March
30
March
29
MdSt 20: Mar 29 Viewing class and discussion of media log idea…
- We began the class with a discussion on some improvements on media logs. They were handed back to students and most are doing a good job of their entries. Some common suggestions were to create a list at the beginning of the book to list the types of media they will cover and then start checking them off as they investigate those types of media. Another comment would be to lengthen some of the entries; some students are just summarizing what an ad or song says but they have to then pick it apart and analyze some of the meanings behind it or possible objectionable content.
Media logs have not gotten any marks so far. Taking them in for checking has only been to monitor who is doing the work consistently, offering suggestions for ways of improving, and is also meant to be a type of accountability to make sure students are doing it enough that they will not fall behind. - We discussed one of the topics I have posted in the Media Log Ideas blog section. There was a show on CNN the other night that followed and documented the lives of doctors and nurses of combat hospitals in the war. It raised some questions with me in viewing some of the images, such as the doctor implying that he calls his son every morning before the son leaves for grade school. I can’t quite believe that soldiers are allowed cell phones and can call home at their convenience. I found some of the images questionable and considered, even, that it may have been a staged setting. The question then is “for what purpose and to what target audience” – parents of soldiers, middle-aged, middle-class Caucasian voters who predominately are the viewers of the chanel CNN? Just questions for the kids to chew on.
- We continue viewing some clips on violence in the media and its possible effects. To ensure no one is under the impression that I am trying to promote the idea that violence we see in media is directly responsible for the violent crimes committed on occassion by teens, I have a few clips there as well to show the alternative view, that video games cannot be blamed and are often blamed with faulty reasoning. There are always two sides to the argument.
- Students handed in their reflections they had written while we viewed the clips during the last few days.
March
29
ELA B10: Mar 29 Writing class / study period…
March
29
Soc 8: Mar 29 Poem’s typed and pictures altered…
- We worked in the SCN room and students had the opportunity to type out their poems, we took some wacky pictures of them and posted them all together in the hallway near the front entrance. They did a great job and it all turned out to be a great display.
I think funny pictures are better sometimes than something serious and normal, don’t you?
March
29
Hist 30: Mar 29 Chapter handout / Grad meeting…
- What started out as a fifteen minute grad meeting to organize some things took up the duration of the class. Students were given a handout but no work was expected on it. They will begin with it on Monday.
- The Unit test for this second unit will be next week Thursday. Students were told the other day so that gives them a week’s notice in advance to begin studying for that. For several students, this is where their marks were hurt so badly when they did poorly on the first unit test.
March
29
ELA B30: Mar 29 “What Men Live By” reading…
- Students were given a short story to read. I offered to begin reading with them to get them started but the story was so involved I ended up reading the entire thing to them and it took the duration of the class. It’s a great parable about the kindness of humans and the essentials of life, they don’t include possessions and riches.
- There will be questions given next class for students to work on.
March
29
ELA B30: Mar 29 “What Men Live By” reading…
- Students were given a short story to read. I offered to begin reading with them to get them started but the story was so involved I ended up reading the entire thing to them and it took the duration of the class. It’s a great parable about the kindness of humans and the essentials of life, they don’t include possessions and riches.
- There will be questions given next class for students to work on.
March
28
Combat Hosptial presented on CNN…
CNN… a news broadcasting station has a show on called “Combat Hospital”. It follows hospital attendants, doctors and nurses through their activities in a military hospital where wounded soldiers are delivered for treatment.
I noticed this show when I sat down to take a break and watched for just a bit. A man was in the hospital, people carefully working on his wounds, and he was trying to explain to them that he had been there before and met the same doctor. It was interesting to hear the doctors talk to this patient, telling him how brave he was for protecting his country and called him a ‘real hero’ for taking a beating from the enemy.
I find it interesting; why would a news chanel have a reality-type show based on medical care for wounded soldiers of the war? “Viewer discretion is advised as there are graphic images of war damages” – this is the disclaimer. They talked about whether people back home (watching in America) would care whether they knew their patients were insurgents or American soldiers.
It showed a few doctors taking a break throwing a football around with each other in the street. (An all American past-time enjoyed during war.) There was a birthday party as well where a boy turned of age to drink but since drinking during active duty in war is prohibited he was given a non-alcoholic beer. All the while, people were laughing, jeering, and having a great time waiting for more patients to come. What impression of war is this program trying to promote?
Shortly after, someone rushed in carrying a young civilian girl who was not breathing. In their assessment of her, it was decided that she had been shot through her ear out the other ear. It was her 14 year old brother who accidentally shot her. They showed him frantically bent over, holding his head, rocking while waiting out in the waiting room. The girl had no chance of survival while her mother read the Koran out there praying. It was showing the urgency these American medical professionals took in trying to save this Iraqi civilian girl.
Is everything as it seems at face value? Why document this and show it to Americans on an American news station?
Check out the site at cnn.com/combathospital. Be warned some of the images are very graphic.
I’m thinking there’s an agenda and a target audience for this show. What do you think?
And, on another somewhat related note, here is the link to an army wife’s blog. Check out the animated art on the right hand side of her blog spot. This is a modern version of propaganda on her website: “Home is where the army sends us,” “Be Safe, Do it with a Soldier,” and “I Love a man in Bdu’s”. Interesting culture.
March
28
Tributes on youtube to the shooters of Columbine?
March
28
ELA B30: Mar 28 Independent reading comprehension test…
- Students began class today with a reminder that their assignments are due tomorrow from their reading of the novel Night.
- Students were given a short story to read titled “The Inheritors”. During or after reading the story, they had to fill in the appropriate details of the elements of literature, such as characters, plot, theme, etc.
- Once finished, there were some questions to answer regarding the story and we had a brief discussion on the overall message of the story: does human nature and man’s ability to reason really set us above the animals?