Creating Our Space in Herstory
Adanma Ude, 16
Tanasia White, 16
Teen Voices' Peer Leaders
Massachusetts
During the summer 2006 program at Teen Voices we wanted to acknowledge the strong, but sometimes unrecognized women of "herstory." So, we came up with a very exciting and interesting project. We dedicated one whole week to studying eight great women–even though these women should be recognized every day of the year! Acting as if they were placed back in time and using the voices of these women, the Teen Editors created a MySpace page for each incredible woman.
The Teen Editors posted pictures of the women, made backgrounds, display names, blogs, found quotes, and did everything they could to this page to learn (and teach others) about these great women. Some of the women were illiterate, so if it fit that person then spelling and grammar errors were OK. Some women had accents or spoke in dialects, so the girls wrote that into their profiles. Some of the women were very well educated, so on those pages their words and punctuation had to be up to par. From Madame CJ Walker to Freda Kahlo and Sojourner Truth, the teens spent five days perfecting their MySpace pages of these women.
Instead of the traditional paper or poster describing each woman, we gave it a Teen Voices' twist and gave voices to each woman. And by putting them on MySpace-a place where people don't usually look for women's history–we made the information fun and accessible to lots of teen girls. The Teen Editors really enjoyed the project, and at the end of the week they got to showcase their pages to all of the other girls in the program. It was a lot of fun, and it would be great if we could do it again!
If you are on MySpace, come and visit our famous women's profiles at myspace.com/teen_voices.
Sources:
www.learnthenet.com
www.uni.uiuc.edu
www.cbsnews.com
connectforkids.org
cisco.cc.tx.us
www.bewebaware.ca
|
 |
 |
|
Are you using MySpace or other social networking sites? How do you stay safe when you are meeting people online? Have you had any problems?
 |
|
|
|
|
Did You Know?
• Approximately 230,000 new users sign up on MySpace each day.
• 1 out of every 10 kids and teens who use AIM say someone has threatened them while they were instant messaging.
• In England, a study found that 1 in 4 children have been bullied or threatened through their cell phone or computer.
• The U.S. Congress is considering the Deleting Online Predators Act which would restrict social networking sites to those 18 or older and block access to these sites in schools and libraries.
|
|
