Some of you seemed interested in my blog about the webzine and I just noticed some breaking news on it myself.
A webzine is dedicated to further the voice of contributing collaborators and creators. Absolutepunk.net has recently taken another large step. As I had previously mentioned it was site dedicated to larger acts like Blink-182 and such for news postings as well as other happenings. It has since expanded into a forum for over a million users far and wide.
I recently discovered that the zine is now even displaying their users in ways they may not have had access to. In today's times where anyone can get a myspace and get a band together and get some good exposure this growing webzine has decided to really give back to their community.
Although the forums can often get incredibly critical and otherwise annoying the zine recently put together a compilation of frequent users' music. Twenty tracks from the twenty most involved people on the website. The forums were full of compliments and congratulations. It was good to see an online community that has the capability to be so negative actually band together when the website gives a lot back to the community.
The Evidence.
Monday, April 30, 2007
In Regards
I noticed various things throughout the third chapter of Renee Hobbs book Reading the Media: Media Literacy in High School English and began to formulate my own perceptions of the classrooms discussed. In teaching students to read and write through media I noticed something that really struck a chord with me. I was quite impressed with the thorough dissection of texts and encouragement to formulate independent ideas.
I feel like the class was morphed from just a normal classroom into a newsroom. Every student was encouraged to become a journalist in a sense. The classroom was focused both on media literacy and core issues in an English classroom. The collaboration was incerdibly thorough and defined. It sets rules in concrete for students to become self-learners, giving them definite aspects to focus on, but too vague to give them a definite answer. All of my life I have been told there is no right answer in an english classroom. The Concord High School has not just made that another statement of a teacher in which students debate the plausibility of, but rather a fact.
Students in these classrooms are to find their own means of media and decipher it in their own opinions. The papers in which they were to right were subjective to each and every student. There was finally no "right" answer. So many educators say these words but don't understand the meaning. They say this for purposes of consolement and false empathy. Every student detecting the slightest interpretation of teacher's opinion on a text they are reading will influence their writing. High school, especially, is a place where students can't really feel their independence in fear that bad grades will directly impact their future. The impact of a teacher's opinion and a student's input on that opinion will, in thought, help them achieve a better grade.
The critical criticisms students are encouraged to formulate totally and completely free their slates of any other influences other than their own. Even if a teacher voices their opinion on the matter I feel that a forum in this format will still make students formulate their own opinions even if they are contrary due to the fact they are so indulged with details and facets to get such things.
Finally, I would also like to say that the impact of the sparking event will also make or break this entire scenario. By introducing a project with such vitalizing subjects that students are interested with will further their interest in the rest of the project. The content also has to be interesting so students participation does not level off. Using an incredibly current event such as the Clinton scandal was a brilliant idea because at the time the news was still breaking and could keep interest peaked.
I feel like the class was morphed from just a normal classroom into a newsroom. Every student was encouraged to become a journalist in a sense. The classroom was focused both on media literacy and core issues in an English classroom. The collaboration was incerdibly thorough and defined. It sets rules in concrete for students to become self-learners, giving them definite aspects to focus on, but too vague to give them a definite answer. All of my life I have been told there is no right answer in an english classroom. The Concord High School has not just made that another statement of a teacher in which students debate the plausibility of, but rather a fact.
Students in these classrooms are to find their own means of media and decipher it in their own opinions. The papers in which they were to right were subjective to each and every student. There was finally no "right" answer. So many educators say these words but don't understand the meaning. They say this for purposes of consolement and false empathy. Every student detecting the slightest interpretation of teacher's opinion on a text they are reading will influence their writing. High school, especially, is a place where students can't really feel their independence in fear that bad grades will directly impact their future. The impact of a teacher's opinion and a student's input on that opinion will, in thought, help them achieve a better grade.
