Graphic Novels

For as long as I can remeber I had always thought that comic books and graphic novels were fro people who didn't want to read a "real novel". To some point I still think that way, but what I didn't realize was that graphic noves can be educational too. To be honest I have never picked up a comic bookor a graphic novel so I would never know if they are educational or not. According to the book Tooning In, some graphic novels can be very educational.


For example a novel call Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq by Mark Stamaty. This novel might be used in the intermediate and middle school grades. The authour recounts the heroic story of Iraqi librarian Alia Muhammad Baker as she rescues over 30,000 volumes from her library in Basra before it's besieged (Tooning In p. 154). Another example is, Barefoot Gen bye Keiji Nakazawa. This book offers students a unique look at the experiences of an ordinary Japanese family who opposed Japanese invlovement in World War II, the persecution that the family suffered because of this stance, and also the esperiences of some citisens of Hiroshima in the aftermath of the atomic bomo dropped by the United States (Tooning In p. 155).










What makes graphic novels right and good for classrooms? Graphic novels have themes and these themes are:

• Individual development and Identity: Learning about myself, classroom community, and the food we eat.
• Families: In our community and in other places.
• Our community: How they meet our needs and wants
• People, places, and environments: Cultures in our community, our Native American past, and making global connections.

These themes can be used to help students learn and students tend to learn better when they are engaged. To get them engaged, educators have to get the student's attention. To do that we need to use what they like. Whether all the students like graphic novels or not, they are still going to be more engaged because it's different from what they are use to. Not only that but the reading is much more complex and short. Like what a lot of graphic novel readers say, it's very fast pace. We were all students once and most of us still are, we know how it's like to be a student. If there is an easy way out, we will take it!


Like I said, I have never been a graphic novel reader and probably will never be. But I know a lot of people who do read them and say they aren't that bad! It's acutally really easy to read and fun. If this is true and some graphic novels are educational, wouldn't you want to use them in your classrooms? And you never know, teachers might learn a thing or two also!

Popular Music

This week reading was very interesting, I have to agree with what the book stated about popular music. But there is one issue that I wish the book covered a little bite more and that is how some music effects young kids negatively.




First of all, I agree that using music in a classroom is a very good way to get students' attention. When using something that they can relate to usually grabs their attention. The trick here is to use music in a way that will get their attentions. I remember when I was in high school, we had a few assignments where music was needed. Even though the music part caught my attention, I still thought the assignment was lame because of what we had to do with the music. I remember there was one assignment where I did really enjoy. It was in English class and we were reading the book called The Pearl. For one of our final projects, we had to make a CD with songs that would describe or be apporperiate for certain part of the book. That was really fun because in a way it was like making a movie and I had to pick out songs to go in the background.



What the book didn't really cover was the fact that even a lot of people don't get influence negatively by music, there is a pretty big port of people that do. For the final project, I decided to write on how hip hop music is a bad influence on young kids today. And let me tell you, some of the things that kids do because of music they listen to is crazy! Not only does bad music influence these kids to do bad things, but a lot of hip hop songs protray women as sex objects and kids are thinking that it's okay to treat women as sex objects. For an example the music video called Money Maker by Ludacris http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_UQYXV1mc0.
Not only do guys see girls as sex objects, but girls are starting to allow themselves be looked at in that way.



It's good that educators want to incorpate music and popular culture in the circulums, but we have to remember that while we want includes things, we have to be careful not to use things that will influence kids negatively. Maybe there is even a way to use music and popular culture in a classroom and teach these kids what's right and what wrong. Maybe we should teach our students to think critically about what is a good and bad influence on them and their peers.



Overall, I think that using music and popular culture in a classroom is good for the teachers and and students if done in a good and right way. It allows the teachers and students to learn about each other and from one another, And that I think is very big and important.

Fake News

Real news, fake news, what's the difference?


In the articles we had to read, it said that, "research has shown that between 48 and 60 percent of young adults watched fake news shows to get information about the 2004 American presidential campaign." And "reseachers from Ohio State University found television viewers who watch fake news programs are less informed about issues and candidates in election campaigns than those who watch network news shows." The article also said that, "Young Mie Kim, co-author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State, said both newsand entertainment promote some knowledge gain, but people who are exposed to news gain more factual information and learn more about a wide ranges of important media."


