Blog Post #2

When I watched Hair Love for the first time for this class, I mainly focused my attention on the relationship between the daughter and her father as they both tried to tackle her hair together while the mother was in the hospital. The movie seemed like a simple, heartwarming story about a family facing challenges together and working through them. After connecting it to chapter 7, "customizing literacy practices," I began to think more about how small details can help us understand the full meaning of something. The chapter further discusses other disciplinary literacies, which can involve approaching information through different methods/perspectives depending on what is being taught. 

One idea from the chapter that stood out to me the most was the importance of being able to adapt to different learning strategies to further encourage deeper and critical thinking. The author explains how students need to start learning how to ask questions, make interferences, just overall be comfortable speaking up which will in turn, develop their own understanding rather than just basically memorizing information which doesn't get the brain working. In Hair Love, we are able to use these strategies by paying attention to what seems like small/minor details as well as the characters actions and expressions. An example could be, the daughter in the movie, she deeply admires her mothers hair and wants to try and recreate it, but has a hard time. These actions demonstrate that her hair is not just about appearance, but rather who she is as a person and its overall connection to her relationship with her mother as well as her cultural identity. All throughout the movie, her father's persistence in helping his daughter do her hair demonstrates his overwhelming love and willingness to learn something new for his daughter.

Another connection that can be used between the movie and the chapter reading is to realize the significance of being able to properly use different forms of media to support learning. The author explains how teachers use different forms of media to help their students understand complex ideas and/or concepts. Hair Love communicates this idea through its message via animation where the characters expressions and actions are telling the story rather than directly relying on text or dialogue. By looking more closely at the small/minor details, the viewers are able to make more efficient connections and interpret the purpose of the story in a deeper level. 

As a future teacher. I believe these ideas are important as it allows students to learn in different ways. An example could be, in a history lesson, I could have my students analyze a historical photograph before reading about it, and understand its context. Students can analyze its details, ask me questions, and also compare their interpretations with their classmates and information from the reading. However, there is a slight flaw, as the chapter reading explained, an activity must have a purpose beyond keeping students engages, so as a teacher, our mission is to guide our students towards more meaningful learning and explain the significance as to why this activity we chose is matters.

Thank you for reading :D