Single Story Digital Narrative Reflection

Link to my video: 

I loved this project. Doing a video project has actually become enjoyable for me because I feel confident in making a video now! My single story that I was exploring was people with physical disabilities. I never knew that I could learn so much about a subject that I thought I knew a good deal about just from reading books. The main thing that I took away from all of this was the idea of empathy. To me, empathy is being able to feel emotions for others. To be able to see someone hurt or embarrassed and feel that too because you see them go through it. Or seeing someone experience joy, and then feeling that joy with them. From the books that I have read, I have seen a pattern among those who have physical disabilities. This pattern is the wishing that others would just try and understand what they are going through. These characters just want people to put themselves in their shoes for a moment. I feel that in our society we don't take nearly enough time to try and empathize with people. We tend to either act ignorantly in situations we don't understand, or just ignore the situation all together. This made me ask why? Why do we see a person in a wheelchair and instantly feel bad for them? Maybe their life is full of joy and laughter, but instead of trying to see that we just look at the wheelchair they are bound to. Or we notice someone with a facial deformity and look away in fear. Why? We should look at these people and try and find what makes them unique, instead of posting out what makes them "weird". In doing this video I asked my fellow classmates to write down the first word that came to their heads when they heard the word empathy. Some of the words were, love, compassion, understanding, shoes (putting yourself in someone else's shoes), feeling, and connection. All of these were great words and I was very pleased with their responses. All of the words are feelings or actions that we should apply to our day to day life. Not just to people with physical disabilities, but to everyone. I chose to use my classmates because I truly feel as if I learn from them everyday. They are all amazing individuals and I could not have pictured putting anyone else in my video. I knew that they would all grasp what u was trying to get across in my video, seeing as they are all very empathetic individuals. Sometimes, the people who have physical disabilities could benefit from receiving a bit more empathy from others. Have grown so much throughout this process, and I felt my video truly reflected that. The song I chose even holds meaning. Its called, "Looking Too Closely" by Fink. I love this song because we all need to stop over analyzing each other and just look at each other. Not too closely, but enough to see that someone is smiling, or that someone is having a bad day. Not that the person who is smiling is blind, or the person who is having a bad day is wearing a brace. I chose to use a scene from the movie Wonder, which is also one of the books I read for this project. The precept that the teacher has the student named Summer reads says, "When given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind." We all need to start choosing to being kinder in our day to day lives, to everyone.

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

I had heard about this book from many students in my high school who chose to read this book one year for summer reading. Many raved about the book and said that it was really really good! I thought that the synopsis was enough detail to where I knew this book would fit in my single story. After reading through the first few chapters, my assumption was correct. Emily is a young girl who loves to run. She was on the way back from a track meet at which she had just set a record in, when their bus was hit by another vehicle which resulted in Emily losing one of her legs. When she wakes up she is confused as well as in shock. You see her struggle with the idea that she won't be able to run again as well as the physical pains of phantom pain. As the book goes on a little, she goes back to school and is faced with people who either ignore her or are far more concerned with her than they ever were before. I am really interested in seeing how Emily's attitude progresses throughout the book. I feel that I would be extremely bitter and depressed if I lost an entire limb.  The part that would bother me most would be the fact that there is absolutely nothing that I can do about it. In my last post I bought up this idea of empathy, and in trying to be empathetic I have been attempting to put myself in the shoes of the character in my book who is experiencing the disability. It is difficult, but it is also helping for me to see things in a different light.

Deenie, by Judy Blume Part 2

The second part of this book was very well written and I love how Judy Blume makes it seem as if I am reading through the mind of a teenage girl. However I enjoyed the first part to this book  more than thew second. In the second part it was  about repetitive and it ended very randomly. I believe that I did not enjoy the last parts of the book because it was cut short, but I have to remind myself that it was written for adolescents. The ending was not full of depth and meaning like I had hoped, but Judy Blume was writing for a much younger audience. Looking at this book in that context, I feel that there is a lot to be learned about my single story. This girl is in the most awkward stages of a girls life...puberty. Then on top of that she is told she has scoliosis and has to wear a giant brace for a few years. I really empathized with her, which gave me this idea. I thought long and hard about empathy vs sympathy and what that means. Sympathy in my opinion is derived from pity. People who have disabilities seldom want pity. I believe that one thing I have learned throughout reading my books for my single story is that empathy is so important. Having empathy for others, especially people who struggle with disabilities could make people be a lot more understanding and kind. I will admit that sometimes I don't put in the effort to empathize with people as much as I should but after reading these books I see differently.

