Krista Marshall

EDU 551 – Websites and Resources Evaluation Assignment

Website: E-Learning for Kids http://www.e-learningforkids.org/ :

This educational Website, E-Learning For Kids, contains digital learning opportunities for
children ages 5-12 to have free access to additional skill-building in Math, Science, Computer,
Environmental, Health, Language Arts and Life Skills. This not-for profit Website has user
friendly instructions and contains multiple academic subjects for children to have added practice.
This site has many partners which are listed for review via link on the main page. The lessons
are available in five languages, including English. I found it helpful that children could find
topics to work in by both age level and specific content.
I was impressed with the racial, gender and ethnic diversity that is represented throughout this
Website’s activities. I would, if approved to do so, allow and encourage my students to access
this tutorial site.

Website: ABCYA.com http://www.abcya.com/ :

This is a teacher created Website for students. This is a site on which both families and classes
can work. While there are lots of learning options, the frequent advertisements are very obvious
– which is more typical of a for-profit, .com, type of Website. Despite the frequency of
advertising, I found this site to be rather easy to navigate and I liked that it is established as a
learning tool for all different grade-levels. There are written and audio instructions which is a
nice element for diverse learners and I liked that children can participate independently or with
multiple-players.
I am not certain that I would implement this in my classroom planning as a tool; however, I
might encourage it as an option for at-home use or as a before/after school added tutorial. I
know that our youth are readily engaged with technology and this site is far better than many –
certainly the added bonus of no violence is a key component as to why I would consider this
option.
The Jobs Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdvTlQzsaYI:
“What do you want to be when you’re older?” (The Jobs Song, Video) is a lot to consider,
indeed. The assigned video is animated, 3.08 minutes in length and contains various career
options with associated (cartoon) representations of “people” who are members of the various
fields for consideration; however, this is not a video I would personally opt to play for the
students that I may be privileged enough to work with down the road.
While some students might engage with this because of the attempts at humor throughout (for
example, injuries and bags of money on the banker’s desk), I found this video to be somewhat
ridiculous and rather stereo-typical, particularly when it comes to the genders that were
associated with the various careers. Both men and women could perform any of the career tasks
associated with any of the careers depicted. It would be my goal to expose students to the same
values that I have tried to instill in my own children (I have two daughters and one son): that a
man or woman can be almost anything that they work hard enough to become – given they have
enough dedication, drive and purpose, regardless of gender. I hope to motivate my students to
consider many career opportunities as options and I hope not to see any of my students accepting
the idea that, due to their gender or race, they cannot achieve this goal. Further, I believe that
sufficient diversity was lacking in the video, as well. I would suggest that this video
perpetuated the stereo-types often associated with these careers.
As an aside, I truly enjoyed viewing the videos we were asked to watch for this assignment on
gender roles, race/ethnicity, the pink and blue colors assigned to gender and diversity issues. I
shared them with my adult son and we talked about them, too (which was a nice conversation). I
spent the early years of my professional career working with youth in the Syracuse City Schools
educating students on just such issues, along with non-violence and anti-bullying; therefore,
these videos and this assignment really appealed to me. The Job Song video, however, troubled
me a bit and I found myself hoping it was almost over at one point and wondering why so many
of the cartoon men, women, and teens were depicted as not seeming to be at all enjoying
themselves (?). One actually seemed to be depicted as a career dubious in nature (the banker)
and even looking exhausted. Certainly, to me anyway, this sort of characterization did not seem
either motivational or non-biased.

What Does a Doctor Do? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OQ7hgr0KlY :

This video, by Davis McArthur is 1:16 minutes in length and established to provide pre-school
children with the ideas of what a doctor does, and does not, do through comparison with other
career fields (such as a pilot, or builder). Much like the previous video, the Jobs Song, this is
animated in cartoon style and has catchy rhyming music/lyrics that discuss what a doctor does
not and does do. Unfortunately, like the Jobs Song video, this too was stereotypical in my
opinion. The doctor is depicted only as a male figure. A woman was only represented in the
video in the roles of a stewardess (who is standing next to the male pilot who is being compared
with a male doctor), and again as a sick patient awaiting her turn to be treated by the male
doctor. The doctor was a Caucasian in all parts of the video and all of the main career
representations were held /depicted by Caucasian males.
I would suggest that this video, like the Jobs Song video, also perpetuated the stereotyping that
we strive to avoid these days. I would, therefore, NOT show this video to students in a
classroom that I was managing as I believe this to have both gender and race biases throughout (I
saw women and children represented in only side roles, and there was little to no race diversity
represented).

Until this assignment, I was somewhat unaware of how many geared-for-children videos are still
so archaically created and presented when it comes to careers - gender and race bias remain very
evident in the two that I have written about, above. Due to this assignment, I will be looking
very closely, and with purpose, at what options I may be considering when it comes to potential
videos that I may wish to select for students that I am privileged enough to work with. Teachers
are role-models and it is very important for educators to be wary of such things when choosing
what our students are exposed to in our classrooms.

References:

http://www.abcya.com/

http://www.e-learningforkids.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdvTlQzsaYI (Job Song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OQ7hgr0KlY (What Does a Doctor Do?)