Abblog

2006-12-11T19:54:00.000-08:00

Blog for October 26

Oops...I forgot to post this earlier. Karen and I chose Film Noir for the genre highlighted in the PowerPoint. While Film Noir is not as popular today and was fairly short lived during its time, it offers prototypical characters that still pop up in ads and representations of pop culture following the World Wars. The femme fatal character is still common in T.V. sitcoms (now mostly in comedy verses the darkness of Film Noir), and it seems that most people are familiar with the archetypal characters of Film Noir but may not be with the genre. I appreciate the genre most due to its historical relevance. It's "darkness" is a direct response to world duress following world war.

2006-12-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

Incorporating Adaptations Into the Curriculum

I often incorporate film adaptations and television into my language arts' curriculum. For example, I currently teach a basal level seventh grade literature/reading/writing class, and we read Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit. Disney recently made a film adaptation of this novel, and about half of my class has viewed the film before reading the book. However, the book is drastically different from the novel as far as character relationships, the climax, the resolution, and some major events are concerned. The class views the film adaptation after the book is read, and I require them to complete a Venn diagram where they compare and contrast the novel and the adaptation. I have them focus specifically on the changes that film techniques, etc. automatically enforce in the story, and the students also discuss how and why the film version changes the story. In addition, they evaluate whether these changes are positive or negative and explain why. As a teacher of literature, I admit that I like it when my students say, "The book is better!" More importantly, thought, whether my kids like the book or movie better or equally, they can truly justify themselves because they first critically analyze both pieces. Overall, I think film adaptations make for powerful teaching tools for comparing and contrasting, evaluating, getting a different perspective of the story, and providing a visual experience for the students. I will never forget when we watched Clueless in my high school A.P. English class after reading Emma. It was cool and made me love Jane Austen even more...
I also think TV is a valuable tool to use in language arts' classes, especially if the students have to critically analyze it. For example, I use an old episode of Boston Public before I teach the historical fiction novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. I do this because their is a fantastic discussion on the t.v. episode about the historical and current uses of the "n" word by a class on the show. The word is used repeatedly in the novel in its most offensive form. Showing the show first offers wonderful discussion opportunities for my students and prepares them for the novel.

2006-11-30T10:37:00.000-08:00

Music Blog

First, I really enjoy using music when teaching literature, especially poetry. I think it serves as a fantastic connection between literature and the daily lives of my students. For example, when I teach a unit on community/place, I use a hip hop song by Lauryn Hill that focuses on her childhood experiences in New York City. It is full of wonderful imagery and serves as an excellent compliment to a poem that I teach, "Knoxville, Tennessee" by Nikki Giovanni. I also use both texts as an example of writing with vivid imagery, and then my students write their own place poems that contain strong imagery of their place. I truly believe that after I teach this lesson, my students have a strong understanding of imagery.
As for genres, I listen to a variety of music. I really love folksy music like the Indigo Girls and James Taylor, but I enjoy hip hop as well and some pop music. I also like alternative country/Americana music with its strong bluegrass and roots influence. If I were to pick a song that truly represents the music I love, it would be "Watershed" by Indigo Girls. It is somewhat autobiographical for me because it reminds me of being at my cabin as a child. The song proclaims a powerful connection to nature, and I often feel this way anytime I am in the country, at a lake, in the mountains, etc. I also love the opening line of the song, "If I knew my mind like the back of my hand," which I often feel as well. Where is my mind half of the time? Like most I.G. songs, "Watershed" is super poetic and lucid, and being an "English" person, I find great passion in poetic language.

