Happy Halloween!!
This is quite an interesting concept. Knocking on doors (of strangers) and having them give you candy (hopefully, sometimes the toothbrush, apple...UGH! ;) ) with really no questions asked other than perhaps, what is your costume? Can you sing a song?
I know that some religions do not support this celebration and that is completely fine. But for the other people that do, who are different on so many levels yet are able to agree that this is something we should all participate in really throws me off. Why does everyone agree with this? What is so great about dressing up as something else? Are we unhappy with ourselves? Why do we need to dress as something else?
Young ladies sometimes take the opportunity to dress with very little clothing and have the sense of freedom that no one can judge them because it is a Halloween costume. But are they free from that judgment? Just yesterday I was in a high school in Coaldale coaching and had the opportunity to see many young ladies dressed inappropriately (by my standards). Just because it was Halloween, did not change how much or little clothing I thought a person should have on. Now I can definitely say that I am probably more traditional in how much clothing I think a person should wear for the most part, but why would a date on the calendar change the clothing standards?
I may be influenced by the fact that I am not a huge Halloween girl, I love the candy!!! but other than that nothing is that intriguing about Halloween. Last year, was probably one of my favourite ones because of the people I spent it with, not because of my costume (although it was quite great, "Fire Hose/Hoes" - 3 of us girls (hence the hoes (that isn't politically correct I know)) big rubber boats, red bottoms, and Fireperson jackets and hats from Walmart that were made for 6 year olds). I think we now need to look into why we feel the need to dress up as some random thing. Why do kids choose the costumes they do? Do they want to grow up to be Hannah Montana? A police officer? Bob the Builder? and any other characters they choose!
I just wonder about some of the celebrations/traditions that we have in our society. Is this anyone's favourite holiday? If so, why? I would love to know :)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Elite
Today in class we discussed Alberta Education Elites. I think that the word elite has been sabotaged by my background in social studies. Every time we discuss elite in social it usually tends to turn out that those people aren't good. Think about the Tzar's of the "Soviet Union", the elite in Germany, the controlling people who want to use their power to benefit themselves.
The elite seemed to always do what they wanted and the common person always got excluded or abused in the situation. So when in class today we discussed the "Educational Elite" I immediately got my back up and wondered what their motives were. I am extremely skeptical of these people who were perhaps classifying themselves as this, now perhaps Prof Runte just named them this in passing but look at the influence it had on my perception of this group. It is shocking how 1 word can create such a feeling to arise.
The importance of word choice is apparently way more important than I had thought. Perhaps this is why presidents, CEOs,... have their speeches written for them. They don't have time to spend hours on every word that is involved in that sentence, paragraph, speech...
I need to look deeper into why this word has so deeply altered my opinion of this group. What was it about the word "elite" that has created this feeling? Elite?? is it the social background? high school experiences? sports? I am honestly shocked at how I felt immediately towards this group even though they may have great knowledge and be the best of the best (hence elite) but why this feeling? Maybe a symbolic interactionalist needs to take a look into my history and see why I have these feelings.
Elite... Evil?!?! What does it mean to you?
The elite seemed to always do what they wanted and the common person always got excluded or abused in the situation. So when in class today we discussed the "Educational Elite" I immediately got my back up and wondered what their motives were. I am extremely skeptical of these people who were perhaps classifying themselves as this, now perhaps Prof Runte just named them this in passing but look at the influence it had on my perception of this group. It is shocking how 1 word can create such a feeling to arise.
The importance of word choice is apparently way more important than I had thought. Perhaps this is why presidents, CEOs,... have their speeches written for them. They don't have time to spend hours on every word that is involved in that sentence, paragraph, speech...
I need to look deeper into why this word has so deeply altered my opinion of this group. What was it about the word "elite" that has created this feeling? Elite?? is it the social background? high school experiences? sports? I am honestly shocked at how I felt immediately towards this group even though they may have great knowledge and be the best of the best (hence elite) but why this feeling? Maybe a symbolic interactionalist needs to take a look into my history and see why I have these feelings.
Elite... Evil?!?! What does it mean to you?
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Gender...
