Media Literacy- Pecha Kucha and summary of learning

Arriving at the end of my two week intensive summer session 2 class on media literacy we were asked to do a project called Pecha Kucha, a 20 slide/20 second presentation on things we looked at during our short time together. I had done a presentation like this in the past for a department overview so I was familiar with the format and not intimidated by the assignment. In fact, I thought it was a really cool way to culminate the end of the semester. Like many other times in this class I found myself jotting down notes to implement in my own class. 

I have not been in school formerly in over twenty years, although I have been through hundreds of hours of professional development, and self taught myself lots of the things I know. I compare my learning to the students featured in the hole in the wall by Sugata Mitra. This idea of independent learning was one that was brought up several times throughout the course when thinking about students and the way they learn. I really enjoyed learning about Wesch's ideas of a scaffolded classroom and hearing his ways of building deeper relationships with students. I also value connection and liked that he went beyond casual conversation and instead asked meaningful questions of his students. I was reminded of the history of education systems from Sir Ken Robinson and his thought's around standardized testing and independent learning really resonated with me as I thought about the way I structure my own class.  

I am a digital immigrant according to Prensky and  I know that my students are using technology and have access to things I didn't have available to me growing up. I think it is important to use the technology available to make the learning engaging beyond reading and lecturing and re-balance it with connection and conversations. Like Turkle I believe students need connection and like Boyd I believe they need to understand how to use the technology and how to become literate and informed about how they consume media.  

I grew up in a time without digital technology. According to Scott Noons  I used to identify as a technocrat, someone who would only use technology when  I had to.  Since the pandemic, and since I have spent so much time learning best practices with virtual learning and utilizing all the latest apps, I  feel I am a techno-traditionalist and on my way to being a techno-constructivist. I am getting good at using technology and I am more confident. I am also more connected to my why now that I have been an educator for over 20 years, and know that my lessons have meaning and intention. If I am showing a clip of a movie or using an app or doing an activity it is because it is connected to an objective not just because I think it is fun. 

Since I am familiar with lots of tech tools I decided for my final project, instead of focusing on one tool, I would focus on my syllabus.  I wanted to assess and critically look at one of my undergrad courses that I teach on human sexuality. I wanted to incorporate my learnings and positive experiences from this class into my own class. Before I started making changes I thought about Simon Sinek and intentionally about my why and what types of experiences I wanted my students to have.  I knew I wanted them engaged and participating.  When thinking about my why I focused on how I wanted students experiences to be different than mine growing up (learning about sex ed) and brainstormed a list of words I wanted my students to feel. 

I think having clear guidelines and expectations makes independent learning possible. I value time and think it is important and limited so I want to make the most out of it. I feel that by being intentional, organized, clear and consistent it allows my students to have accountability and autonomy. I think support is important so I want to set up spaces and places where students can get support from me, their classmates and know about resources on campus. I decided that my project would focus on pedagogy and updating my syllabus. I started color coding and hyperlinking everything they need, including slides and resources, so it is simplified and all in one place. I really wanted to cut down on the number of pages of my syllabus because I found it was overwhelming and students were not reading it. I hide a message for students to email me with their favorite candy bar. I reward the ones who send me the email but it is usually only a few students every semester. I really wanted it to become a living syllabus, similar to the one we used in this class, which I found easy to facilitate. 

For my final project I made a list of things I wanted to update which included utilizing various technology tools like blogs, podcasts and websites as a way of engaging students. I am creating a welcome video for students that explains the new syllabus and class format. I know I can still do a better job of creating an outside classroom environment to share resources, pictures of past projects and blogs.  I am going to explore setting up an instagram for project pictures and a google website for blog and picture sharing.  I am hoping that submitting through blogs will encourage my students to blog about other topics important to them and also help the reflections to reach folks outside class.  I also hope it will help build community and offer additional opportunities to connect with me outside class and after class has ended. I value the relationships formed and want to offer space to continue to share resources and stay in touch. I really enjoyed the slide about me and added that as a way to get to know students.  

