Research
This blog includes research that requires a critical perspective.
The theme of individual identity relates to the various changes in physical appearance many 8th graders experience. These students are attempting to establish a personal identity. Wood (2007) describes students at this age to be carrying around “portable mirrors” to reflect their personal characteristics (p. 164). 14 year old students also “like to do as much as possible” and “cram as much into the day as they can” (p.174). Middle school students thrive in lengthier project assignments. Students are also engaged in group discussion at this age, prompting them to effectively collaborate and work in groups of 8-10 (p.176). Students at this age are cognitively aware of large-world problems and are generally “invested in finding solutions and participating in learning more” (p.175). Working with technology is an effective measure to allow students to experiment in finding solutions to problems. Pennisi (2013) states that using the problem-posing stance “[encourages] students to see the content of their curriculum as a means to use art to confront real-life issues not as simply manipulating art materials to solve pre-set visual design problems” (p.132). Throughout the lives of these students, technology has rapidly advanced and is a vital subject in which to become familiar. References:
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“Freire sees education as an empowering force for people” (Giroux, 1998 p. 43) When I am confronted with the idea of education being a powerful force, my immediate thought goes to my time teaching in China. When I arrived, I met a friend who was in the same international organization as me. He was to be my guide in Beijing before I made my trip to Wuhan. He showed me his campus, Peking University. Peking University is regarded as the “top” University in China, and my friend Jack was a student there. He asked me many questions about America and American views on China. We entered the West gate to his campus so we could go to his university’s library. He turned to me with sorrowful eyes and said “I go to the top university here, but there are books I am not allowed to read.” Those words stung, and I became fully aware of my own privilege in being an American with freedom in my own education. Freire, as Giroux (1998) points out, was a man who enjoyed culture, international in scope. In the NIU eLearning (2016) video, Giroux is being interviewed and talks about his experiences with Freire. Giroux told us that Freire “integrated life into his pedagogy” (2:15). Freire was a man who lived his life, constantly regarding his pedagogy. Every word Giroux spoke of Freire was, to me, incredibly powerful and inspiring. We are always learning from someone else, and in that moment, as I was standing next to Jack, I did the best I could to empathize with his dilemma. This first drawing is my own representation of the West gate to Peking University. Instead of a greeting that states “Peking University,” I changed the sign to say 真相图书馆, meaning Truth Library. The gates are locked as a sign says “access denied” to “中国人,” (Chinese citizens). Many histories are silenced, and the Chinese citizens are silenced from the truth and knowledge they seek. Not only did I find the denial of education appalling, I grew to realize how powerful images of western women were to Chinese consumers. Advertisements in subways, mannequins on display, and television advertisements were filled with blond haired, blue-eyed western women. I asked a student why this was the standard, and she explained to me that this meant these products were “international products; they show us the world uses them.” I saw a completely different picture. I saw many of my students compliment me for being a blond, blue-eyed western woman. What was exceedingly painful, was constantly hearing that they “would never be as pretty as [me].” They did not believe they were attractive because they were Chinese. No matter how hard I tried to tell them that this was not true, they continued to believe that western women were superior in beauty. In going back to Berger in his Ways of Seeing, I always think of my time in China and how Caucasians are represented there. Sturken and Cartwright discuss Berger in their 2009 publication, Practices of Looking. Similar to Giroux’s work, Sturken and Cartwright’s work continued to spur my memories of China and their profound impact on my view of the world, and how I found my place to be a teacher. Sturken and Cartwright state: “Studying visual culture is not only about seeing what is shown. It is also seeing how things are shown and seeing what we are not shown, what we do not see- either because we do not have sight ability, because something is restricted from view, or because we do not have the means for understanding and coming to terms with what is right before our eyes.” (p. 6) I felt alone in seeing an image no one else around me saw when looking into these advertisements. I began to wonder if I was the one that was not seeing the bigger picture. The next two images I created in response to these readings are representations of the some of the advertisements I saw during my time in Wuhan. I would pass advertisements for maternity clinics daily, and the babies used in the advertisements were almost always western babies with blue eyes. They would be repeated images along hallways next to escalators. Why was I the only one questioning them? Why were my students not bothered by Western models selling products to the Chinese people? I was a rarity in Wuhan. This southern city rarely sees westerners, let alone western females (more men than women travel to China). Sometimes, I felt I was “a western goddess.” It was truthfully, very uncomfortable for me. The only concept many citizens in Wuhan had of western women were from what they saw in Hollywood movies. And Hollywood movies almost always sexualize blond females. I was surrounded by images of blond women that were heavily sexualized to sell products to the Chinese people. Ed Check’s (2010) discussion of lower class jobs and how working people get “shit on” (p. 6) made me question more of the consequence of many factories moving from the United States to China. The images he includes of what he calls “industrial wastelands” (p. 4), reminded me of my birthplace, Sterling, Illinois, and how many factories were shut down there, just to be shipped off to China. Our products are now Chinese-made for our benefit. When I saw the other end of this “business exchange” I saw how the Chinese took pride in creating products for America. Their advertisements almost always depicted a very sexualized western woman representing a Chinese product. The message I got from these advertisements was ”she’s beautiful, but she’s beautiful because she wears Chinese products.” These readings made me focus on my own beliefs and how much my experience in China has shaped me. I am particularly fond of Giroux’s work on Freire. I believe that secondary sources are valuable in that someone else is validating a pedagogy and building off of that pedagogy. Giroux’s statement in the video interview about using theory as a resource is incredibly true (NIU eLearning, 8:00). We need to draw from theory as a resource, and not draw from them as a “prescription” (NIU eLearning, 8:00). References
Check, E. (2010). A National Labor Project: Recovering Unprecedented Numbers of Working Class Lives and Histories through Art. Texas Tech University. Giroux, H. (1998). Culture, power, & transformation in the work of Paolo Freire, In F. Schultz, (Ed.). Sources: Notable selections in education, 2nd ed. Guilford, CT: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill, pp. 43-52. NIU eLearning. (22 October 2016). Henry Giroux. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nanNwhJw4E&feature=youtu.be Sturken M. &Cartwright L. (2009). Practices of Looking. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. |