Chisholm Summer digital media experience 2017

Welsch believes that students are struggling to find meaning and significance in their education.  He claims that when students, like my own, ask questions such as “What do we need to know to pass the test?” education then becomes more about grades, than an opportunity to understand the world around them in a meaningful way.  He believes that when students are given ownership in how they learn, and are given the freedom to find and present information that is meaningful to them, it changes their perspective on what it means to be educated.  I agree with Wesch’s approach to creating meaningful learning opportunities, where students are more interested in the learning than what they need to know in order to get a good grade. However, in our k-12 world of education, we as educators are often tied to our district’s curriculum, which is designed to align with the district’s desired testing outcomes.  I’m not saying that creating global learning experiences is not possible in k-12, I just

when gender doesn't matter game

Freedom Writers I read critique of the movie, Freedom Writers: White teacher to the rescue by Chela Delgado.  I chose this article because I not only know this story well, but my first teaching position was in the same district, and I graduated from the school the teacher/hero taught at. Delgado did get the basic storyline of the movie correct when she said there were no real villains and that it was just a little too neat because the movie gave the viewers the impression that it takes a caring white teacher to be the hero when it comes to teaching black and Hispanic students about racism.  Although it is true that it is quite difficult for many people to understand how a single white female can so easily teach minority students about the injustices of the world, this concern is not the main premise of the movie.  The author fails to connect the bigger issue about the racism that was happening in their very own school.  The reason why the protagonist in the story had to work two jo

Madeline’s Digital toolbox tips Yesterday in class we learned to use storyboard for our poetry presentation.  We wanted to do Pixton but were running into trouble so I decided to explore it further to see if I could troubleshoot the problems I ran into, and how I could fixed them so that you can use Pixton more efficiently. 1. First you go to Pixton.com and log into a new account using your email and Password 2. Then you will be asked to go to your email and click on a link to verify you have an account 3. Once you go back to the Pixton site you will be asked to click on an icon indicating who you are.  If you are a teacher, click on the teacher icon 4. Once you are in the site they give you a 15-day trail that you can extend for 5 days when you run out of time. 5. Troubleshooting getting started:  Yesterday those of us who were using PC’s and google chrome had difficulty with the adobe flash player that Pixton requires you to have.  Over and over again we kept getting

As per our class conversations and walk about regarding dominant Ideology S.C.W.A.A.M.P (straightness, Christianity, whiteness, able-bodied, American ness, maleness, property ownership), it is clear that Disney did not invent gender roles and biases that pervade our society. Whether or not entertainment companies should be held accountable to accurately present history and culture to children, or if it is enough that they outline basic moral principles is perhaps a topic for another time.  In my experience growing up with Disney films I never personally experienced any real cultural or commercial attachment to these films.  It has been a very long time since I watched many of these films as a child, and the only thing I can remember is that I most identified with the hero.  Since I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, pre-Mulan era, the hero was usually a boy, but that didn’t matter.  It didn’t change my perspective in life.  It didn’t give me a hero to worship or look up to.  It didn’t prov

Boyd suggests in her book "It's Complicated," that the term “Digital Native” does not give us a clear picture of the depth to which students can truly understand and process the accuracy of the content they are finding through technology. Thus, to use the term “digital native” so broadly, Prensky fails to take into account whether or not all students have the necessary help to develop broad digital competency.  As a result, according to Boyd, “educators and the public end up reproducing digital inequality because more privileged youth often have more opportunities to develop these skills outside the classroom. When we assume that youth will just absorb all things digital through exposure, we absolve ourselves of our responsibility to help teenagers develop necessary skills.” I agree with Boyd because not only do students have different technical skills, they also have different backgrounds and experience so the way in which they process these technical skills will be dif

I am not a digital Native, I am a digital Immigrant  Quote from the article below  "We see the world differently from the people who came before us. Generations are simply oppositional in nature. But they don’t have to be at odds with each other. It’s about talking with and learning from people who you normally wouldn’t work with, who don’t see things the way you do. What will you do to start a dialogue with a generational stranger, your digital other?"    Article of what is a digital native Although I am a digital immigrant I do consider myself very adapt and competent with both knowledge and use of technology so I would consider myself an "Enthusiastic Participant." Enthusiastic Participants . This group is the largest group of Digital Natives. Like their Digital Immigrant cousins the Eager Adopters, Enthusiastic Participants embrace and use all forms of digital technology. This group prefers texting and tweeting over sending out email blasts. They are

Hi!  My name is Madeline Chisholm and my summer has started off with beautiful weather and a new class.  On the weekend I have been able to enjoy the weather, read a book in my hammock, and enjoy a wonderful period piece from Masterpiece theater on PBS entitled "Poldark."  Poldark was about as captivating as Downton Abby, which I also enjoyed and made my evenings rather entertaining.  The rest of my summer time for the next two weeks, I plan to be in class learning digital media literacy.  When I am not in class I love taking long walks in my neighborhood in the mornings followed by an early morning trip to the beach to swim our boogie board with my 10 and 13 year old.  My kids are huge soccer fans so this Saturday we will be going to Connecticut to watch the Men's US soccer team play against Ghana.  I have three ESL robotics students from Ghana so they have asked me to try to get something signed from on the of Ghana players.  My kids are huge US fans and want to do th