Great presentation!!! I think those girls (don't know if that is bad, but you all were girls) did a fantastic job! I really thought it was great, it help my attention span really well especially with how tired I was feeling.
They asked us, what if we woke up tomorrow and were the other sex, what would change? I really struggled with this one. I think that I don't fit the stereotypical girl, I break a lot of the "rules" of being a girl. I don't really dress up to look pretty, I enjoy sports ( I play to win), I don't think I need to fit the mold that society shows me, and there are definitely times that I don't care what people think.
The slide discussing the study that was done on 15 and 16 year olds was quite interesting. I definitely could tell that they were a bit younger but it correlated with what we had brainstormed for answers too. I think it would have been cool to have collected the sheets of answers from our group and just put them up; not have anyone necessarily have to own up to them because I think a lot more answers would have been great to hear.
I think about the question posed and really wonder?!?! The thing that sticks out the most for me, probably would be that people wouldn't think that I am such a giant anymore, guys are suppose to be bigger than girls, so why am I so huge they wonder... but I am not even 6 feet tall, that isn't tall!! Maybe that is the one thing that would stand out the most to me, my going out shoes would definitely have to change, can't really see me as a boy rocking stilettos but hey?!? Maybe, I do really love my shoes!
As well, the boys that we all want to date!! The David Beckhams, I can definitely say that I used to be thinking that every guy should look like that but, honestly, now, I see that and this little warning goes off in my head and it is like you are probably a big jerk (to put it nicely) because I have encountered and unfortunately dated guys that do look like that and they aren't what you want to be around or with. So maybe I have stereotyped them in a negative why? Is that just as bad as the original stereotype? Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but for me, especially in these cases you have to prove it to me that you are the exception.
I think that as we age, (I am maybe a little older than most of the people in our class) we discover how wrong these set gender roles and images can be. It would be awesome to learn earlier but I hope we do all realize that.
This group did an amazing job of pointing out some of the obvious things that we wouldn't notice because it is right in front of our face. I have seen first hand what little statements to a girl can make. My niece no longer wanted to ever wear pants, only dresses because she wanted look like a little princess, daddy's little princess. She was in kindergarten and now grade one. A daily fight would occur because she only would wear a dress, even in winter. I actually got a chance to live with my niece this summer and I tried to point out a different view. I tried to point out that it was good to want to excel at sports (she is a strong athlete but very hesitant to show it) and it wasn't bad if you were good at them even though you were a girl. You don't always have to try to look pretty!! Be happy with the person you are. Yes these are tough issues for such a little girl to understand but in my modelling it maybe she will understand it better.
I think that because I had a strong role model who didn't try to fit the mold it made it okay for me not to have to. My sister, closest in age, is definitely not a run of the mill girl. She broke down the, what she should have to look like, she wears sweats more than I do (if that is possible), her hair is frequently everywhere, etc. but she is good with who she is (and happily married). That is the key, we need to focus on that, if you want to be the mold but you are happy being the mold maybe is that okay?
This topic was an amazing choice ladies... GREAT WORK! You have had me pondering it since your presentation!! :) Thank you!
They asked us, what if we woke up tomorrow and were the other sex, what would change? I really struggled with this one. I think that I don't fit the stereotypical girl, I break a lot of the "rules" of being a girl. I don't really dress up to look pretty, I enjoy sports ( I play to win), I don't think I need to fit the mold that society shows me, and there are definitely times that I don't care what people think.
The slide discussing the study that was done on 15 and 16 year olds was quite interesting. I definitely could tell that they were a bit younger but it correlated with what we had brainstormed for answers too. I think it would have been cool to have collected the sheets of answers from our group and just put them up; not have anyone necessarily have to own up to them because I think a lot more answers would have been great to hear.
I think about the question posed and really wonder?!?! The thing that sticks out the most for me, probably would be that people wouldn't think that I am such a giant anymore, guys are suppose to be bigger than girls, so why am I so huge they wonder... but I am not even 6 feet tall, that isn't tall!! Maybe that is the one thing that would stand out the most to me, my going out shoes would definitely have to change, can't really see me as a boy rocking stilettos but hey?!? Maybe, I do really love my shoes!
