Welcome! On this blog, you will find self-developed reflections and teaching activities related to the theory and practice of creative & expository literacy instruction. Also, you will find discussion related to the theory and practice of utilizing critical literacies, digital / technological writing pedagogies & literacies, pop culture, and the media as instructional tools in the English / Language Arts classroom.
Google has already began to influence the core paradigms by which individuals compose, share, and consume digital content. Via the creation of "cloud-based" web applications such as the Google suite of composition tools (e.g., Google Docs), as well as multi-modal content distribution systems (e.g., Picasa, YouTube, and so on), Google has changed, and continues to change, the "rules" by which creators create and consumers consume.
To continue pushing their paradigm of having ALL processing and storing power done via the "cloud" (aka secured remote servers), Google is hard at work developing and building a buzz around their upcoming operating system titled "Chrome OS." To make a very long and complicated explanation short, Chrome OS stands to challenge a number of traditional computer usage paradigms including, but of course not limited to, the following:
-computers utilizing Chrome OS will have NO local storage! Zero! Zilch! Nada! Instead, EVERYTHING will be stored on remote servers (aka the "cloud"). In other words, EVERY document, photo, video, and so on created will be stored on company-housed servers vs. personal machines.
-computers utilizing Chrome OS will be REQUIRE a constant connection to the internet in order to access various "cloud-based" features.
-and perhaps most unique, computers utilizing Chrome OS will be little more than conduits / gateways to online content including the existing Google suite of multi-modal composition and consumption tools.
-and perhaps most interesting... computers utilizing Chrome OS will be INEXPENSIVE!
The educational implications and applications of this sort of "cloud-based" computing are no doubt interesting. Imagine how students' and teachers' roles would change if EVERYONE had access to a computer capable of basic multi-modal composition and consumption! However, there are some TREMENDOUS disadvantages inherent to this paradigm of computing that threaten to INCREASE the digital divide vs. close the gap; mainly, the REQUIRED network connection! Until nation-wide internet access becomes more widespread AND affordable, many schools and families risk not possessing the necessary network components to enable core functionality of this device!
Overall, it will be extremely interesting to see how Google Chrome OS plays out, especially for educators. For additional information on Google's Chrome OS, check out the following article:
Although I still haven't 100% settled on my final project idea for CI 5474, let me give you a quick refresher regarding what I'm heavily considering. Throughout our course so far, the topic that stands out to me the most, as well as just plain interests me the most, is the idea of an online role play. Per my proposed task and rationale as previously published on the wiki I designed for our course...
TASK
I really, really like the idea of having an interactive sort of role play like we have been reading and talking about in class. Given my interest with this idea, I am thinking about setting up a sort of role play experience via Facebook or Ning with which student-controlled characters from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird would interact with each other in a number of ways including:
-Multi-modal public writing back and forth on profile walls / forum posts in response to student-created issues of inquiry relevant to the text (if the teacher where "friends" with these characters in the FB environment, it would be very easy to view and monitor each character's wall).
-Multi-modal private writing in response to student-created issues of inquiry relevant to the text (although this would be slightly less transparent to monitor and assess as a teacher, even if the teacher were "friends" with the characters in the FB environment).
-Uploading and tagging each other in multi-modal texts in response to student-created issues of inquiry relevant to the text .
(Again, if the teacher were "friends" with the group in the FB environment, this general activity would be relatively easy to "see" and monitor).
For the assessable product form that this project could take, students could be required / expected to:
-select a major OR minor character from TKM
-create a COMPLETE FB / Ning profile for said character which effectively articulates some sort of specific interpretation / purpose / Stance / P.O.V.
-befriend other role play participants
-collaborate with other role play participants to generate and explore issues of inquiry relevant to the text via multi-modal FB / Ning exchanges
-respond to said issue FROM THE ROLE / PERSPECTIVE / STANCE / P.O.V. of said character via effective use of multi-modal writing
RATIONALE
I feel as though such an interactive role play activity promotes a critical stance toward the text in a number of ways:
-Either medium affords opportunities for critical analysis: As students complete their character's FB / Ning profile and complete text fields such as the "about me," "interests," "quotes," "favorite books and movies," and so on sections, students will need to have critically read, thought about, and analyzed their characters VERY closely if they hope to later utilize relevant, character-based responses to role play prompts. In other words, saying that Tom Robinson's favorite food is "pizza" or that his political stance is "liberal" simply will not do!
-The mediums afford opportunities for the practicing of digital literacies: As students interact with others via their respective character's role on FB / Ning, they will be required to post and comment on images and video gathered from the internet as a means of exploring the issue of inquiry they generate. For example, if the central issue of inquiry is something like "what are the underlying ideologies of the old South?" students could gather and comment on images and video portraying racism, further commenting on these images to make connections to their specific characters and issue.
-The medium affords access and familiarity: It's no doubt that students are already using, as well as grossly proficient with, FB and other social networking tools! This type of assignment will show them how social networking sites can also be used for analytical purposes AND perspective taking purposes. Also, each medium's blend of synchronous AND a-synchronous components allows conversations to occur outside of the classroom, ideally on students' own, self-initiated behavior. In other words, if they are already into the behavior of constantly checking their personal social networking pages to see what is going on with their friends, perhaps this assignment will be perceived as a MUCH more social, valuable, and overall fun experience.
In chapter 9 of our course text, Anson, Beach, Breuch, and Swiss (2009) suggest the importance of participating alongside students as digital writing tools are utilized to foster process-based revisions:
"I strive to post a specific, positive comment of a clarifying question on at least one piece of writing for every student. My comments, as well as comments of more adept peers, serve as a model for expanding students' response vocabulary as they are picked up and modified by others" (191).
