Before We Get Started
When I was growing up and attending public schools, teachers focused on helping us develop to be as well-rounded as possible. They dared us to ask questions, research information, and color outside the lines. Now it seems that students color within the lines of their multiple choice test, choosing the best possible answer, and guessing on the rest.
In reflecting back on my childhood and my own education, my mind often starts singing along to the popular song “Stressed Out” by a band called Twenty One Pilots. Sometimes, I truly wish “we could turn back time to the good old days” but I doubt I am the only one. I let myself wallow in rose-colored nostalgia for a few moments before I snap out of the hypnotizing pull backwards. To go back in time would be to deny the changes and process made since then. Let these brief paragraphs serve as an preface. Though I will reflect on the content of this course and the knowledge I have gained over the course of this semester, I will do so with a forward-looking mindset. I will attempt to frame my synthesis and my reflection in the frame of the future. A future where I have my own classroom where eager students buzz in and out of our learning hive multiple times a day, not just during their prescribed allotment of English class. |
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Media Advocacy and Collegial Pedagogy: Stepping Stones to a Positive Digital Footprint
In the modern world, news travels fast. It takes only seconds for students to create a hateful message, seconds for students to send the message to the masses, and seconds for that message to hurt someone. Unfortunately, erasing the damage done to someone does not take a few seconds. Further, once something has been posted on the Internet, shared on Facebook, reblogged on Tumblr, or screen-shotted on Snapchat, it cannot be unseen. Sure, the author can remove the image, but like a scar from a bad accident, it does not really go away. Though cyberbullying is certainly a large issue plaguing schools and students across the globe, it is not the focus of this section. Instead, I want to focus on what can be done (and what is being done) to shift students from being cyber bullies to digital advocates.
In order to create a learning environment where students can thrive as digital advocates, teachers must first create a learning environment where students feel they have autonomy, power, and voice. Only then can students effectively dive into media advocacy, or the use of tools to “sway public opinions, support community organizing efforts, advance policy, and improve social capital” (Chavez and Soep, 2005, p. 410). Media advocacy can best occur in environments built on collegiality where “young people and adults mutually depend on one another’s skills, perspectives, and collaborative efforts to generate original, multitextual, professional-quality work for outside audiences” (Chavez and Soep, 2005, p. 411). Students benefit in these experiences because they have the opportunity to develop their own identities by navigating diverse interactions. In these digital projects, students in classrooms can collaborate to create something authentic and meaningful. Further, in online communities like HitRecord, students can connect with others who may have differences in terms of class, privilege, race, and sexual orientation (Chavez and Soep, 2005, p. 414). Communities like these help students develop cross-cultural communication skills which they can then apply in numerous settings (Chavez and Soep, 2005, p. 414). Projects where students can engage in media advocacy are few and far between. This is an unfortunate truth since these “rigorous, sustained learning experiences [culminate] in products that promote youth development and social action” (Chavez and Soep, 2005, p. 417). Whether engaging students in online communities like HitRecord, using the Internet to build a campaign about a local issue, or even simply using Twitter where students can tweet out quotes from their current reading, it is important for teachers to help students build a positive digital footprint. Though I have not yet had the chance to create my own classroom environment or have my own set of students, it is clear the benefit from opportunities to engage in media advocacy. |
STEM + Arts + Media and Performance = STAMMP
Besides engaging students in media advocacy, digital tools and technology allow for the creation of new tasks, art forms, contrasting texts, and ideas which were previously inconceivable. In examples given in Andrew Burn’s (2013) lecture, like MTV’s version of Romeo and Juliet audiences see an interesting contrast between “high art and popular culture” (not unlike what Scott McCloud writes in his graphic novel, Understanding Comics) where viewers find “unlikely aesthetic conjunctions and abrupt meetings of taste communities that would once have had nothing to do with one another” (Burn, 2013, p. 2). It is these types of contrasting texts and radical ideas that technology makes possible. Further, these previously inconceivable works are what teachers should strive for according to the SAMR model for technology integration.