As well, the boys that we all want to date!! The David Beckhams, I can definitely say that I used to be thinking that every guy should look like that but, honestly, now, I see that and this little warning goes off in my head and it is like you are probably a big jerk (to put it nicely) because I have encountered and unfortunately dated guys that do look like that and they aren't what you want to be around or with. So maybe I have stereotyped them in a negative why? Is that just as bad as the original stereotype? Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but for me, especially in these cases you have to prove it to me that you are the exception.
I think that as we age, (I am maybe a little older than most of the people in our class) we discover how wrong these set gender roles and images can be. It would be awesome to learn earlier but I hope we do all realize that.
This group did an amazing job of pointing out some of the obvious things that we wouldn't notice because it is right in front of our face. I have seen first hand what little statements to a girl can make. My niece no longer wanted to ever wear pants, only dresses because she wanted look like a little princess, daddy's little princess. She was in kindergarten and now grade one. A daily fight would occur because she only would wear a dress, even in winter. I actually got a chance to live with my niece this summer and I tried to point out a different view. I tried to point out that it was good to want to excel at sports (she is a strong athlete but very hesitant to show it) and it wasn't bad if you were good at them even though you were a girl. You don't always have to try to look pretty!! Be happy with the person you are. Yes these are tough issues for such a little girl to understand but in my modelling it maybe she will understand it better.
I think that because I had a strong role model who didn't try to fit the mold it made it okay for me not to have to. My sister, closest in age, is definitely not a run of the mill girl. She broke down the, what she should have to look like, she wears sweats more than I do (if that is possible), her hair is frequently everywhere, etc. but she is good with who she is (and happily married). That is the key, we need to focus on that, if you want to be the mold but you are happy being the mold maybe is that okay?
This topic was an amazing choice ladies... GREAT WORK! You have had me pondering it since your presentation!! :) Thank you!
Friday, October 23, 2009
What do we learn?
I like the idea of learning what we need to learn. That makes sense, some of the math concepts we learned were pointless (sorry math teachers) like logarithms?? When will I ever use that? Is there any point to me learning that? Math is mandatory all the way through school so it seems to me that we MUST all need math, but to that extent? Physic was not mandatory at my school, if it was I would question it as well. Yes, obviously it is helpful to know lots about the forces (drag, momentum...) and quantum physics, but it won't hinder you from surviving. Unless you think that you can jump in front of a semi and it will have time to stop, then perhaps knowing the rules of momentum might have been helpful. :)
But what about helpful classes that are options, not mandatory? Home Economics for example, not a requirement. Some of us might have got to experience a month or two during a CTS module our grade 9 year but I never had the time to take a class like that. The only class that was an option (a true option) was drama and that I feel definitely helps with teaching. My point here is this, home economics teaches kids how to prepare food, make healthy food choices. Especially in our time and age this is important. I can not really cook anything to save my life, I cook chili (and it is really good) and one pasta dish but that is it. This may be partially because I don't know if I can dedicate the time to learning how to cook something. I think of cooking as a life skill, it should be important!! Maybe our schools should emphasize this way more, so that maybe the future generations won't keep making such poor food decisions.
Prof Balderson, (C and I phys ed non-majors) told our class the other day that the younger generation is the first generation that won't out live their parents lifespan if they keep on their current track. Isn't this ridiculous? With all the knowledge and information we have, we still have people making extremely bad food decisions. Whether you can do logarithms won't necessarily affect your health, but eating McDs all the time because you can't cook just might. (not proven, just a statement, McDonald's may be a healthy place to eat... trying not to get sued!!)
I think our education system has become so worried about the skills that will help society that they have forgotten about creating a person, a well rounded person. We can even see this in sports as well. Kids that are excelling at a sport are taken to or put in a school that is about that sport and then just trained for this. What about the person in general? I am a firm believer that all the other things you do helps you with achieving your main goal. IE. myself with volleyball, that is what I wanted, but I played basketball and softball as well. Softball helped with arm strength, commitment, leadership, mental strength, team skills, all sorts of things. Basketball - conditioning, game mentality, strength of whole body, leadership, mental strength, determination, hard work. Now this may just sound like complete randomness of items that each sport helped me get, but honestly if it wasn't for the other sports I wouldn't have gotten as far as I did.
