Photo Proposal–The Holiday Spirit

Photo Proposal

 

                                                           

 

Section I

            While looking at the references, the one that stood out so clearly is the devastation with the Six Flags in New Orleans. Those pictures captured the ruins and isolation the park shared. The emotion that I felt while looking at those was amazing. I want to create a more positive emotion. Lately, there has been a great deal of negativity because of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. I originally thought about doing that topic, but I decided to capture the holiday season. How chaotic those moments are. Although there are mass amount of people gathering in a particular, there is still holiday spirit. People tend to enjoy this time of the year. All the decorations that are hanging and the sales that individuals experience make this time of the year fun. And I want to capture the joyous moments.  I was exploring the Deptford Mall, and Santa Claus was present in his chair. The smiles that crossed the children’s face made me smile. I look forward to this time of the year because I enjoy spreading joy to other people. I came up with this idea during Black Friday and watching people. Despite the fact it was a holiday, a majority of the individuals were pleasant and eager to win those sales. It was quite entertaining.  

 

Section II

            My main subjects will be individuals and their moments in shopping and experiencing the chaotic scenes. I was also thinking about focusing on the decorations because they share the holiday spirit. Another subject I was considering were the workers of the stores, how helpful and willing to assist all the confused and money spending customers.

 

Section III

            I want the images to have a fuzzy feel with some of the subjects to be in focus and out of focus. To capture the smiles and frustrating that the holiday may bring out in some people is something that I want to record. I want to try and make the photos bright because the holiday is supposed to be an exciting time. Yes there are moments where the person’s hair wants to be pulled out but at the end of the season, people are smiling and enjoying the gifts that were bought and shared.  I will have to play around with the color contrast in order to capture the moments I want to. I am afraid that the pictures I take I will not capture the feeling I want it to. Taking these photos will require time and patients. The subjects I photograph I will be sure to ask permission before assuming. The subjects in my pictures will be the focus because they are the ones experiencing the holiday season and how chaotic it is. I want more positive pictures in my photo essay. As I think about the color that I want to use, maybe vintage, because that adds excitement to the photo. I don’t want to use black and white or sepia because it tends to add a darker feeling to the picture. I do have to play around though to see which contrast would suit the photographs the best. 

IT….IS….ALIVE!!

My Prezi is complete!

Within this project, I discuss Sherry Turkle’s concept of windows and the basics of social networking. Using Jing, I explain the different roles that followers and followees play on Twitter, the types of “friends” that are “made” on Facebook, and the way that you can identity-hop back and forth between different sites. This module has helped me better utilize Twitter and social networking in general. Enjoy!

May I See Some I.D. ?

Final Prezi

Here is the link to my final draft of my Prezi: Identity: Online and Offline

And here is my final draft of my narrative:

Identity to me is something that is made up of many different things. It’s the way I act, the things I say and the things others say about me that make up who I am. But all of those things are relative to what context I’m in, and who my audience is. In some situations, I act differently than I would in others. To certain people I speak a different way than I do to others. Therefore the things people have to say about me will be different based on the context in which they know me.

My offline is very different in different contexts with different audiences. Even my name is different depending on the context I’m in and the audience I’m with. People who don’t know me very well and only know me in a professional setting, such as my doctor or my high school principal, usually call me by my full name, Katelyn. My family and some of my closest friends who have known me in a more personal setting call me Kate. This contextualization of my identity is so deep that I have come to expect it all the time. If someone who knows me on a personal level calls me Katelyn, or if someone I know only on a professional level calls me Kate, I often don’t even realize they are talking to me.

My different names are a very good representation of the main parts of my identity. I have my personal identity (where I’m known as Kate) and my professional identity (where I’m known as Katelyn). In real life, outside the digital world, the personal parts of my identity and the professional parts are often very different and separated. But while the way I act in these two contexts is very different, they are both still parts of my one identity. They are just on opposite sides of the spectrum. I am either in a personal setting showing the personal side of my identity, or a professional setting showing that side of my identity. There are times when the two can mix (where people usually call me Katie), like in class for example, where I can be informal, yet I still need to be professional to a certain degree. But most of my time is spent either one side of the spectrum or the other.

My online identity is different. Online there are many more spaces that allow me to blend together my personal and professional life and don’t require such separation as there is in my offline identity. For example on Twitter, I can talk about things I am doing with my friends, or things I am working on for class, or things I want to do in my career. On my WordPress blog I can talk about my professional interests in an informal way. I can present myself whatever way I want because I control the spaces that I create online. This is an invaluable opportunity for me to create a better blend of the different parts of my identity to share with the world.

