Monday 2 April 2012
Review Five: "Oh Captin, My Captin" & "Rip it Out" - The Dead Poets Society
Okay first of all,
WATCH THE CLIP
above if you have neverwatched The Dead Poets Society.
The Dead Poets Society is one of my all time favorite movies. It is the story of a group of boys struggling with self identification in a school which dictates their lives. The professors tell them what to think and has strict rules on how they should act. John Keating (Robin Williams) goes against the norm and teaches the boys in a way which facinates them. The boys are then enthralled with literature, wanting/ needing to know more. Keatings teaching style was impractical yet it was so memorable and unique that the boys in the society learned far more than expected. they learned about literature, life and who they are.
The difference between an amazing teacher and one who clearly doesnt care is highly noticable. In the scene the boys are being taught by a stern older man who wants them to learn the basics. Keating had the boys jumping around throughout the textbook, not sticking with one subject for too long. In this scene you see the respect the students have for Keating and the lack of respect they have for the stern old man who is dictating that what they should know.
Learning should be a partnership, like that of the Dead Poets Society. They all taught one another, there was no dictatorship in Keatings classroom. This form of interactive unique way of learning proved to be effective for the boys and honestly it just seems fun.
In this clip you can see that the boys are uninterested in the traditional way of learning. Keating then introduces them to a new way of learning. Learning does not have to be dull and boring, it can be fun and vivacious. Keating in the movie The Dead Poets Society proved that.
Review Four: Video Games
This is for all the gentlemen out there who play video games. Ladies, I apologise in advance.
Okay, so I'm sitting at my kitchen table right now watching my roommates playing the old NHL on the old Nintendo. And I had never thought of it before but video games have some educational purposes.
That's right I said it. Educational. My roommates would so proud right now.
The games including shooters enhance eye hand coordination, mental stimulation. "Cognitive ethnography is an apt methodology for the study of learning with games, in virtual worlds, and the study of activity systems, whether they are mediated digitally or not" (vgalt, 2012).The web page that I found to go along with my recent understanding of video games outlines many reasons as to why video games are beneficial.
For the most part the article goes on to justify video games as "a literate practise in an authentic context" (vgalt, 2012). It pretty much says that gaming is more than just a game. It is a form of literature which enhances and teaches valuable skills needed for everyday life.
I am not sure how i feel about this but I will admit, my roommates have better eye hand coordination than I do. i attempted to play Call of Duty a couple of times and I am unable to look around and walk at the same time. I'm not convinced that gaming enhance the abilities mentioned above in the picture from he site but I do believe it can be beneficial.
SO, I may take the articles advice and before I decide where I stand - I will create my own ethnography of gaming... That means I get to take time from studying to play games, right?
Review Three: Encouraging Learning Styles
Hey Guys, Found a website where learning styles are described and ways to encourage that particular style in children.
Here it is:
For visual learners it says that a child will enjoy visual/ picture books at any age. This I disagree with. When I reached a certain age There was no way I would sit down and read a picture book. It seemed so juvenile, and it still does. There are better ways for a visual learner to interpret their lessons. The other ways to teach a child/ encourage them to learn visually are perfectly acceptable in my eyes. Boardgames, visualisation/ analogies, and daydreaming are accessible by all children and have all been proven to help a child retain information taught to them.
Auditory learners can learn through books on tape, listening to their own words on tape, and having someone type up a story the learner dictates to them. These all seem reasonable, especially the books on tape. It all makes sense that a child learns through an auditory lens. Lectures, videos, plays and other verbally represented lessons all enhance a lesson.
The kinaesthetic learner learns through physical touch and movement. I personally do not learn in this way so I find it a little difficult to relate to a student who needs to physically do the lessons or have a hands on experience. The website however lays out some clever ways which a parent can enhance lessons.
Lastly the site outlines what the logical learner. They learn through mathematical problems, puzzles, computers, and patterns. Another learning style that I do not associate with, but it makes sense, mathematically inclined people are more likely to learn in a different way. Science experiments are the best way to help along the logical learner.
I understand that a child will need to learn according to their particular learning style but I can not get out of my head my previously posted video on how there are no learning styles. After reading this site I disagree with the video clip even more now.
Reflection Five: Taking Control of Learning
Critical pedagogy allows a student to comprehend the concepts at hand further and with a deeper understanding. A deeper understanding of scholastic topics can come from many forms. Everyone learns and comprehends topics in certain ways and when it comes down to it analogies and visual enhancements of education further a student understands in ways beyond the norm.
