Sexism and the Dixie Chicks

I recently watched this video that was created by another education student in my foundations class. In this video she examines the sexism that the Dixie Chicks encountered after making a comment about their disapproval of the president. It is interesting to consider whether or not these women would have had to deal with such an extreme backlash if they had been male. As a society, do we still expect silence from women? Is a man allowed to freely express his opinion while a woman is marginalized for expressing hers? The Dixie Chicks were banned from many stations and had to deal with death threats. Would this have happened to a male?

The creator of this video said that she had received several comments about her video. While many people appreciated it, others were angered by what she presented. Some people expressed that they thought she was making an issue out of nothing. After watching the video, I believe that part of what happened to the Dixie Chicks was the result of sexism. I don't feel that a man would be punished in the same way, for an opinionated woman is still seen as less acceptable than an opinionated man.

Please watch this video and let me know what you think about the issue.

Benefits of Blogs

Over the course of this semester I have come to understand some of the benefits of blogging. They can be used for such a wide variety of purposes. Educational blogs offer great tips for teaching. Blogs about current events can certainly expose us to a wide variety of opinions and help us see other sides of different issues. Blogs are also a great way to keep people informed. Rather than making a lot of phone calls, a person can simply post once and get the same message out to all their friends. For example, a woman I know is keeping a blog to update people on her fight with cancer. She doesn't have the energy to communicate with everyone individually, but by posting a blog all her friends can find out how she is doing. Clearly, there are many benefits of blogs. I recently came across a website that listed more some of them. If you would like to read it, click on the link below.

Real benefits of blogs

Good website for kids

I decided to include a link to this website called FunBrain that I used a few times during my internship. It is a great site for early elementary students. It involves math and reading games that are very interactive and engaging for the students. There are also funny books and stories for the kids to practice reading. My grade ones had computer class and sometimes in the last five minutes my cooperating teacher would give the students free time. They often chose this website so I know that it is very popular with young kids.

I also like this site because there is not a lot of advertising on it. I found that my students were often clicking on ads by accident because they could not read the ads to know that they weren't games. This would take the students to sites that they didn't want to be on. Usually they were sites asking for money. This website did not seem to lead to this problem.

If you would like to check out this website, go to the link:
http://www.funbrain.com/kidscenter.html

Podcast tech task

In order to learn more about podcasting in the classroom I took a look at Radio WillowWeb. There was a podcast created by first graders entitled "Awesome and Amazing Ants." The first graders shared interesting facts about ants and told ant jokes. I did my internship in a grade one class so I found this podcast to be very interesting. My students also learned about ants but I never considered that a podcast could be used to support this topic in a classroom made up of such young students. This showed me that podcasts are a great way for students to share their learning. Grade one students who cannot write much yet could certainly demonstrate their knowledge through podcasting. I now feel that this a medium that could be used with young children and I believe many students would find the process very engaging.

To listen to this podcast click on the link below.
Awesome and Amazing Ants

Hot Potatoes

We learned about a new tool in ECMP today. It was called Hot Potatoes. It seems like a very useful tool that allows you to make crosswords, quizzes, match games and more. I have created a fairytale match game. It can be viewed at:
http://education.uregina.ca/web/stephens/fairytales.htm

Stephen Lewis

Stephen Lewis will be speaking at the University on Thursday, March 15 at 7:00. I would encourage everyone who possibly can to attend. I listened to Mr. Lewis in my first year and what he has to say will really open your eyes. Not only is he a wonderful speaker, but he is a true humanitarian. The Stephen Lewis foundation is involved in "easing the pain of HIV/AIDS in Africa." They are currently helping women with HIV/AIDS by providing food, bedding, medicine and more. They are also helping orphans by by helping them pay for school, get nutritious food, etc. The foundation also assists grandmothers who in many cases raise up to 15 children in one household. The crisis of HIV/AIDS in Africa is something we need to address. If you are interested in learning more visit this website: http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/index.cfm
or listen to Mr. Lewis speak in the Ed Auditorium on Thursday.

David Suzuki

David Suzuki was recently at the University as part of his "If You Were Prime Minister Tour." He has a suggestion to help make sure that the environment is an issue of priority in the next election. There is place on his website for everyone to send an email to all the party leaders asking them to take action. I would encourage everyone to do this. We need to start doing more than just talking about the environment. We need to take action.

To write a letter, visit this link:
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/tour/vote.asp