Final Course Reflection

Top 10 Revelations or what did I learn this week ?

I learned:

1. What web 2.0 is.
2. Why we teachers need to be at least aware of it and at
best, utilize it's power.
3. Learned about all of the different things on youtube and how to up load videos. and set up an account.
4. Learned about wikis and how to use pb wiki and set up an account.
5. Learned about blogs and how to use Google Blogger and set up an account.
6. Learned about wordle and how to use it and set up an account.
7. Learned about del.icio.ous and tags, how to use it. and set up an account.
8. Learned about RSS and Netfire, how to use it and set up an account.
9. Learned about ACME and it's mission and read all of the handouts and watched the videos and learned many new strategies for teaching media awareness..
10. Learned about Michael Wesch and his work and watched some videos.

3 Questions or still to do items:

1. Finish my project of the shared Unified Arts Wiki making sure there is something of interest on each person's page.
2. Set up my Netfire RSS feeds. Although I have an account, I have yet to populate it with feeds.
3. Continue adding my favorites with tags on my del.icio.ous account

Part 4 of The Feed

Here's the short video that two of us made for the class assignment. We are depicting what it might be like to go shopping with the feed on.



Here is my question to any who check this, can you tell that the advertisements are being heard in his head?

All I can say is, wow! Unit! That book was like meg incredible! The only problem being, I still have as many questions as I have answers . Starting with the ending. It was so incredibly sad and honest. They were both meg honest and she was so brave and real. I don't know if it was the end of the world or just the end of The Feed. I can't wait until the discussion tomorrow.

I have really enjoyed being able to discuss the book with such a nice group of people. I know that everyone has his or her secrets and health issues. I think that Violet didn't want to go quietly into that wood. She wanted to shout it to the world and say that this isn't right and let's stop ignoring it. I think that I might understand, a least a little bit how Violet might have felt.. When I was diagnosed with MS, I was devastated. As a lifelong musician, when my hands went completely limp and numb, I thought I would never play again. When they mostly came back and I could play again, I decided that I wanted to play as much as possible before it happens again and this time possibly for good. Although I am far from dying, the loss of an ability is something like an old friend dying, I guess. This week has been particularly bad for me as I am experiencing a flare up of the disease and my whole left side is numb. My doctor has prescribed prednizone, which is partially why I keep having to go to the bathroom, (sorry for all of the interruptions). I had no intention of telling anyone this, and certainly am not seeking anyone's sympathy,but your friendliness and the character of Violet have given me a new reason for being so personal and transparent. You see, I suspect MS , like cancer, could be caused by the ills of modern society. Please check this page of the National MS society and the article on the causes of MS. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have. It is interesting to note that Vermont has the highest incidence of MS, per ca pita in the entire nation.

M

Breaking down stereotypes f2f

This was an enjoyable article in that it was some "good news" about relations in the world. In this project I see hope for the future when western and middle eastern countries can begin to mend problems created by their past histories and to begin to try and see common ground. I felt proud of our Vermont High School kids for being brave and open enough to accept this challenge and also proud to now know Robb Williams and the wonderful work he does for our youth and many other causes.

Part 3 of Feed

I am happy to report that I have figured out how to edit my past blogs, (yippee!). So I have change the title of the "part 2 of Feed" post. Now, here are my thoughts on part 3......

Wow! This was a long section. In fact, I got very sleepy and couldn't post my blog last night, but I did manage to finish the reading before nodding out. So, here I am at 6:30 AM typing. The book continues to amaze me in so many ways. In part 3 we get a much closer look at Violet and the relationship between her and Titus. Interestingly enough, one of the points that I made in class, before reading this part has turned out to be somewhat of an underlying theme. That is, the classic American, mythic struggle between individualism and conformity. We all want to fit in to society and be one of the boys or one of the girls, but we simultaneously want to be unique and different from everyone else. In this futuristic society, the government and the large corporations in control want citizens that don't think for themselves. They prefer people that follow the rules and quietly get in line with their plan for their profit making and power mongering control of the world. Aldous Huxley explored this struggle of individualism and conformity in an essay with the same title. Here is an except:


Individualism Vs. Conformity

Summary:
This essay explores the issue of individualism vs. conformity in dystopic societies in the novels "1984," "Brave New World" and the short story entitled "Harrison Bergeron."

