First Day

Looking at the world through a more critical lens. This sums up the day. The hidden meaning or the "secret education" instilled in us just by the very nature of our culture. What do we see and learn about ourselves if we start to analyze what it is that we watch in the popular media? What does it mean to be a boy in our culture and how do we know this? What does it mean to be a young lady in our culture? What is beauty or handsomeness and how do we know? These are complex questions and ideas to say the least. We are defined by and at the same time building definitions of ourselves and the world by the media that we watch and make. How much of our view of life has been defined and warped by "Disney"? Do more marriages fail in this country because of the Ideals placed on our perceptions of what a marriage should be like? Are we in fact destroying chances at happiness by not displaying more real life in our programing? Lots of questions here, we may not answer all the questions during the course but may give ourselves a new or different way to watch the world around us.

The goal as a teacher would be to open up our eyes to the pervasive culture of instant media, and find a way to use it to meet our goals in teaching; getting the students to want to learn and want to come to school. There will have to be a balance struck between getting and learning background knowledge and utilizing media to become self learners, Self experimenters, and ultimately knowledge builders or adders. There are hurdles and barriers to overcome in the standard classroom of today, to be at the same level as a tech savvy student will take lots of money in equipment an training. Probable the most overlooked aspect of having technology in the classroom is having personnel available to fix it, nothing stops a lesson faster than technology that does not work. Money is needed, and a new commitment to what is important to spend money on.