I considered the ways in which I give credit for participation and attendance and how I might be able to adapt whether the exams I give are necessary.  I also really enjoyed creating my Pecha Kucha and will plan on using that platform as an option for end of the semester projects.  Finally, I went through each slide deck to see if there were areas I can step back and anti-teach.  The course I teach is set up to be self paced and students can jump ahead if they want so I created an assignment log/ tracker so students could keep track of  their progress.   I looked at both synchronous an asynchronous experiences to determine if there were opportunities to give up control and allow for more independence. I thought one area I can do this is how students submit their projects. Allowing them to use various methods will allow for increased creativity. 

I really appreciated having the time to think about how I would use the information learned. I have taken away a lot of things I can use in the future.  Some of these things were easy to implement and change right away and others I need to consider how to implement and need more time.  I will continue to update and remodel my syllabus over the summer. Much like a house remodel, it will never be done... there will always be something new to add or something that needs to change. I now have some new tools in my tool belt.   Thank you Dr Leslie Bogard for a great semester. 

Moana and princess fairy tales- the unsaid messages

 

I grew up reading fairy tales and eventually as I got older I watched Disney movies with princesses waiting for their knight in shining armor to come. I didn't realize it at the time but I guess I was like most kids and didn't question or think critically about what I was watching. Disney princesses weren't a thing when I was growing up and since I am a mom to two boys, I escaped the world of fairy tale dresses and tiaras. By the time my son was born and I was watching Disney movies (on VHS tapes) I had already acquired quite a bit of media literacy and found myself interpreting everything I watched and read. I appreciated my professor, Leslie Bogard, when she said she grappled with enjoying herself at the happiest place on earth.  I also had mixed feelings and emotions about going to Disney with my family and about certain characters that are misrepresented and sexualized. I can relate to not wanting to support things that go against my values but also understanding that at times there is going to be that conflict and I need to acknowledge it and make a decision on how to react. At times I may give in but it is a conscious decision. I also made a conscious decision not to drive my family nuts and enjoy myself. I compare it to the way I feel when I need something from Amazon or Walmart. 

One of my most recent memories was listening to the lyrics of the Sound of Music as an adult. There was a song I used to sing along to all the time growing up as a teenager called sixteen going on seventeen and when I listen to that song as an adult I become furious that I didn't comprehend the messages in the song earlier. It didn't necessarily make me like my favorite movie any less but instead gave me a different perspective and different lens to look at it through. I find this often happens with songs that I don't like the lyrics to but I like the beat or the sound of the music. I think being aware of the discrete messages is what is important. 

A few years ago I had the honor of co-teaching a class at Salve Regina University where we worked with a group of students from UCAP, an alternative middle school in Providence where most of the students were academically challenged and had a below average reading score. We took them to the University weekly where they met up college students and together they reviewed and critiqued fairy tales. At the end of the program they made up their own fairy tale without all the gender stereotypes and violence. It was  great experience and really engaged the students in the readings. I think we need to do more programs like that. 

I agree with the idea of a secret education that is mentioned in the article Unlearning the Myths that bind us by Linda Christensen. There are many generalizations that are portrayed in the media and like her students it is hard for me to watch things without my critical consciousness and it makes it difficult for me not to see the racism, sexism, and violence in most media. I really liked how Christensen gave opportunity for her students to write about their thoughts and learn advocacy skills to raise awareness and promote change. This is a great way to process the experience of representation and injustice with students.  Many of the cartoons and shows mentioned in her article I did grow up with. I remember going and buying a Jessica Rabbit prom dress. She was overly sexualized and glamorous and she was a rabbit but that didn't matter to me- I wanted that dress. 

I watched Moana (again) with my 10 year old son who had also previously watched it and explained to him that I was doing a project for school and I was looking for gender stereotypes, sexist remarks, comments that showed power etc... he made sure to nudge me if I missed on and questioned what I as writing down if he thought he missed one. It was a great way to pay attention to the details in the story that we might have overlooked. This movie is still riddled with stereotypes and gendered opinions like not taking her serious because she is a girl. Although this Disney movie is not as bad as some of the others it still has a great deal of misrepresentation and cultural over representation. I was also surprised to read how Disney changed the movie from her going into the army. I was also surprised at how many pages of notes with examples I had at the end of the movie. 