The critical criticisms students are encouraged to formulate totally and completely free their slates of any other influences other than their own. Even if a teacher voices their opinion on the matter I feel that a forum in this format will still make students formulate their own opinions even if they are contrary due to the fact they are so indulged with details and facets to get such things.
Finally, I would also like to say that the impact of the sparking event will also make or break this entire scenario. By introducing a project with such vitalizing subjects that students are interested with will further their interest in the rest of the project. The content also has to be interesting so students participation does not level off. Using an incredibly current event such as the Clinton scandal was a brilliant idea because at the time the news was still breaking and could keep interest peaked.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
The San Francisco Forty-Ziners
This article was especially interesting to me. I really do enjoy english thoroughly and can not wait to start teaching it in a high school setting. However, as this blog probably displays in many at times annoying ways I have a healthy love for music as well. I have been reading an online music zine over the years, absolutepunk.net which started as the article says as one person formally providing their ideas on an online format for the world to read. However, it quickly bloomed into an internet phenomenon of sorts and now employs over 20 contributing writers to aid in accessing and assessing numerous music related news. I know that this doesnt have much to do with english technically but it is a shining example of what the zine can do, how it can grow exponentially. The web can take such inate little scribblings and thoughts and provide a forum that can grow to massive proportions. It is a good example to show students what their simple task of creating a zine can become.
As of now the aforemtentioned website has over two million users and subscribers and has set the tone for other music related zines' standards. For english students they can begin projects on genres and pieces that they thoroughly enjoy. I also thought heavily on the subject that the NCTE link provided in aesthetics. Students needed to be versed that not only what they write counts but the look of what they write also does. The presentation of the zine is key as it has been numerous projects we have already accomplished in 307. The websites created have all been aesthetically pleasing and intrigue the reader to check more into the website itself while viewing the content. The wiki has to be presented with a formal phase of writing and can not be resorted to shot hand internet jargon because it is a place for information and research not a place of subjective ideas and dialects.
As of now the aforemtentioned website has over two million users and subscribers and has set the tone for other music related zines' standards. For english students they can begin projects on genres and pieces that they thoroughly enjoy. I also thought heavily on the subject that the NCTE link provided in aesthetics. Students needed to be versed that not only what they write counts but the look of what they write also does. The presentation of the zine is key as it has been numerous projects we have already accomplished in 307. The websites created have all been aesthetically pleasing and intrigue the reader to check more into the website itself while viewing the content. The wiki has to be presented with a formal phase of writing and can not be resorted to shot hand internet jargon because it is a place for information and research not a place of subjective ideas and dialects.
Digital Divsions
I felt more in touch with this link. I agree that the technologies students utilize in the classroom and in their personal lives are two totally different realms. We talk about how technology gives more students the freedom to do what they will to accomplish tasks we put in front of them. However, what is the point of endowing them with such a freedom is we are just going to suppress that service whenever possible. Censorship is such a double edged sword in the way blocking sites will prevent students from getting off task but may also disable them from getting a wider variety of knowledge for research purposes.
As we ask more and more from students technologically our rules and enforcing of those rules have got to have a broader vision. I was exteremely surprised to read that 95 percent of technologically enabled classrooms are on high speed feeds but again what's the purpose of faster loading times when there is no content to load? In order for teachers to fully embrace technology in their classrooms and giving classroom assignments based off that technology we are going to have to embrace all facets of technology. I have no problem letting a student listen to music on headphones while doing computer-aided work because that is how I always complete computer related tasks. If I can't have all the assests of technology at my fingertips it is easy for me to find an outside distraction to entertain me from tedious boredom.
As we ask more and more from students technologically our rules and enforcing of those rules have got to have a broader vision. I was exteremely surprised to read that 95 percent of technologically enabled classrooms are on high speed feeds but again what's the purpose of faster loading times when there is no content to load? In order for teachers to fully embrace technology in their classrooms and giving classroom assignments based off that technology we are going to have to embrace all facets of technology. I have no problem letting a student listen to music on headphones while doing computer-aided work because that is how I always complete computer related tasks. If I can't have all the assests of technology at my fingertips it is easy for me to find an outside distraction to entertain me from tedious boredom.
