Remix

Module 5: Gender Remix and Bigger Fish to Fry

The Gender Remix project reminded me of a story that is told in sensitivity training concerning gender terminology and gender roles. A story of Baby X describes how parents of this child leave out gender biases in order for the baby to develop its own sense of identity without being concerned with what is "normal." As an adult, I now look back at how teachers in my elementary school treated my class in terms of gender roles. Though I don't remember much, I remember being taught that tolerance of everyone, regardless of gender, was our main goal.

Unfortunately, recently I was told by a mother that she was afraid to allow her 4 year old son to dress as Elsa from Frozen for Halloween. When I politely asked why, she replied, "Well, you know. He can't go out in a girl costume for Halloween, people will see him." I think the fact that most of us are told how to act our gender from almost literally day one effects how we push these same pressures onto future generations. Why should we worry about happy, healthy children playing with the "wrong" toys? I personally think that as long as those children are happy and healthy, let them live.

Additionally, I found this data on traditional gender roles and professions, and I was surprised at what I saw. This was published in April of 2013.

Six Word Memoir

Popcorn

Digital Essay: Social classifications effecting adolescence

We live in a world stratified and organized by many kinds of social categorization. These range from physical attributions that are deemed acceptable, gender roles that are subconsciously enforced and discrimination based on social class that effect adolescence. Adolescence is a difficult time in ones life, and the challenge of coping with these influences and feeling pressure of fitting in molds the future of finding ones identity. Throughout our history, the identity of individuals has been shaped through classifications of physical, social ranking and gender. The exploration of self-worth established throughout adolescence with the above classifications instilled in society is a crazy journey. 


In 5th grade, I remember that my classmates and I were sent home with a permission slip to watch a movie to explain to us how we'll be changing over the next few years. Though I don't remember the video, I remember the school nurse talking to us as an audience about how no matter what we physically looked like, we shouldn't evaluate our self worth based on such things. Of course, when I was 10 I didn't have the slightest clue what that meant. But now that I'm an adult, I really think about how so much of our thinking and energy nowadays go towards this false sense of credibility and value through how attractive a person is or how many "likes" they get on Instagram. I think I was about 16 when Instagram really became popular. I didn't have an iPhone though, so this first initial wave didn't effect me the way it did my friends. A girl in my class, let's call her Franny for arguments sake, came to school one day in tears. Franny and I weren't exactly friends, but how could anyone ignore someone in tears at 7:30 in the morning? After talking in the bathroom about why she was upset, she revealed to me that she had only gotten 16 likes on a selfie that she posted on Instagram the night before and thought she was pretty enough to earn more. Yeah, that actually happened. A mode of social media that is to connect us via common threshold contributed to Franny's feeling of social nonacceptance based on her physical attributes, and I know she's not the only one. I hope that years from now, we as a society don't use a number to define our worthiness through adolescence. 

Additionally, norms in terms of socioeconomic status forces pressures on our teen population to keep up a front to represent their class. There's this desire to work extremely hard to make it appear that an individual's family has a higher ranking of wealth than is true. Upon Google searching, "how to make it seem like you have money" I found articles like How to Look Rich. Even if some of such articles are sarcastic, when did it become so important to look like something you're not? Why are pages like these discussing repeating outfits as if it's on a list of "Top Crimes to Commit at Age 15"? The pressure adolescents feel to uphold this social class appearance plants deep-rooted thoughts of how money and class are a top priority of the future. 

I think the first time I ever thought about gender roles was when I was 7 and a family friend was due with a baby. I had asked my mom whether it was going to be a boy or a girl, to which she responded that it was a surprise. When we went shopping for a gift, I wanted to get the baby a pink sparkly hula hoop like I had just gotten for my birthday (This cracks me up now. A baby with a hula hoop?!). The lady at Target had told me that pink is for girls, and blue was for boys, and yellow was for both.

But who made up such rules and who enforces them? I didn't understand why the baby, boy or girl, would miss out on such a great hula hoop simply because of its color. This theme reoccurs in adolescence in the pressure to act in a particular way based on gender. What does it even mean to sit like a lady when you're having dinner at Aunt Gertrude's? Who cares if you're not wearing makeup to school today? What does it matter that Kevin from math class is on the dance team? In my opinion, none of these things matter except that you made an effort to go see Aunt Gertrude, you got out of bed to go to school, and Kevin from math class can really bust a move. However, not everyone agrees with this, and the biases from peers are strong during our teenage years. 
                             

