Journal 7-Wrapping Up Loose Ends

After the miscommunication that hit our group last week, we were clear to double check scheduling with Mr. Gonzales before our final visit. Upon dividing up the final group project work amongst ourselves, I drew the lucky card and was in charge of the landscape component of the group project. This area serves me quite well actually because I am using the same archival resources for my final individual project. I chose to primarily focus on some of the famous buildings that once stood as landmarks in Milwaukee's South Side. Through driving around, usage of U.W.M.'s archives, speaking with locals / my students, and researching the web, I was able to discover a number of prolific buildings within the South Side area. Some of these buildings have been destroyed, others have been completely gutted and remodeled. Others yet, namely the churches, have been well-maintained. In addition, my work with the students aided me in tying this topic into my work at Loyola. Through a few hours of research, I was able to learn what started the drastic rise in immigrating Hispanic Americans into the Milwaukee area.

Journal 6-Assisting Gabbi With Photos

One of my group members decided to purchase a number of disposable cameras to give to our students. She asked the students to take pictures of objects, places, or people that played a significant role in their lives. Her component of the group project entailed creating mini self-portraits for each student. Not everything goes as planned when working with high school students at such different levels of concern for education, and to no surprise we did not see some cameras return. On the other hand, we were lucky enough to have students that had their own digital cameras, which delivered us higher quality images and spared us the tedious task of scanning. Regardless, we got a lot of great images that helped us get a better understanding of who these young adults are outside of the classroom. I was impressed to see such a high percentage of the students participate in the activity we asked them to. I definitely feel that if this had been a task we placed on the students during the first day, we would've gotten much less participation due to the lack of trust building that occurred this semester.

Journal 5-Miscommunication-Nightmare or Dream?

Our fifth visit to Loyola was unlike any of our other visits. For one, our entire group was there on time. In addition we actually had a structured game plan for what we wanted to accomplish during our hour with the students. Our objective was to pan out the details for our final group project, and obtain the remaining information we needed to complete the project. When it was time for 4th hour to start, my group and I encountered a locked door leading to an empty U.S. History classroom. A few minutes later, Mr. Gonzales showed up and gave us some bad news. Much to our dismay, we exposed a communication error between our group and Mr. Gonzales regarding the high school’s recently altered schedules. As a group we were a little bit frustrated, but at the same time, we took advantage of the opportunity to talk face-to-face with each other, and determined the best solution to satisfy the needs of the group project. This was extremely beneficial, seeing as almost all of us were extremely lost with the task at hand. We also took the time to get to know each other a little bit better.

Journal 4-Teaching What We Just Learned

Our next visit to Loyola Academy would entail my group and I acting as teachers to share what we recently learned within the class this semester. In fact, the students, collectively, completed a project we freshly compiled individual for Film 150. As a group, our task was to explain connotative and denotative analysis when examining images. Afterward, we asked the students to evaluate the “codes” within the images we selected. After moderating a class discussion, and guiding the high school students into the right mode of thinking, we found that their analysis of the images were strikingly similar to the evaluations conducted by ourselves, and our service learning group collectively. It seemed like the students as a group built up their analysis, almost in a sequential snow-balling fashion, facilitated by the commentary of Mr. Gonzales. Each student seemed to expand off of what the previous student would suggest. Although I wouldn’t go as far to say that my overall perception and social constructions built around the images we viewed has changed because of the students, I can say my personal process for investigating the “codes” within an image are a little bit improved. By following the students’ step-by-step approach to decode an image, I can be more cautious and perhaps avoid missing something critical in the image.