For this particular activity, instructors could similarly adopt roles, create COMPLETE FB / Ning profiles, and actively participate in the larger role-play activity alongside their students, contributing to the role-play and offering students role-specific feedback. For example, via their specific roles (e.g., "mayor" or Maycomb, concerned citizen, and so on and so forth), instructors could pose clarifying questions and comments surrounding student-lead discussion. While acting in this capacity, I could foresee instructors posing questions such as "I like your idea, Atticus, but have you thought of point A from my perspective as Maycomb's X? How might I react to what you're arguing? What might I agree with? What might I disagree with?" In short, such active, role-based instructor participation would help model appropriate interactions for students to further appropriate.
OR, perhaps via a different FB / Ning profile, instructors could provide traditional or otherwise "teacher" feedback by posing similar clarifying questions and comments surrounding student-lead discussion, but in more of an authoritative evaluator / instructor vs. peer collaborator / participator mode. In short, this more distanced, evaluative feedback would further establish the trajectory and expectations of the overall experience. And perhaps best of all, the FB AND Ning applications provide instructors with the option to provide private, student-centered evaluative feedback via private messaging systems if student-teacher confidentiality / privacy is an issue.
Bellow is the link to a potential rubric I have developed thus for my project. Please, I welcome your feedback and suggestions as assessing this sort of activity is completely new to me!
As I sat down to begin approaching this week's assignment on the subject of fashion, I immediately thought of an A&E special on prison tattoos that I recently watched before going to bed (random, I know). During the special, cameras were sent behind the "closed bars" (pun completely intended I'm pretty sure) of the nation's toughest prisons to explore the complex cultures, meanings, and functions behind prison tattoos.
Although what I learned about the cultures, meanings, and functions behind prison tattoos didn't necessarily shock me, a rather surprising observation dawned on me upon further reflection; there appears to be little (if any) difference between the visual, textual, and behavioral coding functions of prison tattoos, and the visual, textual, and behavioral coding functions of the fashions that our students spend millions on each year! Before I completely flush out my logic behind this observation, check out this montage of various prison tattoos that I discovered on YouTube. As you watch, pay special attention to the SPECIFIC WORDS that are often represented via tattoo art, as well as the SPECIFIC IMAGES that are often represented.
DISCLAIMER: Some of what you will see visually, textually, and behaviorally is rather explicit and prejudiced material. This material is being utilized for research and analytical purposes ONLY; in NOW WAY does it reflect any of MY particular ideological orientations or beliefs!
Throughout the A&E special, the authors' main thesis is that tattoos are primarily utilized in the prison setting as symbols by which to identify with, claim membership with, and / or represent various prison cultures and subcultures, including their respective ideological orientations and behavioral expectations. For example, one of the many prison cultures which the A&E special explored was the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (typically abbreviated as the "AB" or "ABT"), a radical, white-supremacist group with various soldiers and cells operating both in and out of the U.S. prison system. After potential recruits perform various acts of violence to earn the group's trust, acceptance, (one of the many required behavioral expectations for admittance to the group), they identify their membership with and represent the group and its ideological orientations by having a system of various visual and textual codes tattooed onto their bodies - some arrangement of the swastika (to represent their white-supremacist ideological orientations and help define what type of behaviors are expected of in-group members), sword and shield (to represent that they are "warriors" / "soldiers" with the responsibility of defending this ideological orientation), and some form of the text "AB" or "ABT" (as shorthand code for the group's comlete name). These visual and textual codes are then used to identify, represent, and define group behavioral expectations (you can fill in the blanks here...), as well as protect allied members of the in-group. Furthermore, these visual and textual codes are inversely used toalienate, set behavioral limits with, and often threaten members of enemy / other out-groups with differing and / or incompatible ideological orientations and behavioral expectations.
Take a moment to compare these sets of images side-by-side...
Given the above summary and discussion, I don't necessarily perceive any difference between the visual, textual, and behavioral coding functions of prison tattoos, and the visual, textual, and behavioral coding functions of the fashions that our students spend millions on each year!
THE "DESIGNER" GROUP
Just as the swastika, sword and shield, and textual "AB" / "ABT" are utilized to identify with, claim membership with, and represent the ideological orientations and behavioral expectations of a group like the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, the Hollister Co.'s seagull graphic and accompanying textual slogan "Surf Team" are utilized by wearers to identify with, claim membership with, and represent a particular culture with its own unique ideological orientations and behavioral expectations.
On its own, I have never really considered what denotative and connotative meanings the seagull may carry. My best guess is that the seagull has an obvious denotative association with the sea, and perhaps less obvious connotative associations with peace, freedom, freshness, perhaps travel, and so on. As Hollister Co. markets itself as a California-based surfer "lifestyle" brand, pairing the visual symbol of the seagull with the text "Surf Team" creates a sort of visual and textual code representative of this lifestyle and respective ideological orientation valuing youth, spontaneity, and arguably members of the dominant, white, affluent, upper-class.
Although I'm about to perform a certain amount of stereotyping here myself, members of this particular in-group are likewise expected to behave in certain ways in order to gain AND maintain identification and acceptance with this particular group (for nomenclature purposes, let's call it the "Designer" group . For example, members of the "Designer" group are expected to ALWAYS dress themselves in "designer" and / or clothing considered to be "cool," "trendy," "fashionable" and / or otherwise representative of their affluent position in the larger society. In addition to the specific clothing they wear, members of the "Designer" group are expected to act "cool," often carrying themselves with the attitude that they are of a dominant, affluent class / group who is "entitled" to receive respect and admiration from other classes / groups lower on the social hierarchy than they. As such, members of the "Designer" group are often expected to treat members of out / other groups as not as "good" as them and / or "worthy" / "deserving" of their attention.
