We live in an ever-changing world. Our society evolves each day, and in doing so renders certain standards and paradigms obsolete. The field of communications serves as an example of this evolution. For a long time, this sector was dominated by print media. Newspapers, magazines, and letters functioned as the primary methods of information delivery. Within recent years, however, the field of communications has experienced the emergence of a new phenomenon: the internet. The internet has altered greatly the way in which information is delivered and presented. Both interpersonal communications and news stories now can be published and accessed instantaneously. These advances have had a definite impact on all realms of society, especially the one in which we function: education. As educators, we must confront the fact that ours in no longer a culture dominated by print media. We must recognize the impact, importance, and prevalence of multimedia. The dominance of multimedia outlets such as television, the internet, and film has been well-documented in recent years. As teachers, we must accept the fact that our students have grown up in a world dominated by technology. For them, multimedia forms are a central part of everyday life. This means that schools can no longer afford to ignore the impact that technology has on its students. We must adjust our pedagogical approach in order to address the role of technology and multimedia in modern education.
One important adjustment that needs to be made involves recognition of the fact that learning can and does occur outside of school boundaries. Students can accumulate knowledge and new ideas while doing something as simple as reading a magazin...
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...orld experience. Without it, students are reduced to machines of rote memorization, and the process of schooling becomes irrelevant.
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Marked by two world wars and the anxiety that accompanies humanity's knowledge of the ability to destroy itself, the Twentieth Century has produced literature that attempts to depict the plight of the modern man living in a modern waste land. If this sounds dismal and bleak, it is. And that is precisely why the dark humor of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. shines through our post-modern age. The devastating bombing of Dresden, Germany at the close of World War II is the subject of Vonnegut's most highly acclaimed work, Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty Dance with Death. Vonnegut's experience as an American POW in Dresden fuels the narrative that unconventionally defines his generation through the life and death of Billy Pilgrim. The survival of Billy Pilgrim at Dresden and his re-entry to the shell-shocked world reveal a modern day journey of the anti-hero. Vonnegut's unusual style and black satire provide a refreshing backdrop for a vehement anti-war theme and enhance his adept ability to depict the face of humanity complete with all of its beauty and blemishes. Likewise, Vonnegut adds his own philosophy concerning time, our place in it, and connection (or disconnection) to it and one other. Perhaps the most crucial step in understanding this intriguing work is to start with its title, which holds the key to Vonnegut's most prevailing theme.
1984 tells the story of Winston Smith who lives in Oceania, a dystopian nation ruled by a strictly totalitarian government know only as ‘The Party’. The Party controls everything in Oceania, even people's history and language. It uses telescreens which are everywhere-you can’t speak, breathe or sneeze without the government knowing about it. The Party even enforces a new language to prevent political rebellion by eliminating all words related to it. Even thinking rebellious thoughts, known as thoughtcrime, is illegal: "Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death."
Kurt Vonnegut uses the imaginative story of Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five in order to help readers understand the complexity of historical events. The imaginative in Vonnegut’s novel explores the impact historical events can have on those involved, as well as the importance of perspective and bias of a writer articulating a historical event. Fictional and imaginative elements are abundant in Slaughterhouse-Five.
Things to know: 1984 was a book written about life under a totalitarian regime from an average citizen’s point of view. This book envisions the theme of an all knowing government with strong control over its citizens. This book tells the story of Winston Smith, a worker of the Ministry of Truth, who is in charge of editing the truth to fit the government’s policies and claims. It shows the future of a government bleeding with brute force and propaganda. This story begins and ends in the continent of Oceania one of the three supercontinents of the world. Oceania has three classes the Inner Party, the Outer Party and the lowest of all, the Proles (proletarian). Oceania’s government is the Party or Ingsoc (English Socialism
Kurt Vonnegut was a man of disjointed ideas, as is expressed through the eccentric protagonists that dominate his works. Part cynic and part genius, Kurt Vonnegut’s brilliance as a satirist derives from the deranged nature of the atrocities he had witnessed in his life. The reason Vonnegut’s satire is so popular and works so well is because Vonnegut had personal ties to all the elements that he lambasted in his works. Vonnegut’s experience as a soldier in WWII during firebombing of Dresden corrupted his mind and enabled him to express the chaotic reality of war, violence, obsession, sex and government in a raw and personal manner. Through three works specifically, “Welcome to the Monkey House,” “Harrison Bergeron,” and Slaughterhouse-five, one can see ties to all the chaotic elements of Vonnegut’s life that he routinely satirized. One can also see how Vonnegut’s personal experiences created his unique style of satire.
