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I’m Going To Miss This Amazing Class!

First off, I would like to say….

During this class this semester, I was able to connect with the world through the media and was able to learn a lot throughout this semester.

So….

I was able to grow from this class because it taught me so much. I was mainly able to grow my WordPress skills throughout this course. When I came into this class, I had no knowledge of knowing how to create a website until now. How shocking! This class overall made me be as creative as I can when it comes to creating blogs. It also made me really deeply reflect about certain articles that was discussed during class, in which we read. It made me truthfully think outside the box when it came to certain assignments we had do while being in class. I would say that this class has made grow as a person because It had pushed me to do my best for all of my assignments in this class and as well as for the assignments in my other classes. I grew because this class has even pushed me to not be laid back and become more of a vocal person when it came to certain topics. Usually I would be the type of person to stay quiet in the back of the class but after taking this class, I will now be more vocal and will sit in front of the class.

What Did I like about the class the most?

I liked how Dr. Patton brought so much excitement into the class. Being able to walk into a class everyday full of excitement truly made me excited. At times when I would come into class down or tired, it would build me up and would put a smile on my face instantly. Can you imagine coming into a class each Monday, while great music is playing and the teacher is full of excitement? Dr. Patton also set the bar high that not most teachers would not do which is by offering… MONEY! Who wouldn’t want money by answering simple questions? This instantly got the class more involved throughout the semester. I would even say that one of the things I like about this class was the presentations and PowerPoints that gave us great insightful information on how important the media is in today’s world. Not only that but another thing that was really amazing to me about this class was having the class debates. By having everyone participate, It became a heated battle and an intriguing battle as well. I have never heard an amazing teacher say the winner get’s a pizza party and the loser has to write a thousand word essay. How amazing is this! Nobody wanted to write the essay so everybody participated in this debate.

Any Dislikes?

No! Not one dislike about this class at all. The only thing that I wish could have happened differently was that we could have finished the semester for this class off on campus. Even though being on zoom, I was able to feel Dr. Pattons energy through the screen as if we were in class. But to be honest, it is still not the same versus being in her amazing class and being rewarded for answering great questions. I would definitely say that there is no way you can dislike this class for any reason! I wish that this could have been ended differently on campus but I know that it was best for our safety to be off campus at this time. Again, everything is excellent with this class and I wouldn’t change anything with the amount of energy Dr. Patton brings.

Key Takeaways From This Class?

This class has overall taught me:

  1. That the media is the biggest thing in the world right now, so use it to your advantage while you can.
  2. Always be creative and think outside the box when it comes to creating blogs, websites or anything school wise you do.
  3. Face your fears by going out and challenging them. You should not be scared!
  4. Think about how you would want to get your message across while using the media.
  5. The media such as social media, the news and tv all have a generational effect on the younger people today.
  6. Your phone can play a huge role in changing your social and behavioral patterns in today’s society.

Conclusion..

I will definitely miss Dr. Patton’s class and will like to thank you for teaching me!

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So Are We The “Dumbest Generation?”

Now First, Do I agree with the author?

It seems like every time I’m on social media and watch certain videos. I think…..

So I get why this article is called “The Dumbest Generation” and here is why…

During different interviews and videos, the people who are getting interviewed by someone may get asked a simple question like where is Louisiana located on the map or who can spot Ohio on the map? And only a small amount of people may only know.

Well according to a 2006 Geographic Literacy Study, there was only 510 Young Americans who’s age ranged from 18 to 24 that was interviewed and only two/ thirds of those Young Americans could spot Louisiana. As well as only 43% of people could spot Ohio on the map as well. Another study shows, that most young adults between the ages 18 to 24 has “insufficient importance basic geographic skills that might enhance their knowledge”. This is truly not surprising to me because every time I watch something, I expect my younger generation to not know it which is sad. It seems like we didn’t seem to have learn every proper that every other generation has growing up which is ridiculous!

But…

I think after reading this article, I believe that it is the schools fault as well. Now…..

It is the schools fault because they haven’t taught all of this generation of what we need to know. Schools should teach every student what they need to know so when they get in the real world, they are prepared. Knowing things that are important can overall help this generation in the future when it comes down to possibly, saving the world one day. Easy things should be learned like where each state is at on the map or who was the presidents of the United States before. I can truly relate to the teachers not teaching the obvious things. Like me! I didn’t know about that different states had different time zones until I was 14 and had learned them on my own. Waitttt…..