THE "GOTH" GROUP
Let's take a quick look at another popular cultural group represented by unique visual, textual, and behavioral codes; again, for nomenclature purposes, let's call it the "Goth" group. As is displayed via the above images, one major fashion utilized by the "Goth" group is the color black, carrying with it the connotative meanings of darkness, death, depression, submission, and so on. In addition to the color black, the "Goth" group also utilizes dark finger nail polishes regardless of gender, dark eyeliner and other make up regardless of gender, multi-colored hair styles, chains as necklaces and bracelets, and so on, likewise carrying with them connotative meanings of darkness, death, depression, and so on. As similar to the "Designer" group (as well as the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas!), the "Goth" group utilizes these fashions to create a code representative of their lifestyle and respective ideological orientation valuing the fatality of life, non-conformity, and otherwise rejection / subversion of all that is valued in other, more dominant cultural groups.
Again, as similar to the "Designer" group and the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, members of the "Goth" in-group are likewise expected to behave in certain ways in order to gain AND maintain identification and acceptance with the larger group. For example, members of the "Goth" group are ALWAYS expected to dress themselves in the aforementioned styles that are considered to challenge the more dominant status quo. In addition to this specific clothing, members of the "Goth" group are expected to approach life with a sort of cynical, skeptical, glum, and / or at times apathetic attitude, as they believe that life is fleeting anyways. Furthermore, members of the "Goth" group are expected to value both the ways that they dress AND act as an expression of their individually and solidarity with the group's larger cause of dissociating themselves with, and even challenging, the more dominant status quo. Lastly, members of the "Goth" group are expected to more or less distance themselves from other groups under the guise that they "just don't care" about what others think of them, their fashion, their beliefs, and their actions. However, for not caring, the "Goth" group sure puts a lot of effort into dressing and behaving in ways consistent with the codes necessary to not only gain, but maintain acceptance with the larger group and their respective ideological orientations and behavioral expectations.
BUT WHAT IF I DON'T CONFORM TO AND / OR MISREPRESENT THE LARGER GROUP'S ESTABLISHED CODE?
Regardless of what sort of larger cultural group one belongs to, SERIOUS consequences are often incurred if one refuses to conform to and / or misrepresents the codes (visual, textual, and / or behavioral) as established by the larger group once identification with the larger group is established.
For example, these consequences are about as serious and violent as they get when considering a group like the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. After being initiated into the larger group, in-group members face death, physical, and / or sexual abuse if they do not live up to and / or misrepresent the ideological and behavioral expectations as established by the group's visual and textual codes. For example, if a group member is spotted as much as associating with another minority inmate or member of another out-group, big problems are to be had. As a matter of fact, the MINIMUM repercussion to such a infraction is the REMOVAL of the visual and textual codes tattooed on the member identifying them with and representing the ideological orientation and behavioral expectations of the larger group! In other words, if group leaders do not feel a member is capable of representing what the group stands for, crude removal (often via common construction tools) of the visual and textual codes identifying one with the larger group (again, we're talking tattoos on human skin here) is often the next logical step.
Although the consequences following a similar infraction in the average high school setting are of course MUCH less violent (e.g., if a "Jock / Designer" decides to see how they look in black, or even worse, is actually spotted ASSOCIATING and / or making friends with a "Goth"), individuals violating and / or misrepresenting ideological orientations or behavioral expectations as established by certain group's visual / textual codes likewise risk harsh bullying, extradition, and other physical or emotional abuse. In other words, if group members compromise the larger group's location on the hierarchical ladder via the violation and / or misrepresentation of the larger group's visual, textual, and / or behavioral codes, they WILL face consequences. Hence, the argument for school uniforms! In closing, this arguably universal adolescent "need" to identify with and represent a larger cultural group runs the risk of encouraging isolation, conflict, and prejudice vs. tolerance, understanding, and curiosity amongst diverse student and larger societal groups.
Given my exploration on the coding functions of popular fashion, I believe that another ethnography-esque activity would be a very authentic, applicable-based task by which to apply what is going on in class to the "real world."
Step one: scaffolding
-Like ALWAYS, provide whatever background context regarding how certain groups utilize various visual, textual, and behavioral codes to identify with, claim membership with, and represent their group's ideological orientations and behavioral expectations.
NOTE: Feel free to use whatever you wish from this blog posting. However, although provocative, I'm not sure that EVERY school will approve of my likening of teenage fashion to prison tattoos.
However, I have some additional, potentially safer, scaffolding activities in mind including...
Bring in popular magazines to have students identify various visual and textual fashion codes, making inferences and critical analysis of WHAT ideological orientations / behavioral expectations the group has, as well as HOW and WHY the group's visual and textual codes communicate said ideologies and behaviors.
Step two: field notes
And like always, this is the fun part! Send students out into the "field" (I'm envisioning any sort of public space including the mall, park, coffee shop, and so on), having them observe X number of groups of subjects (I'm thinking at least 3-5 here, comprised of at least 3-5 subjects per group), taking detailed notes on...
-WHAT they are wearing / HOW they are dressed.
-WHAT they are doing / HOW they are doing it.
Step three: reaction paper
-Following the collection of their field notes, assign a short reaction paper (I'm thinking 1-2 double-spaced pages here), critically identifying AND analyzing the RELATIONSHIPS between the visual and textual codes that subjects where literally wearing, and the ideological orientations and behavioral expectations groups appeared to hold.
Step three: decompression
-Share and decompress in small groups, large groups, or however you see fit to your unique learning context!
-Following whatever scaffolding and background context regarding the above sorts of group dynamics as based on visual, textual, and behavioral codes, conduct a class-wide debate / role-play on whether or not their school should have a uniform policy.
-Assign students various "pro" and "con" roles regarding the issue in question (e.g., conservative parent, liberal parent, school administrators, teachers, community members, and so on), having them research and argue the issue however they discover their role positions them.
-Require students to collect X number of sources to form and support their position (I'm thinking 3-5 sources here).
-Debate "in character"!
