Group 3 Lesson Review

First and foremost I congratulate the members of group 3, you're done! Take a deep breath and relax for a minute to enjoy the overwhelming joy of having the weight of this task off of your shoulders. I think the material presented over the last two class periods was informative and beneficial. I think, as future teachers, we have a responsibility in the classroom to try and eliminate prejudice material and activities. As we all know from experience, children absorb many elements of a lesson, many of which are subliminal. I appreciate your lesson mainly because it served as a reminder of how the media delivers information through multiple channels of communication, and how this information is often one-sided and contains material that encourages a hidden agenda.

10/29 video activity

After reviewing the selected movie clips from various Disney films, I have come to realize that prejudices are portrayed in even the most seemingly innocent channels of media, the cartoon film industry. I was appalled after watching the three clips. Peter Pan, Dumbo, and Aladdin all contained blatantly obvious stereotypes that are known to be taboo in our society. Perhaps it is films such as these that are responsible for the subliminal prejudices that reside within our society today. As a child, I never noticed these prejudices, or rather, I didn't recognize a problem with them. Learning that these ideas are acceptable, children grow up with these ideals buried in their minds.

10/29 homework

In response to last Wednesday's lesson, I would first like to say that I most enjoyed the social group activity. This activity illustrated how today's view on groups of people are greatly controlled by popular culture, primarily through the media. This activity is something that I would use in a high school setting, but would be hesitant to use in a middle school setting due to the fact that social status is a touchy subject for children of that age. There is a possibility that the activity would turn into an all-out insult war between social groups. For example, you may end up with the popular kids only writing negative things about the others, or vise-versa. Feelings may be hurt, and parents involved, but I can see situations where an activity like this could prove to be beneficial to solve problems between social groups.

Group Project COMPLETE!!!! /cheer

Alright, I'm excited. One major project this semester finished, only 760538763075038 to go. Its a slow work in progress, but I've managed to at least begin all of my final projects. Now its time to focus on my independent teach. Ok, so to be honest... I haven't started that yet... but I will be this week. I will be teaching a lesson on incorporating technology into lesson plans, and how to make this work for various subjects. I'll make it interesting, I promise.