In class we performed a play called “Snakes and Ladders” (Goldstein, 69) in Goldstein’s work, “Snakes and Ladders: A Performed Ethnography” depicting ways students and teachers intend to educate their peers by way of a week-long event. The “performed ethnography”, our presentation of the play is a way of learning itself. Reading alone the play is one way of learning but when you have others read it to you is another. When you combine the acting that we did with the reading of the play you are able to hear and see the play. This alone generates a deeper understanding of the reading. Those who are auditory learners find it easier to have different people play the roles of the characters and the visual learners will see the roles being performed. The “performed ethnography” then becomes a reflection of the students performing the roles and the students interpretation of what is happening. There are many ways the play enhanced the understanding of what is happening within the play itself. An active participation in the lesson forces the students to look deeper into the meaning of context at hand. The message in the play is another form of critical pedagogy. When reading the play by yourself you may not fully grasp all the concepts. When hearing and seeing the play a student may see aspects disregarded in their own interpretation. Needless to say we all benefit from “performed ethnography” in different ways.
I personally believe that new innovative ways of incorporating a lesson into everyday life is the best way for a teacher or professor to teach students. A new way of learning every now and then will only keep the students interested and continually wanting to learn. When they themselves can perform and partake in the presentation of the lesson they then can relate the topic to their own life. This reflection onto everyday life allows for understanding of the topic in ways that are unique and deeper than the intended lesson. Critical pedagogy is a critical outlook on how students are taught and asks us to learn in different ways. And the “performed ethnography” is only one way of introducing new ways into the student’s life.
Students take what they need to from education, just enough to get by. It is not until a teacher or professor is willing to attempt to teach a deeper understanding do the students apply real life situations to school work. Learning does not have to be boring; it can be anything as long as the student takes the lesson and strives for more. This need for more information is places the responsibility of learning upon the students to not only comprehend the lesson but to take control of their learning and apply it. Critical pedagogy can be found in any unconventional way of learning. It includes and surpasses the “performed ethnography”.
Sunday 1 April 2012
Which learning style are you?
Here is a free test you can take to determine what kind of learner you are:
Review Two: Learning Styles
This video clip interested me when browsing youtube the other day.
The man in the video is saying that good teaching is only good teaching. Audio, visual, and kinesthetic learners do not exist. I agree and disagree with his findings for various reasons.
A) I have previously had amazing teachers yet I was still unable to grasp a lesson until I see what the teacher wants from me. For example a math equation. I am unable to understand math until I see someone else do an equation. This makes problem solving difficult for me. However this video is saying that even though I associate as a visual learner I should still be able to reproduce specific information because learning is memory based. I can see facts being easily learnt because they are memory based but learning certain curriculum's need to be enhanced by visual aspects. Audio is not always the best way to store memories to be reproduced at a later date.
B) Stored memories are apparently stored in order to learn. What happens if in a classroom a teacher is lecturing and within the class there is a deaf student. Then are they not missing the lecture, and missing the lesson? They are then denied the ability to store memories because there are no visual attributes to go along with the lecture. A deaf student would have to be a visual or kinesthetic learner.
C) Denying the notion that there are styles to learning, only strengthens the idea of the banking method. That students are there to have knowledge deposited not learned. The idea of memory storing seems to be the exact same thing as the banking method. It may work for most students but it does not work for all students due to various reasons (one of which would be a learning disability).
Learning is hard enough without the teacher making it dry and boring. Adding visual elements will stimulate those students who normally would tune out an auditory lesson. So we may all store our memories of learning. But our interests and abilities dictate how we learn. Some students may not have the patience to sit and listen to a teacher drone on for an hour while others do. some enjoy group work to enhance and clarify a lesson while other rather see what they are supposed to be learning. So we may use all of forms of learning to store our knowledge but in a classroom setting I believe it is our interests and patience which tell us what kind of learners we are for certain subjects. For me when it comes to math I am a very visual learner. You can tell me about an equation, you can give me analogies but I will not understand until i see someone else apply a formula. So I disagree, I believe we do have learning styles, they may change depending on our mood and abilities but we do have them. The styles may all be psychological but they enhance a boring topic and make it easier to understand for those students who have issues comprehending certain subjects.
Reflection Four: Discipline or Suppression
Schooling has become a tool which is
able to control the population. Deacon’s 'moral orthopedics' dimension
insinuates that a school system has qualities such as a prison. Disciplinary
action is taken, and authority is proven. Those who teach are controlling the
“inmates” (Deacon, 2006 p. 182), as he calls them. He believes that the learning
process cannot be detangled from the judicial process. Punishment may have
moved from the physical to the emotional but there is punishment for ill
behavior none the less.
