Sociological Concepts:
I disagree with the formula's Institution's provide or so claimed by this site. A desire for love does not always become a desire to marry. My father, for one, loves affection but the idea of marriage never appealed to him. Though, he was most alone when he had no one to care for him (sort of like a mother figure.. who also provides sexual benefits). Next, my desire for happiness comes mostly from school. The better I do in my classes and the more I feel I understand the content, the happier I am because the happier I make my father. He never graduated high school so to see his daughter succeed is his most desired wish at this moment (especially because his older daughter never graduated). Granted, possessions makes everything just a little bit better but when you take into account all the poverty and starvation, etc- it's not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of "happy". My desire for an education though, does ultimately impends a desire for a good job. Of course I want a good job. I want to be able to travel when I get older and go out every night with friends and simply make good memories. School as an institution does provide me with that opportunity. As fore a desire for democracy - well I'm not huge on politics. I'm hoping that later on in life I'll become more involved (more specifically after I'm 18).
Liberal Arts Education:
So, from what I understand, it's not what you learn, its how you apply it to your everyday life. In general I don't really agree. I mean, is the reason for learning science so that we can analyze data and test hypothesis. I think generally the human mind is programmed to do just that all on its own without learning science. As children (without school), we analyze the situation and act on it. We test different methods such as crying and shouting for things we want or just simply behaving and being rewarded at the end. Granted I think school definitely sharpens those aspects but they don't "teach" us how to do them. However, specifically pertaining to art, I do think it helps us appreciate the "richness and endless diversity of human imagination". Speaking for myself, I've never appreciated art until school taught me that the beauty of art is that it can be perceived in so many different ways. It can tell stories, it can be a "mirror" which acts as a representation of whatever the art is on, it can be a "hammer" in which to offer change. Art never appealed to me before I knew I could understand it and I guess I should be thankful for school in allowing me to see that I can do just that.
Benefits Of Intellectual An Social Awakening:
This was my favorite article to read as it focuses on what I want to look more into about schools: teacher's passion for learning. So they say the curriculum is important but its the teachers drive to be the best teacher they can be that triggers the same osrt of feeling in students. I loved how they mentioned that the teacher, Ms. Kenny, observed no noise when students changed classrooms and that reminds me a lot about how noisy and active children naturally are and how school teaches us to obedient and listen to authority figures and not to identify ourselves as "animals" (loud and wild.) School does indeed teach the fundamentals by promoting no violence which I think is a great thing, but I do think kids need to find a way to express their emotions otherwise studies show it can lead to insanity (bottled up emotions). Also, parents promote the same thing at home (no violence) so it doesn't need to be that exaggerated in school.
“They were trying to replicate programs instead of trying to develop people.” < I think school needs to focus on developing people rather than teaching curriculum.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
HW 42 - Significance
I still don't know exactly what I'm going to be looking into but I know for a fact I'm highly interested in the whole teacher-student relationship and what can come of it. I'm still confused on what question(s) to ask that will lead me to solid/interesting information. If I had to ‘narrow’ it down, it would probably be the teachers affect on students and their overall school experience.
I feel like this question is important to me because as I look back at all my school memories, the best ones involved some amazing teachers. I remember being in 3rd grade and feeling so happy that my teacher cared for me so much. She’d always tell me how smart I was and how much potential I had and how ahead I would be if I’d just do my homework. She’d always know when something was wrong and find a way to make me feel better. She was definitely the first teacher I had that I realized learning was something I loved doing. She made me feel so happy to know the answers to problems and be able to tackle problems she gave us with ease. In 4th grade, I had a different teacher. I knew she didn’t care as much because she never really bothered with me. She left me to myself. I didn’t care as much for school and was always looking for a way to stay home. I guess I values having a connection with my teacher. I liked someone telling me I can do whatever I thought I couldn’t. After reading Tuesdays With Morrie, I sort of have this really big hope that in college I can become as close to my professor(s) as Mitch was to Morrie. I admire that relationship so much. The thing is, I can’t put my finger on why I do. I think maybe if I have a professor(s) that cares, then I’ll be that much more motivated to do my absolute best.