Maybe our education needs to take a look at what citizens we want to end up with and build that type of citizen, not just someone who can do a job. I know in my classroom I will be doing my best to help make a better person and not just be looking at a grade.
But what about helpful classes that are options, not mandatory? Home Economics for example, not a requirement. Some of us might have got to experience a month or two during a CTS module our grade 9 year but I never had the time to take a class like that. The only class that was an option (a true option) was drama and that I feel definitely helps with teaching. My point here is this, home economics teaches kids how to prepare food, make healthy food choices. Especially in our time and age this is important. I can not really cook anything to save my life, I cook chili (and it is really good) and one pasta dish but that is it. This may be partially because I don't know if I can dedicate the time to learning how to cook something. I think of cooking as a life skill, it should be important!! Maybe our schools should emphasize this way more, so that maybe the future generations won't keep making such poor food decisions.
Prof Balderson, (C and I phys ed non-majors) told our class the other day that the younger generation is the first generation that won't out live their parents lifespan if they keep on their current track. Isn't this ridiculous? With all the knowledge and information we have, we still have people making extremely bad food decisions. Whether you can do logarithms won't necessarily affect your health, but eating McDs all the time because you can't cook just might. (not proven, just a statement, McDonald's may be a healthy place to eat... trying not to get sued!!)
I think our education system has become so worried about the skills that will help society that they have forgotten about creating a person, a well rounded person. We can even see this in sports as well. Kids that are excelling at a sport are taken to or put in a school that is about that sport and then just trained for this. What about the person in general? I am a firm believer that all the other things you do helps you with achieving your main goal. IE. myself with volleyball, that is what I wanted, but I played basketball and softball as well. Softball helped with arm strength, commitment, leadership, mental strength, team skills, all sorts of things. Basketball - conditioning, game mentality, strength of whole body, leadership, mental strength, determination, hard work. Now this may just sound like complete randomness of items that each sport helped me get, but honestly if it wasn't for the other sports I wouldn't have gotten as far as I did.
Maybe our education needs to take a look at what citizens we want to end up with and build that type of citizen, not just someone who can do a job. I know in my classroom I will be doing my best to help make a better person and not just be looking at a grade.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
H1N1... extinction?
Yesterday during my C and I class for Science non-majors we were discussing H1N1 and how it is making us feel. We have had this discussion in our class the last few days, we have the habit of getting quite heated about it so our professor asked us to do some digging on it and the U of L.
One of the most interesting points that we all got heated about was how intensely the U of L is pushing awareness. I understand it is good to have the facts, however, as a few of us noted, we have stopped reading the emails. I get this might be a scary thing, it could get really bad, whoo hoo our school is prepared, but!!! We hare so surrounded with H1N1 information and facts and freaking out that it has almost made us stop caring. I may even admit that at this point I don't care about H1N1.
We all know information about reinforcement and consequence and all that jazz. I am starting to think that we have been so overly exposed to all of the information about H1N1 without any reinforcement (or scary incidents that confirm that this is still something we need to fear) that we have almost had an extinction of our response to hearing about H1N1.
Are people still very fearful of this flu? It appeared as though that class was mostly over all the drama and hype of what could be looming around the corner. I know our class had a bit of a discussion about H1N1, I wonder if we had another discussion would the feelings of everyone still be the same?
Did all the media damage the credibility of H1N1? I wonder how this would have all transpired during the time before media/news was a money making market. I want the news, not some inflated stories of what COULD have happened or ALMOST happened. I am saddened by the fact that news reports are no longer just facts, they are a "spin" of what happened.
What would the news reports say about H1N1 if they were just giving facts?
-Brandie
One of the most interesting points that we all got heated about was how intensely the U of L is pushing awareness. I understand it is good to have the facts, however, as a few of us noted, we have stopped reading the emails. I get this might be a scary thing, it could get really bad, whoo hoo our school is prepared, but!!! We hare so surrounded with H1N1 information and facts and freaking out that it has almost made us stop caring. I may even admit that at this point I don't care about H1N1.