-Decompress in and / or out of "character" via large-group discussion
AND /OR
-Assign a reaction paper similar to what I discuss in assignment #1 critically identifying AND analyzing the RELATIONSHIPS between the visual and textual codes that subjects literally wear, and the ideological orientations and behavioral expectations groups argued.
Thanks again for reading, watching, and listening CI 5150! ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Although I'm certainly biased as a long-time employee at the UMN's Center for Writing, I perceive the C4W website to embody a HIGH degree of readability. Before I begin analyzing the site in more detail, check it out for yourself at:
In chapter 8 of their text Teaching Writing Using Blogs, Wikis, and other Digital Tools, Beach, Anson, Breuch, and Swiss (2009) argue that one major difference between how readers process digital vs. print texts involves an active, non-linear search for relevant information that fulfills unique purposes or needs:
"One of the differences in how audiences process online versus print texts has to do with their purposes of reading online texts. When audiences go online, they are often looking for certain information -- the latest news reports about a political campaign, movie ratings, sports scores, book purchases, medical advice, and so on. In contrast to reading print texts, in which reader's eyes move from left to right and process information in a linear manner, when reading online texts, readers' eyes focus initially on whatever information is most relevant to their purpose or needs" (166).
UMN Students, faculty, and staff visiting the C4W website will most likely have the following purposes / needs in mind when dropping by including: scheduling a visit with a student-peer writing consultant, scheduling a visit with a faculty-peer writing consultant, obtaining information on the Minnesota Writing Project, obtaining information on upcoming writing-related workshops and events, obtaining C4W staff contact information to pose further questions, and so on.
Pictured left, the MAIN page for the UMN's C4w absolutely nails this concept of relevancy as information relevant to UMN visitors' anticipated purposes / needs is clearly displayed in a series of vertical columns on the left and right sides of the page. For example, in the case of a UMN student visiting the site with the purpose / need of making a student-peer writing consultation, the "Student Writing Support" link and short description quickly provides the relevant information they are looking for. Similarly, in the case of a UMN faculty member visiting the site with the purpose / need of learning WHAT we do at the center for writing, HOW we do it, and HOW LONG we've been doing it, the "Mission and History" link quickly provides the relevant information they are looking for.
Beach, Anson, Breuch, and Swiss (2009) continue their discussion on readability as they offer another key variable to comprehending online texts - a logical organizational schema for understanding the relationships among different sections of a text:
"It is... important that the titles or subheads be retained in the same place on different pages so that audiences know where to look to determine a page's content. On our wiki resource site, the side bar with chapter titles is constant on all pages" (167).
In other words, if there is not a logical and consistent structure ACROSS pages, readers will quickly become lost as they navigate links.
Notice how the C4W's "Student Writing Support" link reproduces the structure and overall organizational schema as established on the MAIN page: page header to inform the reader what specific page they are on, series of columns on the left tailored to anticipating and quickly fulfilling the readers' purposes / needs, similar minimalist color scheme, similar use of white space, similar font scheme, and so on and so forth. In other words, if a UMN student visits the C4w site to schedule a student-peer writing consultation, they most likely will NOT get lost in the mix. Instead, they will click on the "Student Writing Support Link" on the MAIN page, and then proceed to click on the "Make an Appointment" link located in a similar position on the NEXT page.
In contrast to the UMN's C4W website, I don't perceive the Dave Matthews Band's official website to be quite as readable given the above standards. Before I begin analyzing the site in more detail, check it out for yourself at:
When I visit the Dave Matthews Band's website, I have purposes / needs in mind including: purchasing music and merchandise, learning about upcoming tour dates, learning about upcoming DMB television and media appearances, learning about the latest DMB news, and so on and so forth.
Although all of this detailed information is present on the website's MAIN page, I have a much, much harder time quickly finding information relevant to my search than I do on the C4W website. Despite the page header bar clearly displaying each of these pieces of information in all capitalized, bold-faced type (e.g., HOME, NEWS, HISTORY, SIGHTS, SOUNDS, STORE, and so on), my eye gets absolutely lost among the tiles of pictures, banners, and subsections comprising the main page. In the hopes of creating a colorful and visually complex website, I feel as though the designers sacrificed some usability here. After all, especially in web design, simpler is often better!
Aside from sub-pages reproducing the header bar as established on the MAIN page, subsequent pages vary organization schemas, often drastically. In this case, look at how this completely horizontal strip of images contrasts with the tile-shaped images as displayed on the MAIN page.
And again, the amount of color and art design on this subsequent page is absurdly complex and distracting. Beach, Anson, Breuch, and Swiss (2009) speak to this absolute saturation of information and color as they state, "Too much text information, information located in too many different font sizes, a confusing use of background color or font color, or a misuse of banners or columns can limit easily locating relevant information... They [students] are then using white space itself to help readers focus their attention on significant information" (166-168). Where the C4W's website effectively utilizes minimalist colors and large amounts of white space to guide viewers' focus across the page, the DMB's website contains virtually no white space at all! As a result, I feel as though I'm forced to focus more on the bizarre mushroom-filled field than on the band-related content!
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ACTIVITIES
The first sort of activity that came to mind is a sort of design element "scavenger hunt." Either before, during, or after various elements of design are covered in class, students could be given the task of finding X number of sites per specific design elements. For example, students could be given the task of finding 2 sites that use WHITE SPACE effectively and 2 that do not. As a final step, students could quickly (and I'm thinking in a few sentences here), analyze and describe HOW and WHY each site is either effective or not given its use of each element in the scavenger hunt. NOTE: This type of activity could afford an interesting application of DIIGO. For example, instead of students recording the name of and / or printing of examples of each site they find during their scavenger hunt, they could simply favorite the site, annotate it, and share it with you as the instructor and the remainder of the class! This would also afford students ability to place annotations and discussion DIRECTLY ON certain design elements.