I don’t know much about what I want to do for the rest of my life or what I want to pursue, but I do know a couple things about what I enjoy most at this point in my life. As of right now it’s playing sports, learning, laughing, and relationships (with my friends, guys, teachers, advisers, etc). Because learning makes me feel so good about myself and happier in general, I know it really matters to me and plays a big role in my life. I think I might want to share this passion by actually becoming a teacher and showing students just how fulfilling the feeling of learning makes you feel. I think if I can do that (share my passion for learning - with or without becoming a teacher), I’ll be able to say that I lived a life well lived (at least to my standards).
I feel like this question is important to me because as I look back at all my school memories, the best ones involved some amazing teachers. I remember being in 3rd grade and feeling so happy that my teacher cared for me so much. She’d always tell me how smart I was and how much potential I had and how ahead I would be if I’d just do my homework. She’d always know when something was wrong and find a way to make me feel better. She was definitely the first teacher I had that I realized learning was something I loved doing. She made me feel so happy to know the answers to problems and be able to tackle problems she gave us with ease. In 4th grade, I had a different teacher. I knew she didn’t care as much because she never really bothered with me. She left me to myself. I didn’t care as much for school and was always looking for a way to stay home. I guess I values having a connection with my teacher. I liked someone telling me I can do whatever I thought I couldn’t. After reading Tuesdays With Morrie, I sort of have this really big hope that in college I can become as close to my professor(s) as Mitch was to Morrie. I admire that relationship so much. The thing is, I can’t put my finger on why I do. I think maybe if I have a professor(s) that cares, then I’ll be that much more motivated to do my absolute best.
I don’t know much about what I want to do for the rest of my life or what I want to pursue, but I do know a couple things about what I enjoy most at this point in my life. As of right now it’s playing sports, learning, laughing, and relationships (with my friends, guys, teachers, advisers, etc). Because learning makes me feel so good about myself and happier in general, I know it really matters to me and plays a big role in my life. I think I might want to share this passion by actually becoming a teacher and showing students just how fulfilling the feeling of learning makes you feel. I think if I can do that (share my passion for learning - with or without becoming a teacher), I’ll be able to say that I lived a life well lived (at least to my standards).
Monday, February 22, 2010
HW 41 - Initial Internet Research on Schooling: Edited
1)
Mariam. "Everybody Has The Right To Be Educated". Source. Education News, Special Education. January 7th, 2009.
This article argues that everyone has a right to an education despite physical ability, race, gender, etc. Students with physical, emotional, or mental "issues" are educated by 'special education teachers who are involved in the students’ behavioral, social, and academic development. Education doesn't discriminate and there's always an alternative for children if they need some sort of special attention.
This article is very short and easy to read. However, it provides no real depth to her insight. If she is arguing that education does not discriminate, she should probably include how the educational department holds different standards for different races, physical abilities, etc. I would argue that as discrimination itself. Also, the author defines 'everyone' being human beings and equal to god. Those two factors justify your right to an education (or so according to the article).
2)
Hasmik. "Education Is For Everyone". Source. Special Education. November 17th, 2008.
This article argues that education is the basis of our whole career and life itself. To be successful, we must pay attention to our education because only a well-educated, literate person can survive in this world. Everyone has the right to an education no matter your health or economic status because we are all equal and have the same rights.
This article is also very short and easy to read/follow. I found it as a follow-up link to the previous above article. I think, just as the last article, this one lacks solid reasoning. Hasmik seems to just say his ideas but he has no real evidence supporting why he thinks the way he does. Saying that education leads to success is so typical. Hasmik fails to mention that education doesn't always lead to success. Education can lead to an ‘okay livable lifestyle’ (not exactly the way you always dreamed of living but not a bad/hard way of living). He doesn't even define success. I guess this article is good if you want to start off by reading on very basic ideas/brainstorming.
3)
Horany, Elizabeth. "Women's Issues Then And Now". Source. Utexas. May 18th, 2002.
This web page talks about how equality was fought for from woman for so long. It argues that education as a stepping stone in gaining equality but it also mentions the inequality in expectations for woman and men to still be an issue. Education is a way to attain equal status in society and before that woman were seen as lower-class citizens who couldn’t vote/own property etc.
I like this source because it offers the history of woman in education, reasons for oppression, and its social relevance. It's a bit longer than the above two sources but it’s just as easy to understand. This source also gives quotes of lines that support their arguments such as what other people thought about woman in education (Queen Victoria specifically). I think I might want to refer back to this source if I continue in this direction of internet research/area (topic) of interest.
