Final Project Presentations

Last Thursday our class presented their final projects. I was very impressed with my colleagues' work. It was clear that everyone put a lot of time and effort into their projects. I thought it was interesting that Selena, Jennyerika, and I all chose to use Pinterest for our projects. I have always viewed Pinterest as a social media outlet for hobby-type activities. I rarely saw social justice issues come up on Pinterest before this project. I am glad that I chose Pinterest because it gave me the opportunity to use the website in a different way and see all that Pinterest has to offer in terms of social justice.

What I enjoyed most about the presentations were the discussions. I always enjoying hearing my colleagues' perspectives on the topics we are learning about. It was also nice to have Dr. Mattheis, Dr. Hafner, and Dr. Ulanoff join our class. They all made very valuable contributions to our discussions.

Overall, I think we all did a great job on our projects and presentations and I am grateful to be part of such a talented cohort!

Creating My Final Project

I decided to present the results of my page using Explain Everything. The process was actually a lot more difficult and time consuming than I had anticipated. Explain Everything is only an app, so you can not use it with a computer. At first, I attempted to make the video on my phone, however it became too difficult to add small details. So I decided to download the app on my iPad and that made things a little easier.

I could not figure out how to record changes to the video without also recording sound, so I had to create the entire video with my microphone on. To fix this, I downloaded the completed video to my dropbox and I downloaded it to imovie on my computer. I edited the video with imovie and added music. Next, I uploaded it to YouTube in order to make it easy to share.

Here is the completed project:

Even though Explain Everything was challenging, I am glad I chose it as my presentation platform because I became more familiar with the app and know what to expect should I choose to use it in the future. 

What is feminism?

While working on my final project Pinterest page, I came across a fun and informative Buzzfeed article. I wouldn't necessarily consider Buzzfeed a reliable source for educational research, however this article is very accessible and covered some important topics.

Fortunately, feminism is becoming more well-known and many women and men are now identifying as feminists.  However, many "feminist terms" are being tossed around and not everyone has a full understanding of what these terms mean. This article covers basic terminology any feminist should be aware of. So whether someone is a budding feminist just looking for equal wages, or has been burning bras and not shaving her armpits for years, this is a great place to freshen up on contemporary terms that will surely pop up in conversations and readings. 

The article covers everything from the definition of feminism

to transmisogyny 

to "mansplaining"

So check out the article if you would like to stay current on your feminist lingo! 

Final Project Progress

I have made some progress over the past week with my Pinterest board. I continue to pin things related to latinas in leadership, feminism, and social justice. I still only have 3 followers, but have now had 4 people repin or like my pins. I am finding that it is more common for people to use Pinterest for things like hobbies, cooking, and crafts, as opposed to discussing social justice issues. I think people also enjoy spreading quotes and memes through Pinterest, so I have begun pinning memes, gifs, and quotes related to my issue in hopes that they will more likely be repinned.

I have also started playing around with Explain Everything to try and figure out how I will present my final project. It is more complicated and time consuming than I anticipated, however I think that is only because it is unfamiliar to me. I'm glad I decided to use Explain Everything for my presentation because it is giving me the opportunity to get used to the app and hopefully I can use it for future projects.

Final Project Proposal

Last week our class proposed our ideas for our final projects. For my final project, I want to advocate for women in leadership by creating a Pinterest page dedicated to Latina leaders. I created a profile that focuses on Latinas in leadership, but also covers other feminist issues. My objective for this social media activity is to spread awareness about women in leadership by creating at least 5 boards dedicated to various feminist issues. I will consider my objective achieved when at least 10 of my pins were either repinned, “liked”, or commented. For our final presentation, I will use ExplainEverything to present my final project.

So far I have made good progress with my Pinterest page. I created a new Pinterest profile called “Latina Leaders.” I created 5 boards under this profile: Women in Leadership, Latinas, Social Justice, The Wage Gap, and LGBTQIA. Each board has between 15-20 pins. 

I followed several people who pinned similar content in hopes to gain followers. However, so far I only have 3 followers. One person has repinned one of my pins, so I am making some progress toward my objective. I plan to continue pinning to my 5 boards and following people with similar interests in order to get visitors to my boards and content. 

Diigo

I am really glad that we learned how to use Diigo because it is definitely a valuable tool I will be able to use when working on my dissertation. I am very very organized and love organization systems, however I had never really found a useful way to organize content from websites. Diigo is the perfect solution because everything I bookmark is in one place and I can search using tags, annotations, or titles.

I also love the sticky notes feature in Diigo. I often have thoughts I want to jot down when reading content online, but if I type or write it down, I usually forget what I was reading when I return to the note. Diigo is a great way to connect notes directly to websites or online content. 

Overall, I am really excited about Diigo and I am looking forward to using it to support my own research, as well as my work with my own students.

Theory Presentations

I had a great time collaborating with my peers to create our theory presentation. Google Slides was the perfect medium for the presentation because we were able to see each other's progress and never had to worry about updated versions. I am glad I had the opportunity to research cognitive apprenticeship theory because it is a concept often discussed during PDs at my school. Cognitive apprenticeship is a theory of the process where an apprentice learns a skill from a master. It uses elements of the old idea of apprenticeship incorporated with schooling.  

 

I can apply what I learned from my research directly to my own teaching practice. I particularly like learning about how cognitive apprenticeship occurs through gaming. I know Minecraft and other games are used in schools, but it was useful to learn specifically how gaming is beneficial for students.