By participating in “remixes” like Burn mentions, audiences redefine traditional definitions of ‘art’ while simultaneously redefining what it means to be an ‘artist.’ Unfortunately, with the focus of curriculums shifting to test-prep and ‘STEM,’ students and schools are missing the Arts. I'm not saying we should abandon STEM opportunities, instead teachers and schools should move full ‘STEAM’ ahead with providing students opportunities to engage in meaningful, inclusive learning experiences. Perhaps the best opportunity for students is in the creation of video games. Video games “provide a particular kind of cultural continuity, recalling older, more ancient forms of narrative, even reconstituting something of the sensibility of oral cultures” (Burn, p. 3). Further, “screen like games might develop new kinds of communicative and creative skills in students, and represent new digital cultures, but also connect with older cultural forms, and allow us to seem them in new ways” (Burn, p. 5). Feel free to explore Westerly High School’s first ever combined Arts Alive festival and STEM expo and the story of a video-gamer turned author to further explore the power arts can have in students’ lives.
Some students may struggle with the idea of mashing pieces together. This is the challenge of multimodality, students must realize “actual artistic and communicative practices of the world don’t respect boundaries” (Burn, p. 8). Thus, we as teachers must teach our students to color outside of the lines, to think outside of the box, and challenge them to challenge others. Though direct and scaffolded instruction and support, students can explore different types of medias and even remix them. Participating in the HitRecord community is another great, collaborative, and fun way to engage students in media mashing and content creation. By embracing a more inclusive acronym, we might allow for students to engage in acts of digital advocacy across more academic subjects and areas of interest.
By participating in “remixes” like Burn mentions, audiences redefine traditional definitions of ‘art’ while simultaneously redefining what it means to be an ‘artist.’ Unfortunately, with the focus of curriculums shifting to test-prep and ‘STEM,’ students and schools are missing the Arts. I'm not saying we should abandon STEM opportunities, instead teachers and schools should move full ‘STEAM’ ahead with providing students opportunities to engage in meaningful, inclusive learning experiences. Perhaps the best opportunity for students is in the creation of video games. Video games “provide a particular kind of cultural continuity, recalling older, more ancient forms of narrative, even reconstituting something of the sensibility of oral cultures” (Burn, p. 3). Further, “screen like games might develop new kinds of communicative and creative skills in students, and represent new digital cultures, but also connect with older cultural forms, and allow us to seem them in new ways” (Burn, p. 5). Feel free to explore Westerly High School’s first ever combined Arts Alive festival and STEM expo and the story of a video-gamer turned author to further explore the power arts can have in students’ lives.
Some students may struggle with the idea of mashing pieces together. This is the challenge of multimodality, students must realize “actual artistic and communicative practices of the world don’t respect boundaries” (Burn, p. 8). Thus, we as teachers must teach our students to color outside of the lines, to think outside of the box, and challenge them to challenge others. Though direct and scaffolded instruction and support, students can explore different types of medias and even remix them. Participating in the HitRecord community is another great, collaborative, and fun way to engage students in media mashing and content creation. By embracing a more inclusive acronym, we might allow for students to engage in acts of digital advocacy across more academic subjects and areas of interest.
The Icing on the Cake: Student Voice
Often times, when I am in my classes I think about how lucky I am to explore different areas of interest and develop skills. I sought out this digital literacy certificate to better understand how students read, think, develop, and create in digital environments. In many ways, I was already on board with all this technology integration, blended learning talk going around. As an avid fan of media, video games, technology, and other modern innovations, I am deeply excited by the idea that one day, I will get to take all the things I love and all the stuff my students love and put them together to make one really awesome classroom. I guess you could say my experience in this class has been one big experiment in confirmation bias. End result: Yes, I do still believe technology in schools is a good practice that more schools should embrace it.