14!

There was two recent reports that assessed the state of American education- Still at Risk: What Students Don’t Know, Even Know, by Common Core(who is an education group that is concerned with Liberal Rights), and Tough Choices or Times by the New Commission Council On The Skill and Economy( A Advocacy group that focuses on education and workforce development). Common Core had focused on academics so they surveyed and asked high school seniors basic questions about history and literature. There results where shocking because they received a lot of wrong answers and only 43 percent of people knew about the civil war between 1850 and 1900) Only 43%? Wow! Very shocking! And Still At Risk concluded that “When it comes to familiarity with major historical events and significant literary accomplishments, America’s 17-year-olds fare rather poorly…. When it comes to familiarity with the base of knowledge that enables us to engage in conversations about policy and values and so much else, our 17-year-olds are only barely literate.” These shows, that all schools have to put more time and effort in teaching the minds of this generation about the history of things! On the other hand, Tough Choices or Times by the New Commission Council On The Skill and Economy worried about how much young individuals was ready to assume responsibilities in the workforce, needed for a globalized economy. Stern concluded that: “If we continue on our current course, and the number of nations outpacing us in the education race continues to grow at its current rate, the American standard of living will steadily fall relative to those nations, rich and poor, that are doing a better job.” Schools much do better teaching this generation of kids about the world and preparing them for the world.

So Do I agree with the author?……

And Why Is That?

I agree with the author because in order for our younger generation to get better, it comes with teaching lots of things at schools too. I repeat and repeat, again and again, we have to do better in teaching this generation(My generation) the most common things so we can have knowledge on common things in this world. I’m not going to lie, we will continue to look like a “dumb generation” if we don’t get knowledge on certain things. Teachers can teach certain things such as time zones, world maps, society issues, political issues and history dating back to the 1800’s. Teach more to help this “Dumb Generation” today now!

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Do you Really Know About The Internet?

First off, I want to say what a great presentation Dr Patton gave to the class online!




So…. What did I learn?

What is exactly the internet? The internet is a wide network that allows computer networks around the world, that are ran by companies, governments, universities and other organizations to talk to one another. It takes a lot of wiring up where hundreds of miles of cables cross one another in other countries. Also, is it laid among sea floors that connect to islands and continents. What I found interesting about the internet is the fact it has the ability to spread information very fast.

What’s shocking? The fact that Google handles more than 40,000 searches per second, and has 60% of global browser market through Chrome. The top 5 million websites automatically attracts more than half of the world’s web traffic.

Statistics have shown that from 2000, the percentage of adults that use the internet was at 52% and by 2019, it increased to 90% of adults, who use the internet today. Who knows if the percentage is even more now since it has reached 2020. Maybe 95% of adults worldwide, are using the internet today and maybe by 2030, a 100% of adults will all be using the network. The expansion of the internet has grown very fast over a period of time. Almost half of adults have started using online early and now almost the world uses it now. Credit goes to the Pew Research Center who began tracking Americans early in the 2000’s.

Other statistics shows the percentage of adults who uses the internet by race & ethnicity. In the early 2000’s, 53% of Caucasian adults used the internet while 38% of African American adults have used the internet as well. These percentages began to increase over time as by 2009, 79% of Caucasians had increased while there were 69% of African American Adults who used the internet. It wasn’t until 2010, that Latino adults registered at 71% of people who used the internet behind 68% of African Americans and 78% of Caucasians. Now, statistics show that the percentages has skyrocketed till 2019, registering at 92% of Whites, 85% of Blacks and 86% of Latinos. These statistics show how much the internet has an impact on adults in today’s generation.

But did you know that…. Household income and education are also indicators of a person’s likelihood to be offline? Or that roughly every 3 in 10 adults with less than a high school education do not use internet? Or that the offline population has been shrinking steadily and the vast majority of American are now online?

What are the statistics about people who are not online in 2019?

