classybananabeard-blog

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This

why I use ‘y’all’

it’s fun to say

gender neutral 

I like rubbing my gay little hands all over southern culture out of spite

fun to say

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My students capture my pedagogical approach

the college experience

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an erasure

Austin Kleon, “Refugee,” 2017

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Marshal McLuhan, THE MEDIUM IS THE MASSAGE (1967)

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Yes

3 Ways Allies Can Help Muslim Women.

Don’t despair: there are people who need you right now and there are easy ways you can help. Spoiler alert: put away your solidarity hijabs and safety pins. Watch the 5-minute video here.

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Part-time Instructor at Rutgers University finds Procrastination is the New Productivity

Christopher O. McCarter

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—I am the first person to board the 11:37 train bound for Trenton, New Jersey. Not because I left for Penn Station with the expressed plan of having plenty of time to catch the 11:37, therefore arriving with plenty of time to spare—sure enough I did have plenty of time, about twenty three minutes, which I spent mostly on Instagram—but because I missed the 11:06 Trenton-bound train by two minutes. Depending on how you look at it, I was actually early for the 11:37 train only because I had a leisurely breakfast involving a perfectly sliced banana in yogurt with granola; I also agonized over the appropriate sweater for the day, which is supposed to reach lows of 38ºF; I checked Instagram, again, this time in bed, and found I had a new follower and so had to scope them out; I texted with bae; I made a doctor’s appointment; all before ever leaving the house. This is called procrastination: the new productivity.

“Am I a professional role model?” I ask myself as I finish my assignment for class in class, staring at my students who are all diligently responding to their first reading response on Marshall McLuhan’s seminal inter-media text, THE MEDIUM IS THE MASSAGE (McLuhan:”The amateur can afford to lose.”). You see, I teach a Multimedia Composition class at Rutgers University. I told my students that for the first time in my career as an educator, I would attempt to complete the same assignments I give them each week. This week’s assignment: write a satirical news article. 

I stopped at a coffeeshop before class to get a cup of coffee with half-and-half. I had about fifteen minutes until class started and it came to me: this is my satirical news article. So I quickly sat down at a long wooden table with other people working on their laptops. I am completing my own assignment, as my own student. “My own student?” I ask myself. Being one’s own student,or  self-teaching, is an ideological practice I’ve always felt drawn to, even as an undergrad.  Multimedia artist and author, Christopher O. McCarter says, “Self-teaching is not self-absorbed in that the self-taught student already knows what they need to know, rather it is the self-taught student who understands their own agency as intellectual co-conspirator, acting as their own gatekeeper to learning and knowledge, ultimately defining the personal value of their education by their own standards.” This is at least an idea I was taught in the Comparative History of Ideas department at the University of Washington: making one’s education personal. And I suppose I aim to do that with my students today, which is why I am telling you this, modeling the very thing my students agonize over throughout their college career’s: productivity.

When asked how many college students procrastinate, Molly Bachman, a Multimedia Composition student, said, “All of them.” This article is satirical because—like many college students—instructors procrastinate as well, sometimes in light of making some stronger point For instance, that procrastination is key. I’ve waited until the exact last minute to complete this assignment and yes, it does have an effect on my ego, sense of self, and general feelings of worth. However, according to my therapist, “Procrastination is just a different form of productivity.” And judging by all of the things leading up to this moment in time, thing I had or had not done, i can’t help but agree. Now I have exactly two more minutes to keep writing this before I post it to Tumblr.

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An illustration of the way digital communication brings humans together...

Not so alone after all.

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A more coded model for satire...

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A nice model for satire...

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The Women’s March on Washington

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Uh oh

Betsy DeVos has no idea what the difference between proficiency and growth is

Department of Education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos’s Senate confirmation hearing was Tuesday. 

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) described an experience contrasting proficiency to growth and used that to ask DeVos for her views on the debate. DeVos couldn’t answer the question. Read more

Betsy DeVos cites danger of “grizzlies” as reason to allow guns in schools

Also during her confirmation hearing, DeVos cited grizzly bears as why the federal government not to take action against guns in schools.

DeVos said in Wyoming, “I’d imagine there’s a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies.”

One Wyoming teacher explained to Mic that fences and bear spray are used to ward off bears. Read more

Teachers union chief says Betsy DeVos “is a trainwreck waiting to happen”

Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, said in an interview that DeVos is unqualified and has the wrong vision for the nation’s schools.

“I don’t think you will find one human being who could actually point to something who could say, ‘Because she did this, it really improved those traditional, neighborhood public schools,” Garcia said. “What you’re seeing here is a trainwreck waiting to happen.”  Read more

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U N P A R A L L E L E D

Michelle Obama (b. 1964) is the first African-American First Lady of the United States. With a BA degree in Sociology from Princeton, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a career as a lawyer and city administrator in Chicago, she is one of the most educated and accomplished First Ladies in history.

Throughout her time as FLOTUS she was actively involved in campaigns promoting physical activity and healthy eating, in an effort to tackle the obesity crisis in the US. Other initiatives she led and supported include promoting the arts, helping women achieve a proper work and life balance, and encouraging national service.

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What is digital communication?

Digital communication is when living things (and robots, too) use electric technology wired with circuit boards to talk to one another, share ideas, and exchange information.

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Will Smith Shuts Down Islamophobia and Donald Trump  (Video)

The entire Smith family is known for speaking out and standing up for what they believe in. Whether it is through clothing, art, or touching on topics during press conferences…

Stream video and view the rest of this article now @ KollideTV.com