In all dystopian societies, there is a struggle between those who believe in the ideology of the governing body and those who choose to exist as individuals. In order for a dystopia to function properly, there must be a considerable effort to eradicate the thoughts of the individual and turn them into a functioning part of a greater society. In the dystopias we studied, there are many examples of characters that showed clearly that they wanted to remain as individuals. In all the examples, the governing body used brutality and violence to control these outsiders. The three characters that best illustrate individualism in the dystopias are Winston from 1984, Bernard from Brave New World and Harrison Burgeron from Harrison Burgeron. In each case, these individuals are confronted by the establishment and brought to conformity through brutality.....

As Huxley points out, the dystopia has to make a considerable effort to eradicate individual thoughts. We can see that those in charge of the Feed are also making this attempt. But Violet has already started on the path of individuality,starting with her upbringing by an eccentric father. She does have some pull to be like the others and be a part of the Feed, but she also wants control over that decision. Titus seems to be impressed by this quality in her and intrigued by the games she plays at the mall, but he is not yet as drawn to being different and separate as she is yet.
When she reveals that she is probably going to die soon and would like to live a little first, he goes along with it although he is skeptical. I suspect, if she does die, he will carry the torch of the struggle towards individuality by himself.

The famous 1984 apple commercial also suggests this same struggle, as depicted here:

Meme Article

You know what they say about the best laid plans don't you? Well, when I titled the last entry, I meant to blog about the MEME article but didn't get a chance to. Subsequently, I couldn't figure out how to change the title of my already been posted blog, (ABPB?). So, anyway, here goes....

The article was inspiring in a few different ways. The first is that Dr. Rob is involved with so many interesting projects and this is yet another one. (I guess it's inspiring and intimidating at the same time). What I was most interested in was the possibility of Rob coming to my school and or district and doing this kind of work with my students. Since we are already making videos and short movies, and studying the ad culture, I think it would be an appropriate and enlightening experience for both my students and the other teachers that might be involved.

Part 2 of Feed

The book continues to amaze me in so many ways. I had this thought that this book is very important for all teenagers to read. It is like the concept of "Big Brother" to my generation, who after being affected by the frightening vision of George Orwell in 1984 have an almost knee jerk reaction against being spied on and signs of excess government control, (albeit mostly a finger in the dike affect against that reality). This book's concept of the feed is the same type of warning of possible impending doom and gloom. This section is mostly about what it is like for our future teens to be off the drug of the feed. The two things that stuck me the most are the protagonist's observations of the painting in the hospital room, which at first seems stupid because it doesn't show anything happening now, nothing before and nothing about to happen. So what is it's purpose he asks? Why would anyone paint "a picture like that"? The is a sense that this could be a beginning, since he probably wouldn't even have noticed it at all with the feed on. The second thing is the way his father is depicted. He seems to be fairly ignorant, illiterate and without much personality or goals while on the feed, just like his son. I wonder what the truth about Violet's father is.....

My Take on Feed - the 1st 40 pgs.

The book is quite interesting so far and ties in nicely with the article, "The Making of a Media Literate Mind." As far as character development, at this point we don't know much about the 3 girls that came on the Spring Break trip to the moon. I would say that their personalities, like that of the boys, are similar to typical modern teenagers. The emotional hit that I clearly get from all the characters is that they are not at all happy in their lives. It's difficult to say whether the constant ads from their brain feeds is the only source of their unhappiness or some other factors are involved. One thing is clear though, their feeds are at the very least, distracting, unsatisfying and not "real" in their lives. At worst their feeds are highly toxic to their emotional well being and possibly causing irreversible harm to their psychological health.
In feed speak, the ads seem to be nonsense, valuing empty unimportant things, as opposed to good, real values like family, love, god, nature and respect. The teen speak also seems to diminish their humanity. For example, although they seem to be aware that their lesions are bad, they regularly pass them off. The "frame the face" idea that Violet puts forth sounds just like an advertising agency's view, while at the same time being the most empathetic thing any of them has sid so far.

21st century classroom

Welcome to my first blog! I created this during the first day of my summer UVM class. I also started up a youtube account. Here is the address: http://www.youtube.com/user/spacejam4love