Mini Pop Culture Analysis

Grey’s Anatomy is an award winning medical drama. It is about the lives of the main characters who are residents, interns, and doctors. The characters work at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital. The setting takes place at the hospital and at the character’s houses. The show is based on medical jobs and the character’s relationship problems. There is a lot of pop culture behind the television show.

It became popular because it has won many awards for writing, acting, and directing. It has become one of the most successful television shows.  It is a medical drama that shows trauma and realism of what goes on in hospitals. It has ethical issues, heroes, and relationships between doctors. A main focus of Grey’s Anatomy is focusing on the characters, making their lives interesting and their personalities likeable. People get attached to characters and want to follow their lives. The storylines draw in attention and allows people to escape into the show. It is inspiring for people to want to become doctors and nurses from watching these types of programs. The main audience that Grey’ Anatomy attracts is college-students and adults of any background.  The characters consist of a cast of all different racial groups, which makes it cultured.  The show creates a diverse world of doctors, which helps its success rate.

I think that this television show became popular because of the emotions that go along with the characters. Grey’s Anatomy falls in the higher end of popular culture because it can touch people. The audience feels the emotions that the characters are feeling. The audience can relate to the different emotions, such as fear, betrayal, and joy which cause them to become attached. I also think that the music plays a big part in making the television show a hit. Every episode is titled by a famous song. They use music that ties into the theme to help tell the mood of the storyline. The music choices are always great, and help in making songs become more popular.

            The show became more popular over time. It became known over previews over the television that are always suspenseful and leave you hanging to find out what happens. Conversations between people also bring a bigger audience to watching the television show.  The internet and websites also give information on the episodes and what is going to happen. People see this and then become more interested.

            An issue that arises from this television show is sexuality. Characters have different love interests that people may see as morally right or wrong depending on what they believe in. One of the characters is trying to find out what gender she would rather be with. There is an ethical issue with one of the doctors dating and getting engaged to a patient. Hospitals have rules with doctor and patient relationships. People make perceptions about real-world doctors based on this program. If the television doctors are perceived as brave, then the audience will perceive real-world doctors the same. The show has morals about acting respectful in a work place and passionate about their jobs.

            I think Grey’s Anatomy is a growing trend. As the seasons come, more and more people tune in to watch the show. It can relate to the other medical drama television shows, but follows the relationships between doctors. It adds other special effects to make it better to attract the audience in. It allows the audience to escape and follow the characters’ lives. The show created catch phrases that people now talk about. The female doctors on the show give names to the male doctors. There is “McDreamy,” “McSteamy,” and “McVet.” They also made other words with the “Mc” prefix. This trend has been seen on other shows as well.

People can learn things that happen in the medical world because the medical cases and things they do are accurate to real-world experiences. I think society can gain awareness from this show. I think that Grey’s Anatomy has made a positive influence on society. It will continue to be successful for as long as it the writers continue to make the television show last. It will continue to attract more people.  

Education Needs A Digital Upgrade

 In my years of schooling, I think that teachers should have better prepared me for the tech requirements in college. They taught me how to use the internet and research information. We used a program called type to learn, which taught me how to type faster to increase my typing skills when writing papers. I was taught how to use PowerPoint and create slideshows for projects I had. It was a new way to present information to classmates. In high school, we started to turn our papers in over the internet, which prepared me for college. In college, there are a lot of assignments that need to be turned in online. A suggestion I have to make students better prepared is to have more online assignments. Teachers should make online quizzes and homework assignments to get students to navigate around to different websites. They should introduce programs to make movies. They should teach how to send emails and blogs because in college there are a lot of communicating activities for assignments. 

In the career field of Neonatal Nursing, I am going to have to use technology.  I am going to know how to use specific software programs. Nurses carry around PDAs so they can access patients medical charts, take notes, and look up information. I am going to have to learn how to read monitors to know patients vital signs. Nurses use technology to keep track of vital signs. They connect technology to a patient so they can closely be monitored. I think that my schooling at Oakland will prepare me for my future as a nurse. They seem to be teaching us a variety of programs already, and there will probably be many more to learn. The nursing program will better prepare me to use these types of programs.

I feel that I write better in a relaxed setting. I don’t have an audience or people around me so it is a quieter environment. It allows me to concentrate and be more focused, so I can come up with thoughts. I feel that when I type it is easier to come up with what I want to say. When you blog, you can share any thought that comes to you. It is relaxing to do. 

If I was a science teacher, I would use many programs to help better my students for future jobs they may have. I would give out experiments to be done over the internet. Students will have to figure out how to conduct them on their own, so they will become more independent. This can help students who want to work in laboratories. I will also use more computer programs, use the internet, and use more multi-media programs. Each generation, technology keeps increasing. All you can do is keep students up to date on all the programs being used, so they are prepared for the high-tech jobs that our future has. 