2006-11-26T10:30:00.000-08:00

Documentary

If I were to make a documentary, I would certainly document the profession and lives of junior high school teachers. Because I teach seventh grade at South St. Paul Junior High, I think I would focus on my school and my team of seventh grade teachers. I am not sure how much I would include the students, but I think it would be interesting to show some of their perspectives and experiences as well. To take the project one step further, I would also like to include parents and administration, too. We work very closely in our junior high to communicate with and involve parents, so I think this aspect of my job would be almost essential to show in the film.
As far as audience is concerned, I really want people to see and understand how much teachers really do on a given day. In addition, I want my audience to realize how much teachers truly invest in the lives and education of young people. I don't even think that editing would skew this point. I truly believe that I work with the most hardworking, selfless, and dedicated people, and it's key to reaveal this work ethic in my documentary. My audience needs to witness teachers at work throughout the school day, before and after school, at meetings, extracurriculars, and even at home. It would also be interesting to convey the fact that teachers are "real people" and to show them socializing together, which we do quite frequently.
I would interview a variety of people within my school community. Of course I would interview the eleven teachers on my team along with the junior high dean and principal. I would also interview current and former students and their parents.
I think this idea for a documentary would pose difficulties. For example, I obviously have to work within the filming of the documentary, so I am not sure how I could effectively do this. I do have a student teacher this spring, and that may be an opportunity. Plus, teachers already have so much to do, that it may be difficult to find time to interview them and film their "lives." Moreover, there is always the issue of data privacy, both for my students and fellow teachers. I would probably have to jump through multiple hoops in order to de-privatize all that could occur in my film.

2006-11-13T16:56:00.000-08:00

Kare 11 News at 10:00 on Wednesday, November 8

10:00-02: Rumsfeld resigns; Bush takes responsibility for Republican losses
Klopbuchar and Coleman agree with Rumsfeld's "resignation"
10:02-03: Pawlenty beats Hatch for the Minnesota Governor's seat...Was it because
of the E85 comment?
10:03-07: Democrats control the House and Senate; John Croman, "political
expert" reflects on this change as do many others (Steve Swiggum, etc.)
10:07-07: High voter turn-0uts in Minnesota and Wisconsin
10:07-08: Deadly fire in Anoka county (Where did this come from????)
10:08: Wow! WARM weather in November! Previews for the Kare 11 Extra
10:08-11: 3 minutes of commercials
10:11-17: Kare 11 Extra on Pamela Peterson who has lost 100 lbs. with the help of
100 people; she will be on Rachel Ray's show soon (Is this news???)
10:17: There was a beautiful sunset today. (Shows picture from Lake Calhoun)
10:17-21: Weather. It's really warm and will get cold...40 degree decrease in temp from Wednesday to Friday; record warmth; Mainstreet Forecast; five day
weather outlook
10:21-24: Commercials
10:24-25: Funky music while NBA and NHL scores are popped up on the screen
10:25: Some anchor banter
10:25-29: SPORTS Gopher basketball loses to DIVISION 2 Winona State...(This
truly seems to be more of a travesty than the fire in Anoka County.);
basketball scholarship for a Hopkins player; Hopkins football going to
state after a losing season; REMINDER FOR THE PREP SPORTS EXTRA;
3 Edina girls' tennis players sign letters of intent to D1 schools; it's
Packer week for the Vikings
10:29-32: Commercials
10:32-33: Lottery numbers posted; Macy's Mary Poppins holiday display is up and running; anchors joke around
THE END

While it would have seemed logical for the elections to dominate the time on the news a day following, coverage of this MAJOR, national event lasted only seven minutes. The weight loss "extra" story lasted six minutes. The majority of the programming wasn't news but instead covered a "feel good" weight loss story, weather, sports, and advertising. Based on the time devoted on ads and non-news material, watching the evening news proved to lack news. I feel as though I get quality "news" from listening to NPR. This news coverage on T.V. lacked substance and the "hows" and "whys" of the stories. However, the weight loss story actually did go in to depth as to how and why this woman wanted to conquer her weight, which I thought was stunningly ironic as one woman's weight loss isn't most often considered "news". I do watch the evening news a few times a week, but I never do watch it for its information. I realized after doing this assignment that I watch it to feel connected to my larger community. Odd...