Another activity that came to mind is having a contest of who can design the "best" and "worst" websites given elements of design as discussed in class. In teams or individually, students could either story board the website if they do not have access at home, or actually create the site using Google sites if they do. Students could then write a similar short analysis (again via hard copy or Diigo) exploring the HOWS and WHYS behind their site's effectiveness, or lack there of, given specific elements of design.
Of course, teaching and modeling responsible online use will be absolutely key to the success and acceptance of these sorts of assignments.
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POWER POINT PRESENTATION
Fellow nerds (you'll see what I mean in a second)... my trial run with the wildly non-linear (and non-intuitive!) Prezi presentation tool.
In his blog entry titled "Toys: Nature vs. Nurture," fellow CI 5150 student Scott Wojtanowski (2009) explores the power toys hold to both reflect AND shape gender roles as he states, "the overtones of particular toys is rather suggestive of gender roles." Although I agree with the argument that toys do indeed both reflect AND shape gender roles, I would like to extend Scott's initial exploration even further into the "shaping" end the spectrum, arguing that critical analysis of any department store toy aisle reveals a large degree of intentionality on the parts of designers and marketers to design, produce, and market toys that function primarily as "status quo training tools" (gender being one of many, many interlocking status quo variables), or in other words, status quo "shapers."
Where my previous blog entries for this course have been largely theory-based and expository in nature, I would like to explore my argument that critical analysis of any department store toy aisle reveals my aforementioned notion of intentionally in toydesign, production, and marketingby...
1.) designing an ethnography-esque assignment that is an application-based exercise in critical gender analysis of toy design, production, and marketing
and
2.) modeling what such an assignment might "look like" for student use.
ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION
Again, as stated above, it can be argued that toys are intentionally designed, produced, and marketed to shape many, many interlocking status quo variables including race, class, and so on and so forth; however, the following ethnography-esque, application-based assignment will begin to scaffold such a complex deconstructive critical analysis by "singling" out and starting with the status quo variable of gender. STEP ONE
As I've stated in nearly all of my blog entries throughout the course thus far, provide your students with whatever background context is necessary for YOUR unique learning context.
However, I recommend starting with the core idea and argument that like any piece of culture, toys are intentionally utilized by those in power as yet another medium to transmit and otherwise "teach" dominant, pervasive status quo ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on. To begin to explore this concept of intentionality, as well as practice critically revealing and analyzing this intentionality in as CONCRETE vs. abstract of a way as possible for students, teachers could begin with potential scaffolding activities such as:
OBJECT BIOGRAPHY
-Have students dig through their closets, attics, under their beds, junk drawers, and so on to find a memorable / beloved childhood toy.
-Bring the toy to class for group discussion.
-In pairs, small groups, and / or large groups, have students critically analyze their toys via questions such as...
What sort of games did I use this toy with?
How did I use this toy?
What might this toy have taught me?
How might this toy have taught me these things?
What ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on does this toy appear to be supporting?
How does this toy appear to be supporting these things?
VIEWING REAL WORLD ADVERTS
-View collections of clips such as the following:
-Respond to similar a similar question set of...
What ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on does these toys appear to be supporting?
How do these toys appear to be supporting these things?
-Decompress as a large group in whatever way is appropriate for YOUR particular learning context, informing students that they will replicate / apply this sort of critical analysis out in the "real world"!
STEP TWO
And here comes the fun part...
-Equip your students with digital note taking tools (NOTE: I don't really foresee quality being an issue here. For instance, I imagine even low-end cell phone recording equipment doing the trick. However, if students have higher-end equipment at their disposal, more power to them).
-Split students up into small groups (I'm thinking 4-5 students per group), and assign each group to visit a toy department in a nearby store (NOTE: depending on students' transportation situations and proximities to nearby stores, this step could present difficulties. To manage potential problems, perhaps develop and post some sort of car pool grid to help facilitate and organize travel. Also, perhaps perform and post a simple Mapquest, Google Map, and / or Google Earth search of all nearby stores with toy departments for planning purposes).
-In their small groups, have students...
visit the store they choose / are assigned
select X number of toys that they believe function as "status quo training tools" (depending on YOUR unique class context, I'm thinking of 4-6 toys per group for this assignment)
photograph said toys so that box art and marketing is as visible as possible
take digital and / or analog field notes recording:
1.) WHAT type of marketing is being used, HOW it is being used, WHAT type of effect / purpose it is being used to achieve, HOW it is achieving that effect / purpose, and so on
2.) WHAT ideologies, assumptions, values, world views and so on the toy is transmitting, HOW it is transmitting these ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on.
STEP THREE
-Utilizing their field notes, have each group prepare a multi-modal presentation to explore and argue WHAT status quo ideologies, assumptions, values, world views and so on their selected toys are being used to transmit, as well as HOW they are transmitting them.
*This presentation could take on really whatever sort of form you feel is appropriate to YOUR unique class context. For example, students could use PowerPoint, iMovie, Voicethread, as well as any number of other utilities to build their presentations.
*Regarding assessment, I find it reasonable to require students to pair a MINIMUM of 3 descriptive text or spoken sentences per image, depending of course on what sort of medium they use to present their findings. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE BELLOW MODELING, I will be pairing ~ 3 descriptive text sentences per image. However, overall assessment depends again on YOUR unique learning context and expectations. Good luck, and have fun!
ASSIGNMENT APPLICATION
For the purposes of the modeling portion of this week's entry, I will be restricting my critical analysis to how a number of toys currently on store shelves transmit gender-specific status quo ideologies, assumptions, values, world views, and so on.
The bellow examples are my best approximations what this assignment might "look like" having never done it. Feel free to appropriate and adapt however you see fit!
