CURR 501: Digital Media Literacy

  Who Am I?  I’ve been teaching in Bilingual/Dual language classrooms for about three years. I am a Multilingual learner myself and I really understand how hard it could be to learn a new language. It is very important to me to support Multilingual Learners (MLLs) as much as I can. I will be teaching first graders next year in a bilingual classroom (80% Spanish and 20% English). Being in this journey as a bilingual teacher makes me understand that this takes time and effort and that I need to engage students in learning opportunities that help them grow and develop important skills. My students are my inspiration to continue developing and growing in my profession.    My Tech Identity When I first heard about Scott Noon’s 4-tiers of technology use , I wasn't sure if my tech identity was Techno-traditionalist or Techno-constructivist. It made me reflect on my position in relation to these tiers. As I was taking this course, I felt more confident that the tier that best describes wh

How does it feel to think about Disney through the critical lenses posed by Christensen and my slides? How did these frameworks help you think about Moana? Both Christensen's text and Dr. Bogad's slides were very helpful when watching the movie "Moana" through the proposed critical lenses. The questions that Christensen proposed to her students were helpful to me as well because they provided a focus and a perspective to analyze. Dr. Bogad's slides were great support for me during this work. It helped me understand more about Disney movies. It also made me understand that we can have different points of view and that we can do a critical analysis of our world. "Our society's culture industry colonizes their minds and teaches them how to act, live and dream". (Christensen (2016), p. 175) When I analyzed "Moana" I needed to think about more than just characters and settings. I needed to understand what was happening beyond what my eyes coul

  Disney's film drags Chinese civilization through the mud  (Cheng-Feng Zun) I have to start by pointing out that I recently watched the Disney movie Mulan (not the animated version) and for that reason, I've decided to select this chapter of the book to read and to share. Here there are different positive points about this film that are presented at the beginning. A Taiwanese man, Chen-Yi Chang, was the designer of the character. This film highlight the beauty of Mulan (neither seductive nor voluptuous) as the authors present. Another characteristic of this character "who is emotionally and physically strong and does not wait around for Prince Charming to save her" (p. 106).  On the other hand, the authors describe this movie as "the most oppressive, rigid, and sexist culture in the world of Disney's animated children's movies" (p. 106). There is a difference between what the traditional Chinese legend says to what Disney's version presents. For

  Boom Cards are interactive lessons designed by teachers. You can select from a variety of lessons or make lessons yourself to sell them. Here is the tutorial!

  What do you believe about how students learn and what do you want to improve for fall 2021? Make a TO-DO list to keep yourself organized around this project! Change: I want to create an environment where students can collaborate/interact with each other while supporting MLLs/ELLs in my classroom. Belief: I believe that learning happens when interaction and collaboration among students and teachers occur (small group, large group, one-one).  Media/Technology: How to make it happen? Probably a collaborative document/tool (Google Docs, Google slides, PearDeck, BoomCards). I haven’t decided which specific media tool to use yet.  Since it will be my second year teaching in a first-grade bilingual position (at a different school), I will develop an action plan to implement with my students during Fall 2021. TO-DO List: Decide what media/technology tool to use: Since I've been writing in class about my beliefs, it wasn't too hard to make a decision on what I believe about how my stu

How does this Ted Talk make you think about your role with young people in an online environment?     I really enjoyed this Ted Talk! Sugata Mitra (2013) presents learning in a very interesting way. In the beginning, he transported me to think about a world without computers and cellphones. Then, I reflected on the purpose of our schools around the world. It made me make some questions to reflect on how learning is happening now. Are we preparing our students for the real world? Are we preparing them for different jobs that we see today and others that we might see in the future? We need to constantly redesign learning. Technology changes, so does learning. I think it is very important to provide learning opportunities for our students to develop new skills and to challenge themselves. Mitra (2013) gives a computer to children with no experience with these, no English, under the heat of southern India. Children learn how to use it and ask to learn more. One of his questions that mad

  What is the relationship between Turkle and Wesch? Do you see them as allies or opponents in this discussion of new media and technology? Turkle (2012), starts by saying that “getting a text was like getting a hug.” She followed by pointing out that too many texts can be problematic. She also mentions what we learned in the virtual world , what we learned about ourselves, and our identities to live better lives in the real world. Turkle explained how sometimes technology takes us places where we don’t want to go. According to Turkle, technology can be psychologically powerful, somehow changing what we do and who we are. She presents the term “The Goldilocks effect” as being “not too close, not too far, just right”. But, what is “just right” for each of us?; What do we want to pay attention to? We can ask these questions to ourselves and we will have a variety of responses. As Turkle well said: “It’s time to talk!” Is not to get away from our devices, but to find a balance between te