Civic Issue: Overconsumption

 Overconsumption in the 21st Century

This week I wanted to talk about something that I have been trying to work on for years and try to teach my friends about. Overconsumption. Whether that be with clothes, wrapping paper, in general things that we could make. It is a privilege to be able to grow your own food, buy reusable materials, and make your own things. However, we need to be discussing this issue because even little things we can do can help change the world and our impact on the environment. 

I read: 

Common Ground: The Water, Earth, and Air We Share

The Wump World

Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes

Sorry it is so long. I got carried away and am passionate about this topic and the environment. 

Book Talk

Here is the YouTube link <3

Don't Worry I Won't Make You Worry About Your Feedback

   I am on my Sabrina Carpentar kick again. Here is the song that helped me with the title. 

https://open.spotify.com/track/21IVPfi81m6ywNgOvqTj1i?si=5d105155dbc04aef

  It has been an amazing journey so far being a writing coach. It is my first time; I am used to helping middle schoolers with homework when I was interning at a middle school a couple of years ago. Yet, this is my first time I am officially a writing coach and not just an intern who had to take on many roles. An aspect that I believe student writers need with feedback is praise, when we focus on the negativity. Their drive, creativity, and confidence go down. How would we like it if we just got constantly diminished for not having everything perfect? Teachers should never only give negative feedback, having students we look at certain spots, and come up with their own conclusions of what went wrong in a part of their writing. May help build their confidence and their critical thinking skills, since they are taking out the time to assess their own work. Negative feedback does offer growth, but it needs to be balanced and constructive. We can help students grow without diminishing their spirit.

     With peers, we should build a respectful classroom. Having friends to ask questions in the class has always helped me, it has also made class more fun to know I have someone in the class. Having peer review sessions is a great resource. It may be nerve wracking to some because their peers are reading their work, and writing can be a vulnerable state. However, everyone is reading someone’s in their class. They are all on the same level, and kids have a different language they use together than we have as adults. When we grade and give feedback it seems more official, with peer review feedback it is more neutral. When I was in school, I hated it because I didn’t want others to view my work. However, I was happy I was also reading someone else’s in my class. We were kind of all in this same boat, and it helped me from tipping the boat over. 

    I think the negativity all of us share responsibility in that area. If peers, teachers, and coaches don't notice the growth or their skills, then how will they grow? Students will only think of their work as something that needs to change. Praise offers that confidence to keep going. There is a hierarchy when it comes to feedback, it is teachers, coaches, and peers. Sometimes peers and coaches can switch. Teachers have the final say with feedback. They are the ones who sit down and grade the paper. They make take the students or the coaches feedback into consideration or view it as not relevant. With this hierarchy there is a power imbalance when it comes to giving feedback and how it is looked at. Students may see a post it notes from a writing coach and disregard it because we are not their teacher. We are not the ones at the end of the day giving them their grade. In addition, giving feedback looks different for each student as we travel back to week three when talking about giving feedback. The article A Writer’s Guide to Giving Feedback helped me understand not tearing down someone’s paper with negativity and highlighting all of the wrong parts. If a student gets a paper back with red all over it, you slaughtered their work. There should be statements of what they are doing good in there as well. For me giving feedback has helped me when we got introduced the glow and grow model. 

There are students who don’t turn anything in or students who go above and beyond. We shouldn’t give them different treatment. Whenever we are assigned to give feedback, I go in with no expectations of who did it. Having that mindset I believe creates this podium in the classroom of this student is better than this one. How is that going to help students? Everyone is at a different stage, As Rebecca Segel states, “each piece you edit will be at a different stage in the writing process, and each author will want different types of feedback at varying stages of the writing process” (Segel, pg. 1). Students are all different, no one is the same. We shouldn’t expect the same from everyone’s writings. Some may be more advanced and that is great, while others may be working on answering the initial questions which is also great in a different sense. Students who are putting in effort and trying are doing great because they are doing their best. I know I have this pit in my stomach from years of living with a father who drilled grades into my head. That if you are not performing perfectly, you are behind and need to be better. Though it is not that extreme, this pit in me wants all of the students to be on the same field playing the same game. Though that isn’t going to happen, and that’s okay. No one needs to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. As a writing coach, this has helped me get out of that mindset, which I know is awful (I can’t even get into the awful assumptions I have now due to just living with my dad) though I think I needed this to better myself in my everyday life and in my professional career. I did make this about me, I am also a little narcissistic (again, thanks to my father). 