Think about it, Deacon is correct. A
school dictates how its pupils should spend their time and manage recreation
accordingly according to sexuality and gender. Children were split up based on
age and capabilities, which excludes those who are unable to function as its
peers. Segregation would have been created by this separation and therefore
discipline is easily achieved by completely separating the child or making an
example of them in front of their peers. Discipline has evolved and so have the
schooling process. The methods of discipline in a school are those seen all
throughout the population. You are able to see it in “workhouses, poorhouses,
prisons, and guilds” (Deacon, 2006, p. 182). The way one teaches remains the
same but the repercussions have vastly changed in regards to education.
Take the Panopticon idea of structure as
a disciplinary resource. In high schools that are being built recently in
Halifax there are generally mezzanine area where authorities are able to look
down and observe their pupils. This method as we have learned is used in
prisons. They are used to control behavior. No one is willing to act out when
they believe their authority is watching. Sir John A. Macdonald High School for
example has a crescent shaped mezzanine which allows you to see the entire
entrance and stair case leading into the school. The students would be watched
while they were inside and out from this area of observation. Students just as
the inmates did would act accordingly. This form of observation was not present
in the older building which the high school used to occupy. Authority has taken
it as their job to observe the down time of the students in order to chastise
them for wrong doings in order to control their behavior. Just as Deacon said
the school system has become a prison for the students. They are told what
classes to go to, what times they are able to take a break, how they should
behave, what homework they have to do, when their homework is due, and a new
school rule has been passed that all students must partake in a physical
education program during one of the semesters they are in school.
The students have little control over
what they do in the school and disciplinary actions for schooling does not end
within the institution. Parents are now dictating what activities are deemed
appropriate for their children and how much time they must dedicate to their
schooling. “The apportionment of time, the management of sexuality, the
manipulation of bodies, the spread of lateral controls” (Deacon, 2006, p. 181),
are the ways the education system controls the students. It may not be the
barbaric tactics previously used like beating a child but the effects are
detrimental. It would emotionally shun particular children from the educational
system without even realizing. Discipline is a necessary for the means of
education, deacon sees that need, but that discipline should not control the
students overall personality. Deacons word choice of inmates creates a
disconnect between joy and education. Children are still children, and why
should the disciplinary actions of authority snub their imagination process and
freedom. Complete control is necessary for disciplinary actions which are not
related to schooling but when a child feels obligated to act in a certain way
all the system is doing is making it easy for rebellion.
The term moral orthopedics means a common
standard in justice, involving right and wrong. Why then with this encouraging
of goodness does the educational system implement a discipline system such as
the one where the fundamental human rights of a child are taken away. Their
lives are controlled and they are unable to stop it. Schooling does not teach
you right from wrong because it does not give you the chance to act in the
wrong, and if you do you are chastised to a point where you will never act out
in such a way again. Education is suppressing students to fit a mold of the
perfect student.
Reflection Three: The Oppression of Education
In many ways, education is seen as
being unique based on the learning types of the pupils. According to Paulo
Freire that is not what is occurring in the educational system as we know it.
The curriculum is all the same and location and ethnicity of the students tends
to be forgotten. I agree with Freire that education now serves to solidify
forms of oppression in society.
In my experience in the education
system there are aspects of our culture which are left out for various reasons
but which seem to be relevant to me. For instance where I grew up in we were
not educated in the fact that just down the road was a major community of black
African Canadians and that they thrived within Hammonds Plains. You would think
that it would have been a staple topic in the curriculum especially during
Black History Month. We were unaware of this, and it was not until this year
when I took a class on Black Canadian literature was I even aware of this fact.
Now the community was within walking distance of the elementary, junior High
and High School. Why, were we not educated on this topic?
There were selected topics based on the
provincial curriculum which we were supposed to cover and I am guessing that
none of my teachers or professors decided to stray away from the laid out
curriculum to teach us about our surroundings. I am fascinated at how little we
were taught regarding the general area with the schools resided. In being
taught only certain aspects we as students are being oppressed in our own
neighbourhood.
There are other ways of learning but
shouldn’t our educational program take into consideration where the school is
located before creating a curriculum? There are other reasons to take community
into consideration when making a lesson plan. Depending on where the school is
the pupils may have different ways of learning. For example in a University
setting the ethnic background is vast. And not all cultures learn in the same
manner. Therefore how does a professor create a lesson plan with which all
students will benefit from? Disregarding the banking method of learning which
means the professor just stands there giving a lecture assuming the students
are absorbing the information they could use PowerPoint’s, videos, games and
create group work which stimulates interpersonal connection. No one learns the
same based on where they come from, and had we all been provided with the information
of our surrounding community the discussions would have been even more
creative. Students are being oppressed in the ways of learning, and the lack of
learning is oppressing our thirst for knowledge.
