Creating Meaning for Women in America

Student Assignment Sheet

Creating Meaning for Women in America: Teen Girl Squad

For this assignment, you will view an episode of the web series “Teen Girl Squad”. After viewing, you will evaluate the cartoon as a text for understanding women in America today. You will also use the cartoon to compare conceptions of womanhood today with the understanding of womanhood as portrayed in a literary work from a different era that we have read this semester. Be creative and think outside the box!

1. After viewing ‘Teen Girl Squad’ episode 4, take 5-10 minutes to reflect upon it in your journal. What is your general impression of the video? Was it funny? Offensive? Stupid? Do you think it portrays teenage girls in a positive or negative light?

 

1. After journaling, meet with your group members (for the purpose of this assignment we will use the groups we established on the first day of class). As a group, you should discuss your thoughts on the video, specifically, its depiction of teenage girls. Someone in your group should take notes on your discussion; you will turn these in for a daily grade. Some questions you may want to consider—
   1. What stereotypes does the video perpetuate?
   2. What are the implicit and explicit messages of this video?
   3. In what ways is this video a product of a cultural era? (Think about language, dress, etc.)
   4. How do the girls portrayed in the video compare to women in literature we have read? Can you draw any comparisons?
   5. Be prepared to participate in a class discussion about the video after each group has presented.
   6. On your own—you will compose a short response paper (2-4 pages) in which you choose one character from the video and compare her to a character from a literary work we have read this semester. How are the characters similar? How are they different? Most importantly, How does each character represent the notion of womanhood in their respective cultural era?
      1. You may cite from any text we have read as well as the video. No secondary sources are required for this assignment. All citations should be in MLA format.
      2. Your paper should be in MLA format (12” TNR, double-spaced, 1” margins)
      3. Your paper is due Friday. After today’s class, you will not be given any classtime for this assignment. 
      4. This assignment is worth 30 points (a quiz grade).
      5. You are expected to bring a copy to class on Friday to turn-in to me. In addition, you need to upload your paper to the class wiki on the Teen Girl Squad page. Read at least three of your classmate’s papers and respond on the discussion board. (This part of the assignment will be done in-class on Friday. It is a participation grade.) 

 

Rationale

1. This assignment is intended for an 11^th grade American Literature class. The students can compare the character to any female character we have studied during the course including, the women in The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, The Great Gatsby, and Of Mice and Men.
2. This video was chosen because it depicts four teenage girls that the students can very easily relate to because they are from their own cultural era. It is expected that after focusing on and deconstructing the notions of womanhood and femininity in these relatable characters that the students can then relate this insight to women of an era they are not familiar with. The can then begin the work of deconstructing womanhood as portrayed in these texts. Students will not only gain insight into their own culture and the way we portray women, but will also begin to ask these questions of literary works. It is important that students look beyond story and begin to process literary works on a more abstract level, which is the intention of this assignment.  Students will not only evaluate the message of the video and of literary works through this assignment but will hopefully begin to apply their understanding and their ability to deconstruct messages to the society they live in, which often sets unrealistic goals for women to attain.
3. Some Questions to consider for group discussion:
   1. What are the explicit messages of this video?
   2. What are the implicit messages of the video?
   3. What stereotype of American teen is depicted by each character?
   4. Are these depictions positive or negative? How?
   5. How are Hester of The Scarlet Letter and “unpopular” alike?
   6. How are “the cheerleader” and Daisy of The Great Gatsby alike? How about Curly’s wife from Of Mice and Men?
   7. Compare and contrast Mattie from Ethan Frome with “So and So.”
   8. How is slang used to create the Teen Girl Squad characters? Contrast this with the language used in one of the novels we have read.
   9. What assumptions does Teen Girl Squad make about teenage girls? How is this similar/different from the women in the novels we have read?
   10. What are the teens in teen girl squad most concerned with? What motivates them? How is this similar to characters we have read about?
   11. According to your analysis, are teens today very similar or very different from the women/teens we have read about in literary texts?

 

1. A realistic challenge that would be faced in executing this lesson with a class is that the boys might not be that interested in the content.  However, they have to opportunity to dissect the language rather than depictions of womanhood. However, I think the classroom discussion revolving around how women are portrayed in both literature and pop culture will get students thinking. Not only does this activity get them started dissecting texts through a critical lens, it also forces them to consider how they view the world.

GeorgiaStandards.org

Georgiastandards.org is a very useful site for teachers. Well, it’s more than useful, it’s a necessity.

All the information needed for lesson planning concerning Georgia Standards can be found on this site.

However….I found the site to be less than user-friendly.

Click here for this…it takes you to another page. Click here for that…another page. To get back to the page you were on, you have to press the back button a million times. It would be better if new pages popped up in a new window.