The tone of this piece is how technology is increasing, and we need to keep up on all these programs for future jobs. I agree with the thesis. I think that technology will keep increasing, and people are going to be more involved in computer jobs. It is important to know how to use these programs because soon every job is going to have technology. Students should be taught from early on how to use different types of programs, so they keep up in our world.

Literacy Timeline

• My parents use to talk to me constantly when I was a baby. They would repeat words over and over again until I repeated them back. The more they talked to me, the more I understood what they were saying, and I comprehended it.

• When I was a baby, my parents taught me a few words in Italian with hand motions.

• My parents would sit me in front of the television. I would watch "Barney" and "Teletubbies." They were entertaining and kid oriented. "Barney" taught life learning lessons through songs and dances. He was always friendly and had a great attitude. I would pick up songs that were on the show and sing them. "Teletubbies" did activities that little children enjoyed doing, so they can relate to each other. They had televisions on their stomachs that played messages that kids can learn from.

• My parents use to read to me. They would read Dr. Seuss. The books rhyme and repeat words over and over again. They are fun and creative so it brings kids to want to read them and pay attention. It has pictures that allow connections to be made to the words in the story.

• I went to Messmore Elementary School. In first grade, they took us out in the hallway and read with the teacher one on one. They wanted to see what our reading levels were. We would read out in the hall a couple times a week to help improve our reading skills.

• In elementary school, we had daily reading and answering questions. It taught me how to read something and comprehend what they are saying. I had to think about it to answer the questions.

• I had to write a book in elementary school. I had to put sentences together to form a story.  It allowed me to be creative, and come up with pictures.

• Dancing has also helped me. I have been dancing throughout my whole life. I started dancing in kindergarten and I am still dancing today. It got me to understand the meaning of songs and lyrics. You get to tell stories through movements with your motions and body language. It makes you listen closer, and think more. You have to memorize movements, which improves memorization skills when trying to learn new things.

• I took Spanish for four years. It helped me to be literate in more than one language. I can read, write and comprehend the language. It taught me about their culture and different writing formats and structures.

• The internet today has made me even more literate. I have been using the internet more often since junior high since new websites have come up. I use it for research, essays, email, Facebook, and much more. I communicate more online now, than I did ever before.

Literacy Questions- Free write 9/14/11

•     Facebook is used because it keeps you involved with the people around you. It allows you to keep in touch with people that you do not normally see. You can see what is going on with your friends and family. Every day on the web allows people to contribute, distribute, and consume. We distribute pictures and statuses about what we want to share with others, and what we think is important for people to know. We consume information by reading posts others have shared. We contribute to the Facebook community by writing and sharing our ideas, thoughts, and opinions after we have consumed the information. Social networking helps in becoming more literate. Since it is a communicating site, it forces people to share more ideas and write more than they usually would. It allows for people to be more social, and communicate their ideas since there is always a space to write a thought. 

•     People read print and digital texts differently. Books with texts are everywhere, and it is older than reading online. People are used to reading information in books rather than on the internet. Digital texts can be presented differently, than just in a book. The websites can have pictures and be designed creatively, so it draws the reader in. 

•     There is a difference in bring a participant of the digital realm versus being an active, critical, and digitally literate. If you are participating, it means you know how to use the internet, but are not really involved in it. Being active means that you are consuming information you have seen, and commenting on it or using it. It also means that you know how to use different programs and communicate online through email, blogs, or Facebook.  

• Being literate is an important factor in being digitally literate. To communicate at all, you have to know the basic understanding of writing, reading, and talking. Knowing those skills will be able to help you communicate online. You will have to be able to read information, comprehend it, and then respond. You have to be literate to be digitally literate. 

Why writing is important?

            My career goal I am aiming for is to be a neonatal nurse practitioner. There are many skills that I will need to be successful in this field. It is important that I have great communication and writing skills. I will need to be able to write well because I will have to fill out charts. I will need to know how to chart in detail about everything that is happening to the patient. It needs to be detailed so if a doctor was to read it, they will know exactly everything that is going on with the patient. If information is missed, or not written correctly, I can harm the patient because the chart would not be read correctly.

            Having great communication skills is an important factor in being a great nurse. I will need to be able to communicate with other nurses, doctors, patients, and patients’ families. I need to work with others and be clear when speaking to them so they understand what I am saying. I need to know how to speak to patients to comfort them if they are scared. Families need to be talked to in hard times, and I need to know how to speak with them to show them that I care.