Deenie by Judy Blume, Response 1

I have always loved Judy Blume. I read her books often when I was a pre-teen. This book is about a girl named Deenie. She is under constant pressure from her mother to become a model. Her mother thinks that she is extremely beautiful, which she is, but there is always something wrong with her posture. After going to several modeling agencies, Deenie is always told how beautiful she is but she just does not walk correctly. Her mother is constantly blaming her for not trying to stand up straighter, and Deenie swears up and down that she can not help it. After trying out for the cheer leading team and not making it, one of Deenie's teachers notices that she is walking weird and pulls her in her office to examine her. The teacher calls Deenie's parents and tells them that Deenie needs to see a doctor. After a few doctors visits, Deenie is diagnosed with scoliosis. Scoliosis is a spine deformity which either causes the spine to curve like a C or an S. It is usually noticed during the growth spurts of puberty. Deenie's mom is devastated and claims that the doctors are wrong. It seems as though her mom is not devastated because her daughter might have to get surgery and go through pain, but rather she is upset because Deenie won't be able to model. I think in looking at my single story this is a very interesting physical ailment. Scoliosis is only debilitating when not taken care of early. In Deenie's case, she is lucky because it was caught early and there are many things that can be done to fix it, yet her mother is still freaking out. This goes along with my single story because it is that constant idea that people who have "deformities" or disabilities are automatically seen as being unable to have a full quality of life. People are constantly jumping to that conclusion. Deenie's mother said when she found out her daughters diagnosis said, "So you're telling me my daughter is deformed?". I can't imagine being Deenie in this situation. She seems as if she just wants her parents to help her but they are more concerned on placing blame on someone. That is another thing I have discovered in my reading, most people always want someone to blame for their disability or their family members disability, but why?

Shifting Gears for a Moment: I Am Mad and I Am Sad

Hi to anyone who reads this. I want to start by saying that what I am about to say is my opinion. If you do not agree, that is fine. Today I read a statistic that saddened me to my core. We have lived through 311 days in 2018, and on 307 of those days there have been shootings. I read this over and over again until hot angry tears ran down my face. Im angry and I am sad. I can't wrap my brain around the fact that some people believe that their right to bear arms is more important than peoples lives. People argue that gun laws are already strict enough, yet California is said to have the strictest gun laws and there are twelve people who are dead in Thousand Oaks California from a mass shooting. The laws are NOT strict enough. My heart is so heavy today, and I guess me writing this is a way to try and deal with what I am feeling. I have so many other things to say, but I am having trouble articulating it. I want to end this post with the idea of privilege. People who believe that gun laws should not become stricter are privileged. I guarantee those peoples views would change if someone they care about was injured or murdered due to gun violence. I will leave you all with this photo. Read the sign, then read it again

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Reflection on My Tech Demo

I did my tech demo on the website Formative. I was really excited about this for a few reasons. One reason was because in searching for this website, I came across some really awesome teacher blogs that have so much information! It was really amazing to see all of these teachers wanting to help each other, and all of the information I was able to obtain. I was actually fairly nervous to present this tech demo to the class because a lot of people had really awesome and interactive websites, but I put my fears aside and did my best. I thought that the class responded very well to my demo, and I was really pleased that the class had so many questions for me. It was my hope that they would all find Formative useful, and it seemed that many of them did! I really liked this website because there were so many awesome features that could be really beneficial to teachers. As future teachers, I think these tech demos are really important and useful for us to watch. I know have so many tools to choose from when I am a teacher!

Stuck In Neutral by Terry Trueman: Finished Book Response

At first I did not think that this book would interest me. It was really small and the synopsis did not intrigue me. I was pleasantly surprised after finishing this book though. It was a quick read, but a very powerful one. (SPOILER ALERT) At the end of the book Shawn's dad seems to be preparing to murder his son. Shawn is completely handicapped. He has hardly any motor functions, he can not speak, and he has constant seizures. Everyone thinks that he has the mindset of a 3 year old, but in reality he is actually really smart and even has a photographic memory. His father thinks that he is suffering and he can not even bear to watch his son suffer anymore, so he thinks that the best thing to do is kill him. This book goes along with my single story because Shawn is physically impaired, and I think this will be one of the most useful books when talking about the single story I chose. People who are physically disabled face more challenges than someone who is not, but that does not mean that their quality of life is any less. The book is written from the point of view of Shawn, and when reading you could tell that at the end of the day he was pretty content with his life. He loved his family, and the fact that he could remember everything. He faced many struggles, but he still wanted to be alive. I think that it is very important to realize that just because from the outside it may seem as though people with disabilities have a "lesser" quality of life, but we don't truly know how they feel. We all need to take a step back sometimes and instead of judging people with disabilities based on what they can't do, we should celebrate all of the things that they can do.