Only 10% of US adults say they don’t use the internet today. For men, their are 10% of men vs 9% of women who don’t use the internet. Also, Blacks leads with the percentage of 15% while Hispanics are at 14% and white are at 8%. All I can think is…

Now 65+ adults is at 27% with less than 30,000 income and they do not have a high school diploma. Plus they live in rural areas as well . I found that this is very interesting! Statistics are here…

After WW2, there was German Rocket scientists who moved to America and the Soviet Union to continue missiles and rockets, which began the “Space Race”. The Space Race took place in 1957 when the Soviet Union beat America into space with Sputnik. What was Sputnik? Sputnik was the world’s first satellite which was very popular. This caused America’s invention of the SAGE network useless as it worked by protecting the boarders radars. Since Russia had made it into Space, America became scared of being attacked from above.

From the 1960s-1980s

The first Internet was created in 1969 and was called ARPA(Advanced Research Projects Agency). Also in the 1972, the invention of Email and in 1982 the word ‘Internet’ was first used. The Bigger Computers started to get smaller and were put into households. But most importantly it was gaming technology that had put computer into households.

Headed Towards a World Wide Web…

Microsoft instantly came into the industry with the creation of the Macintosh Computer. Not only that but in 1989, Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web that provided Internet access to people. Things like hypertexts and linking a site to another through hyperlinks was very important. Things such as a mouse, was invented to click on hyperlinks and URLs, which allows sites to be named…..

I would say what an awesome presentation giving by Dr. Patton! This truly has left me so amazed learning about these problems. The internet is so important and learning about this is amazing. Once Again…

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Hey! Have you watched Black Mirror ‘Nosedive’ Yet?

If not……………………………………

How would you feel if people in the world today was able to rate you based on their interactions they had with you from one to five stars? Let’s stay you accidentally bump somebody and they immediately give you a one star for a mistake? On top of that, the more one stars you get, the more your score goes down. This truly impacts your socioeconomic status and prevents your ability to get things you need. This can even have a negative impact in your life and can damage your ability to have freedom. You can find more out about this in an episode of Black Mirror titled ‘Nosedive’. It was written and directed by Charlie Brooker and Michael Schur and is starred by Rashida Jones.

Here is A Video….

In this episode, Lacie (Bryce Dallas Howard) shows her obsession that she has with the technology ratings. In the world she’s in, ratings are the most important thing to her and the community. The more five stars you get, the more your rating goes up and you are able to do things you want to do. Lacie starts off at an average rating of an 4.2/4.3. She currently lives in a house with her brother and doesn’t like it at all. Overtime, she decides to go visit her dream home and wants to move in instantly but can’t afford the rent. The realtor informs her that there is a program that can be worked out and it takes off 20 percent of her rent weekly but she must at least be a 4.5 or higher. After this, she talks to her boss at her job about her 4.2 rating and how she can increase her rating. The only way she can increase her rating is by getting people who has a 4.8 or higher, the opportunity to give her as many 5 stars as they can. Meanwhile, Lacie’s old middle school friend contacts her about being the maid of honor at her upcoming wedding. Even though Lacie has had many problems with her friend in past, she still decides to commit to her friends wedding because all of the crowd attending will have a rating of a 4.8 and higher so they have the ability to get Lacie to a 4.5. This will really give Lacie the ability to be able to get her dream house with the 20% off program but all she has to do is give a speech at the wedding. But everything takes a turn on the day that she is about to leave. She gets into it an argument with her brother because he feels that she is only going to the wedding to boost her ratings so he gives her a one star. As she leaves, she bumps into a lady who then gives her a one star, the Uber driver gives her a one star, and the security guard at the airport makes her rating lower to a 3.1 for being angry because her flight was cancelled. It all becomes a total catastrophe trying to make it to her friend’s wedding and delivering the speech. Lacie feels disliked and is saddened by the events that is happening to her.

While watching this episode, I found that there was two positive things that I like about the most about this episode. The main things that really stuck out to me the most was the ability to have a creative color scheme and futuristic technology. The episode provided a very elegant and polished color scheme that took the episode to another level. Not only did it do that but by adding futuristic technology, it made this episode become very intriguing and inspirational. This episode made you feel like you were in Lacie’s shoes because it provided some of her first person experiences. The color scheme also looked very brilliant and left me thinking about how the color scheme connected to her life. Since the color scheme was dull it described how Lacie’s life was. The future of technology is clearly shown in this amazing episode and sparks so many people interests.

