Digital Media Literacy with Courtney D.

Question: What is the relationship between Turkle and Wesch? Do you see them as allies, or opponents in this discussion of new media and technology? Sherry Turkle's “ The Flight from Conversation ;” and Wesch’s “ Crisis of Significance ” really both resonated with me in their own ways. I would consider Turkle and Wesh allies with a mindset that human collaboration and engagement is key to learning. While I read Turkle, I found myself highlighting and pulling so many quotes that I wholeheartedly agree with. I find that in this day and age, most people (who aren’t teachers) that I talk to about technology don’t even notice the negative effects technology and social media has on us all. Her point about us being together but separate in our own little bubbles is what I witness each and every day as a high school teacher where smart phones and earbuds are part of the standard uniform for teenagers. She writes, “Always-on/always-on-you devices provide three powerful fantasies: that ...

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Popular culture sells so many beauty supplies and advertises the importance of external beauty to all genders, especially women. They say women need skin serums to keep looking young, makeup to look beautiful, plastic surgery to remain gorgeous. For men, they say men need not lose their hair and use products like Rogaine, etc. They say men need to be strong and sexy, women need to be thin and have large breasts and bums! But, what really makes someone beautiful is not all of these things. In our product that resists popular culture messages about gender, we created a collage that exemplifies inner beauty. See below: In this video, we put together the letters Beauty Supplies on top in all different cut out shapes and fonts to show that we are all different and offer a different kind of beauty, in all genders. We also pasted and made representations of things that make you beautiful inside such as kindness, gratitude, collaboration, friendships, being yourself, paying it forward, lo...

The Hamilton Mixtape: "Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)" For tonight's blog I chose to read "Who Can Stay Here? Documentation and citizenship in children's literature" by Grace Cornell Gonzales. Gonzales was a bilingual elementary teacher in East Oakland, California where, one day, she and her students experienced real fears of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid. Because many students and families were undocumented, the students were panicked that they would or that their family members would be taken away. She writes, "Half of my class came running back inside, panicked, hysterical, in tears, saying that la migra was coming in helicopters to get them." (p. 74) After this day, although never raided, she as a teacher felt the need to compile a library of books dealing with the very real topic of immigration for her students. In her search, she found several books that "...dealt with many themes: intergenerational ties and g...

Gimkit - “How to” & Review What is Gimkit? Gimkit is a game show for the classroom that requires knowledge, collaboration, and strategy to win. Gimkit was made by a high school student in Seattle for students. Students answer questions at their own pace on their own device. Throughout a Kit, students get exposure to the questions multiple times to ensure mastery. What else does it offer? Data: After every game, Gimkit generates a report detailing what your class needs help on. Individual reports allow you to help specific students. Homework: Gimkit isn't only used in a live class setting. You can use Gimkit for homework assignments which are graded automatically. KitCollab: KitCollab allows students to take charge of their own learning! Your class builds the Kit by each student contributing a question. Quizlet Import: Import any of the existing 200 million Quizlet sets with only a few clicks. Or search and reuse Kits made by other Gimkit users. Getting Starte...

I was born in 1985 and a bulk of my childhood entertainment was watching VHS Disney movies at home. When thinking about my relationship with Disney, I immediately called up my Mom to ask what she thought. Mom claims I was obsessed with watching The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and Cinderella movies. In addition, I also loved Disney movies where animals were the characters. I grew up on movies such as The Lion King and The Fox and the Hound. She claims I was so obsessed that I had every VHS and watched them over and over. I never dressed as a Disney princess for Halloween (see this news story on parents weighing in on their little girls dressing up as Moana) nor did I have all the Disney themed toys and games, but I was always entertained by watching the movies. I do specifically remember making my mom fast forward through the parts in certain movies where the villain was present and threatening the princess. At one point, I felt I connected most with Belle from Bea...

While reading Boyd’s article I found myself having so many head-nodding, “YES!” moments. As I listened in class today about Prensky’s “Digital Immigrants” vs. “Digital Natives” many of the thoughts brought up by Boyd came to mind and I could not find the words to articulate what I was thinking and she hit it right on the head. When I think about being a native, being a language teacher, I first think of myself, growing up as a native English speaker. As a baby, I was born hearing and eventually speaking English, but it took lots of practice to read and write the language correctly. I can compare this to my own high school students who Prensky might call “Digital Natives.” In a way, these students are very native to having the technology around them and growing up with its presence but they need to have lots of practice to use/produce it correctly, efficiently, and appropriately.  In my opinion, they do not have a natural born knowledge of how to do this. As Boyd mentions,...

I think of myself as a cross between both a digital immigrant and a digital native. When I think about my childhood, it did not involve lots of technology computer-wise. I was born in 1985 and most of my memories revolve around board games and playing with dolls and toys. As I am typing this, my mind is shifting a bit, though. Thinking about technology as a whole, and less as a computer, I remember we did have a Nintendo and eventually had a Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis . We also had a car phone at some point that was wired to the car. I remember maybe in 5th grade I got a Gameboy and at some point had a battery operated Tamagotchi toy. Ha! This is kind of funny to think about as "digital" but I guess it really was. We did not have a desktop computer until I was in middle school. I remember we had one big one in the living room that everyone took turns using with dial up internet. I will never forget the sound of logging onto AOL and the anger I felt when my mom pi...

¡Hola clase! Ciao a tutti! My name is Courtney DeSousa and I am a Spanish and Italian teacher at North Kingstown High School. I began my teaching career in 2007 after graduating from RIC and taught for 11 years at Pilgrim High School in Warwick, RI.  I am the PHS competitive cheerleading coach and this past year our team won all girl state champions, something we have worked towards for the past 7 years!  This past year I made a big change, switched schools, and I just finished my first year teaching at NKHS!  So far, my summer is going great. I love having my family over to go swimming, lakehouse trips to New Hampshire, and being outside in RI during summer months. I am very family oriented and I am an auntie to 2 nieces and 1 nephew and they love sleepovers at my house. I also enjoy traveling and, of course, languages and each summer a group of friends and I go on a big trip. I have also taken my students on trips to several different countries as well. Some of my ...