If you ask me, I say any news is better than no news at all. It may be true that people who watch entertainment news may not be as influential, but i think that it is still very informative. It's not like the information that are given are really fake.


First of all, if people really cared about the news and wanted the whole download, they would watch the real news. People want to watch entertainment news for a reason, whatever it may be. As for myself I watch entertainment news because sometimes I don't want to know every little detail about the world. To be honest I get very depress to know all the bad and wrong things that goes on in this world. I try to stay away from the news as much as possible. When I do want to know something, I go online and read about it, or I watch entertaiment news where the news is given short and simple. And ontop of all that, it is funny and I am being entertained.





On the other hand, there are people who may argue and say that the only reason why they watch entertainment news is because they don't have time to watch the real news shows, or they don't get the channels that the news are on. I say BS! There are more than one way to get the real news if you really wanted to get the real news. There is such thing call the internet and google! There are many websites that people can go on to get real news without a TV. For an example, there is New York Times. com, it has all the latest news! If you dont' have a computer or internet, there is a library! And if that seems like too much work, there is always the actual newpaper.

As for yound kids today, I say it's good to encourage them to watch the news so that they are informed about the things going on around them. But we as educators can only push so much, in the end it is still up to the students whether they way to or not. A lot of young kids don't watch the news because it is boring and who would want to watch a boring TV show when they could be doing something more fun. One way educators can do to get these kids to watch the news is to have it on during class. I remember in 7th grade, my history teacher would have all the students watch 10-15 minutes of news at the beginning of every class period! That was how I got all my news and I didn't even have to take time out of my spear time to do it. Another way to get students to watch the news is to quiz them on it. Every Friday my 8th grade teacher would have a news triva day. The class is broken up into groups and the teacher asks us a bunch of questions that he got from newspapers or the news channel. Everyone gets points for the questions they got right and whoever gets the most points get bonus points for their grade, or a prize. I never really cared for the news, but getting those extra points sure made me want to pay attetion to the new!

Overall, I think it is important that we watch the news and get informed on what's going on around us. But that is not always going to happen. I think people should just be glad that there are entertainment news out there that even keeps some people like me informed about this world. People need to relax and not care so much!

Kid Popular culture

I thought the reading for this week was very informative yet I thought it was a no brainier. I'm not a teacher so I wouldn't know how hard it is to actually teach a group of kids and try to get them to think critically, or use kid cultural in the classroom. But if I was a teacher, the first thing I would do is include kid cultural in the classroom because as a kid, I loved it when the teacher would include things that I like or was familiar with. For some reason there are people like White and Walker who thinks that “kid culture is often subject to condemnation, censorship, and regulation. Kid culture has always been questioned regarding its legitimacy and impact on youth and society…What one finds in schools is a negative reaction to kid culture in whatever form (rap, Pokemon, video games) through stereotypes, banning, and demeaning acts and comments” (77). I like I mentioned early think different.

I believe that videos should be used in classrooms to engage students in the subject or topic espeicailly if it's a drier topic. I think that using t.v. shows such as Liberty Kids and Histeria is a wonderful idea. Sometimes when teachers use older more scholarly videos is confusing and boring to students. I remember when I was in high school and we were learning about the Boston Tea Party, I couldn't' really grasp the whole story and history behind it. One day after school I was babysitting and Liberty Kids was on and the episode was The Boston Tea Party! In thirty minutes I had a better understanding of the Boston Tea Party than I did during that whole week in history class! What made the TV show so much easier to understand was that it was fun to watch and it caught my attention. Not only that but the characters on the show explained what was going on in terms that could be easily understood. Instead just just dates and numbers, things were explained in terms that I could understand and follow easily.

Like the one of the reading said, course information have to be deliver in ways other than just lectures and textbooks, it has to be deliver in a way that will get students to think critically and want to learn. Otherwise it just becomes a memorization and we all know that with memorization, the information doesn't stay with us for very long. Not only that, but learning becomes a chores instead of something that the students should want to do.

