Benjamin+Perkins


 * Record of Assignments**
 * Name of Student:** Benjamin Perkins

toc

[[image:Talarrio, Ben, Jesse.jpg width="480" height="360" caption="Me and two of my friends/track teammates (I'm standing)"]]
** Adolescence **

** W : What you want to know (curiosities/inquiry questions) **

 * How does media affect children and young adult's minds? Does it affect them negatively? Positively? **

** Resource #1 **

 * Read:**
 * The article that I read was about Media Education and how it must become part of school curriculum everywhere. The article was specifically an interview of Alexander Fedorov who is the president of the Russian Association for Film and Media Education and an expert on Media Education. Basically Media Education is for students to acquire "knowledge about the history, structure, language, and theory of the media"; to develop the "ability to perceive media texts" (to read their language); "to acquire practical creative skills for working with media". (Fedorov 2) According to Fedorov Media Education's main goals are to develop critical thinking skills, to develop ability to understand media texts of all different forms, and to teach students to experiment with the media. (Fedorov 2)


 * Respond:**
 * After reading this article I feel that I have a better understanding of media education and how it is beneficial to students. I agree with most of everything that Federov said about media education and it should be required in the US as it is in other countries. In today's society it is important to teach students the importance of media and when and how to use it.

>
 * APA Citation:**
 * Kaloshina, N., & Preece, A. (2006). Media education must become part and parcel of the curriculum. Thinking Classroom, 7(3), 25-30. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/220388344?accountid=2909


 * Read:**
 * This resource was a Paper by Sarah H. Smith discussing media influences of sexual desire on young people, more specifically teenage girls. The paper discusses how popular media persists on their emphases on sexy female bodies and how casual sex is consequence free but little attention is placed on attention to sexual health.


 * Respond:**
 * This paper was interesting to isolate what influences girls are under in movies. In the movies analyzed by the author the three themes suggest that girl's sexual desire be heterosexual, silent, and passive. This paper allowed me to take a closer look at how girl's sexual desire is scripted by media influences such as popular movies.


 * APA Citation:**
 * Smith, S. (2012). Scripting Sexual Desire: Cultural Scenarios of Teen Girls' Sexual Desire in Popular Films, 2000-2009. Sexuality & Culture, 16(3), 321-341. doi:10.1007/s12119-012-9126-5

** Resource #3 **

 * Read:**
 * This article is an analysis of video game use in adolescence by Douglas A. Gentile and J. Ronald Gentile. In the article they discuss how strategies used by video game developers are using similar pedagogical techniques used by teachers. Throughout the paper they discuss how video games use teaching strategies in games and how they often do a better job of having the user learn more. They discuss strategies such as spiral curriculum, practice to the point of mastery, over learning to gain a better understanding of an idea, clear objectives, and others.


 * Respond:**
 * I thought that this paper was very interesting and gave me a great resource defending video games. It was hard not to agree with what they were saying in this paper because it was so clear and informative. They made a great argument supporting video games, even violent games on how they serve as superb teachers.

> Gentile, D. A., & Gentile, J. (2008). Violent Video Games as Exemplary Teachers: A Conceptual Analysis. Journal Of Youth & Adolescence, 37(2), 127-141. doi:10.1007/s10964-007-9206-2 >
 * APA Citation:**

** Resource #4 **
> - Boys were unsure what the media thinks they should look like which could mean that the media doesn’t exert an influence on them. > > - Self esteem could be a reason for little influence of media on boys, levels of self esteem increase throughout adolescence in boys while girls it is the opposite. > > - Girls in the study said that to be slimmer were influences on them from the media. The authors adds that research regarding influence of media links promotion of thinness with body dissatisfaction and the development of disordered eating practices. (Lawrie, Sullivan, Davies, & Hill, 2006)
 * Read:**
 * This research source was a study taken to see how boys and girls age 9-13 feel media portrays what they should look like. From the information in the questionnaire the authors analyzes the results and found:


 * Respond:**
 * After reading the article I thought that it was very good to get information from young kids and how they think media affects them. It was informative and telling what young girls and boys face when dealing with the media.