When I think of giving feedback, I think of a quote from the Pitt. (I am rewatching it, and that is why it is on my mind again)

“Where does it say that shaming, belittling, and insulting are effective teaching tools? Harassment has zero educational value.” - Robby

PS: My dad and I are actually best friends, and I love him even though I have trauma with him. (is that Stockholm syndrome, comment down below). Proof that we actually love each other.

Multimodal Composing; Blog Post #4

  

Multimodal Composing

 I wish I could say I have so much experience. I don’t. I have the ideas in my head, yet no execution of it. For past projects, I have worked with an artist and drew large posters for trans rights and depicted many visual elements of the struggles of being queer for my classes. I made a dress out of queer banned books for my YA Queer Literature class. I have sung for projects, and I have written and acted out scripts. (I promise it is not as cheesy as it sounds, hopefully). I have two new media genres that spark something in me as a creator and writer. I have never made a music video before, but the image I have in my mind for one fuel this creative part in me. Also, digital storytelling, though with poetry instead of vlogging. In my wildest dreams I would put everything I write and have in my head out to the world. Alas, I don’t have the time, money, experience, or self-esteem to do that. I wish different media genres were offered to me when I was in high school. I may have more confidence to put my art out there.

Not a Smiling Friends picture, am I doing, okay? (I think Inside from Bo Burnham is what plays in my head when I want to make anything)

I'm lying, I totally know how to use Tik Tok. I was a dancer/singer/actor. I ran the sound board; I know what I am doing. I just don't think it is good enough. A ton of my work for class was having to sing, even during Covid. Recording my projects, one could say that it is multimodal. Even though we were forced to do it. Maybe, I am creative, I'm just liar who has no energy. Oh well, trust me there are things out there from projects. I am not going to ever show you. (unless you ask very nicely) I guess I can show a little bit. One of my jobs in college was working at the Women's Resource Center on campus. (12/10) They have free mensutral hygeine products, safe sex supplies, a libarary, free coffee, and so much more. An amazing space, and I am so lucky I got to work there. The social media coordinator would nufge me a lot to take pictures and make Tik Toks (that would never get posted because they were not great). 

Notice my long hair and lack of tattoos. This was almost three years ago?

     As an educator in an age where technology basically runs the world, offering students an outlet to be creative on a platform they are comfortable with may better increase their engagement. Although straying from comfortability ensure critical thinking, and deeper thinking. I like the idea of using comics and drawings in classrooms. In the reading, “Comics, Collage, and Other Things,” the use of images changed the students, and helped them identity with themselves, “images have power” (Thomsen, pg 55). Students have the ability to connect with themselves and their peers. Images, whether that be from drawings or collages, are able to construct their view of themselves. They don’t have to listen to external factors of who they should be or how they should look/act. This reading goes on to describe how images help build agency. Though intellectual engagement is important as well. I feel like agency is ripped away for a lot of children or adults who speak for them. Everyone deserves to have their voice heard. Everyone deserves to feel like they are their own person and not walking in someone else’s shoes. I want that for my students, when you have confidence, especially in the classroom. You are more likely to answer questions, make mistakes, and engage with materials. Not only does it help with a student's confidence, but it also allows for students to actively be a part of a bigger conversation. They can see their peers identities and recognize the differences between themselves and others. This engagement in society allows students to understand that everyone has a different lived reality. This connection will help them outside of the classroom when working with others. Instead of always having a mirror with reading or writing, it offers a sliding door where they can step out and view other identities and be able to see connections and their own privilege. This is something we need to start doing at a young age, so we don’t repeat history. Our future depends on this generation we need to give them the opportunity for them to grow as individuals with recognition of others and build their own confidence.

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    Another form that I see youth connecting to the most out of the new media genres is book trailers. It allows students to engage with the reading and take out the important parts they would want to make in a video. It can be a cheesy, fun action trailer that describes the book. Students have this creative outlet that they wouldn't be able to express if I were just assigning a written book report. Working with technology for a project, “provides students with multiple tools that they can use to mediate their thinking about concepts” (Chrisholm and Trent, pg 314). Having this ability to connect to the readings because they know they get to do something fun afterwards allows for deeper thinking about concepts in the book. They are engaged because they may want to make the best book trailer. It allows for those images to come onto the screen and voice overs, they can play around with it. Which, in the end, makes students learn from the readings because they will be putting what they read into that trailer. It may seem simple, yet it engages and connects students to a myriad of tools to develop more reading comprehension skills. Building their confidence with images and their critical thinking skills with trailers is something I would like to practice in my classroom. Open up the floor to see what students would want. I don’t want to have an authoritarian stance; students have a voice and should be able to share what they think is best for their learning. Not only does it help them better engage, but it is also more accessible to students who may struggle with writing. Giving more outlets allows all students to grow and complete projects to the best of their abilities.