In closing I think that it is important to process media with young people and take advantage of the teachable moments to discuss the messages observed and feelings that are brought up because of it. I think using media is a great tool to meet students where they are at. I find media to be common ground that students enjoy discussing so as an educator I take advantage of the opportunity to engage them in discussion. 

Let me introduce you to Flippity

 

When the pandemic happened I was forced to shift my work to all virtual and watched lots of webinars and trainings to prepare me to make the transition.  Since then I have used lots of different apps to adapt my interactive, in person learning to virtual learning. I like using hands on manipulative toys to enhance my teaching and have had to make a lot of adaptations to find online tools that can make my in person activities still work. 

Flippity is one that allows you to do lots of things including making flash cards, games, spin wheels. For my tech tool highlight I decided to feature a flippity manipulative tutorial. I recorded how I use Flippity in a lesson that I do on analyzing risk for transmission of HIV.  I like the students having the ability to move around the statements on the screen the same way they would if we were in person.  This tech tool was part a presentation I did for the RI HIV STI prevention coalition called Prevention during a Pandemic. I enclosed the slides here in case anyone wants to check out the entire session which featured lots of tech tools and ideas for how to use them. 

Now that we are transitioning back to in person sessions I think there are some apps I will continue to use. Taking the time to go through and think intentionally about the learning strategies I use have improved my students experiences. I analyze the objective for the session and determine what the best instructional tool will be to evaluate whether the objective is met. I have learned about so many cool tools that help make learning more independent and fun. I plan on continuing to use these tools even in my face to face sessions. 

Remodel of the education system

 

After watching Sugata Mitra's Ted Talk , it really got me thinking about the history of the education system and where we are at today.  Sugata describes the present day education system -not as broken, but as obsolete, outdated and irrelevant. I agree that although 300 years ago there was a need to focus on hand writing, reading and math, todays desired skills are much different and our education system needs a remodel.  Even though we don't know what the jobs of the future will be or what skills we are going to need, we can start to look at the future of learning and consider alternatives to our current way of doing things. We can consider how we can adapt present day schooling to prepare students with current day skills they will use in everyday life.  

We want to encourage students to be creative and think outside the box yet our current education system treats all students the same and does not provide for individualized learning. The idea of students teaching themselves resonated with me because very little of what I learned in school prepared me for my career. I self taught myself through motivation and learned through experience. It reminded me students learn best in the absence of a teacher. In Sugata's Ted Talk, when he gives the students computers, he is curious about what would happen if he gave them an advance challenge in a foreign language and the children had no experience. What he learned is they figured it out and didn't give up. They helped each other and independently through broadband, collaboration and encouragement learned how to use the computers he left.  Regardless of other disparities, and nobody teaching them or showing them how to do it, they learned without even realizing they were learning. This proved it wasn't just the rich kids that were smart, it meant the rich kids had more access and when the less fortunate students had opportunities they too could learn. He made it his mission to provide access to computers to all students. 

Having a hired  "grannie", to ask supportive questions and praise progress as they went along, certainly might have also helped their independent learning. After watching this Ted Talk- I pondered the question what if we can all be "grannies" in teaching. What if learning is the product of guidance and support instead of lecturing and teaching? This seems like a logical approach so why don't we see more of it? I agree with Sugata that encouraging and saluting students learning works better than telling them what to do.  My favorite quote was when he said "It's not about making learning happen it is about letting it happen. The teacher sets the process in motion and then steps back in awe of the learning process". This aligns with my philosophy of teaching and my preference for facilitating a classroom. 