I really enjoyed most of this episode except for one thing that I found was missing throughout this episode. I found that this episode was missing one of the most important things which is… MUSIC! Throughout this episode, I found that at some points, music should have have been added to different scenes. For example, when Lacie was told that the only way she could apply for the program of her dream house, she would need at least an 4.8 rate, there should have instantly been some music in the background. Maybe there could have been some sad music to represent the disbelief that Lacie is dealing with. This would’ve made this scene a little more enjoyable and less dull because it would have been more impactful and connecting. Another example would be when Lacie was rushing to the airport, there should have been some music in the fast music in the background. By having music added, this would have definitely made some scenes less dull and more intriguing and thought provoking.

All of the characters in this episode had different characteristics and played their roles very well. Lacie( Bryce Dallas Howard) I would described as a very sad, big dreamer who will to pretend to like someone just to get what she wants. Now, I would describe Lacie’s brother Ryan (who is played by James Norton) as a very boring person but is very honest. Lastly, I would described Lacie’s middle school friend Naomi (Played by Alice Eve) as a very sneaky individual who only cares about ratings and nothing else. So the only character I really liked was Lacie’s brother Ryan because he was honest to Lacie the whole episode. But overall, the characters all did a really good job because I was intrigued from the beginning to the end. I really just enjoyed how each character acting made the episode so intense from the beginning to the end, which made me not want the episode to ever end! I truly just feel like once you all watch this, you will connect to some characters and others won’t. If you have friends that have been in similar situations before, you will be able relate to them all. You may know someone like Ryan, Lacie or Alice. Who knows, It may even be you!

In conclusion, I would definitely rate this episode a 10 out of 10. I would truly recommend for anyone to go watch this episode because it has you, think so differently about the future of technology. Technology has the power of changing so many people lives and even has the ability to change yours too. After watching this episode, you will know whatever friend or family member you have, that exactly is similar to each character. You will want to watch all the other episodes from Black Mirror. I will say it again, what an amazing story! If you haven’t watched it…

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When Do We Use Our Phones?

When Do We Use Our Phones? We use our phones so much in society, it is crazy! Throughout this project, I learned that so many people will literally use their phones for anything. It was even crazy finding out how people use their phones sometimes, even if they are crossing the street. I never realized till after doing this experiment, how much phones impact people lives everyday. Luckily, while taking these pictures of random people, most people did not realize that I took a picture of them. Except person who almost caught me(which I am glad he didn’t). Here is a Animoto video I made on how people use their phones. I hope you all like it!

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“Street Calculus”

Now when it comes to seeing “Street Calculus” I immediately thought this was..

We continue to make calculations about each others race in today’s society. Now look at this picture, isn’t it true?

When I look at this cartoon, the first impression that came to my mind was that this was telling the truth about what society believes in today. Looking at this cartoon, I clearly see an old white man carrying groceries walking through the neighborhood while a black male is walking through the neighborhood as well. They greet each other by saying good evening but the most important things are the bubbles on top of their heads. The risk factors shows that if you are a black male with a baseball cap on backwards, you have a high risk factor in the community. But, if you are a black male, with loafers, have a whistling Sondheim, a fed ex envelope and a polo shirt, you are less of a risk factor in a community. Now, for a white male, the one risk factor they have is for being in the wrong neighborhood. But, you are a white male who is humming Motown who brings in groceries and is over 40, you are less of a risk factor in a community. But some things weren’t check off on the list…

What the author is trying to say is that the white people have a perception about black people who are high risk factors in the community. Those risk factors are that they have an aggressive body language, have short hair, wears baggy jackets and that they are in the wrong neighborhood which is not what the young black male has in this cartoon. Now for the mitigating factors in this story, which is the least things to worry about, are that they are a female, over the age of 40 and has a tie and coat on. The young male is of course not a female, over the 40 or even has on a tie or coat on. With the opposite, the old white man risk factors in the street is very different. The young black male would assume that the older white male would either have to have long hair, be a police officer or to have on a baseball cap to raise his suspicion in the neighborhood which the older white male didn’t have on or was. Also the mitigating factors, which are the less risky factors that the younger black male would’ve assumed was that it was a female(of course it wasn’t), he had a briefcase (which he didn’t) or had on a tie or coat. Both characters had different perceptions of each other that turned out different than what they expected.

