Coo-UTIES!

Click Here


This video is a public service announcement about cooties that Dorothy showed us Thursday in class. It is a parody, or spoof, perhaps on something much more serious, such as AIDS or an STD.

When we watched it in class, I found it to be very humorous, to see these innocent-looking young children, saying things so beyond their time, and (hopefully) their understanding. The words they were saying sounded like they were coming out of an at least teen-ager. I think it was making a couple of statements. For one, I think it was imitating, or playing off of (perhaps even poking fun at) other advertisements or commercials that are actually about AIDS or STDs. In another way, I believe the intention was to shed a different light, and bring a new perspective to a typically-viewed-as serious disease, by adding humor to it. In a way, it may have been distracting and perhaps even offensive to someone who seriously does suffer from a similarly described illness. However, perhaps it was an effective captivation tactic because I have come to find that, an older audience will be more likely to listen to what children have to say than they will other adults. I also absorbed from it an idea that children are growing up fast.

This relates to technology, because we saw this piece via a computer and a projector screen, and more specifically, youtube.com. That was using a rather obvious component of technology-the internet, and computers ( as opposed to an oven or something), but it is still very controversial among teachers (and myself) as to how big of a role it should have in the classroom.

I plan to as a teacher, be wary of which resources I introduce to my children. Since I still am not sure which age level I will endup teaching (or majoring to teach), I would be careful if I showed a site such as youtube to say, middle-schoolers. I understand that when Dorothy showed us college students that video, it would have been ridiculous and record-breaking if we had not heard of youtube before. However, for an age group that may not have been exposed to that website yet, and knowing its potential for inappropriate material, I would be cautious as to how I would display something from it. Anyway, besides that, I would welcome the showing of video (not just on websites, but home videos/video recordings of the class, etc.). I think it is a very helpful resource and one that is easier to identify with/relate to/learn from than a textbook (which have received a pretty bad reputation unfortunately!). I do think though that after watching a video, it would be necessary to discuss it, digest it, unpack it. This technology alone is not sufficient for educating students, I don't feel. Even if they just needed to write down their reaction or something, there would need to be some follow-up.