2006-11-02T11:54:00.000-08:00

Advertising in Real Simple

I looked at the Real Simple magazine. I would assume that the target audience is women between the ages of mid-twenties to fiftyish; most of the women who read the magazine are probably middle t0 upper-middle class. This magazine offers a variety of recipes, organizing and decorating tips, style advice, money saving ideas, etc. The ads in the magazine definitely represent the focus and intended audience of the magazine as well.
Because Real Simple has a lot of home improvement/decorating ideas, a lot of the ads are for furniture and other home stuff. The first ad in the magazine is for Liz Claiborne Home, which I didn't know existed. It has a lot of women lounging around the house with kids popping out from behind an occasional curtain or couch. It definitely gives the "stay at home mom" vibe, most likely with the assumption that stay at home moms are the only ones who have time to read this magazine.
The magazine also contains several expensive perfume advertisements from products such as Lancome and Chanel. These both contain youthful and beautiful women, again targeting a somewhat aging female audience with money to spare on overly priced fragrances, which of course will make the women more beautiful.
Overall, the majority of the ads in this magazine are most definitely aimed at middle-aged, upper middle class women.

2006-10-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

Ethnography
I interviewed my husband Barry about his participation on MySpace.com and also observed him while he viewed and interacted on My Space. He is a musician and in a local band called Six Mile Grove. My husband and his band members idenitify their genre as Alternative Country/Americana, and My Space has provided them with a lot of musical exposure and some opportunities.
As I oserved my husband participating on My Space, he did a variety of mulimedia tasks. First, he viewed the new "friends" who had been added to the band's page. He went to all of their individual or band pages and sometimes added comments if they were connected to the common music scene. He commented on his excitement of interacting with a D.J. from Scotland who has been playing some of the band's songs. In addition, he would click on other musicians' MP3s and listen to tracks or parts of tracks quite frequently. He also read blogs written by his fellow band members about a recent trip to Nashville; the blogs made him laugh out loud. Therefore, I watched him interacting with his own band members and with a lot of people he doesn't know. However, some of his non-music friends are also "friends" on my space, but he mostly uses the page as a marketing tool with the rest of his band.
When I interviewed my husband, I found that his main objective in particpating on My Space with to gain connections to the music industry and the desired, Americana audience of his band. However, he agreed that these connections are a crucial social interaction for him and his band, too. My husband also enjoys the critiques and suggestions that his band receives from other musicians on My Space who listen to their MP3s. When I asked him about the advantages of having a My Space page, he stated that "My Space has offered us exposure that we don't receive just by having a web page. Our goal isn't to become famous but to hit a target audience. We have found that on My Space." Moreover, he commented on the links that show multiple examples of postivie feedback from DJs, music magazines, and websites that are posted on the page. He believes this aspect is crucial for people viewing the page so they know that his band is fairly established and has multiple facets of support. Most other bands provide these links as well.
Overall, My Space provides bands a solid space for fan and industry connections. My husband commented that his favorite part of My Space is to read the "friends' comments because they are sometimes funny but provide us with great feedback that we take to heart." My Space is not only a social site, but it also offers tools, feedback, and connections for artists like my husband and his band.

2006-10-12T07:56:00.000-07:00

This media image definitely perpetuates the stereotype that urban America is violent and dangerous. There is a police line that indicates crime and a "stay away" message to all of those who don't live inside these "scary" urban boundaries. The image also suggests that only a certain, brave few have the capacity to cross into the urban world. This image is inaccurate, as I live in the "city" where I enjoy its diversity, arts, and culture.

2006-10-04T20:42:00.000-07:00

Critical Discourse Analysis: Discourse of Class in Friends

In the still popular t.v. series Friends, a co-ed group of late twenty-somethings share a New York flat that must be worth at least a million dollars. This group represents the middle class or upper middle class. While careers seem to be less than a priority for the characters, they spend their time lounging around at coffee shops and sporting trendy clothes and hair styles. Their lives appear so comfortable yet puzzling because none of the characters ever seem to work. In a way, this sitcom misrepresents the middle class because in reality many of its members work over forty hours a week to keep up with half the lifestyle represented in Friends.
Most middle class Americans don't have an hour, let alone several, in a week to hang out at a neighborhood coffee house, and I write from my own experiences of being a middle class twenty-something. My encounters with coffee shops are a five minute buzz-in at 6:25 A.M. as I am priming the pump for my grueling day of teaching seventh grade English, while fretting that I won't make it to work at 7 like I am supposed to. When I arrive home shortly before my husband, I make sure the dog gets exercise and usually continue to work in some fashion: laundry, cleaning, grading, etc. If only most twenty-somethings lived life like life on Friends...

