Tuesday, March 24, 2009
In-class blog on slide show
So, Autumn worked very hard to put this together...butter her up... what are your reactions to the music, the lyrics and the photographs/pictures? Possibly discuss technology, poetry, music, etc. as a medium for a student expressing their feelings towards social class. Would you allow your students to put something like this together as opposed to writing a paper?
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Autumn,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the slide show! I love making slide shows myself :) And I love John Legend.
I would definitely allow students to create something similar to express their feelings. (Sometimes art lets people express themselves in a way words cannot.) Great first day-- I'm looking forward to the rest of this unit.
BUT! I think that so far I have heard a lot of cynicism and negativity about this subject from the class, and I don't generally agree with most comments I have heard today.
Jaclyn, I agree that this would be a great activity for students to do in order to express themselves. I also think they would enjoy sharing the finished product.
ReplyDeleteVery nice slide show, Autumn! It was very catchy and attention-grabbing, and looked quite professionally done!
ReplyDeleteI would allow students to do a slide show or create a product in a different genre than just a paper because I think when you allow students to explore and create in ways that interest them will produce better, more meaningful outcomes! It also appeals to different types of learners... something like a slide show with pictures and music like we just saw might grab the attention and get involved a student who is solely a visual learner, and might also grab an audio learner. It presents the information in a different way than, say, a discussion. Pictures also sometimes pull at emotional strings more than just text, which can be a very positive thing at times.
I do, however, think it is very important to at least slightly monitor student work if it is going to be presented to the class when it is a subject that is so touchy as this one.
I thought this slideshow was great, and included various aspects of society that we may sometimes tend to forget about.. I really like the Katrina images as for me Katrina feels like a distance memory. I would love for you to share this slideshow with me maybe you could e-mail it to me?
ReplyDeleteOne thing I noticed was the extreme from the "lower" class to the "upper" class from slide to slide. Truly, the gap between these classes is great in this country. It's unfortunate to see, but it is the reality. Your slide show did well to bring awareness to this fact. I think students, and Americans in general, have an out of sight out of mind attitude towards these types of things, which is where images such as the ones in your slideshow come in.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this slideshow was well put together. The music fit really well with the pictures. While watching the slideshow, I did feel sad. It really opened my eyes to what is actually going on in the world. This makes me think of something that Julia said in class a couple of minutes ago. I honestly feel that some people don't realize what is going on in the world. People can get wrapped up in their own lives and forget that there are other people out there who are struggling. I also feel that if there isn't an awareness, it is easy to forget about what goes on too. I feel this slideshow was well thought out and put together. I could feel emotion in the music and through the pictures.
ReplyDeleteI feel that this could be an alternative to writing a paper. It helps with creativity and I also feel that students could get more out of the assignment if they put a project together like this instead of a paper. Perhaps writing could be incorperated into the project by having them do an exit slip. Ask them about their thinking process throughout the project and what they liked and didn't like about the project. That way, some writing can be added to it.
the slide show was good. good pictures of hurricane katrina. i think it would be a good project for students; have them do research and a presentation.
ReplyDeleteThe most powerful aspect of the slideshow for me was the continual presence of the American flag. That symbol typically represents unity and prosperity, but when juxtaposed to the images of those broken and struggling people, I sensed such a dissonance. As citizens of the U.S., we experience tension between nostalgic symbols of an ideal and sobering messages of a reality.
ReplyDeleteThe slide show definitely showed the extreme differences between the classes in our nation. One thing I noticed in the slide show was a picture of what I think was a prison cell in a "corporate prison." I thought this was extremely effective in showing the discrepencies in the treatment of convicted offenders of different classes. In this cell, there was a personal TV, book shelves full of books, a desk, a comfy looking bed, and lots of light filtering in through the windows. This greatly contrasts the cells found in high security prisons, where none of these luxuries can be found. This just goes to show the way our society views people from low SES backgrounds and those from high SES backgrounds. While these CEO's of corporations are stealing billions of dollars from stock holders, they still are considered more deserving of special priviledges than a person who is convicted of robbing a liquor store for a couple hundred dollars. The injustice found in this one situation, I think, sums up the injustices found overall between the classes.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the slide show great job!! I think that this kind of project/presentation would be great for middle/high school students to do research on a topic or place around the world and share it with others in their class and all over. Along with Julia, I also noticed the various appearances on the American Flag and think that it would be good for students to write their opinion on the slide show after viewing it. This way, everyone in the class could see how other people viewed the show and get different ideas that maybe they themselves didn't notice or come across.
ReplyDeleteAWESOME JOB! I really enjoyed the slideshow! The pictures were all very powerful and the music fit perfectly. I think this would be a great way to supplement a unit plan in a high school setting as well, because it's a different way to show social class in its truest form. I agree with the aforementioned comments about how this would be a great way for students to express themselves artistically.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the slideshow, actually would love it if you could e-mail it to me. I think it provides students with a different perspective about social class, and glimpes of things they might not otherwise know about. I would take it one step further and maybe have my students go out into the community to videotape or take pictures of the different aspects they encounter. I would love to do that instead of having them write a paper it provides students with a relevant and realistic tool to experience more than themselves and their individual lives. I especially like the Katrina images as I think as a society we sometimes forget the events of the past too easily, the ninth ward is still in ruins years later I would like to know what's up with that?
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