4)
Fırat Açıkgöz. "A Study On Teacher Characteristics And Their Effects On Students Attitudes". Source. The Reading Matrix Vol. 5, No. 2, September 2005.
This article is mainly about how the styles of teachers affect the students attitude and overall approach to school work. It mainly talks about how teachers choose to tackle certain things such as classroom management and the outcome/ how the students mainly react.
I thought this source was very informative about teachers and students and the interactions between the two especially because the article was made after conducting several interviews from the students and talking to the teachers. Although this article was helpful, it was taken in a Turkish mono-lingual setting and was done as an extension of earlier studies to provide feedback to Turkish teachers.
5)
William L. Saunders and June C. Rivers. "Cumulative and Residual Effects of Teachers On Future Student Academic Achievement". Source. University of Tennessee Value Added Research And Assessment Center. November 1996.
The portion of the article I focused in on explained how as teacher effectiveness increases, lower achieving students are the first to benefit.
Good article, easy to follow and read. This information was gathered through the TVAAS and specifically explains and pertains to the students of Tennessee. I like how this source breaks each step up (of how they got their information to how they analyzed it). I also like how they compared students scores in math, reading, language arts, science and social studies to the teachers style of teaching and then made further predictions based on the information that was gathered.
Additional Works Consulted:
The Right To Be Educated: Source 6
Education and Human Rights: Source 7
You Have To Be Educated To Be A Leader: Source 8
Teacher and Classroom Context Effects on Student Achievement: Source 9
How Large Are Teacher Effects?: Source 10
Mariam. "Everybody Has The Right To Be Educated". Source. Education News, Special Education. January 7th, 2009.
This article argues that everyone has a right to an education despite physical ability, race, gender, etc. Students with physical, emotional, or mental "issues" are educated by 'special education teachers who are involved in the students’ behavioral, social, and academic development. Education doesn't discriminate and there's always an alternative for children if they need some sort of special attention.
This article is very short and easy to read. However, it provides no real depth to her insight. If she is arguing that education does not discriminate, she should probably include how the educational department holds different standards for different races, physical abilities, etc. I would argue that as discrimination itself. Also, the author defines 'everyone' being human beings and equal to god. Those two factors justify your right to an education (or so according to the article).
2)
Hasmik. "Education Is For Everyone". Source. Special Education. November 17th, 2008.
This article argues that education is the basis of our whole career and life itself. To be successful, we must pay attention to our education because only a well-educated, literate person can survive in this world. Everyone has the right to an education no matter your health or economic status because we are all equal and have the same rights.
This article is also very short and easy to read/follow. I found it as a follow-up link to the previous above article. I think, just as the last article, this one lacks solid reasoning. Hasmik seems to just say his ideas but he has no real evidence supporting why he thinks the way he does. Saying that education leads to success is so typical. Hasmik fails to mention that education doesn't always lead to success. Education can lead to an ‘okay livable lifestyle’ (not exactly the way you always dreamed of living but not a bad/hard way of living). He doesn't even define success. I guess this article is good if you want to start off by reading on very basic ideas/brainstorming.
3)
Horany, Elizabeth. "Women's Issues Then And Now". Source. Utexas. May 18th, 2002.
This web page talks about how equality was fought for from woman for so long. It argues that education as a stepping stone in gaining equality but it also mentions the inequality in expectations for woman and men to still be an issue. Education is a way to attain equal status in society and before that woman were seen as lower-class citizens who couldn’t vote/own property etc.
I like this source because it offers the history of woman in education, reasons for oppression, and its social relevance. It's a bit longer than the above two sources but it’s just as easy to understand. This source also gives quotes of lines that support their arguments such as what other people thought about woman in education (Queen Victoria specifically). I think I might want to refer back to this source if I continue in this direction of internet research/area (topic) of interest.
4)
Fırat Açıkgöz. "A Study On Teacher Characteristics And Their Effects On Students Attitudes". Source. The Reading Matrix Vol. 5, No. 2, September 2005.
This article is mainly about how the styles of teachers affect the students attitude and overall approach to school work. It mainly talks about how teachers choose to tackle certain things such as classroom management and the outcome/ how the students mainly react.