We all know information about reinforcement and consequence and all that jazz. I am starting to think that we have been so overly exposed to all of the information about H1N1 without any reinforcement (or scary incidents that confirm that this is still something we need to fear) that we have almost had an extinction of our response to hearing about H1N1.
Are people still very fearful of this flu? It appeared as though that class was mostly over all the drama and hype of what could be looming around the corner. I know our class had a bit of a discussion about H1N1, I wonder if we had another discussion would the feelings of everyone still be the same?
Did all the media damage the credibility of H1N1? I wonder how this would have all transpired during the time before media/news was a money making market. I want the news, not some inflated stories of what COULD have happened or ALMOST happened. I am saddened by the fact that news reports are no longer just facts, they are a "spin" of what happened.
What would the news reports say about H1N1 if they were just giving facts?
-Brandie
Friday, October 16, 2009
Beer and Diapers?
I am frequently shocked by information that Prof Runte shares with us, but when he told us about putting diapers with beer in order to increase beer sales I was BLOWN OUT OF THE WATER!! Now in previous blogs and discussions I have had some debate about how much others really care about everyone else. I think that people have our best interest in mind, now maybe the 7-11 was having the best interest of men who didn't want to be seen as whipped in mind. I find it weird that a 7-11 has done their research about stuff like this. It is a 7-11, isn't it just the quick stop for when you need something quickly?
The factor that the connection between diapers and beer was made is weird. Who would think that this would have a connection?!? Maybe that is the handiness of having computers, so that they can make random connections. Runte also discussed how every time we use our Safeway card they get information about what we purchase and then try to make connections with it. I am trying to think of anything that I always purchase and what is near it. I don't think that I am a mass consumer so I don't have a huge effect on what is advertised near where, but I must admit, sometimes I do grab something because it is near one of my normal items(but that is more about what I am craving! than handiness).
Beer and diapers?!?! It still doesn't make sense to me. Alcohol and pop, yes, that makes sense, or the gum and candy bars right near where you pay for your gas. I wonder what other crazy connections can be made from random items being purchased together. Is there a book that has these crazy connections? I think Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J Dubner may do this but I haven't actually had a chance to read it.
Beer and Diapers? what is next?? Flashy purses and 2% milk?
The factor that the connection between diapers and beer was made is weird. Who would think that this would have a connection?!? Maybe that is the handiness of having computers, so that they can make random connections. Runte also discussed how every time we use our Safeway card they get information about what we purchase and then try to make connections with it. I am trying to think of anything that I always purchase and what is near it. I don't think that I am a mass consumer so I don't have a huge effect on what is advertised near where, but I must admit, sometimes I do grab something because it is near one of my normal items(but that is more about what I am craving! than handiness).
Beer and diapers?!?! It still doesn't make sense to me. Alcohol and pop, yes, that makes sense, or the gum and candy bars right near where you pay for your gas. I wonder what other crazy connections can be made from random items being purchased together. Is there a book that has these crazy connections? I think Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J Dubner may do this but I haven't actually had a chance to read it.
Beer and Diapers? what is next?? Flashy purses and 2% milk?
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
4% vs. 40%
I was talking with my sister while I was home this past weekend and she mentioned to me the "ticked off" and "tickled pink" section of our local newspaper. She reads the news quite frequently (almost daily) and is currently a teacher in the Catholic school system. She was saying how almost all of the items were "ticked off" and aimed at teachers. She said that most of them were angry people and parents that couldn't believe that we (teachers of Alberta) are taking a raise. People are infuriated that we could take a raise when everyone is in such hard times and what do teachers need a raise for anyway?? A contract is a contract. I could understand this uprising if really everyone in our society was hurting (which not everyone is) or if after the 1992/3 strike Ralph Klein gave the money back that teachers gave up then, but he never gave back or rewarded the teachers like he said he would.