But why is that important? Why should I want to blend my personal and professional life together online when I keep them so separated offline? Because that gives people a clearer idea of who I am. In real life, people get to know me by seeing me, talking to me about both personal and professional things, and learning what I am like in each of those contexts. But online, people are learning about me sometimes without even meeting me. Online, my context and audience is the whole world. The things I say on Twitter and Facebook reach a much larger audience than the things I say in real life. Twitter allows me to blend together my personal and professional interests, creating an audience for myself that is a mix of people from all different parts of my life from all around the world.  According to TIME magazine’s Steve Johnson, “The mix creates a media experience quite unlike anything that has come before it.” (Johnson 2009)

The things I do online are also permanent, leaving a footprint of my identity that can reach an audience in the future. My online identity transcends space and time, something my offline identity cannot do. That’s why I need to merge the parts of my identity online so those who don’t know me in real life can get to know who I really am. Who I am is a mix of both parts of my identity: my personal and professional life. If I make my online identity a good mix of the two, people will know the real me, and not just one part of me. In her article, “Who Am We?” Sherry Turkle writes, “The culture of simulation may help us achieve a vision of a multiple but integrated identity whose flexibility, resilience, and capacity for joy comes from having access to our many selves.” (Turkle 1996). Online I am never either Katelyn or Kate. I am both, I am Katie.

Are Copyright Laws Doing Their Job?

Copyright laws were originally created protect the works of creative people from being copied, and they originally lasted 14 years. In that time, a person could claim their work as their own and make money off of it before anyone was allowed to copy it and run the creator of the original work out of business. It was a way to balance the needs of the individuals who create things and the culture of the public domain. After those 14 years were up, the copyrighted works would go into the hands of the public domain, allowing anyone to then use that work (citing the author of course) to build their own ideas and create new works. The public domain is an essential part of the process of creating new things, since all ideas, no matter how original, are inspired by other things. (See the “Everything is a Remix” Series, by Kirby Ferguson) The public domain is a storage system of inspiration.

Today, that public domain is getting smaller and smaller. Copyright laws now last a lifetime plus 75 years (100 years for corporations) and can be renewed when they are up. Things that should be in the public domain are stuck in the greedy hands of the individuals that created them. Those individuals are benefiting from their works for far too long, and those who want to use them either have to pay or are punished for piracy. There are works that should be public that may never enter into the public domain.  So now, copyright laws are no longer doing the job for which they were created. There is no longer a balance between the individuals and the culture they create things for. In fact, the individuals are no longer creating for the culture, they create for themselves using the culture to make a profit.

I personally feel like it’s a better reward to have my work reused, remixed, and reinvented by a million other people for free than to make a ton of money from it and allow it to fall out of the public’s eye forever. If I claim that my work is mine and cannot be borrowed, when I die, it dies with me. But if I am less greedy and allow others to build their ideas off of my own, my ideas can live on and grow bigger and better forever through the creativity of others. Then people long after I am gone can trace the line of creativity and great ideas back to me and my ideas. Is it really worth it to give up all of that just for the money?

Differentiated Instruction

How does a teacher decide what material is interesting to his/her students? Carefully planning the differentiated instruction comes into play. The lesson has to be thoroughly thought about and planned. A teacher needs to be prepared for all aspects, and have a plan in case something is to fail. Students learn by plenty of examples as well as repetition. Differentiated instruction is about educating the students in a way that he/she will be able to apply it every day situations. However, the classroom is rather diverse and all students need to be incorporated in each activity a teacher is conducting. Students need to experience real world situations because this helps with the memorization process. Practice makes perfect

            Although many teachers will argue that practice makes perfect, others may suggest that the students are not learning the material but rather memorizing the material. Critical thinking is a big concern when it comes to differentiated instruction. For it makes the students think and analyze material on another level. Some students may or may not fully comprehend the information to dissect its pieces. This poses a problem, because that means that students are not getting the necessary information provided to them to continue with the task. Students learn through repetition, not memorization.  In today’s school systems students are not being taught the proper information to critically analyze material because there is no emphasize put on it. Instead students are learning more about basic skills, technology skills, as well as process skills. Critical thinking is extremely significant for students to do while in school for it allows them to understand it in their own way, rather than having a teacher explain the information to them.

            Critical thinking is extremely important for students to do and a teacher needs to be the one educating them on how to do it properly during differentiated instruction. Teachers may need  to modify his/her lesson plan again in order to cover the basics. This may set the teacher back a little; nonetheless, it can be an essential piece in the learning process. Teachers also need to be aware of having gifted students in the class while modifying the differentiated instruction. Gifted students do not necessary mean special needs, it can be intelligent. This can be another downfall for teachers while trying to construct the plans for differentiated instruction. Working with a gifted student can be challenging at times, therefore patience is required. As a result of having a gifted student in the classroom, the teacher must do more research on the student.

