourself! |
• I went to the University of California, Berkeley for undergrad, and majored in Social Welfare with a minor in Education
• My major interest for this class is journalism, learning how to write in a journalistic and professional fashion, and how to help my future students learn to write professionally as well.
• I am interested in teaching high school students, as well as community college students.
• I hope to learn more about Journalism and how it applies to teaching, and practices and curriculums I can use with my future students.
• My prior involvement in Journalism includes writing for my university's newspaper The Daily Cal for a semester during sophomore year. It was a lot of work, and sometimes immense pressure, but I learned how to write a clear and succinct newspaper article as well as find my sources quickly (many times that meant a lot of phone calls!). You can see my articles for the Daily Cal on this website. In high school I also had a chance to write articles once in a while for the newspaper in Hayward, California.
To me,
• English Language Arts is amazing because it is an open door to creativity, growth, and inspiration. I find myself inspired when I create writing because it expresses a part of who I am, and I want to teach ELA because I want to pass on the spirit of creativity and boundlessness and inspiration in writing to my students.
• I want students to feel inspired to be creative, to express themselves through writing, and learn from all of the great writers and authors out there.
• My world is… a place of endless possibilities.
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