We started discussing that we are quite shocked about how angry people were... ESPECIALLY since our government just gave themselves a 40% raise. Now for those of us who may have struggled a bit in math, the raise that the government just decided to give themselves is TEN TIMES as much as we are getting! Not to mention, think of how much they are already making and then they increased that by 40%. Our salary (which is WAY smaller than theirs) will only go up 4%. So a big number increased by 40% is a really big number and an average number increased by 4% not that much of a difference.
Our government states that we don't have money to spend on education... maybe stop giving yourselves raises!?!??! could that work?
I am currently very very irritated with our governmental choices towards money and well other decisions they are making currently. I think we need to do something about it! Why are teachers getting the bad rap while governmental officials are being GREEDY?!?
We started discussing that we are quite shocked about how angry people were... ESPECIALLY since our government just gave themselves a 40% raise. Now for those of us who may have struggled a bit in math, the raise that the government just decided to give themselves is TEN TIMES as much as we are getting! Not to mention, think of how much they are already making and then they increased that by 40%. Our salary (which is WAY smaller than theirs) will only go up 4%. So a big number increased by 40% is a really big number and an average number increased by 4% not that much of a difference.
Our government states that we don't have money to spend on education... maybe stop giving yourselves raises!?!??! could that work?
I am currently very very irritated with our governmental choices towards money and well other decisions they are making currently. I think we need to do something about it! Why are teachers getting the bad rap while governmental officials are being GREEDY?!?
Friday, October 9, 2009
Turkey!?!?!
Hey,
Just wanting to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving!!! As you are eating your favourite foods maybe question what they mean to you and why? Why do you want to have turkey on Thanksgiving? WHY WHY WHY!!!!
Enjoy!
-Brandie
Ps drive safe!
Just wanting to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving!!! As you are eating your favourite foods maybe question what they mean to you and why? Why do you want to have turkey on Thanksgiving? WHY WHY WHY!!!!
Enjoy!
-Brandie
Ps drive safe!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Meaning in our Life
Today I was looking at the Boggled Blogger (sorry I don't even know who that is, is your name on there? sorry for my lack of knowledge!) I was reading the blog Among the Hidden and it reminded me of a certain episode of Stargate Atlantis (yes I love that show! This may change the meaning of me in your eyes but oh well!) where the Atlantis team goes to a world where there is an extreme difference between the "royals" and the "commoners". The team couldn't believe that people would still live in such poverty when they really shouldn't have to. And how they viewed their situation,their environment and the people that they had to be serve.
I started to think about how this group (commoners) didn't have access to outside information so their meaning would be similar to a lot of the people around them (didn't have access to other meanings). Just interaction with a new group from Atlantis changed many of the meanings in their lives; this makes me question our meanings for items in our society. The Internet alone has created access to so much more information and opinions than any generation before us. This information gives or can give us such a different meaning to many of the things we see around us on the daily basis.
Think about what our grandparents think of when we say certain things, probably completely different than what we think of. This isn't a bad thing or probably a good thing, just different. I wonder if we all have such differing views because of this? Would classrooms back ten, twenty years ago be so diverse? Would they have had the ability or opportunity to be as diverse as we are? Is this the reasoning for so much more controversy in our generation?
Can we judge a group that has had no outside exposure to other meanings? Should we even try? In anthropology, the people who go out and study the culture (group) try to have a lot of knowledge on that group. This may make them more able or more prepared to understand the meaning of certain items in that group/culture but can we really understand? During Stargate Atlantis there were moments where I felt the Atlantis team was almost being condescending to the commoners for accepting this way of life, but can they really expect any different?
I know that this blog was a bit all over the place but I just really wonder about the Internet affecting a lot of our meanings. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it affecting at all?
I started to think about how this group (commoners) didn't have access to outside information so their meaning would be similar to a lot of the people around them (didn't have access to other meanings). Just interaction with a new group from Atlantis changed many of the meanings in their lives; this makes me question our meanings for items in our society. The Internet alone has created access to so much more information and opinions than any generation before us. This information gives or can give us such a different meaning to many of the things we see around us on the daily basis.