But, it is what it is….

The site also contains resources for SAT and AP prep, resources videos, etc.

Media Literacy

Medialit.org gives some great ideas on how to teach media literacy to kids. I think it is excellent, and quite imperative, that educators teach kids how to deconstruct at least some of the advertisements that are thrown at them every day.  (Did I get that right, Dr. Crovitz? haha!)

I think, however, that this would be extremely hard to do, especially in middle school classrooms. Now, I’m not saying that it SHOULDN’T be taught, just that it is a hard undertaking as middle school students are just beginning to develop analytical skills.

Jainism on the Web

What is Jainism?

Does the overload of information on Wikipedia hurt your eyes too? Try this.

Both sites, wikipedia.org and britannica.com offer great information on the subject (Jainism…if you haven’t figured that out yet.) They are much more up-to-date than, say, the 1999 Encyclopedia Americana, which states that this religion has only 2 million followers. Wikipedia, probably the most up-to-date information since the site is being constantly updated by knowlegable users, estimates that the religion has closer to 4 million followers.

Wikipedia is had to follow. The amount of information really is overwhelming. Britannica does a lot of what Wikipedia does, but it does it in a more organized fashion. It even allows users to suggest edits, and also links to other information of interest. I found the site to be more user-friendly, but that’s just me.

High School Stereotypes

Teen Girl Squad is silly and a total time-waster when I should be working on other things… but it does make you think.

Are stereotypes useful, harmful, or just part of life? As an educator, how can we teach students to look past high school superficiality and treat others with respect?

Teaching Kids the Value of Collaboration

In using wikis, students are not only learning how to publish content; they are also learning how to develop and use all sorts of collaborative skills, negotiating with others to agree on correctness, meaning, relevance and more. In essence, students begin to teach each other.

I think the wikis could be an excellent tool for the classroom, especially if one uses a site like wetpaint that allows the administrator to monitor the users.

I think wikis would be great for group projects. First, it gets everything in one place. Second, it holds all the group members responsible! All the content they add and everything they do with the project would be trackable.

Wikis have the potential to be a great tool in teaching students how to work together and respect one another’s ideas. I love it.

I really like the idea of using wikis to create class projects of books and short stories. Biographies on the author, background information on the setting, etc. could all be in one place. Wikis also could be used as a review space for students. They could all post the information the believe is relevant to the test, from notes, readings etc. The teacher could then edit the content, and help fill in holes in the student’s understanding.

Check out this video on student collaborative work right here in Georgia!

Any other ideas for wiki uses?

Entering the Twilight Zone…

I am not going to lie.

Twilight has me totally hooked. I picked up a copy of the book one day off the desk of a student I was subbing for. Within a week I had read the whole series. Then, I rented the film.

I watched the movie 5 times. Not because it was really that great, but because Robert Pattinson is SO cute.

The next film in the saga, New Moon, premeires November 20th. I’m pretty pumped about this…

Here’s a trailer for the film.

Why is any of this important?

Twilight has teen girls hooked. Just like I am. The books are great, easy reads. However, Stephenie Myer references classic literature in each book. In my opinion, anything that gets kids interested in reading–from Harry Potter to Lord of the Rings, to Twilight–is good stuff in my book!

BWP Ch 2-3

I think it’s a great idea to make our classrooms technology inclusive. But there are, of course, speed humps.

For the past year, I’ve worked as a substitute teacher. Most classrooms have a minimum of five computers, plus a cabinet full of laptops that can be used in class.

The laptops are in various states of disrepair. Missing keys, broken locks, etc.

In addition to the problem of upkeep of computers for an entire classroom and the associated cost, there is the question of content. Richardson gives the example of a student stumbling upon inappropriate content and quickly pressing the “back” button. That’s lovely.

In my experience, the students aren’t always so mature. Hoots and giggles rise and my classroom management skills are put to the test.

When bringing technology into the classroom, can we be sure we are keeping kids “safe”? No, I am not naiive and I am not a prude. The students see this content in the world all the time, but is it okay for them to be exposed to it in a learning setting?

I love the idea of turning in homework through a blog. It’s time-dated! And they can’t loose it!

One lingering question I have–

In bringing technology into the classroom, are we making ourselves available to our students 24/7? I know that in my personal life, if someone doesn’t return an e-mail in a reasonable amount of time (20 minutes!) that I get very frusterated. Will the internet in the classroom bring this element to the classroom? Obviously, even if your students can reach you 24/7, doesn’t mean you have to respond….but when do you “unplug”?

Blog, Blog, Blog…

Look at me, I’m a blogger!

So, I really liked Bud the Teacher’s blog. In the spirit of his posts, I’m posting a picture and a question.

Responses? Comments? Answer my question with a question?

Is the glass half-empty or half -full?