 * APA Citation:**
 * Lawrie, Z. Z., Sullivan, E. A., Davies, P. W., & Hill, R. J. (2006). Media Influence on the Body Image of Children and Adolescents. Eating Disorders, 14(5), 355-364. doi:10.1080/10640260600952506

** 5. Sexuality Activity **
([])


 * Describe your resource:**

My resource describes different activities teachers can use to bring awareness to harmful language used against LGBT students and to stop use of anti-LGBT language. In many high schools in America students use language that maybe they don't realize how harmful it actually is. This article uses the example "that's so gay" which many students use to describe something stupid and often say it has nothing to do with sexual orientation. This may be the case but it still can be harmful to students who may be gay. In the article there is a statistic that says that 83.1% of LGBT students felt bothered or distressed in some way.

One of the activities in the article that can be used to increase awareness of the negative use of words such as "that's so gay" is a group activity to see how classmates stand on a series of statements related to LGBT issues. The teacher sets up the room by placing signs on either side of the room saying Strongly agree and Strongly disagree. Then after this the teacher explains that after hearing a statement they must decide whether they Strongly agree or disagree or are somewhere in between. This allows the students to see how they stand compared to the rest of the class. After this the students are shown LGBT ads to make them think about how it is harmful to use hurtful words such as "that's so gay". And finally the students get to reflect on the situation and see that it is wrong and in the future students will not use anti-LGBT slurs.

[]
 * Link to your specific resource:**

**Observation Site Information**
[you must confirm with site it is okay to observe with your location, then delete instructions in brackets]

** A. Site details: **

 * Name of site: Arilitt Center
 * Link to site: []

__ ** B. Describe your setting ** __
The Arlitt Center is on UC's campus in the Edwards building. It is a place for preschool kids to come and do activities with kids their age and with teachers. The observations that I did here was non-intrusive so I was able to observe the kids without them knowing or seeing me so much of what I observed was natural. I was able to see how kids their age acted on a daily basis and in the classroom.

The Arlitt Center was a very easy way to get hours for observing because I could just walk-in and start observing whenever I pleased and I was able to get signatures and able to leave at any point.

__** C. Describe what you did at the site (free-write/journal formatting) **__
On my first visit it was refreshing to see kids having fun playing, socializing, and participating in activities. The kids were scattered around the whole classroom, some in groups with other kids and teachers and some just by themselves silently working on something. The main focus of the teachers were to engage the kids in some sort of activity whether it be coloring, painting, blocks, puzzles, games.
 * __ 1st visit: __ 1 hour **

Some significant events that happened in this hour of observation was mainly disputes between kids and interactions. Two boys had a minor dispute over using blocks and a teacher comes over to resolve the situation. She acts as an intermediary telling each student the others' feelings and eventually they calm down. This was great to see because it demonstrated how teachers in preschool setting must act to resolve disputes. Another thing that happened was a kid who was playing by himself suddenly stopped, got up and announced to the class that he was going "to draw a pretty picture for my mommy". I just thought that this was significant because how it showed how he was so attached to his mother and wanted to show her this. The rest of the class I observed many interactions between students and teachers and it was very interesting.

On my second visit to the Arlitt Center I stayed for an hour and a half and it was again a very nice experience. When I came in the class they were doing a sort of informal presentation. It seemed that each student was to create a book of their life that included pictures of family, pets, trips, etc. Today they had one child tell all the other children of his life through this book. He seemed glad to share with the class and was proud of his work and especially showing the drawing of his pet monkey which every kid adored. All of them seemed very interested and they wanted to see the book, it was passed around.
 * __2nd visit:__ 1 1/2 hours**

After this they went back into doing activities around the room but a significant event that I noticed was around lunch time when a food tray was brought in. As the food tray was brought in the kids all waited for the teachers to prepare things and only a few students were allowed to eat at one time because of shortage of chairs and table space to eat. Even though this was the case each student waited there turn patiently and continued doing an activity whiled they waited to eat. And also the food was healthy, it was apple slices with milk. And the students really liked the food even though it was simple, no one complained. I was surprised at how organized the class was. This could be because the teachers have made the classroom orderly and rules were set from the beginning. Each student knows where materials are around the classroom and they obey what the teachers provide as directions.