I also reflected on the idea of setting up organized, self learning environments and reflected on my own experience with self paced webinars and alternative independent learning styes.  I considered the question he asks- what if we don't need to go to school at all? When you need to know something you find out in 2 minutes, this is true,  I reflected on his thoughts about heading toward a future where knowing is absolute. I think he is right. It is more important to know how to find the answer to then to have all the answers. Information is changing so quickly that to stay up to date and relevant we need to have a more fluent adjustable way to get information to young people and to adults. The internet is our current day encyclopedia and gives us access to lots of information and we need to help students learn how to navigate it safely for themselves with little censorship. I do worry about relying so heavily on technology that we take the human connection out of learning.  I worry about students missing out on the relationships during independent learning, so we need to make sure that it also includes clear expectations, opportunities for support, encouragement, collaboration and growth. We know since the covid pandemic that we have started to shift the way we teach and the way we learn. Many families began working and learning out of their homes and lots of asynchronous education happened.  In person teaching had to quickly shift to online platforms and breakout rooms became a teaching strategy. We have had to adapt our teaching and the way we teach now is much different than the way we taught pre-pandemic. The virtual world within google classroom and zoom requires a lot of independence and teachers had to quickly learn how to structure their instruction to keep students engaged virtually. It also required students to be disciplined while they avoided at home distractions.  While in person learning has returned in most places, the desire to continue engaging classrooms must persist and continue to be improved. We can't stay outdated in teaching and need to remodel the way we do education to make sure it is updated, useful and meaningful. 

What's barbie have to do with education?

 

I found myself comparing the way that I cover stereotypes and gender in my college human sexuality 101 classroom to the article Girls, Worms and Body Image by Kate Lyman.  Her approach and experience as a second and third grade teacher were in fact very similar to mine and we use a few of the same activities, despite the age differences of our students.  I was entertained by her idea of bringing back an old fashion day to experience gender discrimination first hand. Although I really enjoyed the idea of the lessons that could come out of an opportunity like dressing up and acting out a time in history- it did made me wonder about whether we are still stuck in thinking about these ideas of gender in an old fashion way. When I think of all the ways gender discrimination still shows up, I feel we still have a long way to go with gender issues and don't want to confuse students into thinking it was an issue of the past.  Including a debriefing question, like what does current day discrimination look like, would be important.  

Kate Lyman did something I did early on in my career which was separating students by gender and saying "lets talk about facts about boys/men" and "Facts about girls/women" and have them brainstorm in groups about the opposite gender.  I haven't done this in several years  because I feel grouping students based off of gender is a bad idea.  By putting students into groups based of gender, it  reinforces the gender binary, which could especially be problematic if someone's identifies different from the group or gender assigned to them or if they are non binary and don't identify as either gender.  I have adapted this activity over the years to be more inclusive of non binary folks, so I now frame the discussion around assumptions we make about someone assigned male/female at birth. Despite the age differences our students responded the same to the similar question and their perceptions of gender look identical and come from similar media messages.  I also include in my version an all/both/everyone- and  ask my students how many of their responses may be experienced by everyone and ask them why they think we still hold onto "either this or that "perspectives? I ask my adult students probing questions as they are doing their brainstorm like who has the expectation to drive, pay on a date and/ or ask someone on  date? Obviously these questions would not be appropriate to ask second and third graders but with my college students I can eventually get to a place of conversation around equality. Sometimes teaching happens in funny ways. I love that her story includes a rainstorm where a bunch of worms come up and she uses it as an opportunity to put the girls in charge of collecting the worms and breaking the stereotypes that dirt is for boys. Sometimes learning happens when we least expect it. I loved this example of how we can shift attitudes and beliefs. 

I really enjoyed that Lyman used story "X" to guide a discussion about gender in the classroom. I thought this was a great way to incorporate the topic into the curriculum. I found it interesting when she had them look around at each others clothes to see that most of them are unisex.  I often point out that we gender everything from backpacks and lunch boxes to razors and socks. Many products that are similar pay a higher tax because they are marketed towards girls/women. This is known as the pink tax.  