I believe that using kid culture in classrooms is a very good idea because it will get the students' attention and and it's for their own benefit. I mean it is their future and education that we are dealing with, why not do in a way that will benefit them and let us do our jobs!? I don't think that teachers should just throw away the text books and curriculum, but finding something that will work with those two things and get kids' attention would be great. Of course there will always be times where educators can't make learning fun and exciting, but using kid culture every now and then would be a good change, and even then not all kids will be engaged, but a few is better then none!

Avatars?! What!

It’s crazy to think that people are coming out with new technology that can talk! Not only can these new technlologies talk, but they listen and respond! It’s like talking to a real robot! Lol. I know I sound like I am extremely fascinated by this whole thing with agents and avatars, and I am! It’s crazy to me that technology has come so far to the point where we can create 3D looking cartoons to talk and respond. What really fascinates me is that these avatars understand what is being said and can respond to whatever the other person is saying.

I think that an avatar or agent would be very useful in a classroom especially if it was an online class like this one. First of all, I think it would just be cool to have a robot talking to me instead of me just looking at my computer screen and read a bunch of text. I also think that it would really get students’ attentions because it is so different from what everyone is use to. I am a person who learns best by being told and hands on, so I think it would be very helpful and interesting to have an avatar talk to me and give me the information that I needed to learn. I also think that it would be very useful to have an avatar in a classroom when a teacher is absent. Even though there are substitute teachers, they don’t always know what’s going on, so having a robot that can portray you and teach your students what you were going to teach would be very beneficial.
Even though this new technology sounds very interesting and cool, it has its down fall as so does a lot of technologies. Like the article that we had to read for Sunday, there are always going to be people who will abuse their privileges. Like the examples that the article gives, there are going to be students who won’t actually use the avatar for what they are really going to be there for. Like the conversation where the student was asking the agent about sex and cursing at the agent. It’s hard to control these kids if there’s not actually anyone there to control and watch them. I think it will always be a problem because kids are always going to be kids.

One thing that I did think of that could maybe control what goes on between students and an avatar is the avatars can be programmed so that they have user names and passwords to get into. By having each student have their own user name and password, you can watch and control what is going on. If they don’t use the avatar for the right reasons, they can get kicked out!
I make that sound easy, but when I thought of the idea, I thought it was brilliant! Lol. Anyways I feel like the whole abusive thing is always going to be an issue so I think that people shouldn’t make such a big deal out of it. I mean don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that we should just ignore the fact that sex and drugs are being brought into education, but then again where else are they going to learn about it? Like I mentioned earlier, kids are always going to be kids and one of the things that kids are best at is being curious. By being curious, they are going to push the limit and ask inappropriate questions all because they are curious.

Overall, I think that the avatars are pretty awesome, I really had fun making my! Feel like a kid again! Lol.

What I did this weekend! lol

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Shopping is my therapy!

I love shopping, it's probably one of my favorite things to do. I think that shopping can be good and bad at the same time. First of all, I think shopping is good because it helps our economy going. I mean if no one shops we wouldn't have the hundreds and thousands of jobs we do today! But than again, it could be bad because some people spend way too much money on shopping and when I say shopping I don't mean grocery shopping. I mean clothes and appliances that people may not really need. Speaking from personal experience, I know I shopping sometimes just because I have nothing to do, and usually spend way more money than I should!

I guess one thing young kids could learn from shopping is that, it helps to shop when you can afford too, but it's something that you shouldn't have to do all the time. You don't need to buy a new cellphone every two months because there's a new phone with a new technology. Or you don't always have to buy new clothes just because someone in your school has it.

It's very hard not to buy things because it's the latest thing out there, or it's very hard not to buy something because someone else has it because some people base their status on the things they own. For an example, I person who makes $100,000 a year wouldn't be driving a 1995 Toyota (no offense to anyone that does, just an example) They would be driving a BMW or a Lexus. Why? Because by having a nice car people will know that you make a lot of money. Same goes to brand name clothes and houses. I think that it's sad that that's what people do, but than again you can't blame them because that's their money, and when people have the money, they spend it on nice things. And I believe that's how it's been for people in the U.S. we spend money to show off our status.

I'm not sure on how to get young people to think about their experiences with shopping, but I believe that we can try to teach them that there is a smart way to shop and a not so smart way. I mean like buying things that they don't need, or to buy things that are a cheaper brand. And just because you have money doesn't mean you should spend it.