Look beyond what you see
Undersatanding Media Literacy
Connected
So Social
Defined
Smore One
Syd M. Woods
Danley
12 CP Lang Arts
7 January 2016
Look beyond what you see: Media Literacy
The world we live in now is changing and it’s changing quickly. The technology field is expanding to all new levels. People don’t even have to leave there homes to get food, or to interact with other people, or to even get their groceries thanks to the newest advancements in technology.
We know how to read the magazines and books. We also know how to listen to the radio and watch the television, but are we really understanding the messages that are sent by way of the media? Do we know how to analyze and evaluate what we are perceiving? This is media literacy. It is important that we are conscious about our own daily function when interacting with the internet, and when we are listening to music, or even when we are reading the newspaper. Media literacy can aid to develop or improve critical thinking skills and can help us to better understand how media messages shape our ever changing society. Better yet, it can help us to understand how to advertise a message of our own. That’s right. It’s not just about understanding. It is also about creating. Media literacy can be used anywhere in life. It can be used in all subjects by applying critical thinking skills.
Analyze, access, apply, create and reflect. Skills we all can develop through media literacy. In the growing world of technology, this is what the world needs to experience.
I Pledge to Be Me
Syd M. Woods
L. Danley
British Literature
10 February 2016
I pledge to be proud. I pledge to be me. I pledge to be proud to be me. As a young mixed American I have been pressured to pick a side. I have been pressured to label myself as one or the other. My appearance on the outside does not reflect the blood running through my veins on the inside. I am culturally more Korean. I celebrate the traditions and practice the cultural beliefs but still, racially in someone’s eyes I am just black. My eyes are not slanted, my skin is not fair, and my hair is not straight. Why do I have to look “this” way to be considered mixed? My appearance is not who I am. My culture, my morals, and my personality is who I am. Society is pressuring me to deny a part of myself because I do not fit the standard profile of a “blasian”. My own teachers, who are supposed to be role models, are pressuring me to deny who I am. Whenever I would talk about being racially mixed with Korean, one of my black teachers would lash out at me and tell me that I am just black. This did not make me feel comfortable to express a big part of who I am. I would stop claiming my culture for a while until I realized that she doesn’t get to tell me who I am. For that reason I am here to say that I pledge to accept who I am. I pledge to be proud of who I am; all of who I am. I pledge to encourage others to be proud of who they are and I will raise awareness for all to be proud of who they are and where they come from.