Monday, February 23, 2009

Interviews with Tricia Rose

Tricia Rose makes some strong points about the differences of hip-hop in the present and hip-hop in the past. She makes the point that hip-hop is not dead (the name of Nas's album), but rather it is buried. By this Tricia Rose means that the history of hip-hop is no longer alive. In the past hip-hop had a wide range of listeners (age wise) and it was about politics, education, and learning about your history. There was still some anger is the past hip-hop, but not the same as today. Nowadays, hip-hop artists rap about drugs, sex, and violence with much anger.

Rose also makes a point that hip-hop cannot just be ignore or "turned off". It is all around, on the radio and several television stations. Although the artists make statements that if you do not like the music then turn it off... they don't mean it. In order to make sales, the artists need people to listen to their music, this is how sales will be made. Not all people like hip-hop music but there are many people that enjoy it. For the audience that does not enjoy it, there is pretty much no escaping it because it is on many television and radio stations.

Reading and listening to the interviews was a different type of read for me. I am not used to the question and answer type of reading, so it was hard for me to find the overview of what was the most important and such. To help me better understand Rose's points on the differences between past and present hip-hop songs I will have to listen so some. I am the type of person that listens to all kinds of music no matter what it is; If I like it then I'll listen.

These two pieces reminded me about how much of a struggle teenagers already have in their life and now they have more to add it it. The music that teenagers listen to plays a role in their life. They listen to it frequently and for some or most the words and the rappers can be influential on the teens decision making. Hearing all of the artists rapping about sex, drugs, money, and violence makes it appealing for the teenage listeners. In the end, they want to be like the rapper and may take part in some of the actions because it looks and sounds "cool".

I agree that there is no getting away from the hip-hop of today. It is widely listened to by many, there are many rappers, and it can be found on the radio and television. I also do not think that it will fade away until something new comes out and the audience likes it much better than hip-hop. I do believe that the hip-hop artists should be aware of their main audience (teenagers) and take this into consideration when coming up with song lyrics. Teens will tend to do whatever seems cool to them... if the rappers are aware of this and want to help make a difference or at least some positiveness, they can choose different song lyrics.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Prensky Article

Author and Title...
"Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" by Marc Prensky

Some things I understand...
In the Prensky article a comparison is made to the people that learn, (live and thirive off) through the digital age to those who are used to learning the old fashion way with lecture and textbooks. He uses the metaphor of "Digital Native and Digital Immigrant" to compare the two. Points are made about how the two are very different, but that we are in a digital age and it is how the learners of this time learn best. Unfortunately, the digital immigrants are having a hard time adjusting and understand this new time of the technology.

At the beginning of the article was the following quote, "Our students have changed radically. Today's students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach." The quote is true whether people want to believe it or not. It was a great way to start the article off. Besides discussing the two types of groups/people he does more... He gives an example of how much better and easier people of the digital age learn. The example is from the new CAD software program- the emloyers did not want to adapt and adjust at first because it looked to hard, but after making the learning process into a video game it was much easier and they wanted to do it. This goes to show the importance and difference there is if this type of learning style is used. Not all people of the digital age might want to learn this way, but I bet the majority of them do. Also, I agree and like Prensky's idea that all topics can be taught and turned into a digital learning experience. I cannot wait for the day that all adapt and learn to teach this way. I think it would be fun and interesting. Like Prensky, I think that the digital stuff is not used enough and it really needs to be taken into consideration as a part of learning in the "new way".

I was able to relate to this article and agree with it. I consider myself someone that is a digital native and in school it is sometimes hard knowing that teachers often teach by book and lecture. I believe that technolgy gives a better learning experience and hands on type of learning. As a teacher I hope to encourage my students to technology as much as possible, but to also not forget about reading and learning through discussion.

Some things I don't understand...

> I truly think that I understood everything in the article. I could "see" where the author was coming from with his relationships and metphors as well as be able to make a dicission of agreeing or disagreeing. My though is that I like the article so much because I can directly relate to it, being a digital native. But, I can see where the digital immigrant could be dissapointed or disagree with the article.

> What I would like to better understand is why the digital immigrants are so opposed to learning something new or why the newer generations should learn the old way. I wish they would just give the digital stuff a shot and see how great it is.

Connection to other texts or course themes...
>> I cannot really think of anything off the top of my head to relate this with from class. Oh wait! We use the internet (blogging) as part of our class learning experience... GO Dr. Bogad! We are digital native and you know and understand how we learn best. :-)

>> Also, in one way or another the article can relate to the "Media Matters" assumption, the media is all around us and most people are continually turning to it, using it, and learning from it (good and bad learning).


Questions/Comments/Points to Share...
> What are other peoples outlooks on who should change, the digital native or digital immigrant?

> Is there a point where the two types can meet in the middle?

> I loved this article and was really interested and engaged when reading it!

> I like the titles of digital native and digital immigrant that the author used and I agreed with pretty much all of his points that were made in the article.