The author is trying to say that, every needs to..

The author is basically telling us we need to stop assuming what one race looks like. Racism will only continue to grow if we keep judging each other’s appearance in this world. We have to accept each other for who we are and stop thinking people are high risk factors because they are “dressed a certain type of way”. We also have to realize that not all people in a certain race is bad. This has to change quickly so society can stop being so racist! We have to work together if we want society to become a better place.

Question: How does identity affect how we respond to news events?

My answer is…..

World Premiere Of My Project “The History Of Black Music”

When deciding what topic I would like to talk about in my final project, I instantly thought about….

So… how did I come up with this topic?

I came up with this topic because I have love for music and I recently noticed that the music I listen to is very similar to all the genres of music that blacks have created. I noticed that some rappers that I listen to like Drake or Da Baby, all sample old school songs like an a R&B song or even a jazz song. It has made me look back in history and see how each genre of music such as blues, jazz, rap and R&B all came together. I never realized the connection!

So how they all are connected? It all began with slaves, which gave ideas for each generation to form their own style of music. It went from slavery music to blues and jazz, then eventually from R&B to Hip Hop. Did you all know that?

As I continued to gather information throughout this project, I was so shocked learning about the how music genres overall changed over the course of the years. I was able to see how each music genre was inspired by the previous genre and how each genre samples so much from the previous genre. Learning about the history of black music has made me more intrigued on the possibility of learning the best songs from each genre of music. I will soon know all of the best blues songs and even the best jazz songs eventually. The younger generation has to have an open ear in listening to other genres besides rap.

While making this project, I would definitely say that I loved researching this project and would love to tell others about this topic in the future. It gave me the chance to really learn about the real meaning behind jazz, the blues, R&B and even slave songs. I knew that even though music has changed over these past years, it will always stay connected with one another. The music industry has always been interesting to me and finally learning this, has overall changed my life.

Now, go and get your popcorn!

Because its the premiere of my project!….

The History Of Black Music!

https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=10XyQO3qd2R8huDvo0hEIOiHxDXxXzSebzP1pI0rYOsg&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650

“Digital Natives,Digital Immigrants”

As I was reading this article all I can think is…

The article immediately states that “Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.”Just like this in Bold print which caught my attention. The main “singularity” event is the arrival of technology and its rapid growth in the last decades of the 20th century. It was shocking to see that today’s average college have spent less than 5,000 hours of their reading but over 10,000 hours playing video games while people watch 20,000 hours of tv . How…

I can definitely say that with the way technology has taken over the past decades, students will think differently and process more information quicker than previous generations. I feel that the more you are on your phone, you quickly learn new things quicker than others. Dr. Bruce Perry of Baylor College of Medicine recently stated that “Different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures and it is very likely that our students’ brains have physically changed – and are different from ours – as a result of how they grew up.” I feel that people tend to learn quicker based on their experiences from so many others. So Dr. Bruce Perry, you are….

So what is the name of the new students of today’s society besides Next Generation or Digital Generation? I just learned that they call us Digital Natives. Why Digital Natives? According to Marc Prensky, “Digital Natives are “native speakers of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet. Sounds interesting…

Digital Immigrants as you would expect is the people who were not born in technology. Now how do I feel about this name? Me, I personally just like the next generation or digital generation better. The reason why I like this is better is because even though I am a Digital Native but I am still that excellent technology. You could be apart of this generation but not really be into technology like that. I just personally like “next generation” is a better name in my opinion.

But one of the most problems faced in education today is digital immigrant instructors, who are struggling to teach a population that is updated to technology. I guess the students are getting so confused because the teachers are not up to date. The teacher might have students read a book instead of reading an article online which will take the students all day. It would be better for the student to read something online because they may have a quicker understanding. If the students continue to go the Digital Immigrant route instead of going with their own technology route, they will continue to have a bad grade. The teachers should implement the Digital Natives moves into their plans because it will help the students increase their grades even more.

After reading this article I was like…

Not a bad article again! I was able to learn how lots of teachers are Digital Immigrants. Us students, need to help the teachers be more tech savvy so we learn quicker. Starting tomorrow!

Here is my vlog on it…

All Credit goes to….

Click to access Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

Thanks!

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