Reed, Peter J. "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol.2: American Novelists Since World War II. Detroit: Gale, 1978.
“IVF Patient Numbers and Success Rates Continue to Rise." Human Fertlisation & Embryology Authority. Dec. 2007. .
Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, is a superb novel with outstanding themes. One of the most prominent themes found in this novel is psychological manipulation. Citizens in this society are subject to ever present signs declaring “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell 1). Along with psychological manipulation, physical control takes place. The Party not only controls what people in Oceania think, but what they do as well. Technology is another important theme. Without the constant telescreens, microphones, and computers, the Party would be all but powerless. Big Brother is the main figure of the Party. The main symbol that drives these themes is the telescreens. It is representative of the party always watching and controlling everyone at all times.
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is a complex series of procedures used to help those who want children but struggle with infertility. The process consists of extracting eggs from a woman and collecting a man’s sperm sample then manually combining them in a lab dish. Once the embryo(s) are created they are transferred to a woman’s uterus. IVF is commonly used in woman who cannot conceive on their own due to different reasonings. “These include but are not limited to blocked or damaged fallopian tubes, male factor infertility, woman with ovulation disorders, genetic disorders, woman who have had their fallopian tubes removed and unexplained infertility.” (American Pregnancy)
Although Kurt Vonnegut has always been a reader’s favorite, his works did not become cr...
The audience noted Vonnegut for his “satirical, postmodern techniques that emphasized the horrors and ironies of 20th-century civilization.” Moreover, Vonnegut’s perception of a “fatalistic, modern humanist” worldview helped him produce the work that cemented his reputation – Slaughterhouse Five, an antiwar novel which is marked as a modern day classic. Another work of his, “Cat’s Cradle,” successfully employs a metafictional style (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica). Influencing the society with his writings, Vonnegut even sparked some novelists’ literary career. For instance, Novelist Walter, who was a National Book Award finalist, became a writer because of Vonnegut. According to Walter’s words, “with compassion, humanism and great humor, Vonnegut made many writers to realize the potential of a writer in the face of 20th century horror” (The Associated Press). He not only affected several skillful writers but also several generations of teens. People believed that he was the icon who “made the world funnier and more exciting” (The Associated
A critical literacy approach focuses on different texts of information to communicate student personal interests, experiences and lives with other people’s problems and experiences as well as real-world issues around the world. It addresses challenging social issues such as discrimination and disadvantage (Kalantzis & Cope, 2012, p167). Then, students are encourage to use critical thinking to share their opinions and raise questions to express their personal concerns and discuss what is actually factual and explore what is not. The students are learning as meaning-makers, as participants of active citizens. The students will look at the how texts are displayed differently and use technology/other resources like library books to search for
(Blank, 2010) It’s hard to escape it. Media is a dominant influence to a child’s understanding about the world. (Russell-Bowie, 2012)) The incorporation of media aims to ‘develop critical appreciation, knowledge, creativity, understanding and skills’ in order for children to critically analyse what they watch and to assist in the creative progression. (Russell-Bowie, 2012)) Media in arts teaches students to be media-literate which provides them with the skill to understand how media is constructed and how it embodies and produces meaning. (Russell-Bowie,
worry about what is media and culture. The question of literacy in the face of such
Since the rise of mass media set in motion a rollercoaster of technological changes to form what we today define as the information society, media and information have increasingly become an integral part of the daily lives of EU citizens. This has led to a wide array of sources that EU citizens can access and nearly limitless exposure to a diverse pallet of thoughts, opinions and ideas. But having access to media means little if EU citizens do not have the skills to use the technologies needed to gain this same access. And, even if access is taken out the equation and ceases to be a problem, there is still no guarantee that EU citizens can decipher and criticize the messages presented by the media. In light of this, there is