I thought this source was very informative about teachers and students and the interactions between the two especially because the article was made after conducting several interviews from the students and talking to the teachers. Although this article was helpful, it was taken in a Turkish mono-lingual setting and was done as an extension of earlier studies to provide feedback to Turkish teachers.
5)
William L. Saunders and June C. Rivers. "Cumulative and Residual Effects of Teachers On Future Student Academic Achievement". Source. University of Tennessee Value Added Research And Assessment Center. November 1996.
The portion of the article I focused in on explained how as teacher effectiveness increases, lower achieving students are the first to benefit.
Good article, easy to follow and read. This information was gathered through the TVAAS and specifically explains and pertains to the students of Tennessee. I like how this source breaks each step up (of how they got their information to how they analyzed it). I also like how they compared students scores in math, reading, language arts, science and social studies to the teachers style of teaching and then made further predictions based on the information that was gathered.
Additional Works Consulted:
The Right To Be Educated: Source 6
Education and Human Rights: Source 7
You Have To Be Educated To Be A Leader: Source 8
Teacher and Classroom Context Effects on Student Achievement: Source 9
How Large Are Teacher Effects?: Source 10
Sunday, February 21, 2010
HW 40 - School Interviews and Synthesis
Part A:
In all of my interviews, I started off very basic by asking them to tell me about their experience as a student. From there, I sort of just asked follow up questions on the spot. I also listed their high schools and year of attendance because I realized that the setting plays a big role on their thoughts about school. I interviewed Jon (Hill) because I thought it was interesting to see his perspectives on the relationship (if any) between schooling in France vs. schooling here. My grandmother who made it to 4th grade only, my father who made it to 11th grade, his girlfriend who finished high school and college and became a teacher for elementary kids, and her son who currently attends high school. Everyone talked about their overall experience even if I asked questions that seemed to focus on just the ideas.
Notes:
Name, Age, School, Year of high school attendance
Adam, 17, Leadership and Public Service, 2006-10: School sucks, I hate it. We have tests and quizzes every other day. Homework every single day. No gym and the lunch is terrible. Teachers suck. They’re always yelling. Hate the rules – No chewing gum, no hats. They do it to try and make everything right. Their life sucks, take anger out on us. They have nothing better to do. Likes: Sports, school parties, dean (he’s ‘cool’), friends. Teachers barely help. Everyone thinks they give us an education but they don’t teach anything that ‘sticks’. Their teaching isn’t good enough. I would like for them to talk to me about what I can do to succeed. 30 kids to a classroom. They just want money. After schools done, my teachers are nowhere to be found. I think school makes my behavior worse. All the yelling makes me tense up. My old school (Tito Puente) was definitely better. Teachers were cool. Lunch was better. Big school. Big gym. I was a better person. I was better in sports.
Dad, 52, Seward Park, ~1973: School was fun. Great teachers. Great classmates. Teachers worked with you. Took time out for you, they cared. Classmates were funny and helpful. At the time, Vietnam was over and people were still talking about it. Made people closer – sort of like a family. Disliked the racism. Racist kids would beat up on one kid. Teachers mostly stood out of outside school issues. High school teachers played favoritism. Of course I wasn’t a favorite. With time education got better. There was no computer access. A lot slower. Todays school system is better – information at your fingertips. Before it was so much to do research. I stopped school because of the money I was making working with my father as a carpenter. I loved it though. I do wish I finished it. It helped me because it made me appreciate learning more. We didn’t have that many tests or quizzes. Never a lot of homework. More physical. Hands on.
Sally, 52, Mable Dean Bacon, 1973-77: Wonderful. All girls school. No distractions (no boys). Spent time with teachers. Wasn’t overcrowded. They cared. About 18 or so kids to a class. Teachers made it fun and interesting. We had to do and learn things ourselves. No computers. More research. Teachers made it so that we want to come back. I look at you guys today and you all hate school. I never liked math. They taught it well I just never liked it because I still couldn’t grasp everything. Afterschool my teacher worked with me one on one. I always wanted to learn. It made me want to further my education. Wasn’t about materials and who wore what. Everyone wanted to learn and that’s what they were there for. Once you got a degree, you knew you had a job, now it’s more about who you know. People with masters can’t find jobs. For teachers it wasn’t about money. They did more volunteering if anything. Less stressful before.