Alternatives
The lecture at Lehman was incredibly interesting. I really did have any preliminary thoughts going into the lecture but the first five minutes there I was surprised. The amount of freedom both the students and faculty have there are unparrallelled. I'm a pretty laid back person and hope that flows over into my teaching career. Throughout my education career I have not had too much success with the overbearing, highly structured, really intense teachers.
For the students to call you by your first name is a bigger step than I thought. School is so formal and I think that's why a lot of kids get so psyched out by the institution itself. Students who are good students may get psyched out by the formality of standardized tests and the steps it takes to get to that point. In an alternative classroom I think it is a healthy environment for a student to really flourish and show the teacher and their cohorts what they are really made of because the formal barrier is broken and a new comfort level is attained.
I also like the alternative learning approaches that can be utilized in an alternative school setting. Using film to teach english is a brilliant idea that I have lobbied for in previous posts and the use of technology may also flourish. There is not an entirely paperless classroom but I think there is a healthy division that can spark the best results using both facets of technology and traditional teaching applications.
For the students to call you by your first name is a bigger step than I thought. School is so formal and I think that's why a lot of kids get so psyched out by the institution itself. Students who are good students may get psyched out by the formality of standardized tests and the steps it takes to get to that point. In an alternative classroom I think it is a healthy environment for a student to really flourish and show the teacher and their cohorts what they are really made of because the formal barrier is broken and a new comfort level is attained.
I also like the alternative learning approaches that can be utilized in an alternative school setting. Using film to teach english is a brilliant idea that I have lobbied for in previous posts and the use of technology may also flourish. There is not an entirely paperless classroom but I think there is a healthy division that can spark the best results using both facets of technology and traditional teaching applications.
Group Work
I had a good time making the Imovie. We met a ton of times and probably but in at I would say at a minimum twenty hours of outside the classroom work, but in reality it was probably 10-15 hours more than that. That's a lot of time out of class with other classes to take, but I didn't really even mind. We had a good time actually making the movie and were able to learn a lot from each other. We learned that some of us were more technical than others and had a far better understanding of things, but didn't let the ego come out to make everyone else feel bad. Instead of setting everything in stone we usually made scenes a collaborative effort and brainstormed when an idea was fed out into discussion. It went pretty smoothly, we hid a couple of ruts where we weren't able to get things really going, but I think the end product came out pretty, pretty, pretty good. Oh, and we were able to pay homage to numerous films we all enjoy and Third Eye Blind makes an audio appearance, so I'm already happy about that.
YouSue
As I watched the Colbery Report last week he had a very interesting guest on his show. It was a man who worked for youtube and had edited clips of the Colbert Report in mocking fashion and placed them on youtube. The parent company of Comedy Central, Viacom, then told the man to take the videos down. Now the same man is suing Viacom for infringing rights of free speech in return to their allegations of breaking copyright laws. This is really something that is stirring around youtube. The IRAA is cracking down on youtube and is threatening lawsuits on people who make their own music videos or videos containing music.
This has a major impact on our classroom in direct regard to Imovies. I think the guy who filed a suit against Viacom is in a way right and wrong. Colbert came right out and stated that Viacom did indeed own him. However, I feel that when Cd burners and other such technology came out that the major worry was self profit. I don't believe there should be any penalties for using information if you are not making money off it. You're just giving the person/people/artist at hand more exposure.
This has a major impact on our classroom in direct regard to Imovies. I think the guy who filed a suit against Viacom is in a way right and wrong. Colbert came right out and stated that Viacom did indeed own him. However, I feel that when Cd burners and other such technology came out that the major worry was self profit. I don't believe there should be any penalties for using information if you are not making money off it. You're just giving the person/people/artist at hand more exposure.
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