Think about what our grandparents think of when we say certain things, probably completely different than what we think of. This isn't a bad thing or probably a good thing, just different. I wonder if we all have such differing views because of this? Would classrooms back ten, twenty years ago be so diverse? Would they have had the ability or opportunity to be as diverse as we are? Is this the reasoning for so much more controversy in our generation?
Can we judge a group that has had no outside exposure to other meanings? Should we even try? In anthropology, the people who go out and study the culture (group) try to have a lot of knowledge on that group. This may make them more able or more prepared to understand the meaning of certain items in that group/culture but can we really understand? During Stargate Atlantis there were moments where I felt the Atlantis team was almost being condescending to the commoners for accepting this way of life, but can they really expect any different?
I know that this blog was a bit all over the place but I just really wonder about the Internet affecting a lot of our meanings. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it affecting at all?
Friday, October 2, 2009
Symbolic Interactionism
This course has really opened my eyes to many things around me that I didn't necessarily think about. I think my favorite part of the course (that is currently sticking out in my mind) is learning about symbolic interactionism.
The sheer idea of this theory or concept seems so obvious! Obviously we all react to each object differently based on our own personal meaning to the item. This theory explains so much of society. We probably all immediately go to the red light, green light examples. Green- go, red- stop. But what about yellow? Yellow to some means caution, the light is about to be red, slow down; whereas others see it as a moment to push the gas pedal to the floor or you better hurry. Why the difference? It really is based upon what our previous knowledge and feelings are.
I believe phobias and fears are the exact same way. Some people when they see a dog feel scared and want to run away, where as other people want to get closer and touch the animal, exact same object, almost completely different responses. Why do people have such different feeling towards the exact same object? Perhaps to the person that is scared of the 4 legged animal with fur means danger, sharp teeth that can go through skin. While the person wanting to pet the dog it means childhood pet that they miss dearly.
This really should open our eyes as teachers. In my Curriculum and Instruction course for Physical Education yesterday we were playing a variety of different games and sports. Rugby was one of the sports, i saw the rugby ball and it made me extremely nervous, i felt scared. It was just a rugby ball, but all that kept going through my mind was visions of rugby tackles that I have seen in the past. I am sure the girls on the team that were teaching us rugby saw the ball as excitement and pride or at least not scary. We need to consider that perhaps students are fearful of things that we may see as not scary (e.g. fractions, balancing chemical equations...). This may assist in our dealing with students who are perhaps not so eager to start new sections of the course. I think the next step will have to be on working with the student to change the meaning of the object that is causing them stress.
The sheer idea of this theory or concept seems so obvious! Obviously we all react to each object differently based on our own personal meaning to the item. This theory explains so much of society. We probably all immediately go to the red light, green light examples. Green- go, red- stop. But what about yellow? Yellow to some means caution, the light is about to be red, slow down; whereas others see it as a moment to push the gas pedal to the floor or you better hurry. Why the difference? It really is based upon what our previous knowledge and feelings are.
I believe phobias and fears are the exact same way. Some people when they see a dog feel scared and want to run away, where as other people want to get closer and touch the animal, exact same object, almost completely different responses. Why do people have such different feeling towards the exact same object? Perhaps to the person that is scared of the 4 legged animal with fur means danger, sharp teeth that can go through skin. While the person wanting to pet the dog it means childhood pet that they miss dearly.
This really should open our eyes as teachers. In my Curriculum and Instruction course for Physical Education yesterday we were playing a variety of different games and sports. Rugby was one of the sports, i saw the rugby ball and it made me extremely nervous, i felt scared. It was just a rugby ball, but all that kept going through my mind was visions of rugby tackles that I have seen in the past. I am sure the girls on the team that were teaching us rugby saw the ball as excitement and pride or at least not scary. We need to consider that perhaps students are fearful of things that we may see as not scary (e.g. fractions, balancing chemical equations...). This may assist in our dealing with students who are perhaps not so eager to start new sections of the course. I think the next step will have to be on working with the student to change the meaning of the object that is causing them stress.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Interactionists
Today during class we discussed Interactionists and a few forms that fit into that category (symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, ethnography, ethnomethodology and hermeneutics). I was quite intrigued to see all the varying systems of points of view.
