Unit 5

 This unit had a heavy emphasis on technology and how important/large of a role it plays in society, especially for our youths.

The first article we covered is called Unearthing the Problem: Social Emotional Learning in the High School Classroom. This was a very interesting article as it addressed the use of cellphones (or technology in general) and how much our use of them impacts our lives and gets in the way of our goals. The author talks about a time they worked with their students to analyze their cellphone use, and had the students come up with personal goals that they wanted to accomplish in relation to using the technology less or getting rid of certain apps, in order to focus on certain goals that they had and were struggling to achieve (less time spent on the phone, read more books, get grades up/study more, etc.). The teacher also joined the students in this activity, making sure not to keep themselves out of it and seeming like they themselves were not struggling with some aspect about technology usage. The activity involved goal setting, short-term reflection, and long-term reflection. This activity, while beneficial to the students by embracing the normality of phone use in the present day, also helped address the stressors and negative impacts that can come from such use. It also helped the teachers and parents realize exactly how phones negatively impact their kids and students, causing massive amounts of stress, and that reflecting on technology use is extremely valuable for everyone. This article was a cool read, as it taught my several ways that I myself could analyze my phone use, and how I could embrace social and daily norms for my students and turn these things into activities to use in the classroom. Plus, I also analyzed my own use of technology and have cut down on daily phone time by 45 minutes so far, which is an additional <5 hours of time/week I have to do other things now such as read, study, and exercise. Frankly, I feel everyone should read this article for the sake of awareness and ideas on how to track our use of smart phones.

We then have the article It Was Like I Was There: Inspiring Engagement Through Virtual Reality. This article already intrigued me as I had just finished a research project on the benefits of virtual reality use in the classroom, such as online social 3D platform Second Life when teaching students on going on field trips to impossible places. I had also done a previous paper on the benefits of utilizing VR in classrooms, such as visiting ancient battle fields and specific environments that authors grew up in or wrote about. This article talks about those benefits, and how VR helps "to inspire and engage student, turning the study of an often-taught novel into a twenty-first-century learning experience" (90). VR can absolutely benefit students across many subjects, but especially with literature as it gives them concrete images and 3D environments to interact with and observe, helping truly put them in scene that they're reading. Are students reading a piece of literature in relation to Gettysburg? Have them use a VR walkthrough of a rendition of the Battle of Gettysburg to immerse them beforehand. Are student reading about the Titanic? Give them a virtual tour of the doomed ship to share the scope of what all was lost. VR like mentioned in this article helps expose students in ways that nothing else can, and the only issues that can be seen in using VR have to do with motion sickness and focusing problems for a small percentage of the class. I've already purchased a $10 cardboard VR headset from Google and it works great, and I cannot wait to implement it and many more in my future classes.

The next article is titled Poetry is Not Dead: Understanding Instagram Poetry Within a Transliteracies Framework. This is a research/study article which spreads a wide net to collect raw data about the use of poetry by youths, and how newfound technology is advancing the frequency of poetry being written, read, and shared by students. This article talks about how students, and youth in general, are being exposed to and creating poetry through social media apps such as Instagram, which helps them in practicing critical writing and other analytical skills, which is very beneficial seeing as many students and teachers view poetry as "inaccessible to read and impossible to write" (185). It also talks about how the new potential with digital poetry helps students innovate new types of multimodal writing with ever-evolving technologies. The data also seems to show that having a large audience to read and comment on poster's poetry helps motivate them to write more, and that the publicity of their poems (as well as the type of reception that they bring) helps the students in writing more, discovering their own poetic interests, and helping them create their own artistic flow. The article mentions how about half of those in a specific study used poetry to address mental health issues, whether that be general awareness or addressing one's own personal mental health situations, and present them as positive coping and therapeutic methods. I could easily see using Instagram-based poetry or any form on online posting method to have my students use, review, and share poems that they find and create, as well as providing the class with a shared poem to pick over and analyze in the classroom. It allows me a chance to help teach students the necessary skills needed to build proper internet awareness, utilization, and safety (such as preventing plagiarism and minimizing their online footprint). There is also the obvious that students will be more interested in a lesson when it utilizes something that they do in their day-to-day lives, such as making posts on Facebook or Instagram.

We then have Middle School Students Analysis of Political Memes to Support Critical Media Literacy. This article talks about the value of teaching students to read into memes and the meaning behind them, especially in relation to anything political. Just like an article written by a newspaper, there is an intended audience that they are trying to reach and a specific message trying to be passed. By being able to read into the memes and pinpoint what these are, it helps teach students proper awareness and understanding of the memes that they are exposed to. There is also a lot to be said about the evaluation skills that students learn by breaking down these memes, especially with how prevalent memes are in the current (and assumable future) political environment. The article talks about how commonplace memes are, and how it's a quick and easy way to make a point or share an idea/opinion with others, and that memes may become a part of future political advertisements. This is an additional supporting fact for why we as teachers need to help our students build their CML skills, especially since "social media has connected humans at unprecedented levels...and influences and bears consequences on real lives" (39). As a teacher, analyzing, creating, and responding to memes within a classroom can be an extremely fun and engaging activity, especially with students making them themselves. They're fun, entertaining, and an abstract way to share ideas and opinions, and this will certainly engage students. Plus, it appeals to student's constant use of social media apps, and we all know that implementing more of the daily activities of students helps them become more engaged in classes, and thus learning.

The last article of this unit is titled #NeverthelessMemesPersisted: Building Critical Memetic Literacy in the Classroom. This article is similar in impact to the previous article, as it focuses on the strength and impact of memes and how quickly they spread through the internet and social media. Both articles also talk about critical memetic literacy (CML) and the value that comes from it, memetics meaning "the study of memes" (I'm sure any youth feels like they have mastered this). The article describes memes as "contagious patterns of cultural information that are passed from mind to mind and that directly shape and generate key actions and mindsets of a social group." It also describes the different types of internet memes and how they are different from each other, as well as how they are used within politics. There are also several examples of how practicing creating memes in the classroom help apply what students have learned, as well as the value of these skills to the students that helps them to navigate the internet and their media lives, increasing their awareness, and helping develop their skills. So although this article had a lot of similarities to the previous one, it did a better job of breaking down what exactly memes are, how they are described, broke them down into groups, and gave additional project examples of how to utilize memes within the classroom. I can see strong benefits from both articles, especially the ideas on classroom activities that can be done, and memes are too strong and popular to disappear, so we as teachers may as well embrace them in our lessons.

This was an interesting unit, as it covered a lot of the impacts that online access, interactions, and technologies present to ourselves and our students. Instagram, social media, memes, virtual reality, you name it. I have found that each unit we have covered so far brings very valuable information and points to the table, and I've downloaded most of the articles for future use and ideas within my classroom.