5401 Summer blog

I have very mixed feelings about the lunchroom activity. I chose Justin in this activity and not by choice. I tried to pick Chad but the volume wouldn't work on any device I tried nor would the screen be anything but an all black screen. So, when I picked Justin, I couldn't see anything just the options on the screen but I could hear the volume. Therefore, the activity was not as useful for me as I wish it would've been; however, it was an interesting activity. I feel I probably would've done some different things in the activity like confront the people who were throwing food and possibly get into an altercation. I understand though that this was created in a short amount of time so there wasn't an abundance of options. I believe we discussed this in class as well. In conclusion, it was a worth while activity; however, more options and better visuals and audio would enhance this activity.

For adolescents and technology, when I first started noticing technology playing a larger role in my life as a child, it was when the Wii came out. Instead of going outside to ride bikes and play, we would go over to each others houses and make a Mii ( a personalized avatar) and play Mario Cart or Wii sports. I have never been around videos games much, so this was when I was first exposed. I feel today, video games are more prevalent than ever, are becoming introduced to kids at younger ages, (Minecraft and Fortnite for example), and are playing a role in adolescent culture and development. **This is my popular media review for Week 2, I unfortunately misunderstood the assignment and did not realize one was due every week**

In reading this week's book, In Chapters 7 and 8 about adolescent drinking, drug use and peer pressure, I found myself thinking about the 2012 movie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It is a comedic drama in which a socially awkward freshman becomes friends with two eccentric seniors. There is one scene in particular in which he attends his first real high school party with his new friends, and he accidentally eats an entire pot brownie (no one said anything as he talked about how starving he was). "Low" by Cracker is playing as the frame zooms in on the young boy, and everyone sits in a circle asking Charlie, (who they have established has never been high before) questions, and poking fun at him. While it was comedic, I could not help but feel bad for the character as I am sure this has happened to many adolescents who did not know drugs could be made into baked goods! Most people would see brownies at a party, and assume they were not normal brownies. This is another ex...

I struggled with trying to find a popular media for some reason, but one that I think relates is the series 13 Reasons Why. This is a television show that talks about mental health and it also shows drug and alcohol use at the adolescent age. It is a controversial tv show that shows the struggles that adolescents experience in school and it shows the importance of mental health and why we must place an importance on it and be able to explicitly talk about it with our students. Another popular media, well not really popular media but another example would be the changing of the legal drinking age from 18 to 21. This is an example of the importance of not drinking during the years that your brain is developing and the government took a stance on it.

The Teenage Brain in Shameless The Showtime show Shameless revolves around a lower-class, dysfunctional family's antics as they struggle to find success in ghetto America. Frank, the deadbeat father, has many children of all ages, and nearly every one of them exemplifies different levels of adolescent brain development. Many of the kid's choices and reasoning illustrate the kind of logic (or lack thereof) that is mentioned in The Teenage Brain, and as I read the book and watched the show, it was very easy to make connections between them. For example at one point in the show, a 16 year old (Debby) decides without a doubt that she is ready to have a baby and fall in love. Any adult would look down on this decision and know wholeheartedly that she is wrong, but of course Debby fights back and assures that she is grown up enough to make her own decisions. This point in the show illustrates just how hard it is to reason with a teenager who thinks they know everything, and I wond...

I too picked Justin after watching the clip in class. I have to agree with the statement that the final reaction/decision was not the same as what I would of witnessed in my high school. There would of definitely been some sort of altercation in this situation. I don’t know that it would of necessarily been a physical altercation, but at the very minimum something would have been thrown back or words would of been exchanged. The lunch room was pretty heavily supervised, so there is a slim chance that a teacher would of stepped in and shit things down before it got too serious. There was a higher chance that a response would of happened in the hallway between class change. The halls were very crowded and as hard as the teachers tried, that is where of the a lot of the fights happened. For me personally, knowing how I react, I would of most likely shouted something back and moved on with my day. I grew up in Westerville Schools, the fights where usually very “gentle” compared to what...