Blog Post #1 by https://padlet.com/evanasek/czj11ylkn1cu By: Ellie Vanasek EDUC 4337 en-us 2017-09-20 01:27:50 UTC 2023-02-23 23:50:09 UTC hello@padlet.com Humans of New York evanasek https://padlet.com/evanasek/czj11ylkn1cu/wish/189141590 http://www.humansofnewyork.com/tagged/undefined#2
Humans of New York was beginning by Brandon Stanton, who thought of a creative photography project. He would go around and take pictures of people in the city he lived, New York City. He says that he would take the pictures, but at some point, he began to talk with the individuals he was photographing and would interview them. Stanton began a blog and social media pages, such as Facebook and Instagram, and they have over twenty million followers. He also travels outside of New York and has done series with refugees, cancer patients, inmates, Syrian Americans, and more. With his information, he has made books and has expanded this photography project immensely. 
One series that Stanton completed that intrigued me the most was his one that collected stories from Syrian refugees who were in Greece, Hungary, Croatia, and Austria. Stanton’s work portrays authentic intellectual work through his inquiry. 
King says, "Authentic adult intellectual accomplishments require that construction of knowledge be guided by disciplined inquiry. By this we mean that learners (1) use prior knowledge base, (2) strive for in-depth understanding rather than superficial awareness, and (3) develop and express their ideas and findings through elaborated communication (44).
By King’s definition, Stanton succeeds in authentic intellectual work by using his prior knowledge of the Syrian situation and understanding where they are resorting to. He strives for in-depth understanding in spending 10 days in these areas interviewing refugees. Lastly, he expresses his findings on these people’s lives through his social media. The social studies Stanton is completing strikes most with knowledge of current events. A follow on one’s Instagram page is insight to many people’s lives and what they are going through. Even if it is not a refugee, an interview with someone else on the streets of New York can give one light into a situation occurring. 
In the series, “Refugee Stories,” by Brandon Stanton, he had interviewed a handful of refugees. One story that stood out to me in the series was a man talking about his daughter, and how her life has been all struggle, and lacks happy moments. The child had yelled out, “‘Please don’t kill my mother! Kill me instead!’” This is just a short passage taken from the interview, but this being posted on social media, hopefully gives inspiration to Stanton’s millions of followers to do something to help the youth and adults that are going through this immense struggle. The social studies being done is one of creativity and compassion for humans not only in New York, but around the world. 

]]> 2017-09-20 01:28:58 UTC https://padlet.com/evanasek/czj11ylkn1cu/wish/189141590 Youth Activism evanasek https://padlet.com/evanasek/czj11ylkn1cu/wish/189141742 https://wimedialab.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/a2f54f73-b60c-4288-94b2-10cec33eed53/clip-1-youth-activism/#.Wb_3IsZe5Gw
This clip posted by PBS focuses on activists in Washington D.C. who participated in protests and they answer questions from an audience that consists of students. The video begins by interviewing 2 students who are social activists in their community. To begin, a young black woman who wants people to stay educated on our governmental system and what the government is doing to help or hurt the people. The other activist is a young black man who is motivated by wanting to change the city he lives in, to add more protection for the people. These two lead nonviolent protests for youth in their city. The two belong to Project C, which promotes youth to consider the current issues of equity across our country. 
The film then moves into an interview session who consists of Ahmad Ward, who is on the board of education, Kylie Gainey, who is a co-founder of Project Dance in Selma, AL, and Amanda Bennett, who attends the University of Alabama and is a part of campaign We Are Done. Project Dance coordinates dances and protests to encourage equality. We Are Done is a club of students, faculty, and staff who meet to discuss ways to eliminate discrimination and racism on her college campus. Don Dailey, the host, asks these 3 participants questions regarding social justice movements, such as Black Lives Matter. This video portrays authentic intellectual work because Don Dailey is taking a step further to discuss the viewpoints of these 3 people to see their stance on the social issue problems that have arose recently. Ahmad Ward discusses the Civil Rights Movement that occurred in the 1900s, and relates it to what has occurred recently in America. Although Ahmad Ward is not necessarily a “youth,” Kylie and Amanda have made themselves be proactive and involved within their communities. They are using authentic intellectual work to help social movements and learn more about them. 
The youth can “do” social studies by reflecting on movements that have occurred in the past, in this case the Civil Rights Movement, and compare it to what is occurring in our world today. Amanda had said in her interview that she sees herself as a new generation in Civil Rights. The two students interviewed in this video and the two that were introduced in the beginning, are “doing” social studies by joining activist groups and getting involved with other youth across the country whether it was politically, religious, or socially. Youth’s voices do matter just as much as adults, it does not matter whether you can vote. We have learned in class that our students are citizens and we need to start treating them like so. Society will tell people that the older you are, the more importance you have, which could not be more wrong. Youth include authentic intellectual work by getting involved through their inquiry. Authentic intellectual work, described by King, as value beyond school. So, one can learn about Civil Rights Movement in school or the Black Lives Matter movement, but the value they attain from it would be going outside the classroom and getting involved or researching this movement in depth. 

]]> 2017-09-20 01:29:50 UTC https://padlet.com/evanasek/czj11ylkn1cu/wish/189141742 Get to Know the States evanasek https://padlet.com/evanasek/czj11ylkn1cu/wish/189145633 https://prezi.com/qggqxhp0zyf3/edit/#0_30863873
Here is a beginning of a Prezi. The idea of this project would be to assign or allow students to choose a state they want to research. This would be done in ideally a 4th grade classroom if we were to oblige to the state standards on a student's knowledge in the 4th grade. However, each student in the class would have a different state and they would have to research the state's capital city, their bird, the state flag, the governor, a sports team that interests them in that state, a college or university located in the state, and a tourist attraction. 
The students then would be able to gain knowledge of the state they research, but we will present these projects in class and then will be able to hear about other states. 
Authentic intellectual work of the social studies is going beyond the classroom to learn material one desires to learn, rather than just learning it for an exam. Applying inquiry as a student is a step towards authentic intellectual work, which is what I would hope to achieve by having the students be able to choose a state they want to research. It will increase their knowledge about the state and, hopefully, connect it to themselves. I did a project similar to this in grade school, and I remember I wanted to do the state that my mom was from. It creates a connection and sparks a student to want to learn more about the information. 
I "do" social studies in my day-to-day life by applying knowledge I have learned about my government system, geography, current events, and more in everyday conversation with others. Knowing social studies is crucial for interactions with others and it creates conversation. For youth, doing social studies for them looks like asking questions about the world. Youth are trying to piece together their geography and more, so a simple question provokes them doing social studies. Inquiry and critical thinking are prevalent among youth. 
We are all citizens of our country and we all need to learn how to use that to our advantage to make our world a better place to live in for everyone. ]]> 2017-09-20 01:53:34 UTC https://padlet.com/evanasek/czj11ylkn1cu/wish/189145633