Grandma, 71, N/A, Would have been around 1946ish: I made it up to 4th grade. Don’t remember much. I learned how to read and write. I learned everything on my own (through experience and just growing up). Very poor. Spent days trading food. Learned how to cook by her mother. I think school is very important and I tried to get my kids to go to school to get a good job. School gives you education and opens opportunities. Maybe if I stayed in school who knows what I could have done with my life. Better off if I had gone to school. I married a man who supported me and our family. I never needed to work. My job was to cook and raise the children. I took care of the house. During the time I should have been in school, I was helping raise my baby sister.
Jon, 17, School of the Future/Lycee Jean Victor Poncelet, 2006-10: Being a student hasn't been anything monumental in my life. I'd describe myself as someone who's very curious and who enjoys learning but I'm in a bit of a catch 22. I like structure, and think that school should make disciplined students, but feel that too much discipline is bad but when given too much freedom, I slack off. I think there should be a healthy medium. In France, formalized education is very, very important. Students have a lot of difficulty adapting to a system that fosters a gap between students and professors. In France, the teacher is always right, and isn't committed to the student outside of their job descriptions: they get paid to teach, not to be life mentors. Relationships are very impersonal there. At sof however, it's almost the opposite. We call our teachers by their first names, we curse whenever we want, we lack respect so there needs to be a balance. I think that schooling now incorporates ideas that weren't considered as important before. Schools nowadays act as community centers, and teachers are called on to provide assistance to students well beyond the realms of simply "teaching". Teachers used to be considered authority figures, and were only there to do their job. Now, teachers become informal guidance counselors, and at younger and younger ages, students become informal with their elders but the ideas of discipline are being lost because everyone is becoming so much more informal so I think school systems need to backtrack a little bit in order to reinstall respect into the minds of the youth.
Part B:
One of the most important factors that can affect the whole outlook of school is how much the teacher cares. It means more to children if they’re enthusiastic about teaching. If they are willing to give up time after school or even work with you one on one you feel better, than you’re much more motivated. People generally don’t respond well to disappointment so if teachers cared about the students more often, students would feel pressured into not letting them down and striving for their best. They would also be much more likely to do homework at home resulting in preparation for the class and an overall higher understanding of the class work. Classmates are mainly on the side. They’re fun to be around and can make your school experience better if you make good friends but overall they’re nothing special. When teachers care, students care. Teachers who show that they’re only there for the money and who aren’t so much willing to help out enforce children to not care and do other things as well.
If school was based more on what children like (gym), and had better food, children would refer to school as a happier environment making it a place they like to come to and like to consider as a second home. If respect wasn’t such a big deal and people found a ‘healthy medium’ that both kids and teachers could agree on, then school would be much more of a likeable place. It’s simple things like being a teacher who cares, good food, more time to be physically active, and demanded less obedience, school would be a place kids would gladly wake up bright and early for.
In all of my interviews, I started off very basic by asking them to tell me about their experience as a student. From there, I sort of just asked follow up questions on the spot. I also listed their high schools and year of attendance because I realized that the setting plays a big role on their thoughts about school. I interviewed Jon (Hill) because I thought it was interesting to see his perspectives on the relationship (if any) between schooling in France vs. schooling here. My grandmother who made it to 4th grade only, my father who made it to 11th grade, his girlfriend who finished high school and college and became a teacher for elementary kids, and her son who currently attends high school. Everyone talked about their overall experience even if I asked questions that seemed to focus on just the ideas.
Notes:
Name, Age, School, Year of high school attendance
Adam, 17, Leadership and Public Service, 2006-10: School sucks, I hate it. We have tests and quizzes every other day. Homework every single day. No gym and the lunch is terrible. Teachers suck. They’re always yelling. Hate the rules – No chewing gum, no hats. They do it to try and make everything right. Their life sucks, take anger out on us. They have nothing better to do. Likes: Sports, school parties, dean (he’s ‘cool’), friends. Teachers barely help. Everyone thinks they give us an education but they don’t teach anything that ‘sticks’. Their teaching isn’t good enough. I would like for them to talk to me about what I can do to succeed. 30 kids to a classroom. They just want money. After schools done, my teachers are nowhere to be found. I think school makes my behavior worse. All the yelling makes me tense up. My old school (Tito Puente) was definitely better. Teachers were cool. Lunch was better. Big school. Big gym. I was a better person. I was better in sports.