2006-10-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

Feminist Analysis of the Last Scene in Shrek (when Shrek and Donkey stop the wedding between Princess Fiona and Lord Farquad)

While Shrek plays with motifs, such as the quest and fairy tale, it also polarizes Princess Fiona as both a heroic and a self-depricating femine figure. Throughout her journey with Shrek and Donkey, Fiona appears tough and thick-skinned; she fights off a bad guy (quasi-Robin Hood) with sweet Matrix moves and out-burps Shrek. Her gender-bending is refreshing to say the least and not traditionally "princess" like. Nevertheless, she still worries about her physical appearance and that she will not live up to traditional beauty norms. For Fioana, these norms mean blonde, thin, and green-eyed, much like the media-made version of beauty, and NOT ogreish. She does not want Shrek, who is an ogre himself, to see her as an ogre, her persona once the sun goes down. She wants to remain "outwardly" beautiful and views green, frumpy, and ogrely as ugly, which is ironic because she loves Shrek who is an ogre.
However, at the end of the computer-animated tale, her non-traditional beauty reversion provides a seemingly cathartic moment for those who doubt Fiona. The curse that has made her an ogre remains forever, and she and Shrek end up together after all in happy ogredom. While Fiona doubted herself as an ogre, she finds true bliss once Shrek sees her this way. This ending does contradict traditional beauty norms because Fiona is beautiful to Shrek regardless, but it's still as though this non-traditional beauty must be brought out by and reflected in the light of a man. Fiona can't accept this definition of beauty until a man, Shrek, is able to first.

2006-09-28T13:29:00.000-07:00

Bag Scene Editing Techniques

The scene before the "bag" video in American Beauty shows the young man's mother sitting alone in a "perfectly" ordered yet stark dining room. She is staring and apologizes to the kids about the appearance of her house, which appears "perfect". The editing in this scene reveals the mother's distractions by the house looking so perfect while the viewers know that her husband is deeply troubled. The scene seems ugly. Then, the boy shows the girl his father's Nazi memorabilia and guns. This revelation reveals a stark contrast to the "perfect" appearance of the inside of the home. It seems so artificial, the environment, and the viewers (at least I did) get a sense of relief when they enter into the boy's room, which is dark in contrast to the two scenes before. Again, the editing reveals the intimacy between the two kids with the closeup on their faces and hands, an intimacy not found in the starkness of the house. As the boy explains his filming of the bag, he is weeping and discusses how beautiful the scene is...so beautiful he can't stand it. This "unusually" playing image truly contrasts with the mood of his home: the lost mother and the gun-toting father. The editing that follows shows the beauty in the connection between the two kids, who both have distraught homes, by focusing on their touch and their eyes. It's as though the beauty transfers from the film into another human relationship for the boy. Once the boy shows the film to the girl, an even deeper connection between the two is made; both have ugliness in their lives but are able to see the beauty in simplicity (the dancing bag) and in each other.

2006-09-21T13:42:00.000-07:00

"Bag Scene" from American Beauty

In the film American Beauty, the movie opens with a shaky, choppy camera following a white plastic bag tumbling in the breeze along with some fall leaves on a sidewalk. A dull brick wall serves as the backdrop. The same shot appears later in the film, and it is revealed that one of the characters has filmed this bag bounding in the wind.

The two characters are still in front of the screen in his room. Throughout the "bag" scene the camera seems to be "chasing" the bag or barely able to keep up with it. The filming technique is meant to seem "amateur" by the choppy motion of the camera and The dead leaves, concrete, and brick present a drab contrast to the typically drab plastic bag, which seems quite vibrant to the former in comparison. The music is playful and pleasant but at the same time is a bit mysterious...causing viewers to wonder about the intentions of this shot. The bag dances away from the camera at times, and there is a clear sense of wind blowing the bag and the leaves. The bag seems playful and joyous, and the music contributes to this playfulness. The bag seems beautiful and playful amidst the dead leaves and concrete. The scene truly makes the ordinary white bag seem extraordinary, especially when it is juxtaposed to the other elements in the shot.

