Blog #1

1.) Technology is becoming a great and useful tool through a students education. Technology offers a student many different resources such as word processing, powerpoint, world wide web, and many other search engines. With all of the advances in technology it's helpful to have the students know how to use the current technology to his/her advantage. The one concern that i have about technology would be that maybe it could become a distraction in the classroom. Students may become to distracted with the internet readily at their hands.

2.) The students in grades pk-2 are expected to communicate their reasoning and stories using digi-tools. Also students will work together in groups to create a digital presentation or product.These targeted outcomes are very achievable for the grade level I want to teach. Technology will aid me in teaching students in group work and other activities.

3.) I would use powerpoint to display a lesson plan or for an activity. I would incorporate technology in the daily lesson plan to further the students academic achievement. Also I would teach students on how to explore and use the internet. When I was in Grade school I would enjoy viewing a presentation on the projector or going to the computer lab. When I was given the chance to explore what technology had to contribute to my education, I would be amazed! I want to give my students the same opportunity that I was given.

Deshpande Group Claim

The picture my group chose to work with was a picture of pesticide being sprayed into a gutter to kill bug larvae. Only the nozzle of the sprayer is shown and in the background is a small naked child standing a foot or two away with an older woman crouched over holding a bucket and a basket of some kind. The woman is very skinny and she is in an awkward crouching position. The building they are outside of is rusted and has chips in the paint all over. It looks very unsanitary. Although the article is focused on how they spray pesticide in the water because of an outbreak of Malaria the emphasis is put on the small child and woman in the back of the picture. This picture is a prime example of a claim made by Shekhar Deshpande within his article The Confidant Gaze. The claim made was, “In fact, it would not be out of place to suggest that National Geographic has made an aesthetic of its own in photography. It is slick, it is technically flawless or even adventurous, and it attempts to sanitize and universalize the uncomfortable as well as different elements of other cultures” (Deshpande par 7). In an attempt to sanitize this picture National Geographic has the small naked child standing in the middle of the picture so your attention is drawn to this cute little kid instead of the pesticide going in the water a couple feet away from him. Perhaps National Geographic purposefully does this to make you feel alright about looking at the picture. The image without the child would be very ineffective because the viewer doesn’t want to look at a pesticide nozzle spraying pesticide into the water. They want to see the culture and the people its affecting.

Deshpande Group Claims

The claim that our group used in Deshpande' article was, "Human suffering becomes worth a good image (par 10)." This is related to our picture and all that we have read about Deshpande because our photograph portrayes a scene with a naked kid who is about three years old and behind him is an elderly woman who is chouched over collecting water from a stream on the ground while the boy watched and the water in the picture looks as if it is dirty or unsanitized and unhealthy. This is exactly what Deshpande talks about in his article how National Geographic magazine photographers take pictures like this one to get the interest of the "Western World Eye." So when the viewers see this photograph or ones that are similar to it they become hooked to the article because we are looking for the problems or situations of other cultures.
The complex claim that I have gotten from reading and viewing Deshpande' article is; Are the expressions or emotions given by people of different cultures in National Geographic's photographs their true fellings. Or does the photographer portray each character in certain ways to influence and change the perspectives of the western world viewers. Not giving them the real aspect of what is actually happening.

Deshpande Summary

In Deshpande' article "The Confident Gaze" he talks about the National Geographic's special issue "India Turning Fifty," on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of India's Independence. In his article he talks about the cover page of the issue how it shows an Indian boy who is painted in all red and his eyes are glaring straight in to the camera. The significance of showing this boy is what Deshpande describes saying that photographers that take pictures for National Geographic magazine try to get the "Innocent attractiveness" in there photographs. Explaining how photographs that are taken in different countries of different cultures are edited, "polished with gleaming lights and perfection of the position of the object to change the perspective of what he calls, "The Western World Viewers." So the sorroundings or areas that they photographer is in to get these photographs, are a lot different then images that are portrayed in a magazine photo. So the audience of National Geographic are not given the real aspect of what is actually happening where the photographer is and they change the actual photo to put the viewing world in a "happy place" so we become interested and hooked in to read the magazine and stay focused on the articles. He also goes on about how National Geographic magazine covers or represents all the troubling issues or situations around the world and how they, "can sanitize and even beautify the blood and the gore of the conflict. This power to transform the most repulsive results of the human actions around the world into images that are digestible is what makes for the culture of National Geographic." So the repulsive and gory images that the photographer is seeing in real life are nowhere compared to what is being portrayed to the western veiwer and we are not able to grasp the real concept or reality of what is happening. So we will never be able to see through the eyes of the photographer.

