Philosophy of Education

Education gives us independence and power.  We use it to improve our lives, our community, our country and the world.  The more we learn the more I hope we are humbled at what there is still left to learn.  I believe in instilling students with the value of hard work, the power of confidence and need for ethics. "Work smart AND hard." (Ritz, 2013)

As a teacher, I am kind but firm.  I take the task of learning and working hard very seriously but I have a sense of humor in my classroom.  I am impressed with bright students and continually try to challenge them.  I have faith and confidence in struggling students and continually remind them to have faith and confidence in themselves because I know the underdog can prevail.  I inspired by the hard working students who try their best, no matter what the obstacles are. I actively listen to what students are saying and respond without judgement while doing everything in my power to assist them.  I love sharing with the students all the different ways they can learn about a topic and all the different ways they can apply what they learn outside of the classroom.

I believe the use of technology has greatly helped education and administration.  I have been blogging for over 8 years using various blogs and they have all been successful.  I have created and maintained wikis for high school students with great success and also to continue to use various other online tools for education.  Technology can be used in safe and very effective ways to assign and collect assignments, assess and communicate with students and parents, just to name a few.  It can also be a way for students to share work with their peers. "One student emphasized how writing for an audience is more exciting than the regular way of writing for the teacher:"…at school, no one else [but the teacher] reads [my texts], so it really doesn't mean that much."(Avila, 2012)

I know the media (television, online, billboards, etc) play a huge part in all of our lives.  I will help students to be aware of the media around them by helping them create their own media and/or digital story with the messages that they believe in that are related to our area of study.  Educators should additionally help guide students in exploring their interests and values without the help of advertisers and celebrities steering them into stereotypes and consumerism.  "Experiencing such digital stories, assisting kids and adults as they create them, and documenting their meanings and significance bring home to me a most urgent need: to expand our conceptions of what it means to be fully literate in new times."(Hull, 2003)  Students need formal guidance on how to interpret the media given the amount of time most American children and adults are online and watching television. "Such interrogations can lead to disruptions of taken-for-granted realities with an explicit aim of the critique and transformation of dominant ideologies, cultures and economies, and institutions and political systems."(Avila, 2012) "Recent research has highlighted the need for educators to bring digital literacies into our classrooms."(Avila, 2012) 

Educating others and educating oneself is beautiful and timeless.  My passion for educating others, improving the education system around me and educating myself will never die.

Resources and Links:

Avila, J. & Pandya J. Z. (2012). Critical Digital Literacies as Social Praxis: Intersections and Challenges. Peter Lang: New York

Ritz, Erica. "Mike Rowe on How Many Are Following the "Worst Advise in the History of the World"." Blaze. 23 Oct 2013: n. page. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. <http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/23/mike-rowe-of-dirty-jobs-speaks-about-hard-work-how-many-are-following-the-worst-advice-in-the-history-of-the-world/?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=ShareButtons&utm_content=buffer5e27a&utm_medium=twitter>.

Storyful, . Model Transformed by Airbrushing Highlights Media Distortion of Women. 2013. Video. Yahoo! News, Global DemocracyWeb. 3 Nov 2013. <http://news.yahoo.com/video/model-transformed-airbrushing-highlights-media-130320963.html>.

Hull, Glynda. "At Last: Youth Culture and Digital Media: New Literacies for New Times." Research in the Teaching of English. 38. 2003. <http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.fairmontstate.edu/stable/40171638>.

"The Visual Literacy Toolbox." Teaching Visual Literacy to Students with Technology. Center for Teaching Excellence. Web. 1 Sept 2013. <http://www.humanities.umd.edu/vislit/activityplans.php>.

Cameron , Russell. Looks Aren. 2013. Video. You Tube: TED channelWeb. 25 Aug 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KM4Xe6Dlp0Y>.

Digital Story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcH0oJjn-MY

Please use the link as I have posted it as unlisted.  I hope it is meaningful to you in some way.

Reading Discussion #14

"Experiencing such digital stories, assisting kids and adults as they create them, and documenting their meanings and significance bring home to me a most urgent need: to expand our conceptions of what it means to be fully literate in new times."

I believe this quote stood out to me because the author has the same sentiment that the author of our text does in the urgency to teach digital literacy.  I would say I agree but am also surprised that the author says it is an urgent need.  I think most people feel that using the internet or watching television is something they have a lot of experience in and they feel they can handle media messages just fine.  It does take research to be presented the way DUSTY does to make an impact to people that, yes, we are swayed by the media and advertisers in the way they want us to go.  DUSTY does sound like a really fun and worthwhile organization that really empowers people to be their own agent of change!

http://www.youtube.com/user/DUSTYOTEC

Above is the link to a DUSKY YouTube channel.  It had a lot of different links to info about media literacy and even lesson plans!

1.  Digital storytelling promotes academic literacies because it encompasses written and spoken language, requires the storyteller to brainstorm and organize ideas and be creative, artistic and engaging.
An example from the text, "...we can help draw on interdisciplinary insights from fields such as communications theory, film studies, visual culture, semiotics, and ethnography of media…"
2.  Absolutely not, a digital story has more dimensions to incorporate various sound throughout, various images/videos and then written or spoken text.  I believe only a highly skilled writer can engage most people better than through the digital story's visual images of text and pictures as well as the auditory components of music and spoken words.
3.  They will definitely become more proficient in the programs needed to make the movies, which is better than just using media to be online.  Ideally, they will also be more likely to realize that the media is always giving us the images and messages they want us to hear (the same way they, as creators of a digital story, only shared what they wanted to share).  Additionally, it becomes more of an interactive yet personal project which will help the students feel more pride and accountability in their work which will inspire a stronger desire to create a high quality product.

At Last: Youth Culture and Digital Media: New Literacies for New Times

Glynda A. Hull

Research in the Teaching of English , Vol. 38, No. 2 (Nov., 2003), pp. 229-233

Published by: National Council of Teachers of English

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.fairmontstate.edu/stable/40171638