Dad, 52, Seward Park, ~1973: School was fun. Great teachers. Great classmates. Teachers worked with you. Took time out for you, they cared. Classmates were funny and helpful. At the time, Vietnam was over and people were still talking about it. Made people closer – sort of like a family. Disliked the racism. Racist kids would beat up on one kid. Teachers mostly stood out of outside school issues. High school teachers played favoritism. Of course I wasn’t a favorite. With time education got better. There was no computer access. A lot slower. Todays school system is better – information at your fingertips. Before it was so much to do research. I stopped school because of the money I was making working with my father as a carpenter. I loved it though. I do wish I finished it. It helped me because it made me appreciate learning more. We didn’t have that many tests or quizzes. Never a lot of homework. More physical. Hands on.
Sally, 52, Mable Dean Bacon, 1973-77: Wonderful. All girls school. No distractions (no boys). Spent time with teachers. Wasn’t overcrowded. They cared. About 18 or so kids to a class. Teachers made it fun and interesting. We had to do and learn things ourselves. No computers. More research. Teachers made it so that we want to come back. I look at you guys today and you all hate school. I never liked math. They taught it well I just never liked it because I still couldn’t grasp everything. Afterschool my teacher worked with me one on one. I always wanted to learn. It made me want to further my education. Wasn’t about materials and who wore what. Everyone wanted to learn and that’s what they were there for. Once you got a degree, you knew you had a job, now it’s more about who you know. People with masters can’t find jobs. For teachers it wasn’t about money. They did more volunteering if anything. Less stressful before.
Grandma, 71, N/A, Would have been around 1946ish: I made it up to 4th grade. Don’t remember much. I learned how to read and write. I learned everything on my own (through experience and just growing up). Very poor. Spent days trading food. Learned how to cook by her mother. I think school is very important and I tried to get my kids to go to school to get a good job. School gives you education and opens opportunities. Maybe if I stayed in school who knows what I could have done with my life. Better off if I had gone to school. I married a man who supported me and our family. I never needed to work. My job was to cook and raise the children. I took care of the house. During the time I should have been in school, I was helping raise my baby sister.
Jon, 17, School of the Future/Lycee Jean Victor Poncelet, 2006-10: Being a student hasn't been anything monumental in my life. I'd describe myself as someone who's very curious and who enjoys learning but I'm in a bit of a catch 22. I like structure, and think that school should make disciplined students, but feel that too much discipline is bad but when given too much freedom, I slack off. I think there should be a healthy medium. In France, formalized education is very, very important. Students have a lot of difficulty adapting to a system that fosters a gap between students and professors. In France, the teacher is always right, and isn't committed to the student outside of their job descriptions: they get paid to teach, not to be life mentors. Relationships are very impersonal there. At sof however, it's almost the opposite. We call our teachers by their first names, we curse whenever we want, we lack respect so there needs to be a balance. I think that schooling now incorporates ideas that weren't considered as important before. Schools nowadays act as community centers, and teachers are called on to provide assistance to students well beyond the realms of simply "teaching". Teachers used to be considered authority figures, and were only there to do their job. Now, teachers become informal guidance counselors, and at younger and younger ages, students become informal with their elders but the ideas of discipline are being lost because everyone is becoming so much more informal so I think school systems need to backtrack a little bit in order to reinstall respect into the minds of the youth.
Part B:
One of the most important factors that can affect the whole outlook of school is how much the teacher cares. It means more to children if they’re enthusiastic about teaching. If they are willing to give up time after school or even work with you one on one you feel better, than you’re much more motivated. People generally don’t respond well to disappointment so if teachers cared about the students more often, students would feel pressured into not letting them down and striving for their best. They would also be much more likely to do homework at home resulting in preparation for the class and an overall higher understanding of the class work. Classmates are mainly on the side. They’re fun to be around and can make your school experience better if you make good friends but overall they’re nothing special. When teachers care, students care. Teachers who show that they’re only there for the money and who aren’t so much willing to help out enforce children to not care and do other things as well.
If school was based more on what children like (gym), and had better food, children would refer to school as a happier environment making it a place they like to come to and like to consider as a second home. If respect wasn’t such a big deal and people found a ‘healthy medium’ that both kids and teachers could agree on, then school would be much more of a likeable place. It’s simple things like being a teacher who cares, good food, more time to be physically active, and demanded less obedience, school would be a place kids would gladly wake up bright and early for.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Art Project: Cool
Cool: A Silent Film from Esther Dionisio on Vimeo.
