Final Blog Post
Final Media Project: Digital Drop Box
I believe that students learn best when they are able to, at least to a healthy degree, process and let go of the stressors that are weighing them down. This could be a hardship at home, in school or even inside the classroom. I believe when students are giving an opportunity to release that stress by sharing it with a trusted adult, it helps them share the burden of achievement. I also believe that students learn best when the adult they are learning from is someone they feel connected to and who they feel understands them. In terms of technology, I believe that our digital lives allow us to connect with people in a way that feels safer when we are behind a screen. For my final project, I proposed creating a digital dropbox to allow my students to have a space to express and thoughts or concerns they may not want to voice in front of their peers. This came to mind not only from my own experience as a student, but also from my experience as a teacher.
When I was 9 years old, my father died from complications of early-onset Lewy Body Dementia. Though it is far lesser known than Alzheimers, the disease gained more attention after it was revealed that actor Robin Williams had been struggling with the same form of dementia prior to taking his own life in 2014. I watched my brilliant, accomplished father struggle with memory loss, hallucinations and other kinds of psychological symptoms as he was transitioned through various hospitals and living facilities. The trauma of his illness and death, along with caring for my mother who was (understandably) dealing with crippling depression, took much of my childhood from me.
I quickly went from being a straight-A student to straight D’s and F’s. Because my father died when I was in elementary school, my middle school teachers were not familiar with my background. Teachers expressed frustration when I wouldn’t turn in my homework or study for a test. But at the same time, they failed to ask deeper questions about what was going on at home.
At the time, I was desperate for my teachers to help me really get to the root of why I was struggling. But being a teenager, I assumed that something had changed that caused me to no longer be capable. My anxiety made it impossible to focus, but I didn’t have a grasp on what was going on with me so I also didn’t know how to ask.
It’s important that teachers show their students that they care for them and are there for them on an emotional level. Nothing made me feel more disconnected than the thought that they didn’t actually care about me, but that they only cared that I get a good grade to make their own lives easier. As teachers, it’s up to us to ensure that we are fulfilling the social-emotional teaching that every student deserves.
Researcher Sugata Mitra says in his Ted Talk Build a School in the Cloud, “It's quite fashionable to say that the education system's broken. It's not broken. It's wonderfully constructed. It's just that we don't need it anymore. It’s outdated.” While this is truly in many senses, I disagree in the sense that school is necessary for connection and our sense of identity. We learn so much about ourselves during this time in our lives, and part of that is because of the guidance of our teachers. That’s certainly how it was for me when I was led into journalism through the support of my high school media teachers, Jim Honeycutt and Mike Zeto. They actually listened to me and asked me questions about my life during a time when I truly thought no one cared.
Having that connection with students is part of how we can make an impact on their lives. I want my students to feel safe and know that they have a place in my classroom and my heart. One reason why I knew teaching was the right career for me after finishing my first year in the classroom was because of the deep attachment I feel with my students. I listened to their needs and was always there for them when they asked, but it was admittedly hard to find time to talk with them face to face when they wanted a moment with me alone. There were times when it would take me at least a whole day to find time to speak to my student outside of class. Passing time wasn’t the best option either, because I didn’t want them to miss precious instructional time. I decided to make a digital drop box through Google Forms because it is a tool that they can use easily and can submit their thoughts to me whenever they'd like. The form will be on the homepage of my Google Classroom so that students will not have any trouble accessing it.
Because anxiety never ends for our teens, they need a way to express their feelings around the clock, even after I've finished work for the day. According to University of Massachussets at Amherst, Google Classroom and other tools like Google Forms have been recommended to teachers because of how easy it is to use. My students may be digital natives compared to myself, a digital immigrant, but that doesn't mean that technology isn't confusing sometimes. I strive to make my technology in the classroom as easy to understand as possible.
While I am cautious of allowing students to use platforms like social media during their formative years because of its impact on mental disorders, I also agree with the idea of being a techno-constructivist because I believe we can use technology to our benefit, as long as we're cautious with it.
One reason why I enjoyed the film Encanto is because it teaches children how to see themselves as unique and special even when everyone around them seems like they have superpowers, and it teaches us how to deal properly with generational trauma that may bleed into our own lives years after the trauma has occured. I'm also glad that Disney is leaning away from the unrealistical and harmful expectations that the Disney princess trope puts on young girls who need role models that look like them in the media.
The chapter Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us in the chapter of Rethinking Popular Media & Culture by Linda Christensen shows us that Disney princesses aren't a real depiction of modern, feminist women when she writes, "My waist didn’t dip into an hourglass; in fact, accordingto the novels I read, my thick ankles doomed me to be cast as the peasant woman reaping hay while the heroine swept by with her handsome man in hot pursuit." Many girls I knew growing up were desperate to see themselves in a Disney movie in part because they could not relate to these wealthy, man-obsessed characters. We wanted to have our own skills and freedoms, but at the time that was practicely the exact opposite of how the then-male dominated Disney functioned.
However, this kind of manipulation is all-too familiar to the U.S. education system. In the Ted Talk How to escape educations Death Valley, Sir Ken Robinson pointed out the irony of the No Child Left Behind act, saying, "Because it's leaving millions of children behind. Now I can see that's not a very attractive name for legislation: 'Millions of Children Left Behind.' I can see that. What's the plan? We propose to leave millions of children behind, and here's how it's going to work." While most people in education seem to have good intentions, part of the problem is that they don't listen."
While my digital drop box isn't perfect, it will allow my students to reach me whenever they'd like and give them the opportunity to say whatever they'd like. Under the suggestion of one of my classmates, I will make students put their name for safety reasons, but it will be completely confidential. Going forward, I plan on coming up with a way to have a dialogue with my students through these forms. That will likely be by requiring the forms as a submission so that I can leave comments on the page. While I don't expect everyone to contribute, I hope it gives my students the opportunity to speak freely with me, regardless of the issue.
PECHA KUCHA: https://www.loom.com/share/0043be7fe8ab432bb765aeafea672440
SELF ASSESSMENT: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CzGelE7idWh8-v5ErmtDqNAweVjj8zuZQvHQZRrBnE0/edit?usp=sharing
Links
1. https://www.ascd.org/blogs/how-to-talk-and-listen-to-your-students-during-times-of-crisis
4. https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/epidemic-anxiety-among-todays-students
5. https://blogs.umass.edu/onlinetools/community-centered-tools/google-classroom/
6. https://www.parkinson.org/blog/awareness/robin-williams-lewy-body-dementia-suicide-pd
8. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LakonRFLM8mzZGiBBdQOi1Mut7ea0Uxv/view
9. https://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud
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