This opening scene later is discussed by the character in the film who filmed the bag. For him the bag represents something beautiful in the ugly world that he lives in, an abusive father and solitude, which is the scene that I will show in class. The light outside of the screen is in the bedroom is very dim, and the screen is bright. As the camera turns to the people in the scene, it is dark and close up on their faces. The tears are sparkling, and when the characters grasp hands, it is also close up. The scene is somewhat conflicting because the camera work on the people is close and intimate, but the bag scene seems bright and playful.

2006-09-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

Abbey Weis
Blog Rationale for Media Studies
September 14, 2006

Currently, South St. Paul Junior High has a language arts curriculum that is both somewhat traditional and somewhat progressive. It is traditional because it is heavily driven by reading text and writing formally, with an emphasis on persuasive writing. In addition, literature focuses are shaped mostly by genre as opposed to themes and concepts. Nevertheless, there has currently been a shift in this area of teaching one genre (short story) to the next (poetry). With the adoption of curriculum developed by the College of William and Mary and the IB Middle Years Programme for ALL students and learners, where conceptual units with some components of media studies are central. The William and Mary curriculum (where "Persuasion" is the focus in seventh grade) includes several internet activities and film analysis assignments. Collaboration between disciplines is also strongly encouraged by the IBMYP organization. Therefore, the language arts curriculum is moving toward a more progressive approach and philosophy...thank goodness! In addition, the community of South St. Paul passed a technology levy five years ago, which has provided our students and staff with cutting edge resources, training, and support staff. Parents also have on-line access to their child's grades with the stroke of a password at any time. Obviously advances in media and technology mean something to the community. Moreover, the school board and the community currently stand strongly behind the IB Middle Years Programme and have committed deeply to its implementation, which is progressive and has an entire area devoted to technology, it seems fitting that South St. Paul Public Schools should develop a media studies curriculum.
While some students in our district don't have access to media at home, our school district certainly posesses some of the best technological resources for students. All teachers have been required to design "technology" projects that students MUST interact with and manipulate. Obviously the district and the community want students to be media literate and able to correspond with our ever changing world. This global connectedness, because of the internet, is also a goal of the IB Middle Years Programme. If we truly want students to be critical thinkers and participants in our global society, they MUST be able to understand the technological world and the world of mass media. More importantly, they need to learn to disect it and analyze it in order to make educated choices and changes because of it. For example, if students are persuaded by a political advertisement because it shows aborted babies in jars, they must understand that there is a force much larger than one politician behind the ad...they must understand who is funding the campaign that creates the commercial, the larger political platform, the influence of religion on government, etc. If they are unable to make these distinctions, are they really qualified to be informed voters? This could also be true for a leftist ad just as it is for the rightist example.
Becuase we do live in a global and technological society, there is no hiding our children from bombarding images, news headlines, music videos, the internet, film, video games, I-Pods, and other forms of media, and most children can manipulate and understand these medias much more effectively than adults. With that literacy in mind, children should find success in school when they OWN the skills that even their teachers may not possess. The skills that children learn when organizing music files on their I-Pods or interacting in their video games are skills that will be essential in the workplace as this century unfolds. Education must evolve with technology if we want to prepare our students to lead the world. Why not capitalize on skills that we all know will be required when our students seek careers? If most people interact with media for two-thirds of their day, there is no question that it belongs in school curriculums.
Finally, critical analysis and the use of evidence to support ideas is a major aspect of our language arts criteria and the IBMYP emphasis, if we can encourage our students to think critically of the world that they engage with MOST, the media world, we are reinforcing their critical thinking without forcing it. If our students use multiple resources, which the web provides, to support their reasoning, it can only be stronger. This is most true when they must find the validity of the sources that they are seeking. With media studies, they will be forced to critique all forms of media: film, websites, blogs, news, wikis, etc. If we want them to be critical thinkers, why not have them critically think in ALL facets of their existence...not just after reading a novel forced upon them by an English teacher...