Kate Lyman also does another similar activity that I also do with my students around analyzing media.  She and I both bring in barbies and ask our students to tell us what they see. I review the dimensions of what barbie would look like in real life (shown in picture) and how she would topple over because her body dimensions would be disproportionate to her body figure. take it a step further and look at the marketing of toy packaging including what gender role might be displayed. We also both give our students the opportunity to show us examples of where they find sexualized, gender stereotypes in ads they see. My students often make comments about not even knowing what products some ads are actually advertising for. 

I reflected on the idea that she was doing similar activities with her second graders. Is it a topic too complex for a second grader or too simple for a college student? I think neither. I think it is important to start young with teaching media literacy (and safety) at a young age and continue to have these conversations as young people grow up. I hope that we can shift the idea of binary ways of thinking and start to expand this idea outside the classroom and into businesses.  Students of all ages realize the discrimination is happening and hopefully the work we do in the classroom can prepare them to look critically at advertisements and media from a more inclusive lens as they enter into adulthood. We want young people to see more representation of themselves in the media and not unrealistic false expectations shown through a filtered lens that is unattainable. 

Weekend remodel (of my syllabus)

 

I am learning so much in this intensive media literacy class and I have a to do list for the weekend homework and to get me prepared for class and my final project next week. Luckily I am more comfortable with the blogging platform and I am feeling ahead of the game, since I already watched the Sugata MitraTed Talk, and Moana earlier in the week with my family.  I also bought the textbook earlier in the summer and read it from cover to cover so I feel prepared to select an excerpt and blog about it.  Jumping ahead on these things helped me with the pacing over the long holiday weekend so I don't feel overwhelmed.  I also already peeked ahead at the digital tools document and I am excited to pick a tool to play with.  I am going to save this until the end as recommended.  In this class I have learned to use blogs, podcasts and websites as a way of engaging students and I am planning on implementing these in my classes going forward. My plan is to spend the weekend working on my project and writing the 5 blogs I need to submit before Wednesday. 

Since I had many ahh ha moments in this class about the pedagogy used here and how I can implement more independent learning, I have decided to make my project about updating my syllabus to a live document with hyperlinks to everything needed.  When  I think about and consider my beliefs about education I realize how important it is to have organization, clear expectations, and engaging learning opportunities to facilitate understanding and knowledge of information, skills and why it matters. I like to call it head, heart, hand.  I have always been very intentional about meeting and assessing objectives but now want to be more intentional about being flexible and collaborating. 

My current syllabus is currently 17 pages and overwhelming. Students are not reading it and I want to simplify and color code it to organize it and make it easier to facilitate.  I am currently using  platform to house the slides and resources but want to put everything in one place to simplify the experience. When I think about times that I learn best it is when things are clearly laid out and I know exactly what the expectation is. I really liked the checklist used to keep track of assignments and plan on implementing that.  I have already set it up so most of the course is self paced and students can jump ahead if they want.  the tracker will be perfect for keeping track of their progress.   I have heard feedback that students really like having all the assignments listed so they can jump ahead if they desire. I also really like that as a student myself, as you can see from my own jumping ahead. 

When I think about other things that I have learned in this class, it has reminded me that my previous work in making my syllabus diverse and comprehensive has paid off. I currently use several methods of assessment beyond exams and allow for creativity with their final project. Since I have been teaching primarily online I needed to do a lot of adjustments to my previous syllabus to make my interactive classroom activities engaging in an online platform.  I know I can still do a better job of creating an outside classroom environment to share resources, pictures of past projects and blogs.  I am going to explore setting up an instagram for project pictures and a google website for blog and picture sharing.  I am hoping that submitting through blogs will encourage my students to blog about other topics important to them and also help the reflections to reach folks outside class. 