For my cool ‘art project’, I worked with my sister and Esther (two really creative people – good pick, I know).
I definitely think part of being cool is not only grabbing everyone’s attention while standing out, but being able to grab the attention that makes others want to be like you. In the video, there’s this lost soul (me) who is desperate for attention. I end up trying to change who I am to gain acceptance from my peers (mainly Esther) who doesn’t mind ‘helping’ me change. Also, like both Lauren and Esther stressed, this video is about trying not to lose touch with your own style (or at least the style you like), and character (who you are vs. who you’re trying to change yourself to become). *In general I think people are always going to change, but some people ‘act’ while others ‘become’. I don’t think people should do things they don’t want to for attention. I think people should think for themselves about what really matters to them and why.
I hope people realize just how much they dress like their ‘friends’ and that it’s not a coincidence. I also hope they realize that it’s not cool anymore. If you’re trying to stand out .. you should try dressing differently.
We started off with a few hours of planning. Then when we were ready to start filming, we realized we needed more people than we had this weekend. We thought a lot more and realized that we had so many ‘cool’ ideas for a video but not really a video that said anything about being cool. Then I started thinking about t.v and commercials and really wanted to do something like a commercial I saw a while back. In the commercial, it was some guy standing there and people were changing his clothing, making him do things like smoke, and even shaved his head bald. After a lot of quick changes, the guy stops them all and walks away. That’s what we tried to do. We also talked about how we wanted to show not tell .. so we didn’t want any talking in the video. So lovely Sandy suggested a silent film. And that’s how that came to be. We did a lot of filming, because Esther wanted more angles, and the whole disappearing thing came from an earlier idea of a film we thought we were going to do. We decided to include it anyway in this one for both special effects and so that people can perceive it any way they want to. I contributed ideas for the project and acted.
Making art has always been challenging for me. I’m not a very creative person. It’s never been my area of expertise. Do I think it’s cool? That all depends on what you’re defining cool as. If cool is fun and admirable and ‘standing out’, then yes this video is very cool. Why? Because it was so much fun to make this video – we had to do each part over and over again, and for a while Esther left the camera on record without telling us and thank god she didn’t put those parts in the ‘bloopers’- we did some silly things. We made friends with the guy at the front desk – and yes that was the first time we met him =D. Plus – this is very admirable. I mean I wish I had Esther’s editing talents. And I definitely think this video stands out… I mean come on – who else made a silent film?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
HW 30
Emptiness can feel different to everyone. To some it might be an unsatisfying feeling with life (constantly looking for fulfillment- going out, buying things, altering your outer appearance, etc. Basically anything that’ll both keep and draw attention), to some it might be confusion you have with your own life map (Freud’s theory - dealing with and/or learning to identify with either of your parents which allows you to in a way create your own path based on what’s been offered), but to me, most popularly, it’s a disappointing feeling that there’s no real sense to our lives. We live to die, we want what we can’t have and don’t care for things we do have, the fact that no matter what we do or what happens the world does not care (“the gentle indifference of the world”), etc.
The first source I read was about Buddhists and the origin of dukkha (which means bad to the mouth). Primarily, this idea focuses on the suffering we feel in life (understanding it then learning to remove it), then realizing the termination of suffering and developing the path that leads to the stopping of suffering. This theory is (to me) merely a way to again take our attention off of the disappointing, unsatisfying feeling and confusion in your life and onto a more positive outlook. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it doesn’t work – I’m sure it does, except I’m not convinced you can completely rid your mind and body of unwanted/unwelcoming feelings of dissatisfaction. To understand feelings so deeply and then try to stop them completely is like eating and trying to prevent your body from digesting. To me, impossible. *Maybe that was a weird metaphor.
