As a first reflection on the course so far, we were presented with the idea of social discourses which can limit students exposure to a way of speaking, thinking, living, etc... I immediately thought of an instance just a few days ago in my class where a student (let's call him Alex) was a portfolio panelist for another student's presentation (let's call him Ricky). While Alex was providing feedback and questioning Ricky, several other students nearby were commenting about how "professional" Alex was sounding and about how Ricky kept calling Alex his "dog" or "son" and how inappropriate that was. I was really struck by the way that Alex changed his normal discourse from being Ricky's "son" or "dog" and became a very serious minded professional in a formal setting. It really amazed me to see how Alex was emulating the way he has seen my (and I'm sure other teachers) discourse in the class during our portfolio presentations.
Speaking of things social... A lot of my students have been endlessly talking about myspace this year. Here's is a humorous clip from Dimitri Martin's segment on "trendspotting" from the Daily Show poking a little fun at the world of online social networking. Enjoy.
-MF EDOOMCATOR
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
MF EDOOMCATOR, your description of the student emulating you and your colleagues reminds me of what my mother used to say, “Stand-up straight, you never know who is watching you!” As teachers, students are always watching us and taking note of what we say, do, make, and even how we act. I forget sometimes the influence that we have and our responsibility as a role models. I hope sometimes that the students are critical as to which behaviors they pick up, and which they choose to ignore.
I hope some of you were able to access the social networking video from YouTube while it was available. A great satirical take on the current discourse around the issue.
MF EDOOMCATOR I love how you are capitalizing on available multi-modal texts in this blog!
Only Absolute, your comment on role models and influences really gets at the notion of being able to speak and act using the discourses that have been available to us or for which we have had access. What this means is, to help students become critical, we need to make accessible to them more powerful discursive practices so that they are able to critically analyze the world around them and make more informed decisions.
Unfortunately, youtube videos often get taken down due to copyright issues and I hope enough people were able to see the Daily show's clip on "social networking". You might find it up again by doing a search on "Dimitri Martin trendspotting social networking".
-DOOM
Post a Comment