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Pictured to the left is Handy Manny, star of the Disney Channel program Handy Manny. As indicated by the "Handy Manny" Wikipedia entry, the general episode formula for the popular children's program is the following: 1.) a resident of the fictional town of "Sheetrock Hills" contacts Manny's repair shop with a problem that needs fixing, 2.) Manny and his band of anthropomorphized tools set out to fix said problem, and 3.) Through teamwork, Manny and his team are successful.
One major ideology that Handy Manny transmits and teaches children is that men are "meant" to fulfill / it is "natural" for men to fulfill the authoritative role of worker / builder / maker in society. In other words, when there is something that needs fixing, Handy Manny helps to further invest men with the perceived authority / expertise / credibility that others seek out when something needs fixing. One way in which the product's marketing contributes to this message is the phrase "Let's get to work!" printed directly on the toy's packaging. As children pass by this toy and read this quotation (if they can in fact read), this direct address invites children and parents to further identify with Manny and the ideologies he represents as they play "handyman" with him.
Pictured to the left is the Fisher Price Play My Kitchen. One major ideology that Play With My Kitchen transmits and teaches is that women are "meant" to fulfill / it is "natural" for women to fulfill the submissive role of domestic processor in our society, while the dominant male (e.g., Handy Manny) is out gathering resources to process. In other words, when there is some sort of domestic need that needs processing (e.g, cooking), Play My Way Kitchen helps to further invest women with the perceived authority / expertise / credibility when dealing with domestic matters. Although textual marketing is scarce on this product, the visual says it all as an EXTREMELY young child is smiling and expressing emotions of happiness and relaxation with her domestic task at hand.
Pictured to the left is the Circo Cheerleader Dress. Enough said... One major ideology that the Cheerleader Dress transmits and teaches is that women are "meant" to be / it is "natural" for women to be objects of desire for the opposite sex. In other words, women are "supposed" to dress revealing / show off their bodies, and women "should" enjoy the feedback they get from men when they are objectified. Notice how marketing on this product is virtually non-existent. Instead, the product itself IS the marketing. In other words, when young girls see this flashy, pink dress, they may automatically associate the toy dress with the attention that "real" cheerleaders get. Therefore, they may beg their parents for the toy dress in order to get the same sort of feedback, and ta-da, the dress sells itself with virtually NO exterior marketing!
Lastly, pictured to the left is the Ryan's Room Knight and Shining Armor complete with helmet, breast plate, sword, and shield. Via the marketing slogan "A suit of armor to fit your brave knight!", one major ideology that this toy transmits and teaches is that men are "meant" to be / it is "natural" for men to be society's warriors / defenders / aggressors. In other words, men are "supposed" to dress masculine / show off their masculinity, and therefore "should" enjoy the feedback they get from being perceived as such. However, notice how differently the male armor vs. female cheerleader outfit is marketed; more specifically, the armor packaging pictures a young boy dressed for battle! This difference in marketing may also transmit and teach the ideology that women are "meant" / it is "natural" for women to enjoy dressing up for idle vanity, whereas men are "meant" to / it is "natural" for men to get dressed up ONLY when there is a particular role / duty to fulfill; in this case, a warrior preparing for battle!
For this week's assignment with Comic Life, I decided to create a short comic to parody the wildly popular (pun intended) Discovery Channel series Man vs. Wild (MVW) starring wilderness adventurer Bear Grylls. For those of you not familiar with MVW, each episode follows a rather basic formula:
1.) Bear Grylls is creatively "dumped" via plane, boat, and / or motorized vehicle into the middle of some vast expanse of nature including deserted islands, rain forests, rivers, desert plains, and so on.
2.) Bear Grylls is "alone" (just ignore the camera crew with him...), and supplied only with the most BASIC survival tools; often only the clothing on his back and a simple pocket knife.
3.) With nothing more than his basic supplies, surrounding environment, and expert knowledge of the wilderness, Bear Grylls narrates various survival techniques as he makes his way back to some form of civilization for rescue. For example, the viewer sees Bear Grylls create shelter, hunt for wild (often dangerous) game, treat wounds, and create signals, boats, and so on out of nothing more than what his immediate environment and expertise affords him.
And you may ask, WHAT IS THE POINT? Well, as Bear Grylls points out at the beginning of each and every episode: "I'm going to show you the skills needed to survive here." So, if I ever find myself in a deserted canyon, river, rain forest, desert, and / or so on and so forth, watching this show will teach me some survival skills, right? Wrong! Reason being: it is HIGHLY unlikely that myself (along with the majority of the "panzified" viewing audience completely adjusted to an extremely "mild" style of life), would be able to put these survival skills into action in the true "wild."
To get a quick glimpse of this formula in action, check out this short clip from an MVW episode filmed in a Copper Canyon, Mexico:
For my parody comic titled Man vs. Mild - MN Lakes Edition, I wanted to draw attention to the enormous gap between the urban / suburban-ized and otherwise "controlled" / "mild" environments that 99.99% of the show's viewing audience experiences during their daily existence, and the truly desolate / "uncontrolled" / "wild" environments featured in MVW that said general viewing audience would have NO actual shot of surviving in, regardless of any television-based survival skills they learned before hand.
To begin to accomplish this task, I first wanted to contrast the senses of openness, freedom, isolation, and so on which viewers vicariously experience when watching MVW, with the boundaries / limits viewers experience in their realities. After digging through my collection of nature-themed photography, I selected a number of images of myself kayaking on Silver Lake in North St. Paul, MN, which is one of the smallest lakes in the metro area. In contrast to the vast openness of the enormous canyon Bear Grylls treks across in the above clip, these photos of Silver Lake communicate much more confining boundaries / limits (you can see the shore line in the photos!)