Monday, February 9, 2009

Hines Article

Author and Title...
The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager by Thomas Hine

Some things I understand...
After reading the Hine article I felt as though is was all about the life of a teenager; what they do, don't do, how they are viewed, etc. The article was okay. I agreed but at sometimes disagreed because I do not think that ALL teens are like this. Yes, the majority of them are just like the ones described in the article, but not all. Therefore, my mind was constantly shifting back and forth when reading the article and I am still confused as the where I stand in the end.
One of the biggest things that I agreed with when I was reading was a quote on page two. It states, "Maybe I'm something special, and maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm here for a reason and I might be going somewhere after this, but then again I might not. I wonder where I fit in?" I believe that all teenager face this thought in the during their teenage years. I know I felt this way when I was a teen. I think that teens feel like this and might ask themselves a similar question because their lives are beginning to change at this point, including their mind and body. Some teens are able to get through this point with no problems while others may suffer severely and have rough teenage years.
Another piece of the article that I agreed with and could see where the author was coming from was when he talked about teenagers "falling". He said that there are two different ways that people view teens as "falling", one being positive and then other negative. "Teenagers have been "falling" one way or another-- by dropping out of school, becoming pregnant, joining gangs--from the time society first started raising the age of adulthood. If you take a romantic view, young people "fall" in another way. They grow up. The cut their hair (or remove tattoos), give up their youthful idealism, and fade into the gray mass of adult society." I think that there are definitely both types of teens. Some choose one path while the others choose another. Unfortunately, I feel as though there are more teenagers that choose the negative "falling" rather than the positive one.
Overall, the author made some good points in his article and I enjoyed reading it. Hopefully, class discussion will help me see more of these teen ideas.


Some things I don't understand...
-- The text was hard to view, because all of the letters were smooshed together and some were hard to make out. Therefore, I constantly had to stop myself and say "what was/am I reading about again."

--I didn't get the point that the author made was he was stating that he really started the book when he did the yearbook thing back in high school.

--How can someone have a baby an prom and then just leave it there to die AND show no sign of emotion about what she had just done!!!!!!

--What exactly does the author mean by his title, "Are Teenagers Necessary?" Even if they are not necessary, there is no way of getting rid of them or changing those years of 13-19.

Connections to other texts or course themes...
--All of the things that were said in the article about teens can be viewed and are portrayed in much of the media.

--The article relates to the assumptions of "Youth is a culturally constructed category" and "Teenagers are not some alien life form".

--As I was reading the article I was able to see the connection of it being a parents nightmare when their child turns into a teen (it can be heared by almost every parent, even my own). Also, I thought back to middle school and high school and I would think of a some classmates that followed along with the usual teenager to-do's.

Questions/Comments/Points to share...
--Does everyone view teen as "bad"?

-- Are the teens actions justified by the mental ability because it is the teens that seen to be consistently performing the same acts?

--I enjoyed the article and could see some of the points that were being made about teens BUT I felt as though all teens were being bashed and recognized as bad and this stereotype does not hold true for ALL teens (in my opinion).

Sunday, February 1, 2009

MEDIA LITERACY

When I was exploring "media literacy" I was able to find many different things about it...

My first finding was the wikipedia definition of media literacy. "is the process of accessing, analyzing, evaluating and creating messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres and forms (Wikipedia)." It also stated that the process helps people to discover findings of "propaganda, censorship and bias" (Wikipedia). I can't say that I agree or disagree with the definition because I have not given it much thought before and I need to do some more research and come to a conclusion of what I think it is.

http://www.ced.appstate.edu/departments/ci/programs/edmedia/medialit/article.html
This site was okay... it gave some more information on what media literacy is, who teaches it, how to teach it, and what to look for. There was lots of reading to go through and the site was not eye catching, although it was informational. The site explained to the viewer that media literacy is looking at both print and non-print in various ways (analyzing, evaluating, communicating).

http://www.main.nc.us/cml/
This is a site that is put up by the non-profit organization of Citizens of Media Literacy. The site has various links to click on and find just what the viewer is looking for (or not looking for). The Citizens of Media Literacy does some of the following: "promotes citizens' responsibility for free speech rights, provides assistance to citizen activists and journalists on issues related to the Freedom of Information Act and Open Records laws, publishes media analysis and criticism, such as
Sinclair Media Watch, promotes public access to the media environment, especially via cable TV and the Internet." (Citizens of Media Literacy, 1999). I enjoyed the site and it seems like the organizations is doing great things.


http://www.pbs.org/teachers/media_lit/quiz.html
A site with a quiz. It was made up of media/children/teens and other types of ?'s. I took the quiz of 15 questions and my score was a 6 which is wayyyy low. I guess I don't know all the right answers... and I don't know much about media literacy.

http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/
This site is great for kids to use and educate themselves on the media. There are spots to click on advertisements and how the people make things look so good to get their attention. Other spaces to click were music and t.v. I don't know the site is hard to explain everything on it, so check it out for yourself. Make sure to click on everything... I think its really educational and even though it is more for kids, it was able to help me learn. As a teacher I might use it in the future with the students.

Overall, there is SO MUCH out there on media literacy. I had trouble determining what to click on and what would be important. Some things I found were good and some were not. I think that anyone could spend countless hours finding things on media literacy and it would never end.