My third visit was again an hour and a half. As I came in to observe the class I was pleasantly surprised the students in a circle and they were being engaged in a group activity/sing-a-long. They all were able to hit a rail road spike with a hammer with assistance by the teacher. Each student got up and hit it one time and then after the teacher transitioned into a sing-a-long of the song "I've been working on the railroad". The class thoroughly enjoyed this and they all followed the teacher walking around in a circle as the teacher played a Ukulele. I thought that it was a very inventive activity and it engaged every kid in the class who sang the song.
 * __3rd visit:__ 1 1/2 hours**

After this they were released for recess outside and so I went for lunch and came back later. When I came back they were preparing for nap time. The teachers do their best to make the kids comfortable by giving them little beds, dimming the lights, and playing soft music. The Ukulele guy started to play again only he did a soft tune to try and put the kids asleep. This guy I thought did a good job of being creative in the classroom with the Ukulele. Some of the kids were reluctant to fall asleep and they persisted to want to do activities. They pestered teachers to read them books and other stuff. On kid just couldn't stop moving and making noises. He was still energized from recess and he was shadowboxing the air while making sound effects. He seems to want attention from teachers and so a teacher accommodates his needs by taking him out of the classroom where he was looking. He possibly was able to play in another area while the rest of the class rested.

My fourth and last visit was an early visit just to get variation because the rest of my observations were in the afternoon. The kids didn't seem tired really in fact most of the kids wanted to play even more than in the afternoon. Perhaps they look forward to class and playing with other kids. They all seemed happy to be there.
 * __4th visit:__ 1 hour**

All the teachers are busy doing something to help students or prepare things for the class. One teacher focuses on one kid in which they play a game like hungry hungry hippo or something and they also read a book together. The child seems to enjoy interacting with the teacher even though she is much older than her. Two other kids, a boy and a girl play with each other. The boy walks around doing different activities and the girl follows him kinda like stalking him. It is easy to see that she has a crush on the boy and the boy says to her to stop following him. But he says this while kinda laughing so this backfires and only feeds the fire and she continues to follow him. It was interesting to see how early interactions between boys and girls are so polar. Meaning that they act so differently and many times they interact better with kids of the same gender.

** Physical **
What did you notice about the physical differences between boys and girls (pp. 283-288)?
 * I noticed that most of the girls were taller than the boys in the classroom. And most of the girls were not as rowdy and loud. A lot of the boys had disputes ad liked moving all around the room while the girls wanted to stay on one subject. **

What did you notice about the children’s mood (p. 289)?
 * The children in the classroom seemed liked they enjoyed being there and they enjoyed doing activities with other students and teachers. But at times some students did have arguments and disputes and it happened abruptly.**

What did you notice about the children’s relationship with adults (p. 289)?
 * The children had a good relationship with adults in the classroom. Many of the kids were playing with some of the teachers whether it be games, puzzles, or whatever. The kids enjoyed showing the teachers creations of the students' and the teachers responded by showing them attention. This interaction happened very organized and with respect to the teacher and student.**

What did you notice about the role of body image in the Children's behavior (p. 290)?
 * The children were not concerned really at all with body image. Everyone was there enjoying their activities and there was very little concern for personal body image.**

What did you notice about peer relationships ( pp. 290-291)?
 * Most of the boys played with other boys and most of the girls played with other girls for the most part. And when there was interaction between genders it usually was brief or a very playful crush.**

What did you notice about eating habits (pp. 291-292)?
 * They all ate healthy because food was controlled by the teachers. Such examples of healthy food was apple slices and milk.**

What did you notice about issues around sex (sex education, sexual references, sexual activity, teen pregnancy, etc.) (pp. 293-299)
 * There was no issues about sex because all the kids were preschool age.**

What did you notice about substance use or substance related references (pp. 299-300)?
 * None.**

** Physical Cognitive **

 * Arlitt Center:** At this preschool the kids were about even in height but mostly all the girls were slightly taller than the boys. And everywhere around the classroom there were kids playing with puzzles, games, or interacting with other kids. Many of the children played using their imagination which was encouraged in the classroom because of ideas from Vygotsky about make believe. "As children create imaginary situations, they learn to follow internal ideas and social rules rather than their immediate impulses". (Pg. 181) And after viewing all the interactions between teacher and student I got to witness teachers using scaffolding (pg. 180) to help guide children to resolve an issue or complete an activity.

** Emotional **
Throughout the experience of observing I got to witness interactions between children some positive and some negative. Examples of this are when two boys fight over play space or who is using a toy. Part of childhood development is understanding others' feelings and viewpoint on different interactions. One specific event causing me to see emotional thought in young boys was a dispute over who was using certain blocks. And one boy suddenly got up and yelled at this other boy because he was using "his" toys but a teacher stepped in and showed the child how each child felt and after this they both see emotions from the other. (pg. 200)

** Social **
In preschool interactions between children provide them with their first peer/friendship relationships. Many of the kids in the classroom I observed were socializing with other kids sometimes of the opposite sex. One instance in particular was between a boy and girl who were playing different activities all around the classroom but stayed together pretty much the whole time. In socializing together they grow and become more maturer in relation to social aspects of growth. (pg. 201-203)