I plan on also creating a welcome video for students that explains the syllabus and class format. I really enjoyed the slide about me and want to incorporate that as a way to get to know students in addition to the flip grid video I have them submit the first week of school on why they took the class and what they hope to get out of the class. I plan on spending the weekend considering the ways in which I give credit for participation and attendance and how I might be able to adapt whether the exams I give are necessary.  I also really enjoyed using the Pecha Kucha as a way of presenting material and will offer that as an option for end of the semester projects.  Finally I also want to go through each slide deck and see if there are areas I can give up control and anti-teach and also offer additional opportunities to connect with me outside class and after class has ended because I value the relationships formed during class and want to offer space to continue to share resources and stay in touch. I have a lot to do this weekend but I am excited to have time devoted to adapting the things I learned this week. 

Influences of Wesch and Turkle on my teaching

I was really intrigued by Michael Wesch's idea of anti-teaching especially in this new virtual teaching world I feel I am stuck in for  a while.  The idea that traditional ways of teaching can be a hinderance makes sense to me in a world where students appreciate autonomy and independence and have the ability to seek and share information in traditional ways.  So much informal learning happens outside the classroom whether students (and teachers) want to admit it or not.   The idea that the best learning comes in the absence of a teacher made me stop and consider how I set up my own classroom for individualized learning and asynchronous time.  It also reminds me of the flipped classroom and how successful that has been in my experiences.  

Wesch's idea of focusing less on the quality of teaching and more on the quality of learning inspired me to re-examine the classes I teach from my students perspective to see how I can turn over more control and keep them engaged in the learning. I agree with Wesch that students need to find significance and meaning to the learning and not just do busy work. Explaining the connection to real world relevance is important as the question "why do we need to know this" is often considered. 

The idea that I need to be at the center of the room teaching or talking at students in a row goes against my values of engaging and empowering learning.  It is not about me as the instructor but rather the focus should be on the learner and how we can individualize and make the experience work for the student to be most productive.  I have heard some adults say that a particular student is not cut out for learning but yet those same students go on to be super successful in other areas outside the classroom. I think providing a variety of opportunities to learn is important. When we think about all of the various multiple intelligences that students have, it makes sense to mix up the techniques used to teach. 

When Michael Wesch discusses the significance and meaning in education it really resonated with me because I want my classrooms to be more than just me sharing what I know and conveying good information. As Wesch points out, it's more important to ask good questions and inspire students, and have them leave thinking about more questions. In the learning experiences I found most helpful, I left with questions like how can I implement this, or I wonder what would happen if I tried this.

I could also relate to Wesch's desire to be asked more meaningful questions by his students and find myself similarly frustrated responding to administrative questions about how long something needs to be or what font it should be in.   

I have also experienced situations with students who are non- traditional learners and who don't learn by lecture style say things like  "I hate school" or "I am not good at __".  Some give up because they have failed to find the meaning of why they needed to know the information and they have no way of making up the failing grade.  Without the ability to change the grade- they leave feeing like a failure and without the learning they need to move forward.  In many RI schools you can still pass the grade with F's. We call it "socially promoting" students. The problem with it is that if students don't learn the concepts and still get promoted, they end up falling further behind, and often get overwhelmed and then want to give up. The students also start to feel like they got away with something because they failed and still passed. It sends the wrong message. Instead, we need to work with students to make sure they are understanding the ideas and not falling behind or getting frustrated with learning and teaching them how to overcome  challenges so they can persevere. Similarly, there are often students who are not challenged enough. Pairing students who are struggling with students who understand can be a great use of peer education for learning and I believe we need to see more of it. 

Sherry Turkle said it best when she said technology allows us to customize and edit everything. It got me wondering what education would look like if students could customize and edit it. What if an F wasn't an F for forever but rather something they could go back and fix. If they could master the learning they failed? Wouldn't we be teaching them about life- about picking yourself up and trying again until you get it and succeed? We need to expose young people to the reality that life is complicated and as Sherry Turkle says- we can't clean it up and retouch it to make it look perfect in reality- life is messy and we need to teach kids how to cope with the messy. 

