Blogger Lesson Plans

This semester I have been teaching an Advisory class at a local Durango Middle School.  The Advisory class is about 10 students; we meet once a week for 20 minutes.  The goal of the Advisory program school-wide is a little unclear; however, my lessons have focused on team-building activities and social-emotional development. 

After blogging for Media Literacy for a few weeks, and in a desperate attempt to evade school Internet security, I turned to Blogger.  My idea was to create an interactive lesson plan by creating a blog and embedding my video examples and music files.  This was an improvement to be old lesson plan format of pencil and paper; it also created a document that is interactive and perfect for SmartBoards.  

LINK TO THE RESPECT BLOG: CLICK HERE

Summary of the Lesson Plan

The three-part lesson I created on RESPECT was taught using a SMARTBOARD.  The first day was an introduction to what respect is. I played R-E-S-P-E-C-T by Aretha Franklin, showed student produced examples of being respectful, and we discussed personal experiences relevant to the subject.

The second day we created Acrostic Poetry using the definitions and examples of Respect we discussed in Day One.

The third day we shared our poems with the class, asked each other questions, and hung the poems in the room for others to see.

 

Luna, by Julie Anne Peters

In Jen Gerhman’s Young Adult Literature class, we read Luna by Julie Anne Peters; it’sa novel about a high school boy, born as Liam, who is transgender. By the end of the book, Liam is his true self: Luna.  The novel confronts bullying at school, GLTB rights and acceptance from family and close friends, identity, and also delves into many other high school aged concerns.  Luna is an excellent bridge that can be used to tackle hard questions about transitioning and transgender realities.  Luna is told from the perspective of Luna’s younger sister, Reagan. The first chapter ends with Regan talking to Luna in the moonlight, which is the only time Luna can be herself: “Yeah, I loved her. I couldn’t help it. She was my brother.”

This is an important book to have available in a high school classroom because it’s an excellent way to represent a minority group.  I will be honest: I think this is will be a very challenging book to teach because of the abundant stereotyping and homophobia surrounding this topic. Also, it has the potential to be a controversial book in a school setting. Representing the minority cultures and subcultures is an important facet of culturally responsive teaching.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

This weekend, while writing a paper for my Social Poetry class, I came across one of my favorite reads in 2008: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. This Young Adult novel is about Arnold Spirit (Junior), a high school boy from the Spokane Indian Reservation.  Junior has a tough life and many obstacles to overcome as he leaves the Rez to attend an all-white high school in the neighboring town where "the only other Indian is the school mascot." 

Honestly, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry throughout most of the book because of the ingenious balance of reality and humor.  Junior, who is an excellent narrator, was born with many medical problems, which he describes in the first chapter: "I was born with too much grease inside my skull, and it got all thick and muddy and disgusting, and it only mucked up the works. My thinking and breathing and living engine slowed down and flooded. My brain was drowning in grease." His humor is a constant throughout the novel, which is an effective technique for this genre to employ when confronting serious issues like alcoholism, drug abuse, racism, poverty.  Junior uses cartoons as an outlet of expression: 

The cartoons, like this example, are drawn by Ellen Forney.

The Republican Elephant

I created this spoof on the Republican mascot mostly to get a rise out of my grandpa. The 3 stars are moved to the right to show the "seeing stars" effect. I added a black eye, scratches, a band-aid, and a donkey hoof print. I also flipped the elephant upside down to represent the turmoil within the Republican party as they search for a new "face" to push for the next election.

The Farmington Daily Times Logo

I created this logo in critique of The Farmington Daily Times. In the Four Corners area, the newspaper, which is owned by Gannett, has a somewhat negative reputation. The negative attitudes towards the paper stem from accusations of biased journalism. The paper tends to lean towards a conservative viewpoint.

Also, as an English major, and future English Teacher, I have my own bias, as well as a sort of love/hate relationship with grammar. I think it is necessary in certain genres, including newspaper journalism. Proper grammar, spelling, and other conventions set the standard of quality for newspapers. Basically, The Farmington Daily Times needs a new proofreader. There are frequent errors in basic word choice (e.g. there vs. their), as well as punctuation and syntax. Like I said, I have a love/hate relationship with the formalities of the English Language, and I am not perfect, but I can usually get my commas in the right places.

Quality is also reflected in the creative images reproduced in a daily paper. Under deadline, manipulating every photograph, every car image in every ad, and every other image in a given edition. I understand how challenging it is to take a photograph and manipulate it so it prints representatively after it is printed on newsprint. There are many factors to consider: the newsprint's spread, registration of CMYK plates, saturation, and press differences. The overall quality of The Farmington Daily times is very poor. Photos are usually off-register, which is when the four CMYK plates are not properly aliened; this results in blurry images and print that is in color becomes difficult to read.

Dora the Explorer Grows Up??

According to the Nickelodeon Website, Dora the Explorer is a "half-hour animated children's television series starring a 7-year-old Latina girl and her friends. The show is designed to actively engage preschoolers in a play-along, computer-style adventure." At my house, learning and incorporating Spanish into our daily lives is important, of which Dora was a natural extension.

Dora was the first television show my daughter was exposed to; my mom came to visit for a summer and introduced my daughter to Dora while she was staying with us.  Kaleea was about 2 1/2 years old. From that point until recently, Dora has almost been a member of our family: she's on the bedspread in Kaleea's room, her face and her friends' faces are on a memory game on her shelf, the lamp beside her bed shines stars on her wall at night, and "don't be a Swiper" is a common phrase in my house.  Media and the merchandising machine successfully indoctrinated us; we are a fully engrossed. WAIT, I mean we WERE fully engrossed.

Last week, Nickelodeon introduced and debuted the grown-up, teenage version of Dora. It rocked Kaleea's little world! Part of her worry about the transformation is over the fact that the new Dora looks like a watered-down version of BRATZ Dolls, which are not allowed in my house. After Kaleea saw the new Dora for the first time, she said "It looks too much like Bratz. We don't like Bratz."  I helped her through the Dora-Grows-Up-Overnight-Issue by explaining briefly about media and the connection to money.  She has a fairly concrete understanding of a abstract concept, which helps her cope with the dissonance she feels as a result of the changes.

Check out this link for funny pics of Dora spoofing Brittany Spears' mental meltdown a few years back: Funny Blog about Tween Dora Link

Grrrl Power Visuals