 

My Teaching Philosophy of Education

 

 

I believe all children have the ability to learn. Each individual is unique in which they need to have a place where he/she can grow socially, physically, and intellectually. It is my job as an educator to provide this atmosphere for these individuals. No matter the circumstances, the students in my classroom need to feel as though they are safe. Providing a safe environment allows for more learning to occur. I believe in three elements when it comes to a successful classroom, 1) providing a safe environment, 2) allowing curiosity to engross an individuals mind, and 3) promoting respect for all around the individual.

As I believe in these three essential elements, I also believe in my role as an educator is equally significant. An educator is does not strictly teach a certain subject, I am the encourage the mind of young adolescent to expand. I am there to be an exemplar for my students, as well as teaching morals and values. A situation may occur in which these are to be taught. Being an educator is not about the extrinsic rewards but the intrinsic rewards I will receive after my students. I am a strong believer in genuinely understanding these rewards because it could ultimately have a positive or negative outcome. An educator comes with a lot of responsibilites, but nonetheless, one needs to comprehend that not everything is perfect. To be successful a teacher needs to have a great deal of patience, and time. The more time spent with the students in your class, will provide a better insight into the way they understand the material being taught. For me, an educator knows when he/she has made a mistake and being able to accept that said mistake. Accepting a mistake makes for a better teacher. A professor once told to “expect the unexpected for anything could happen”.

I believe that if children are introduced to material in which they are interesting in, a better learning environment will be taking place. If a subject matter lacks the interest of the students, it is my job as the teacher to provide a better way of teaching the material. Adapting to a situation and using different pedagogies will allow me to get to know my students on a greater level. Incorporating a variety of learning techniques, spices a classroom a student is in for 180 days up. I envision my classroom to be a well organized, collaborative, unique community of learners. Albert Einstein once stated that, “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”

 

 

IDENTITY:EXAMING MYSELF

In this prezi, I examine my identifites online and offline. i discuss what i feel identity should be and the expressions of myself that come through.
prexi final project

Identity

A reading that was required was one written by Sherry Turkle. This was an informative article about a persons identity and the role it plays. It was interesting to read especially about video game identities. Amazing how a computer screen can give a person enough courage to discuss issues via web; however, when it comes to the “real world” the person freezes. Never did I realize how powerful a computer screen really is.  A person can create many identities because their true identity is being hidden. I was watching a television show one evening when there was a man and woman discussing their upcoming wedding. They met on a game website, I believe dungeons and dragons. Their virtual character was one that they wished they could allow in real life. The man was confident on the web but when he met his future wife in person, he was shy and standoffish. If a person finds happiness via a computer screen then who are we as  a society to judge.  Love is found in the weirdest places. A computer screen is a barrier that helps a person express feelings that they might not normally share when confronted with face to face interaction. Sherry Turkle definitely opened my eyes to how computer screens have affected communication among individuals.

 

Blogging

Blogging has become a topic of discussion. There are many different forms of blogging. During this semester, I found myself on my social media networks than any other website. I was introduced to twitter as well as the blogging world. Never did I fully understand the new world, until I was given a lesson on the usage. I am not sure of how to take this new information about the web. I personally am not one to share my thoughts via the internet. Personally, I believe that blogging assists when it is necessary. For example, if an individual has a certain question about assignments given out in class,  a person can blog in hopes to get a quick response. I have yet to explore my options of blogging because I am still adjusting to the new form of communication. Being on a social media network has allowed me to wander around and observe what other individuals are doing or even thinking at the moment. With this new world, I have to adapt in order to ensure that I am publishing each blog correctly; however, once a person masters the concept the blog publishing becomes rather simple. In fact, so simple the mind does not even need to really think about completing the task. The mind just groups items together, allowing for a faster process to occur. I enjoy blogging, in a way it allows me to break out of my shell more so than before. 

Special Education

 

The reason that I want to become a special education teacher is because I want to help make an impact and difference in a student’s life. To become a special education teacher it takes a lot of time, dedication, patience and love. I have an abundance of each of these traits. I would enjoy dedicating my time to those who need the help and I would love to make their lives easier. When I have a task at hand I am fully dedicating to completing it right and make it so it is simple for everyone to understand. I am a great support system where children can lean on me for help and I will be there with open arms. I want to see individuals grow and succeed in his or her own way, at their own pace.  My patience in adapting to any situation helps me fit in to curriculums and express individual attention to each student. I feel that a special bond is formed between the teachers and their students along with one of the most rewarding experiences. Helping others understand and succeed makes me feel that I am making a difference and doing well for others. I want to be able to provide a safe and comfortable atmosphere for all of my students, which will result in positive results. My sincere passion for teaching would reflect on the progress of students and our mutual connections that I would try to build. I believe that I have the ability to love, support and engage with my future students in a very positive way.

 

 

by marie9444