During my first degree (anthropology) I had quite a few professors who had gone to live in a completely different culture and just immersed themselves in it. I found this quite strange and scary; therefore I knew that I would never really be able to completely call myself an anthropologist as the thought of doing this scared me! I did know that I could always just do studies on subcultures but it wouldn't be the same.
A few blogs ago, I considered myself a functionalist. I said that if I had to classify myself it would be as a functionalist. I don't always have a conspiracy theory about everything that is going on (conflict theorists) and I don't always have to know why(interactionist). Today during class, Professor Runte was discussing how Harold Garfinkel would be extremely annoying to be around because he always wanted to get to the basic assumption and keep asking why until he got there. During this portion of the lecture all I could think about what the little 2 or 3 year old continuously asking why? Why should I not sit so close to the t.v.? Why is it bad for me? Why should I be quiet? and so on and on!
I think that I would be one of the people that punched Harold Garfinkel in the face. I don't understand why people can't just accept things for the way they are. Perhaps this is why I might consider myself a functionalist, I don't need things explained in great depth. I choose to accept that people around me are making decisions that may affect me but choose to believe that that person is making the decision with me in mind. Now this may be my naive nature but I think that people should consider others when making decisions. I think this is the reason why I get so irritated with some conflict theorists.
Lastly, David today asked the question about H1N1 issue that we are currently having/enduring/being annoyed by. I was so happy that he posed this question because just yesterday I was debating with my sister about how big of an issue this actually is. I started the conversation with letting her know about our "Flu Registration" that we have here at the university and how I felt it was going to be extremely abused. I don't think this flu is going to be anything crazy, obviously I am not a doctor or really have any medical training. Whereas her opinion was they are sending masks to our work place it must be a big deal, they sent hand sanitizer last month, it must be bad! But I truly think it is just the media working so hard to get people all rallied up about stuff like this. **In one of my anthropology classes I remember learning that the best way to control people is with fear. Is that not exactly what is currently being done?
I am very excited to learn more about the 3 different sociological views on education in the upcoming classes.
During my first degree (anthropology) I had quite a few professors who had gone to live in a completely different culture and just immersed themselves in it. I found this quite strange and scary; therefore I knew that I would never really be able to completely call myself an anthropologist as the thought of doing this scared me! I did know that I could always just do studies on subcultures but it wouldn't be the same.
A few blogs ago, I considered myself a functionalist. I said that if I had to classify myself it would be as a functionalist. I don't always have a conspiracy theory about everything that is going on (conflict theorists) and I don't always have to know why(interactionist). Today during class, Professor Runte was discussing how Harold Garfinkel would be extremely annoying to be around because he always wanted to get to the basic assumption and keep asking why until he got there. During this portion of the lecture all I could think about what the little 2 or 3 year old continuously asking why? Why should I not sit so close to the t.v.? Why is it bad for me? Why should I be quiet? and so on and on!
I think that I would be one of the people that punched Harold Garfinkel in the face. I don't understand why people can't just accept things for the way they are. Perhaps this is why I might consider myself a functionalist, I don't need things explained in great depth. I choose to accept that people around me are making decisions that may affect me but choose to believe that that person is making the decision with me in mind. Now this may be my naive nature but I think that people should consider others when making decisions. I think this is the reason why I get so irritated with some conflict theorists.
Lastly, David today asked the question about H1N1 issue that we are currently having/enduring/being annoyed by. I was so happy that he posed this question because just yesterday I was debating with my sister about how big of an issue this actually is. I started the conversation with letting her know about our "Flu Registration" that we have here at the university and how I felt it was going to be extremely abused. I don't think this flu is going to be anything crazy, obviously I am not a doctor or really have any medical training. Whereas her opinion was they are sending masks to our work place it must be a big deal, they sent hand sanitizer last month, it must be bad! But I truly think it is just the media working so hard to get people all rallied up about stuff like this. **In one of my anthropology classes I remember learning that the best way to control people is with fear. Is that not exactly what is currently being done?
I am very excited to learn more about the 3 different sociological views on education in the upcoming classes.
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