The banking method only gives the
students the fundamental, but when community is brought in, and alternative
ways of providing the information are given then the students are more
receptive. Had I been educated fully on the background of my own community I
would not have grown up believing it lacked spark, or historical relevance. I
believed it was only Hammonds Plains. But really there is an entire background
of historical information which I was never privy to. My understanding of my
community was oppressed through lack of knowledge which could and should have
been provided to me.
Thursday 15 March 2012
Photo One
“Any situation in which some men prevent others
from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence;…
to alienate humans from their own decision making is to change them into objects.”
- Paulo Freire
- Paulo Freire
Photo Taken from The Freire Project
Reflection Two: Learning via Cultural Interests
George Dei believed schooling to be impacted by the
community. Community schooling is the need for a new way of teaching and
learning within a diverse cultural location. Community is the basis for the
upbringing of an individual. Different strategies of learning are successful on
certain forms of community. And within a particular group typical intuitional
learning may not work for them. Dei suggests that new practices may alter the
success rate of the education within the community. There are good notions
behind the idea of altering the schooling program to connect with potential
pupils.
“Schooling
as a community actually builds a sense of belonging and identification within
that community. A Holistic education can impact the learner and allow him or
her to respond to the fragmentation of identities and self” (Dei, 2008, p.360).
We learn best when there is a connection of identity with what we are learning.
That is true for my knowledge of how I, personally learn. When you are able to
connect your daily life to what you are learning. Growing up in a more rural
community my classmates and I were more willing to participate in the
learning’s when the teacher connected our learning’s’ to outdoor activities or
animals which the majority owned. “For education to be meaningful and to impact
human lives, it must engage all learners” (Dei, 2008, p.360) without leaving
out a group from a different cultural background. When African-Americans are
placed in a school separate from their community or a school which does not
encompass the community it generates a hostile learning environment. Being
excluded from an institution pushes the students away from learning. When
uninterested in a subject who would not ignore the teachings?
I
agree with Dei, taking control of the “mainstream [of] our youths [leads] to
success” (Dei, 2008, p.352). Altering the educational program to
fit the learning process of all the students will be beneficial to those who
statistically receive lower grades and are then racialized for doing poorly. To
give a fair chance to those students being racialized there is only one simple
solution. Teach them from a perspective which they will understand. Incorporate
their history and their community interests. A community forms the ideals of
its individuals and those individuals identify themselves through those ideas.
When the community is cut out of the equation attention to education is lost. So
why not encourage the educational program to incorporate community into the
learning process. Dei believed this, and so do I.
Review One: School Uniforms Debate
The
article written By Mansi Chitranshi on school uniforms is generally in favor of
uniforms in an academic setting. I have personally never been to a school with
uniforms, so when looking at Chitranshi’s pro’s and con’s lists I looked at
them carefully. I see where both side of the debate are coming from.
“Reasons
in Favor of Wearing School Uniforms
•It takes away the feeling of envy between
peers.
•It helps decrease obedience trouble.
•A
uniform assists the students achieve academically better. Students focus more
on their education rather than on deciding what to wear.
•Besides eliminating distraction, uniforms
force students to take school atmosphere more critically” (Chitranchi, 2009) .
“Reasons
Against Wearing School Uniforms
•It subtracts students' liberty to take
decisions.
•It doesn't let students feel distinctive and
unique.
•School uniforms hinder the need for the self expression
of a kid. Sociologists claim that it may cause unsuitable ways of expression by
kids, such as offensive usage of makeup and jewelry.
•Uniforms take away children's identity. The
pressure on a uniform dress code in school counters the spirit of unity in
diversity and its merriment. It is even believed to confine socialization, an
imperative feature of human nature” (Chitranchi, 2009) .
Overall
I agree more so with the pro’s side. Excluding the notion of striving
academically based on a uniform I whole heartedly agree with the idea of envy
being taken away, eliminating distractions and disobedience. As I have said, I
have never had a school uniform before but there are benefits besides the ones
outlined in Chitranshi’s article. When children are all wearing the same thing prejudices
are less likely to arise within a school, which would therefore makes prejudices
less likely to occur outside of the school as well. The idea behind the uniforms
is to make the children realize their equals, right? Well, I thoroughly believe
that if children treat each other equally because of wearing uniform clothing
then it would greatly benefit their social lives outside of school. If they are
taught that they are all equal then they will take that knowledge home with
them.