Initially, I was intrigued by technology in schools because I saw it as a way to help students with their executive functioning skills, as it did with my own. Then, as I moved through my undergraduate career, I started to understand that technology was simply a tool through which media, messages, and texts were changing. As a future English teacher, I really had no choice: hop on board or be left in the dust. I am riding along on this wonky path I call my graduate studies and I am noticing my vision of digital literacy is constantly changing and expanding. Now, I see technology and the media as the dominant cultural icons that might (rightfully) force the Arts back into schools through STEAM and STAMMP initiatives. Further, I understand digital communities offer students the opportunity to engage in their lives and their communities by becoming digital advocates. As if all that and more wasn’t reason enough to tickle me pink about the future of education and the next generation of students, the idea that digital technology offers students an opportunity to be seen, heard, and validated was the icing on the cake (especially as a future secondary teacher where my students will be shaping themselves as they discover more about themselves and the world). Below, I have included a few quotes that any educator should consider.
Initially, I was intrigued by technology in schools because I saw it as a way to help students with their executive functioning skills, as it did with my own. Then, as I moved through my undergraduate career, I started to understand that technology was simply a tool through which media, messages, and texts were changing. As a future English teacher, I really had no choice: hop on board or be left in the dust. I am riding along on this wonky path I call my graduate studies and I am noticing my vision of digital literacy is constantly changing and expanding. Now, I see technology and the media as the dominant cultural icons that might (rightfully) force the Arts back into schools through STEAM and STAMMP initiatives. Further, I understand digital communities offer students the opportunity to engage in their lives and their communities by becoming digital advocates. As if all that and more wasn’t reason enough to tickle me pink about the future of education and the next generation of students, the idea that digital technology offers students an opportunity to be seen, heard, and validated was the icing on the cake (especially as a future secondary teacher where my students will be shaping themselves as they discover more about themselves and the world). Below, I have included a few quotes that any educator should consider.
As previously stated, I sought this certification in digital literacy because I wanted to know more, I wanted to feel more prepared to enter the 21st century teaching world. I do not know if I will ever feel ready or competent, but I suppose that is just the nature of teaching.
Bring on the standards, coworkers, parents, curriculums, changes, IEPs/504s, and the students. I'm ready for the challenge.
Word Count: 1,607 (sorry!)
References:
Buckingham, D. (2003). Media education and the end of the critical consumer. Harvard Educational Review, 73(3), 309-327.
Burn, A. (2013) Six arguments for the media arts: Screen education in the 21st century. Lecture at the Institute on Education, April 21.
Chavez, V. & Soep, E. (2005). Youth radio and the pedagogy of collegiality. Harvard Educational Review, 75(4), 409-434.
Clarke, L. W., and Besnoy, K. D. (2010). Connecting the old to the new: What technology-crazed adolescents tell us about teaching content area literacy. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 2(1), 47-56.
Hobbs, R. (2013). Improvization and strategic risk taking in informal learning with digital media literacy. Learning, Media and Technology, 38(2), 182-197.
Stern, S. (2008). Producing sites, exploring identities: Youth online authorship. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Youth, Identity and Digital Media. John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Initiative.
Bring on the standards, coworkers, parents, curriculums, changes, IEPs/504s, and the students. I'm ready for the challenge.
Word Count: 1,607 (sorry!)
References:
Buckingham, D. (2003). Media education and the end of the critical consumer. Harvard Educational Review, 73(3), 309-327.
Burn, A. (2013) Six arguments for the media arts: Screen education in the 21st century. Lecture at the Institute on Education, April 21.
Chavez, V. & Soep, E. (2005). Youth radio and the pedagogy of collegiality. Harvard Educational Review, 75(4), 409-434.
Clarke, L. W., and Besnoy, K. D. (2010). Connecting the old to the new: What technology-crazed adolescents tell us about teaching content area literacy. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 2(1), 47-56.
Hobbs, R. (2013). Improvization and strategic risk taking in informal learning with digital media literacy. Learning, Media and Technology, 38(2), 182-197.
Stern, S. (2008). Producing sites, exploring identities: Youth online authorship. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Youth, Identity and Digital Media. John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Initiative.