Being ‘cool’ plays the same role as the Buddhists way of removing ‘unsavory’ feelings life brings to us. We’re trying to replace our current feelings with new ones – but the old feelings have been there for so long – to replace it we would have to push it aside and continuously find ways to program ourselves into thinking we can forget about them. For example, one aspect of cool is outer appearance. When we alter our outer appearance we’re trying to gain easy acceptance from others which gives us more time to not focus on ‘acting cool’. We can play ‘looking cool’ for as long as people think the well-dressed quiet (therefore mysterious) person is cool. Same as with Buddhists, they play that idea of removing those old feelings by trying to understand it, and then remove it while pushing aside the same inevitable feelings that are caused once again by the same things that made them want to understand it and remove it. Like a cycle. And with cool, you have to constantly change yourself but no matter how altered your appearance may be from your original self (the self that you were without changing your appearance countless times), we push aside the fact that we’re still that person and no matter how many times we try to change – we just fool ourselves into thinking we’re different. (Sorry if you can’t understand that. I’m having a hard time trying to convert my thoughts into comprehensible words).
The first source I read was about Buddhists and the origin of dukkha (which means bad to the mouth). Primarily, this idea focuses on the suffering we feel in life (understanding it then learning to remove it), then realizing the termination of suffering and developing the path that leads to the stopping of suffering. This theory is (to me) merely a way to again take our attention off of the disappointing, unsatisfying feeling and confusion in your life and onto a more positive outlook. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it doesn’t work – I’m sure it does, except I’m not convinced you can completely rid your mind and body of unwanted/unwelcoming feelings of dissatisfaction. To understand feelings so deeply and then try to stop them completely is like eating and trying to prevent your body from digesting. To me, impossible. *Maybe that was a weird metaphor.
Being ‘cool’ plays the same role as the Buddhists way of removing ‘unsavory’ feelings life brings to us. We’re trying to replace our current feelings with new ones – but the old feelings have been there for so long – to replace it we would have to push it aside and continuously find ways to program ourselves into thinking we can forget about them. For example, one aspect of cool is outer appearance. When we alter our outer appearance we’re trying to gain easy acceptance from others which gives us more time to not focus on ‘acting cool’. We can play ‘looking cool’ for as long as people think the well-dressed quiet (therefore mysterious) person is cool. Same as with Buddhists, they play that idea of removing those old feelings by trying to understand it, and then remove it while pushing aside the same inevitable feelings that are caused once again by the same things that made them want to understand it and remove it. Like a cycle. And with cool, you have to constantly change yourself but no matter how altered your appearance may be from your original self (the self that you were without changing your appearance countless times), we push aside the fact that we’re still that person and no matter how many times we try to change – we just fool ourselves into thinking we’re different. (Sorry if you can’t understand that. I’m having a hard time trying to convert my thoughts into comprehensible words).
Monday, November 30, 2009
HW 21 - Art Project
I feel my art is a mirror in which to show people exactly what is happening to us as we are completely immersed into these digital representational devices. This is only so because I am not offering any solution to our issue. I am not showing what we can do to change. I am merely showing people what is happening as they are immersed into D.R.D’s on the train. Because my ‘art’ does not offer a solution or approach to change, I do not believe it to be a ‘hammer’.
First I want to begin explaining my art a bit better or at least the way I meant for others to see it (probably a bad idea since artists don’t really do this because the whole point of art is perspective but whatever). First I took a picture of a man on the train who was completely into his portable d.v.d player. He ended up missing his stop because when he looked up 10 minutes later, he said ‘shit’, closed his d.v.d player quickly and was very fidgety until the train made the next stop. I realized this guy must have been so into what he was doing that he was completely out of tune with where he was. This is where my second picture comes in. I took him out of his surroundings just as he so unconsciously did so to himself. In the third picture, I drew a man on the subway. This man was completely out of tune with who he was. He is so into what he is doing that he has no awareness that he’s even there at the moment. I drew this by taking himself out of the picture and outlining only his body. To sort of portray how he has no solid idea of his existence at that moment. The last picture shows the same as the third one. This woman is completely immersed that her mind is full of nothing but what she’s doing. I tried to do so by sort of allowing her soul to drift. Bad job probably because I’m really not creative or artistic. My art makes me think of both the ideas of disembodiment and displacement, which were the two main things I was trying to show. I think if people really understood the concept of my art, then it could really show how we can completely be out of touch with our surroundings and ourselves.
I think the most interesting aspect of making my art was noticing all of these people who have no idea that others are actually around them and can know that they are in a train but slowly lose grasp of that as they begin to familiarize themselves with things that make them comfortable and immerse themselves with those things (D.R.D’s). I saw better examples but it was hard to take pictures of them because I was scared they would notice and I didn’t feel like asking. The last two were taken off the internet and edited.
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