 

I also really appreciated the thoughtful and thorough work Selena and JennyErika produced. Both of my team members did an excellent job and I learned a lot from their research and parts of our presentation. Overall, I am proud of our team and think we did a great job working together to present our theories.

I was also very impressed with the other team's presentation. I think Maryann and Betinna did a great job of explaining their theories. I loved all the video clips they included to help support their ideas. I also thought they led a very productive discussion. I supposed the bottom line of the blog post is that Cohort 5 is the best and we all kicked butt.

Presenting With Google Slides

I was excited that our class had the opportunity to present online. I think it is a valuable skill to have and while we have done MANY PowerPoint/Google Slides presentations, we have never done online presentations. I did experience some technical difficulties before I began presenting, but it turned out to be because of the browser. I am appreciative of the experience, and was even glad to run into a glitch because I know how to prepare in the future if I ever need to present online.

I also really enjoyed preparing my presentation. I care a lot about the subject and I found a lot of interesting information about women in leadership. Even after learning about the percentages of women in leadership positions and the factors contributing to the issue, I still find it so hard to believe that there is such a huge gap.

I also had fun putting together the presentation. As I mentioned earlier, we have done many PowerPoint presentations. I have always been impressed with how artistic some of my colleagues get when designing their presentations. This presentation was the first time I attempted to apply some (very basic) graphic design techniques. I was proud of the result and thought my presentation aesthetically pleasing (Although, in the future I will be sure to put the assignment guidelines above artistry because not having a picture on every slide affected my grade).

Week 3

Claire Cain Miller's article "The 27/7 Work Culture's Toll on Families and Gender Equality" sheds a new light on the issue of gender equality in the workplace. Women facing the glass ceiling in their careers is often discussed and examined, however Miller describes a new study suggesting that gender inequality is the result of the modern work culture of working 24/7 (answering phone calls and emails at home late at night or over the weekend). When women cut back on "work hours" to commit more time to their families, they limit their chances of advancing their careers. Miller explains that family friendly policies, which have been suggested to improve gender equality in the workplace, are not the solution. The culture of overworking needs to shift in order to achieve gender equality. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/upshot/the-24-7-work-cultures-toll-on-families-and-gender-equality.html?_r=0

Facebook pages that support gender equality:

https://www.facebook.com/gswspitt

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Latina-Feminista/227686683918798

https://www.facebook.com/everydayfeminism

https://www.facebook.com/FeministMajorityFoundation

https://www.facebook.com/TheFeministWire

Week 2

I searched gender equality on Twitter and several hashtags came up regarding the issue. #genderequality was the most common hashtag. The hashtag was generally used in tweets supporting women’s rights. It was also used in tweets that had links to articles and inspirational stories to empower women. The hashtag is used by a wide range of twitter accounts, from non-profits, to magazines, to individuals.  

Another hashtag that is frequently used and supports gender equality is #girlsed. This hashtag is relevant to my field because focuses specifically on education and girls. Tweets using this hashtag provide data and statistics about girls’ education, as well as strategies for reaching gender equality through education. Some examples include high school and college graduation rates and girls in STEM. 

A hashtag that also supports gender equality by pointing out current inequalities is #notthereyet. The hashtag is used in a variety of tweets, but one current is focused on gender equality (or inequality). These tweets focus on gender biases, the glass ceiling, and women’s rights. Even though society has been taking big steps forward toward gender equality, #notthereyet highlights the fact that we still have a long way to go.  

Similar to #notthereyet, #noceilings is used different ways, but regarding supporting gender equality, tweets include articles about women in leadership, breaking the glass ceiling, and data about girls’ educational paths. This hashtag highlights women who have broken the glass ceiling, unlike #notthereyet which highlights unfair limitations. Tweets using #noceilings can be very motivational and encourage women and girls to pursue their dreams.  

#feminismisawful is not as horrible as it sounds because it is usually used sarcastically. Most tweets using this hashtag point out how important the feminist movement is, ending it with the sarcastic hashtag. Tweets include anything from stories about women in leadership and STEM to articles about gender inequality. However, there are a few tweets unsupportive of gender equality using the hashtag by angry people who likely do not fully understand feminism.

Overall, I was very happy to read all the tweets in full support of gender equality. I can learn a lot about gender equality just by searching any of the previously mentioned hashtags on twitter and browsing through the numerous articles and videos shared.

Week 1

I teach 11th grade English and Drama at Animo College Prep Academy in Watts. My first year teaching has been a humbling experience--it is more challenging than I would have ever expected. Despite the long hours and often stressful environment, I love my job, my colleagues, and my students. I am grateful that I was given the opportunity to introduce theater to the students at ACPA. I have 66 drama students all taking their first ever drama class. In just a few weeks, it has already proven to be a rewarding experience for all involved.

Other facts about me: I live with my husband and 4 pets (2 dogs, 2 cats) in Downey. I love to garden and enjoy cooking all the tasty things that I grow.

After high school, I was a hairstylist for 2 years. I was not fulfilled with my career, so I went to West LA CC, then transferred to UCLA and earned my BA. Next I earned my MA and teaching credential at CSULA. I am now enjoying my experience as an EdD student at CSULA.

I have grown a lot in the short amount of time I have been in the EdD program and have found that my readings and discussions with my cohort have deeply influenced my philosophies on education, as well as the person I am and the person I someday hope to be.