National Geographic Photo

In this issue of National Geographic, which is focused on Pakistan, there is a photo of a large group of male Pakistani men protesting something. They are all wearing black business suits complete with ties and shiny shoes. The protest appears to be taking place in a city square. The man closest to the camera is posed through an object, possibly a rock, at an unseen target. He is holding a stick in the other hand, which could be a picket sign. His shows what looks like anger and determination.
When I first saw this photo my initial reaction was: “That reminds me of Wall Street.” While this photo does not seem to “beautify the blood and the gore of the conflict” as Shekhar Deshpande suggests some of National Geographic’s photos do, I believe it holds an appeal to Western viewers for a different reason. I immediately connected these men’s plight with many American men’s problems in America’s economy. The photo didn’t have to be edited or posed to catch my attention, it was enough that these men resembled American business men.
The article this photo is featured with is about the controversy over the Pakistani government’s use of funds on the military instead of on the rebuilding of mosques. This photo does not immediately say to the viewer “religious controversy” and I believe it balances out other photos featured in the article; which featured images of groups of men praying and dancing, which are acts some Americans can’t relate to at all. I believe the protest photo distracts viewers from the bigger issues occurring in Pakistan, even though the article discusses one of them. Instead of helping us to accept their culture in its entirety, differences and all, the photo causes us to focus only on one part of it. Thereby not comprehending how intertwined the different aspects of their culture are, such as their religion and their military.

National Geographic Assignment

A) In the July 2007 issue of National Geographic, we see an interesting article that involves a colony in Nigeria, Africa called Nigeria Delta and their influences with famine and the war on oil. In the article there is a two page printout of a picture. This is the one picture that caught our attention when reading the article. It had two people in what appeared to be a dark home with no electricity or running water. A mother and her child were the only two in the room. Her child lied face down on a bed and appears to be starving due to an abnormally large-bloated belly. The mother caught our attention the most simply because the light of her eyes were so intensified that it instantaneously spoke of how much pain and suffering she is going through. In an article titled “The Confident Gaze” by Shekhar Deshpande, he states that “They have an urge to satisfy the curiosity of the viewer while defining it” (#2) which means that we as a western culture view depression or sadness in a way sparks our interests and ideas to flow smoother without hate or stereotyping.

B) Claims that we have come up with to further give a better view of what our main point would be is “Despite the resources that some countries may have available to them, it doesn’t mean that they are able to use them in an effective way.” (Complex claim for Beth) and “No matter what the situation unfolds, we as a society can take charge of our own actions.”(Complex claim for Mike)

Presented to you by Beth Brummel & Mike Kingma

The Unicorn Fish

The image that I am viewing right now is tragic. The seen is taking place at the sea – half frozen sea. The scene is created of sky on the top, ice in the middle part of the picture, then few streams of water in the middle and ice on the bottom. The color scheme used was mostly consisted blue shades except the sky owned some tones of pink and yellow. The picture itself was very smooth and calming. The atmosphere is clear, the air is cold, the sound is silent. And then in the bottom left corner, but not too in the corner – a bit closer to the middle, we see a bloody, dead whale the whale contains the blue shades too so he adds on to the picture. But the fact that he is dead doesn’t evoke anything. His horn (because this is a unicorn whale) cuts the image and leads the eye away to the other corner making you examine the sky even more.

The placement of the poor thing is so perfect and the streams are at the angle where the image becomes less of a scene but more of a scenery where you could just place this image on your wall. The calming attributes are not playing on feelings the image makes it seem ok to kill the ocean creatures. And the realization of that fact is striking to me, because we as the nation can make tragedy moment images into art, and accident occurrence into fun videos.