** Revisiting Your Curiosities **
[Answer your original questions as best as you can, given the course material and your observations. You must make at least 4 references to the text with page numbers.] The book agrees with what I say for how media affects teens in that gender stereotypes are strongly rooted in how people of that gender actually act. (pg. 211) And this hits on what I bring up in my poster about the sexual scripting of girls' in movies. But the book also disagrees in other places such as their stance on the effects of violent video games. The book says for the most part that they lead to aggression and negative consequences (pg. 210) while my poster supports violent video games and looks at how they act as excellent teachers. And another topic talked about in the book and my poster was related to how young people develop identity. In the book they reference how the media influences gender typing such as talking about the Gender schema theory (pg. 215). And finally the book talks about how learning is important in the realm of electronic media for young children and teens. (pg. 190-191)
 * W : What you want to know (inquiry questions) **
 * 1.** ** How does media affect children and young adult's minds? Does it affect them negatively? Positively? **


 * 2. Media Influences on children and adolescence**

My inquiry question has been answered in a large part by this class and the research we did and I feel I understand about media influences on young adults and from various sources. I learned about media education in school which according to Alexander Federov is important to d evelop critical thinking skills, to develop the ability to understand media texts of all different forms, and to teach students to experiment with the media. I learned how in popular teen films and just popular films in general girls' sexual desire is scripted so that they behave a certain way. And according to Sarah H. Smith the three main ways they are scripted in popular movies are that desire in girls is unspoken: eye contact or smoldering gaze, biting or licking of lips, sexual touching; only bad girls verbalize desire: in movies only girls who are branded “sluts” or girls who are impaired temporarily verbalize sexual desire; and that there are negative consequences to expressing desire: girls who express sexual desire lead to disaster (disease, pregnancy, rape, bad reputation, or loss of self-respect). Another area I researched into media influences was how violent video games affect young adults. And the paper by Douglas A. Gentile and J. Ronald Gentile set out to explain many reasons why violent video games are actually quite good models of teachers. My final research I did on media was a questionnaire/survey type resource that polled kids age 9-13 to see what they thought the media was telling them they should look like. These were my four main sources of information and if you want more information on them see my Poster above.
 * 3. Creative Presentations**

New questions that emerge are that how I can best help my students deal with stress put on them by media outlets.
 * 4. What new questions emerge for you as a future teacher?**

Late Adulthood

Describe your Older Adult Project:
 * For my older adult project it was easy for me because pretty much every weekend my grandma and my ant and uncle go to breakfast at Bob Evans and I go pretty often too. So for my older adult project I just went to breakfast with them as usual but this time I asked them a few questions relating to their age and how they feel. My ant and uncle are both in their 60's and my grandma is 92 years old. My uncle still works as a carpenter and still looks in shape for his age and I have seen few complaints from him. And my grandma is always busy doing something and is very young at heart, I always get those chain forwarded emails from her and she has a Facebook page, so she is pretty tech savvy.
 * I tried not to make it very obvious that I was asking them questions for a class because it just seems weird. So I tried to slip in some questions relating to their lifestyle, eating habits, age related issues, happiness. And they seemed happy to talk about how they were doing because my family is relatively healthy. It was really interesting learning about older people and how things change physically and how they are more calm.

Describe your experience (2 paragraph minimum and make 4 references to the textbook):
 * My grandma is always so nice to talk to and all of are family events take place at her house mostly because she is the oldest living parent/grandparent on my dad's side. Though she may be chronologically older she is functionally young (pg. 443). She is often using the internet, Facebook, and sending emails so she is very young at heart because of how she continues living in the now. My grandmother is very wise (pg. 467) and often I can get advice from her on things in my life and she can say that she went through the same things. In particular when I was dating a girl who went into the navy she described how her husband (my grandpa) also was away in the military and she helped me feel at ease.
 * Often my grandma reminisces (pg. 476) and shares stories with us or when we drive by some place she will recall what was there when she was a little girl. Despite being older my grandma is still busy moving about, going places with friends and family, on the internet, reading, puzzles, and she is very social (pg. 480). She has structure still to her life even though she is older and she has friends and family to talk with and the internet allows her to explore while still in her living room. It is always nice to talk with my grandma and after analyzing her life I feel I have learned more about healthy practices during late adulthood.

I did not take a photo at Bob Evans but here is a photo of my grandma and my close family on my dad's side.