I think that Sherry Turkle and Michael Wesch are allies in the sense that they both understand the importance of human connection and communication skills and both would agree that traditional styles of lecturing aren't working and that we need more personal experiences to connect to the learning and each other. Turkle, a psychologist, realizes devices not only change what we do but who we are. We need to consider different ways we can use tech for the positive and balance it with connecting to students in a real authentic way. I loved Wesch's example of going to lunch and asking students intentional questions, not just having small talk. Turkle also talks about the importance of vulnerability and feeling like someone is listening.  Both Turkle and Wesch talk about relationships and community and how to create spaces where conversations can happen.  Both  recognize that young people need authentic real connection and an individualized opportunity to express their understanding of learning to be successful. 

What matters in a classroom

 

While watching the Ted Talk, Learning from Baby George, by Mike Wesch, I found myself making a similar comparison to my own experiences working in schools and particularly in higher education. My students will often ask me what they can do for a higher grade when they have missed class, put no effort in and have not submitted the assignments. They haven't done the work necessary, yet want the passing grade. The grade is always their main focus, not the learning. I have had students say to me- what do I need to do to pass this course when they have not put any effort into it. Sometimes they only take my class because they think it will be an easy A and are surprised when it is not as easy as they thought, and they don't know everything I teach.  The vaccination theory, the idea that once you have learned something you don't need to relearn it really stood out to me.  I am someone who believes in life long learning and I think you can continuously grow and add to your tool box and take away different things from different learning experiences. Some of the things I learn from repeat learning experiences are techniques, other times it is content but I always learn something new or am reminded of something I may have forgot about.  I think setting expectations is important so students understand exactly what is needed to succeed so they feel responsible and accountable for the work completed. I don't assign letter grades to reflections because I want them to express themselves without worry of what the grade will be.  I find this more effective than exams since they are given points for completing the work assigned but with a lot less pressure.  I have found exit slips and reflections helpful in evaluating take away messages and the retention of learning.  

Another thing that stood out to me, is the idea of real world education and thinking about being a young student today. I believe we need to do better in this area and provide more resources and training to make the learning more engaging so students want to engage and learn because they are interested it and find it meaningful. Packing students into a room and dumping education is not working. When class size is big it loses the personalization and I have seen cases where teachers don't even know the students name. They get lost in the chaos of unorganized classrooms and often teachers are frustrated with the classroom management and aren't actually facilitating learning. . I find the connections with students are so important and love that Mike Wesch made it a point to sit with his students and have lunch with them and have meaningful conversations with them to create those relationships and find out what mattered to them. We need more of that. I find even just standing outside in the halls for passing time can make such a big difference in being an approachable adult. I recently did a training session on becoming an approachable adult you can view the slides here for other tips. 

I agree with Mike that students are more than their score or grade.  We know not everyone learns the same yet our educational systems are set up to fail lots of kids. Every student should have an individualized learning plan unique for them and their needs. Moving beyond grades and pass/fail and changing the grading system would help develop young people's confidence and assure students are learning the material and not just being socially promoted because of their age.   There is a lot of pressure put on the student from everyone about grades- the teacher, the parents and even other students. If you get too good of grades you maybe picked on for being a bookworm, geek or nerd so students may not push themselves or express their knowledge for fear of student rejection and name calling. There is a common belief that the smart students are not the popular students. I also see this effects the students who are struggling. They start to believe they can't do it and may just give up- they also might start to identify as the "kid who doesn't like school" and play to that part giving up on future opportunities to learn and thinking their popularity depends on it. Students express themselves in various, diverse ways and it's so important to provide young people spaces to create and learn through their preferences. For example one of my middle school classes was really into TikToc so we encouraged them to create videos after learning about bystander intervention, this went over great because they were able to use technology and a platform they were already comfortable with. Here is an example of a video we created. 

Finally, I really loved the idea of scaffolding the eduction and the idea of helping each other reach goals and not having the project or final grade be the end of learning. I currently teach a course where we work on parts of a project throughout the semester.  I teach the why they need it along with the what they need to know and we break down each assignment into smaller manageable chunks of information that is not overwhelming to them. I think it is important to support and celebrate students progress along the way and I applauded the idea of giving students the opportunities to get it right.  It is important for students to take chances and risks so they can experience the success of reaching a goal and also have the support to work things out when they don't understand or need another chance. We don't ever want to leave a child feeling like they failed and have no opportunity to improve. That is not the lesson we want them to learn or the message we want to leave them with. 