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    I want to empower my students. I may not always know what I am doing. I probably fail a lot, and I think I am ready for it. I won’t change the world. Yet, if I can have one student walk away with more confidence, growth, and engagement with others, then I did something right. I won’t stop even when I fail, if I do. Why go into the classroom? You can’t be good at everything, all of the time. One step forward every day, that is all I can do. Even though I prefer pen to paper. Why would you deprive your students of accessibility and engagement because you enjoy something more? They are the ones showing up every day and learning. As educators, we need to do our best to help students.

GenAI...

     GenAI in the Classroom

My feelings on GenAI, even throughout these readings, have changed only slightly. I do believe we should teach it in classrooms, in the reading by Vee there was a quote that stood out to me that changed my thinking. “we will let our own decisions about AI govern yours. It’s a fundamentally authoritative stance: I know what’s good for you” (Vee, pg. 1).  I do not want to walk into my classroom for the first time and have this mindset. This dismantles the safe space I want to work towards. I don’t feel comfortable using AI; however, I want to teach the students the good and the bad. They are individuals, and at the end of the day, they make their own choices. I do not want to strip away their agency because I disagree. If they need help writing or checking their grammar, then I can not stop them from using AI. It is everywhere. I will not grade a copy-and-paste AI essay. I will let them know that when we have these open discussions about AI. In addition, the Estep article aligned with my views. I have never thought of compassionate teaching with the use of AI. This opened my eyes to the labels I have set for people who use AI. When you think of a student who uses AI, you may jump to saying that they are lazy. Yet this reading dives deep into dismantling those thoughts and having compassion. Which brought me to the idea that a student may be using AI because they are scared to ask for help, are exhausted from their life, or have too much going on to sit and write. We need to teach with compassion so that students understand they are safe in the classroom. Weaving this in with AI, having those set rules in the beginning of how students will use AI in the classroom. They may check for grammar mistakes and use it for research that will make them critically think about what is true or false. 

I used ChatGPT to help me with my papers in college before I knew the damage AI was doing, because it was easy. My life is chaotic at times. I am transparent with my mental health and my insecurities. I don’t have a lot of self-esteem in general, but mainly in education. I don’t feel qualified or smart enough. During my first BA, I was doing a lot of research for many different classes. I couldn’t keep up, and those thoughts were creeping in. Instead of asking for help or taking a break, I used AI. It helped me finish on time, and even though I look back, I hate that I did that. I can’t take it back. I needed it then, so who am I to judge if a student needs to use it for research because they are too tired, overwhelmed, or don’t understand? Instead of punishing the student, I want to work with them. I wish my professors worked with me more since we were all so close in the Women’s and Gender Studies department.

The reading that departed from my views the most was the choice reading that I chose by Li, Cyborg Composing with AI. I did not agree with the human AI hybrid and making poems with ChatGPT. With what I know about the environment and the dangers, this is dangerous. It is purely for joy now. A joy that is killing the earth, and I can’t stand by that in the slightest. This is where GenAI starts to leave for me. From this article, I do not believe AI should have been made public, if people are using it to make poems that wouldn't have taken them long to just prove how AI works? How far will they go in a classroom? I can't sit in a classroom, and have my students make a poem with AI knowing I am causing harm to the environment. There is a time and place for AI, making whole assignments out of it, is not something I agree with. 

AI has been used for decades in science, and astrophysicists have been using it for years. However, they call it machine knowledge. When a telescope takes a picture of space and captures hundreds of galaxies. Are they going to hire thousands of astrophysicists to study and classify each one? They can not afford that, and it will never get done. It will take longer to manually classify them than we have time on the planet. Machine knowledge helps aid in the process of this science. Though it is machine knowledge because they have to double-check the work. There is still a team to help classify and ensure everything is accurate. We can’t trust AI, no matter how much human interaction we try with it. Just because it was built by humans doesn’t mean it is good. Cigarettes were made by humans and plants, and look at the death toll for lung cancer. We can’t trust something that is harming us and the planet we are on.  

Without AI, how are we supposed to tell the flat earthers that they are wrong? Machine knowledge has helped us prove many people wrong. We need it in some capacities, in the scientific world, it needs to be used. In the classroom, that is where I have doubts.

Thank you to my best friend who majored in astrophysics at UMN for having an extremely long discussion about galaxies, stellar collapse, and telescopes for me to understand AI in one aspect of the scientific world.