"Harlem" shake & Strategies for academic success

This week was a little different.  We spent the first half of the class discussing the “new” Harlem shake dance.  It is true that when most people are viewing these videos on the internet they do not think to look up the history behind it.  Most of the time people are just viewing them to laugh at the newest internet fad.  It turns out that there is a long history behind the Harlem shake, but not the one that these newest videos are depicting.  The real Harlem shake originated in Harlem around the time of the Harlem renaissance and is described as moving just your upper body with rhythm by some Harlem residence.  After hearing the history of the real Harlem shake, it is understandable why the residences of Harlem are offended by the “new” Harlem shake.  To Harlem residences this “new” shake is making fun of not only the old Harlem shake but their culture as well.  I think it was really important for us to talk about the history of the Harlem shake before we include it in our digital storytelling, but it was also important to just hear about it in general.

The second half of class consisted of Shelby and Steph taught their learning lesson over strategies for academic success.  I thought they did a good job of switching back and forth and giving clear directions to the class.  I liked that they used their resources and had the class take a short quiz to find out their learning style.  One thing that the girls did was to leave the class with the following question: how can you apply knowing your learning style and the strategies associated with it to improve your academic success?  The best answer I can come up with right now is that just being aware of your learning style so that while you are in class, taking notes, and/or studying that you employ some of those strategies.

Well that's about all I can think of to say about class this week so I hope everyone has a great Spring break!