Media Literacy and my experience

 I admit I had Encyclopedia's I referenced for info growing up.  I remember the transition from type writers to computers. I sound old when  I think I used the over head projector slides when I first started teaching and I printed and wasted a lot of paper worrying that the internet would lose what I needed. I feared that if I used technology it would fail me and so I let a few experiences of tech issues frighten me into not relying on it and mastering engaging presentations that did not rely on me using PowerPoints, videos or technology. 

As I thought about my first experiences using a computer, I was at the time very literate. In fact, my very first job when I was 15 I was building computers that  I got to take home (at a time when most people did not have a computer in the house) and my step father was in advertising so he also had one. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to learn about them and how they work. Although at the time I had a lot of pride in knowing how to build one- I actually knew very little about how to use one. It was before the internet and most of my early experiences were making signs for my room that said "no boys allowed" in different fonts. It wasn't until after I graduated college that I actually started using the computer for other things like searching products and social media. I somehow lost the confidence I had when I was younger and became intimidated by all the fanciness of the internet. According to Mark Prensky, I am an immigrant (which I hate the use of he terminology but I will save that for another blog) and for the most part I would agree. I have a fear of trying tech and having it fail me so I have avoided it. I have even paid for a website but never set it up. My PowerPoints looked boring and I started believing I was media illiterate because that is what I told myself. 

Although I didn't rely on technology  I have always used media in my class to educate and discussed where they get messages about certain things and what messages they get. I have found a lot of young people turn to google for their information like Danah Boyd references in the chapter 7 of media literacy. I agree that adults assume they have the knowledge to understand the information and decide what is fact and what is not and the reality is they don't. They believe everything they read and are not skilled at fact checking and sometimes need an adult to process through what they are discovering. 

All of that changed when the pandemic changed and we were thrusted into virtual learning. As Marc would say I gained "digital wisdom" by practicing and learning and trying. I didn't give up when the tech failed because I couldn't. I  figured it out and I gained confidence. I learned about new platforms that would make it easier and a year into it I feel like I am mastering the skill of virtual learning. I haven't created my website yet but I suppose now that  I am blogging that will be my next step.

  Here is the link to a conference I presented on a few months ago where I co-presented on apps and technology- something I never thought I would or could do. I also started a Bitmoji classroom (pictured) which I have discovered is a great way to engage with students. 

A little bit about me...

                                        Piper (left) Punky (right) 

I am mom to 2 amazing human boys (Nicholas 22 and Matteo 10) and 2 french bulldog sisters (Punky named after Punky Brewster and Piper named after Rowdy Piper the wrestler). I love to travel and my goal is to travel to all 50 states before I turn 50. I enjoy gardening and seeing things I plant grow and change over time. I think it is a good metaphor for the work I do with young people.

Professionally: I talk about taboo topics- a lot. The more taboo- the more I want to talk about it. For the past twenty years my job has included talking about taboo topics- mostly around sex and gender. The last couple years it has focused around domestic and sexual violence. For most people discussing puberty with a 4th or 5th grade class would freak them out- I love it. I find satisfaction in offering young people a different experience with sexuality education than I had growing up. Giving young people spaces to ask questions and get honest, age appropriate, information has become my calling. I was fortunate to work for a Planned Parenthood for 10 years and they gave me a lot of great experience and the opportunity to present hundreds of workshops and trainings to a variety of diverse audiences.

I returned to RIC as an adjunct professor almost 10 years ago to teach Human Sexuality to college students who mostly claim they had poor education prior to the class. In addition I teach a graduate course that helps prepare teachers to teach sexuality education.

I am very active in the community and have a motto "it's better to collaborate than to compete" so I try and work with as many people as I can and enjoy making connections- living in RI makes that easy.