Module 3: Happy

While discussing what it means to learn, I constantly find myself telling my family and friends about what I'm doing in my classes. While at home this weekend, I went in a bit of a rant to my mom about how I really appreciate being able to attend a university that encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning. I told her about how my current classes are phenomenal, and I'm eager to learn more while in my new major. She asked me, "So, are you happy?"

This simple question was answered with a quick response of "yes" but provoked me to actually think about if I am or am not happy in my day to day life. I actually researched the word, "happy" and came across a documentary about happiness, the science of being happy and how our new experiences promote growth and learning to become happier.

Learning isn't just about our A's on tests, our ability to carry out a conversation with a professor, or desire to know more.  Our learning is about us. My desire to learn is centered around my passion to help others, which in turn makes me truly happy. Discovering new ways to become an impactful member of my community is a journey that is in no way limited to my classroom education. For example, my English class often discusses how an author of a comic book depicts a character in a particular way to represent how society views certain social groups. After class, I further researched stereotyping over the course of history, and how with new knowledge we acquire we can ensure that our stereotyping response is lessened.

My research and additional reflecting of my class discussion helped when talking to others about being respectful to our peers. The idea of making a community more educated in how to increase not only the happiness of ourselves, but of others as well has made me happy. The desire to learn outside of just a textbook is much more intense when the drive is powered by happiness.

Module 3

The idea of an evolutionary generation as a result of the advancement of technology is constantly being supported by evidence of our use of the tools we are surrounded by. For example, in early elementary school, our classrooms were decked out in posters of animals holding books, comfortable reading areas and shelves clad with classic stories. By grade 6 however, I was taught to type at 20 words per minute, use PowerPoint, create Microsoft documents and I even dabbled in Excel.

As strange as it might seem, I remember writing my first research paper. In 5th grade, our assignment was to give a presentation on a country that one of our ancestors had hailed from. Being obsessed at that point (and now, of course) with my Parisian roots, I chose France. I particularly remember sitting at a computer in the library with a book open on my lap. I had opened a word document and was typing brief parts of my project while I read sections of the book, then switching to Google to further define anything that I was unsure of.

Reflecting on that experience and comparing it to just a short time earlier, I realize the enormous difference. In a few short years I became able to multitask while learning and utilize the internet to enhance my experience. Now, I look at the exponential change from my project on France to assignments I complete now in college. For example, I was absent from my math class recently on a day that we were taught about boxplots. I opened my email to find the notes my professor had sent out at the beginning of the semester as I prepared my notebook. I took notes of my own based on her notes, and used Google's elaborative feature to help with terms I didn't understand. Next, I watched a YouTube lecture on boxplots while I took notes on THAT. To follow, I watched a tutorial on how to assess an equation in order to actually sketch the plots.

The ability to switch between media to help myself learn is amazing. The evolution on how we define "learning" changes as our tools change and we should be taking full advantage of this. Though our classrooms have four walls, our brains do not and we need to utilize that creativity and critical thinking to find our own path to knowledge.

Module 2: Group Essay

Roster:
Samantha Cohen
Jess Rosa
Brent Williams
Danielle Hunter

Delivery Method

i. Intro
      Brief history of technology in classrooms
      Discuss how new "tools" supplement others for improvement of education
      Mediated vs. unmediated spaces
ii. The Hybrid Class: A Developing Concept
      Statistics of availability to students
      Idea of "Skype" oriented classes
      Development of new "searchability"
      Individual learning and responsibility concerning new media
iii. Breaking down the walls of a classroom setting
      Students may do extended research to expand knowledge
      Utilization of "remix factor"- being able to make a new idea with multiple forms of information
      Audience empowerment and self awareness
      Common ground through online communities: one goal in mind
      Invisible audiences
iv. Conclusion
      Comparison of then and now: on-going availability of resources to reach more individuals
      Connectivity and the world-wide phenomenon
      Future advancement tools and theories to nourish earners