Journal 3-A Closer Look at Milwaukee's South Side

My group's third visit to Loyola was moderately similar to the previous visit. The only difference was the fact that our group adjusted to each other’s schedules to allow for us to spend a decent amount of time in Milwaukee's South Side. Every single one of our students suggested that we pay a visit to the infamous El Rey. At first glance, it appeared to be a normal grocery store to me. Then I walked inside. This store seemed very exotic in that it was very abundant in an array of products I didn’t know existed. In addition, I had never been in a store that has over an entire aisle devoted to piñatas. After leaving El Rey, we took notice of the smaller, less popular Asian market next door. Aside from the prevalent Asian and Hispanic influences in the area, our east bound venture introduced another ethnic group. Across from the landmark that is known as the Basilica of St. Josaphat, one can find a large park. Within this park, a statue commands the attention of surrounding land. Upon further examination, we found the statue to be indicative of the Polish presence that once dominated the area. Upon sharing this information with my students, I found that many of them had no idea of the Polish prevalence that once existed where they live. This exercise will aid in the compilation of the next project in this class.

Journal 2-A Tour of Loyola

After how surprisingly shocked I was at how smooth the previous visit with the Loyola students went, I had little to no anxiety prior to my second visit. Our task for the second visit was to perform a walking-tour of the Loyola Academy grounds, capturing photos for an upcoming project in our class. We began our tour by walking through the building, visiting the administrators’ offices, stopping at the cafeteria, and interrupting the other classrooms. We also stopped at Loyola’s near empty trophy cabinet which lies underneath the hard-to-miss mural of the Loyola Lions. Further along our walk, my group and I began to take more notice to the fact that the school itself was a church at one point. The ever so frequent stained glass, the extremely noticeable cross on top of the building, and the aged ecclesiastic name tags occupying some of the doors served as great reminders. After the tour, we asked our students what other places within the community are worth visiting to get a better understanding of the community and students we are studying. After 4th hour U.S. History ended, my group and I decided to venture into the area surrounding the school to visit some of the places our students had suggested. Our most notable "find" between the school and the community was the almost virgin-looking disco ball in the cafeteria. Students estimated it hadn't been used in over 30 years.

Assignment 1

After our first day at Loyola Academy, my peers in Film 150 and I were asked to discuss some of the students' responses from the activities. We were asked to explore and post images including; one musician, one T.V. show / movie, and one activity from our students' answers to the previously stated questions. Our task was to then make the connection between these images and the students' perceptions of their own racial / ethnic identities.

The musician pictured above goes by the stage name "Pitbull." He is a first generation Cuban American, who frequently exhibits his linguistic talents by rhyming in both English and Spanish.

The favorite activity that was selected was soccer, or football depending on where you are from. The above image is Jared Borgetti, who is currently the Mexican scoring leader in World Cup qualifications. Many of the students commented they play and watch soccer. I noticed some students were venerated by another student's Borgetti jersey while passing in the hallway.

The chosen movie from the numerous responses received from my students was "White Chicks." I thought this was extremely interesting because of the racially loaded synopsis within the movie. In the movie, two African American F.B.I. agents are forced to play the role of white women in order to protect another character. To nobody's surprise, there are numerous ideology clashes such as man vs. woman and also "black" vs. "white".

In terms of the musician, it is obvious to understand why "Pitbull" might be a favorite performer. He not only represents Cuba and Latin America within his lyrics, but he also gives persons of this ethnic identity opportunities to relate, as he often discusses racial struggles in his songs. In addition, he is one of the few Hispanic rap artists to continuously deliver nationwide hits, and brings some pride to a group of people who enjoy rap, yet might not have had "their own."

Jared Borgetti is unarguably (try me...) the best current Mexican national footballer. In the rare chance that Mexico was to exceed expectations and trickle along the World Cup bracket, it would more than likely happen because of the performance of this individual. Though he has had quite a long career, it is common for the older players to dig deep and give it one last chance for gold (the infamous Zinedine Zidane for example). These players often become instant fan favorites off of mere talent, respect, and admiration. The image of Jared Borgetti reminds us that our neighbors to the south have a greater appreciation for this sport, and draw a lot of pride for consistently being a top 15 world-wide team.