Next, I wanted to contrast the often wild and dangerous game Bear Grylls has to hunt down in order to nourish himself, with the fast food drive-through window much of the general viewing audience depends on for sustenance. In contrast to the dangerous wild bores Bear Grylls traps, kills, cooks, and eats with his bare hands, I portray the comic book character "hunting" one of Minnesota's most common animals; the goose. In contrast to a wild bore having an exotic and / or dangerous connotation, the images of the geese may express irritation (after all, geese = tremendous amounts of goose poop to potentially step in), but hardly express any sense danger or risk. Lastly, I refer to the geese as "unprocessed chicken nuggets" to further remind the general viewing audience that all of their food is basically trapped, killed and cooked for them, and that they would have NO shot at survival if actually placed in a similar situation as Bear Grylls, regardless again of any television based survival tips.
Lastly, I parodied my character's narrative style of speech to match that of Bear Grylls's as closely as possible. As you can hear via the above clip, Bear Grylls speaks in patterns of brief, relatively emotionless narrations of his observed surroundings in a charming British accent. For example, even when a wild bore or fish gets away from Bear Grylls, he expresses almost no anxiety or frustration (even though his food supply just took off!). As you can see, I attempt to parody the same sort of emotionless, objective narration, even in the face of my character's only meal of unprocessed chicken nuggets taking flight!
Without further adieu, I give you Man vs. Mild - MN Lakes Edition. (Click on thumbnail for enlarged image).
Overall, there are many differing conventions utilized / operating in reading and creating visual vs. print-exclusive texts. Specific to my Comic Life creation, I argue that creating a sense of perspective in each cell depended almost completely on visuals alone. For example, If I wanted to position the viewer as viewing the main character via their own distanced / outsider perspective, I utilized a picture of the main character himself. However, if I wanted to position the viewer as viewing the textual world through the main character's perspective, I utilized a picture that affords a sort of first person view of the textual world (e.g., the photos of the bow of the kayak as if the viewer themselves are actually sitting in the cockpit!). In short, achieving this sort of perspective via text alone would be much more cumbersome, and much more time consuming. Whereas it could potentially take several paragraphs, or even pages, to write the viewer "into" the seat of the kayak's cockpit, one adequately utilized image can accomplish this task in an instant!
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TEACHING IDEAS
I honestly can't wait to incorporate programs like Comic Life into my teaching. Like Professor Beach talked about in class, I feel as though this tool would work as a wonderful pre-writing tool to story board movie productions. For example, if students wanted to create a video ethnography of some part of town, they could first visit the location(s) with a still shot camera and take detailed photos. Then, students could load them into Comic Life, annotate them, and begin to build dialogue and movement instructions for later filming. Also, I think it would be very interesting to have students select text-based characters and create comic strips starring said characters. For example, while reading Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, students could create comic strips starring ward members and their battle with mental disorders. While doing this, students could play with perspective, illustrating the textual world via the often unique, warped mental perspectives of various ward members as based on textual ques. For example, after mining the text for evidence, students could represent Chief Bromden as perceiving the ward as the sort of mechanized "combine" that he describes from his mentally unstable perspective. Similarly, after mining the text for evidence, students could represent Billy Bibit as perceiving other patients on the ward as the bunny rabbits he "sees" from his mentally unstable perspective.
Bellow is episode #1 of the UMN Center for Writing's unofficial (at least for now) titled podcast "Everybody Writes." NOTE: This project was just a trial run. Enhanced sound quality and editing to come soon.
Overall, the technical experience of creating my podcast went very smooth as I am not necessarily a stranger to audio production and editing; since I've started playing instruments and music at a very young age, I've been exposed to and found it extremely interesting to create and manipulate audio productions via software programs of varying complexities including Cakewalk, Sonar, and even Pro Tools. As such, I have gained much experience with the technical AND performance sides of creating, mixing, and editing musical audio compositions.
A little shameless plug...
Although I feel that these pre-existing technical proficiencies were definitely helpful to the audio task at hand, I was relatively shocked to experience how difficult it was to perform an otherwise non-musical, more monologue-esquepiece of audio. In other words, where I otherwise do not have a problem composing, performing, and technically manipulating musical and vocal compositions in the form of short songs and instrumentals, I found it very difficult to perform a more non-musical, spoken monologue sort of composition. In fact, I found myself frequently stuttering, losing my train of thought, and getting relatively nervous; an emotion I typically do not experience while performing music.
After reflecting on these shocking differences in my performance (shocking at least from my perspective), I argue that musical and non-musical tasks require different sets of literacies to successfully compose, perform, and manipulate. For example, I typically do not engage in much (if any at all) pre-writing and / or practicing said pre-writing when it comes to my musical compositions and performances. Although I have an extremely rough idea and structure for the end product I aim to achieve, I typically plug myself in, hit the record button, and just play for fear that any more detailed planning may squelch my creativity. However, this practice did not positively translate to my more non-musical, spoken monologue podcast composition and performance. Because I didn't do much (let alone any) practice with the pre-written podcast script that I created before hand, I found it very, very difficult to perform said script in a fluid, engaging, and otherwise "audience friendly" manner. In other words, the creative "wiggle room" that I find so necessary in composing and performing music was not beneficial to the composition and performance of my podcast. The improvisational skills that I feel come so naturally to me in performing music did not come to me while performing my podcast.
In short, given this experience, I have learned that I need to practice more pre-writing and review strategies to build similar performance and improvisational literacies with non-musical, spoken monologues often utilized in podcasts!
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TEACHING IDEAS
Maycomb County Radio Shows
During a unit on Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, I'd like to have students form small groups to compose and perform short radio shows addressing the various goings on and central issues occurring in Maycomb County throughout the novel. In doing this activity, instructors could also integrate a sort of perspective taking angle by having students adopt certain roles from the text, responding to county issues during their radio show via the voice of their roles. For example, in a given group's radio show, students could address Tom Robinson's trial from the differing perspectives of Bob Ewell, Atticus Finch, or even Tom Robinson himself! Although the form of each podcast does not necessarily have to take the form of a news program, this is the first format that jumped to mind. To explore and decide upon an appropriate format, teachers and students could first sample and explore different sorts of genres including tech talk, educational talk, various news reports, and so on; whatever genres teachers feel are relevant to the novel. Students could then practice the podcasting literacies I explore above by mining the text for evidence, pre-writing their roles and scripts, practicing this pre-writing, creatively performing it, and later editing it into a final product; their Maycomb County Radio Show.
