{"id":46,"date":"2017-11-10T08:00:54","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T08:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/?p=46"},"modified":"2017-11-10T04:50:06","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T04:50:06","slug":"when-does-a-little-equal-a-lot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/2017\/11\/10\/when-does-a-little-equal-a-lot\/","title":{"rendered":"When does “a little” equal “a lot?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNobody made a greater mistake than (s)he who did nothing because (s)he could do only a little\u201d – Edmund Burke<\/span><\/i><\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/a>In my 3rd year of University, I embarked on a 2-week journey with 19 of my classmates who all aspired to be teachers, like myself. We were the final group of an <\/span>8-year study<\/span><\/a> started by our professor, Dr. James Mandigo at Brock University. We travelled to three different schools every day for the duration of our trip, collaborating with a new physical education program at the Universidad de Pedagogica. Our common goal was to make a difference in the lives of children in San Salvador, El Salvador, who had been struggling with extreme gang violence since the Salvadoran Civil War. We aimed to do this by teaching life skills such as cooperation, inclusion, teamwork, and communication through games and activities with meaningful debriefs at the conclusion of each game. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDanielle, do you really think you will make a difference? You will only be there for two weeks, do you sincerely believe this will leave the lasting impact you hope?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

This question, asked by a family friend who meant well, lingered in my mind for the weeks leading up to our trip. I thought to myself, this issue is larger than I can imagine\u2026 can a little bit of help make a difference?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCan a little bit of help make a difference?\u201d<\/i><\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is a question I asked myself before a recent lesson in my Grade 11 Media Studies class. I could feel my students becoming more and more overwhelmed as we began to study social, moral, and privacy issues in media. They felt heavy, helpless, and concerned that there was nothing they could do to help these larger problems in their world. <\/span><\/p>\n

How can I teach my students to search for solutions when I do not have the solutions to these problems myself?<\/i><\/strong><\/h3>\n

I have always believed that it is the little things that make a huge difference. Things such as smiling at a colleague or student in the hallway, complimenting a customer service representative at the convenience store, or high fiving your gym mates after a workout all have immense power to make someone\u2019s day a little bit brighter. I began to think about how this concept could be applied to how we express ourselves by means of media…<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, here is what I have so far\u2026 and I am looking for any and all input that you have for me! As it stands, each class we try to reflect on what we have posted online in the past 24 hours. Individually, we brainstorm. Was it positive? Relevant? Purposeful? Respectful? Appropriate? Does it reflect who you are as a person? Does it represent who you want to be?<\/span><\/p>\n

On a larger scale, our next project involves the exploration of television shows and the codes and conventions that make each genre unique. Their task will be to pick a 5-minute television clip from any genre. After analysing the technical and symbolic codes used, they will try to recreate the clip. For further enrichment, the girls are intrigued by how gender is represented among different genres. Rather than recreating the clip with similar gender stereotypes, they will try to change the clip to challenge these stereotypes. In my mind, the girls will be contributing \u201ca little\u201d to the problem that is gender stereotypes in television shows by creating a clip that has a fresh, inclusive perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can’t be what you can’t see\u201d – Marian Wright Edelman,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Miss Representation <\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

To answer my friend from earlier, yes – a little bit can make a difference. Just as I was able to put my effort towards making young children in El Salvador smile, our students can put their efforts towards making a difference in their own ways. So why not start to recreate media with strong role models for our young men and women? <\/span><\/p>\n

Now I am asking you, Cohort 21:<\/span><\/p>\n

What do you think of these concepts? Have your students been overwhelmed with the pressure of problems in society? Have you addressed gender stereotypes in your course before? How have you explored these concepts? Do you have any suggestions for my unit?<\/span><\/p>\n

P.S. Some exciting news! Trafalgar Castle School is hosting the CIS Ontario Visual Arts Festival this year. Our theme is Gender: Defined and Redefined<\/strong>. I am hoping this project will help my students in their journey of defining who they are and what they stand for. Find out more about the festival here:\u00a0https:\/\/www.cisstudentvisualartsfest.com\/\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cNobody made a greater mistake than (s)he who did nothing because (s)he could do only a little\u201d – Edmund Burke In my 3rd year of University, I embarked on a 2-week journey with 19 of my classmates who all aspired to be teachers, like myself. We were the final group of an 8-year study started … Continue reading “When does “a little” equal “a lot?””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-face-2-face-sessions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}