{"id":55,"date":"2018-01-14T01:27:45","date_gmt":"2018-01-14T01:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/?p=55"},"modified":"2018-01-14T01:27:45","modified_gmt":"2018-01-14T01:27:45","slug":"dont-worry-the-universe-has-your-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/danielleduguay\/2018\/01\/14\/dont-worry-the-universe-has-your-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Worry, The Universe Has Your Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever read the book,<\/span> \u201c<\/span><\/i>The Universe has your Back<\/span><\/i><\/a>,\u201d<\/span><\/i> by Gabrielle Bernstein? If so, I want to hear from you!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span>I received this book as a gift over the holidays and continue to read a couple of pages before bed when I can. I am only a quarter of the way through, however, I have already found that Bernstein\u2019s book, the universe, and my Cohort 21 action plan have all been working together to spread their <\/span>mysterious magic<\/span><\/i> in various ways. Even when I ponder the title of the book itself, it starts to truly spark a fire in me to take risks in my classroom. The book smoothly examines the power of thought and how what you put into the atmosphere, positive or negative, is reflected directly back into your life. Perhaps, I have been thinking about the theme of my action plan so frequently, that the community around me has begun to follow suit…<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUniversal Lesson: The Universe is always responding to the energy behind your beliefs\u201d – Gabrielle Bernstein<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

So check this out…I came back from our second F2F <\/span>inspired<\/b> and <\/span>curious.<\/b> The first step in my action plan\u2019s build space was to inform my Grade 11 Media Studies students of my HMW question. So, I did! My students became aware that I could feel how overwhelmed they were when studying global scale issues in media. I expressed and empathized with how they felt when they thought their \u201clittle\u201d contribution would not make a \u201cbig\u201d difference. They were informed that this mission would be ingrained in future lessons moving forward\u2026. So we posted the HMW question on the board and began our whirlwind of a journey together…<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow might we… promote a culture of <\/span><\/i>ACTION<\/i><\/b> in our students while also fostering a process of bringing these solutions to a more <\/span><\/i>MANAGEABLE<\/i><\/b> level.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

Recently, my students completed their <\/span>television assignment<\/span><\/a> mentioned in my <\/span>last blog<\/span><\/a> post with the theme of gender equality as their social issue of choice. Our Cohort 21 community at our last F2F recommended that I help students focus on, \u201cWhat they gained too…What did they learn? Who did their little action impact? It made a difference!\u201d This was so incredibly powerful. It seemed as though students could see how their little could make a difference by means of presenting a television clip while being mindful of gender stereotypes.<\/p>\n

<\/span>As a class, we decided to continue exploring the theme, <\/span>Gender: Defined and Redefined<\/b> for our next film study (seeing as how our <\/span>CIS Visual Arts Festival<\/span><\/a> was also creeping up.) Therefore, to scaffold our festival, we analyzed the film, <\/span>MISSREPRESENTATION<\/span><\/a>, by Jennifer Siebel Newsom and completed a consolidation exercise to describe our feelings.<\/p>\n

<\/span>This is where my Media Studies students became overwhelmed once again with these guiding questions\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat surprised you most about the film?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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

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

\u201cHow do we feel when we think about the topic: Gender Inequality?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

As you can see from our class mind maps, they were feeling drained, hopeless, confused, and disgusted to name a few. To be honest, I felt conflicted as well! Was I providing my students with proper guiding questions or opportunities to shift their thinking to a \u201cculture of action?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, talk about good timing because…<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The next morning, our head of school, Dr. Leanne Foster, did an incredible whole school presentation in Chapel with Megan Markle as a topic of discussion. She asked our girls what they knew about her besides being a famous actress and the fiance of Prince Harry. Little did many of us know, Megan Markle made a difference when she was only 11 years old! She managed to have a very sexist soap commercial slogan altered from \u201c<\/span>WOMEN<\/b> all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans,\u201d to \u201c<\/span>PEOPLE<\/b> all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans\u201d by means of writing a letter to who she thought could make this change happen. This included the soap maker: Proctor & Gamble, a civil rights lawyer: Gloria Allred, the first lady at the time: Hillary Clinton and Nick News anchor: Linda Ellerbee. In this chapel, Dr. Foster stressed the importance of having a voice and using it. I was hoping that our students would take away that this does not necessarily mean that one day you will be on the world stage, but it could make a huge difference in the community you live in. To make a difference does not always mean you have to change the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

I tried to used this momentum to shift my media student\u2019s thinking with this guiding question: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a community, what can we do to change the way women and girls are portrayed on media?<\/i><\/b>
\n<\/i><\/b>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Created via:<\/span> https:\/\/www.jasondavies.com\/wordcloud\/<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

With this energy, the girls felt inspired to act because they did not have the pressure of changing the world on their immediate mind. The <\/span>wordle<\/span><\/a> above, shows how many times an action word was mentioned in their responses relative to how large the word appears. This is a fantastic tool to show similar and different perspectives within a class.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving forward, the girls are hoping to refine these action words into more specific plans. In 5 short days, we see an amazing Visual and Media Arts festival that will allow our girls to explore their questions and critical thinking even further. We also see a whole school Chapel presentation they will be organizing on their own to consolidate what they have learned so far. I am hoping to use these opportunities to further explore my action plan and where it has the potential to go. <\/span><\/p>\n

So now I call on you, Cohort 21….<\/span><\/p>\n