The
cons are all cohesive. They all pertain to the idea of children’s individual
rights of expression. This raises a good point but when an argument is solely
based on one point then it is a weak argument overall. Sure children need to be
able to express themselves freely, but that does not necessarily mean that
clothing must be that outlet. Chitranshi seemed to agree with this by saying
that not all children can afford high end clothing. A uniform will only even
out the playing field at school for those who are not as wealthy as their
peers.
Overall,
coming from a non-uniform school I believe uniforms are a good thing. They can
be beneficial, and although not many schools use a uniform code of conduct I
believe Chitranshi was implying that more schools should take one on. Uniforms
serve a purpose. Prep schools do not only use them to make their students look
good after all.
Reflection One: Stereotyping and Gendering: A Dress Code Consequences
When it comes to discipline surrounding
dress, are school administrators correct in reprimanding children? Clothing is
an expression of self, and when you are a child your clothes are what allow you
to fit in with your neighborhood, family, and friends. When a school decides to
take away that expression of self by dictating what a child can and cannot
wear, is that really helping the child academically? Reproduction theory is
never the less saying that our bodily appearances influence our success.
I know when I was in grade school my
clothing choice had nothing to do with whether or not I received a good grade,
typically my mother chose my clothes when I was in the lower grades. Time and
effort determine grades and success in school. Clothing should not even be a
factor when looking at the outcome of test scores. A dress code has its
purposes. I’m not against a code of conduct when it comes to clothing, but
there have to be limitations as to what they ban from the academic setting.
Clothes which are torn, or appear “gangster” are not on the banned list yet
children are punished or labeled for wearing them. The administration wants to
be perceived in a certain way, and having unkempt students only stereotypes the
school as a “rough” or “prep” school. We teach children to stereotype, right
from the beginning of their academic career we base what they look like on how
they will strive within scholastics. A code around what a child can and cannot
wear only allows for gendering and stereotyping. For example, a prep school has
exact dress codes of their pupils they tell the girls to wear this, and the
boys to wear that. But what happens to that child who is struggling with their
gender identity? My sister works in a daycare where some parents and managers
will not allow her to let the young boys to play with nail polish and dress up
with the young girls. What happens when you take away their form of expression
of who they are in ways like this? We force boys to be boys, and girls to be
girls when it comes to dress. Administration then genders children into being
exactly what they want them to be and how they should act based on those roles.
A girl would be punished in a prep school for wearing the boys’ uniform, and
vice versa. They lay out how a child should act based on clothing choice. And
they still question why children rebel against a dress code and wear what they
choose anyway. Have you ever tried to herd sheep before? They are constantly
going where their shepherd does not want them to. Academic superiors are like
the shepherds of a flock, and they cannot just push children into looking a
certain way because they wish to be perceived as academically inclined, or to
have a unison flock.
In the case of Carla in Edward W.
Morris’s article she was just dressing in a way which will allow her to blend
in to her community. Her survival had nothing to do with her gender, a
stereotype or how she wished to be perceived. It was a way to blend in so she
would not stand out (Morris, 2005, pg. 27). Children are chastised for their
attempt not to stand out in a less than ideal neighborhood by their superiors
because the look “gangster” or what they deem inappropriate. What kind of
message does that send out to the youth of today if we do not allow them to fit
in with their family and friends, because we think it will cause them to suffer
academically? We are basically labeling them black sheep for something they
cannot control. A family’s income determines what they can afford to buy their
child. We cannot and should not punish a child for living within their means,
within their neighborhood. Why must we stereotype boys and girls into being
rebellious or being docile? I resent the label, and I am 22. I cannot imagine
how much a student in middle school or high school would dislike such a label.
Can we not be who we are, and let us find our own stereotype? We all fall
within a category which all seems to resemble the Breakfast Club (the rebel,
the prep, the nerd, the freak, or the jock). The hierarchy within a school
cannot place us within these categories; an individual must decide who they are
on their own. The penalization based on what he or she is wearing is only
forcing us into such labels when we may not necessarily associate with such a
clique.
After contemplating this topic I
reflected upon what Saint Mary’s looks like. There is a vast variety of
clothing choices and no one is reprimanded for what they wear and we all determine
our own academic outcomes. Our way of dress has nothing to do with scholastic
success. Does individual self-expression through clothing choices not encourage
success academically more so than following someone else’s instructions? Rebellion against authority takes time, time
which could better be spent working on academic advancement. Reproduction
theory was a theory created in 1977 (Morris, 2005, pg. 26), can we not live in
the current generation and accept that not everyone can afford expensive
clothing, and that they may choose to look a certain way for whatever reason? Attempting
to herd the masses can only end in disaster or lack of focus.
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