Over the past couple of weeks, I have been working on a Critical Thinking and Reading presentation of Pop Culture with Natalie D, Jessica K, and Cheyenne G. Throughout this process, I learned not only about pop culture and its effects on young adults, but about myself and the importance of working well with others.
About Pop Culture itself, I learned that it goes much further than just the celebrities, clothes, and movies. It’s also how icons act and how much they influence teens. I didn’t realize how much young adults as myself rely on the examples that popular celebrities expose. It’s been quite insightful and made me think deeper about the principles of our nation. I enjoyed researching this topic – it was actually entertaining while learning. I wouldn’t go back and change topics if I could. As far as our amount of research went, I think we did a good job finding a broad range of information, dealing with both the problems and good parts of pop culture influence.
I also thought our visual argument was impressive. We worked hard, and all were a part of making it. I was in charge of getting our group members some time to work on it outside of school, which I think was a good idea because it allowed us to carefully detail our poster. Even though we used our time in class very efficiently, I think our poster turned out much better because we had that extra time to work. The main focus of our visual was the United States map that showed pop culture words “taking over” the nation. That went along with our claim that young adults are no longer shaping themselves based on their own experiences and feelings, but on the examples that celebrities give. We also talked and showed how pop culture is spread by modern day technology, using Facebook and texting and TV. Another important part of our presentation was the lyrics to “Skyscraper” by Demi Lovato. I think teens are able to relate to that because many young adults suffer from the pressure of fitting in, being pretty or skinny, and depression. I think that song gives hope and influences young adults with similar problems to do the same. This was also my favorite part of our visual because I think it was a creative idea and really gave different perspectives on pop culture.
On a scale of 1 – 10, I would rate myself a 9. I believe that I put time and effort into our presentation and did the work I volunteered to do well. I took responsibility and offered help when another group member may have needed it. For our presentation, I was in charge of talking about obsessive disorders that people have with celebrities, and how pop culture is a big part of everyday life. I feel the presentation went pretty well overall, but we could’ve rehearsed a little more. I feel that we all knew what we were talking about, but were a little nervous. My favorite part of the presentation was talking about Celebrity Worship Syndrome and Gagonorrhea. I enjoyed this because I don’t think many people realized that so many people have unhealthy obsessions with celebrities.
My favorite presentation that I observed was the Money presentation. I thought they did a great job presenting and had a nice, organized yet informative visual. I could tell that most of the presenters had taken their role seriously and prepared well. I learned that teen spending is becoming a huge issue and not many teens are earning their own money and relying on their parents for just about everything. My favorite visual argument was the Social Networking. I liked their idea of having a Facebook page displaying all of their information and the border of an iPod. It was very creative! I think all presentations were well thought out and presented nicely. Parts of all of them were interesting to me.
[...] Before you write, check out this strong example of a reflective blog post by Sarah M [...]
[...] Before you write, check out this strong example of a reflective blog post by Sarah M [...]