Paperless Research Project; Social Activism & Application
Throughout my teaching program, my colleagues and I have talked extensively about the importance of applying whatever is being learned in class to create change around some sort of relevant, real world issue. I see no better vehicle for accomplishing this application-based task than using podcasts.
For example, as part of a research project, students could create podcasts vs. traditional research papers on any given issue for their final product / summative assessment. Via the creation of specific segments in their podcasts, students could demonstrate the research they have done, their overall understanding of the material, as well as USE their research to create a REAL broadcast to inform, convince, and persuade audiences around a given issue. If students perceive that they are writing for a larger audience who will ACTUALLY care about what they have to say than just the teacher, perhaps students will be more motivated and engaged with the research topics they chose. I know I would be! Too bad podcasting wasn't necessarily around when I was completing my k-12 education!
As I am currently a Graduate Writing Consultant at the University of Minnesota's Center for Writing, I plan on designing a podcast to be utilized as an outreach tool for the C4W. Because the clever advertising slogan for the C4W is "Everybody writes: we'll help you get better at it," I thought it equally clever to appropriate a shortened version of this slogan for the podcast's title - "Everybody Writes."
As an outreach tool, I envision the target audience of this podcast to be the University of Minnesota students, staff, and faculty that utilize /may potentially utilize the C4W and its many services. Overall, I plan on designing this podcast as a sort of one stop shop for listeners to quickly acquire information, news, goings on, upcoming events / workshops, and so on taking place at the C4W. In addition to myself acting as the show's "host" to deliver this information, additional C4W staff and faculty can appear as "guests" on the show.
Bellow is a tentative script that I believe will help me fulfill the aforementioned purposes.
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University of Minnesota Center for Writing Podcast aka "Everybody Writes."
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
-Let intro theme play for ~15 seconds
"Welcome to week 9 of Fall Semester Gopher writers! Rick Filipkowski here with episode ONE of the University of Minnesota's Center for Writing Podcast "Everybody Writes."
Just to give you a bit of background about myself, I have been working as a writing consultant at the Center for Writing for going on 4 years now - 2 as an undergraduate English major, and 2 as a graduate student in the English Education M.Ed. program.
Anyways, enough about me, on to the rest of the show!"
NEWS -mySWS successfully up and running.
"At the start of this current fall semester of 2009, the C4W launched a new web-based application accessible through the UofM student portal, as well as the Center for Writing's website at the usual writing.umn.edu.
Before the launch of mySWS, students were required to speak to SWS staff in order to make changes to their appointments. Now, once logged in to mySWS, students have the capability to create appointments, cancel appointments, reschedule appointments, and see future, as well as previous, visits to the C4W.
And mySWS provides students with more features than just the ability to manage their SWS appointments. To tell you more about the portfolio nature of mySWS, I sat down with Kirsten Jamsen, the Director of the UofM Center for Writing and co-designer for the mySWS application This is what she had to say:
-Run Skype interview.
-Changes to SWS Online
"And now on to the second piece of news... For those of you who have previously used SWS.Online, the application has undergone a major change to benefit you as a writer.
Previous to this semester, student writers were unable to further revise their writing once submitted to SWS.Online. Now, writers are able to re-submit their writing up to 2 hours before their scheduled chat appointment with their SWS.Online consultant.
Have more revisions? Well then keep writing. As much as you want. Remember, you can upload any revisions you have up to two hours before your schedule appointment time!"
-Return of old consultants
"And finally, some of your favorite former SWS consultants who had to say goodbye to the Writing Center upon their graduation are back! They're happy to be back, and we're happy to have them! So, stop in and help welcome back Grant, Miranda, John, Emily, Brad, and Maggie, and schedule your visit with them today!"
UPCOMING EVENTS
"In addition to the return of these consultants, there is a lot going on during the month of November at the Center for Writing Teaching With Writing Program, here are some of the upcoming highlights:
Instructors and TAs
On Wednesday, November 4th, from 12:00 to 1:30 pm, a panel discussion will be held on the topic of responding to graduate student writing. As described on the Teaching With Writing website, "This session convenes a panel of experienced faculty members who will share their own approaches to giving feedback and comments to graduate students they work with, attending to issues that include committee politics, non-native speaker concerns, and professional development."
On Thursday, November 12th, from 12:00 to 1:30pm, a panel discussion will be held on the topic of teaching with digital writing. As described on the Teaching With Writing website, "In this interactive workshop, we will consider a variety of tools that might be appropriate for your specific assignments and students, and think with you about the ways in which wikis, blogs, social networking apps (Facebook, Twitter, Ning), course management software (Moodle, WebVista), document-sharing and co-authoring programs, online document mark-up tools, chat tools, clickers, and a slew of others can support the work you do with student writing."
To register for your seat, as well as explore additional upcoming events, please visit the Center for Writing's Teaching With Writing website at writing.umn.edu/home/events.
GENERAL OUTRO
-Play outro theme
"Alright Gophers, that's all for the week 9. Thanks for tuning into "Everybody Writes." And remember, we'll help you get better at it. Bye now!
Google has already began to influence the core paradigms by which individuals compose, share, and consume digital content. Via the creation of "cloud-based" web applications such as the Google suite of composition tools (e.g., Google Docs), as well as multi-modal content distribution systems (e.g., Picasa, YouTube, and so on), Google has changed, and continues to change, the "rules" by which creators create and consumers consume. 
