I must admit, I was a little disappointed with the first part of this reading. It seemed to present the online viewing habits of a high school boy positively, but it did not seem to come out and say exactly why that was educational. Although there is value in recognizing how students view or access media today, and engage in analysis and debate, the specific educational methods are unclear. As an educator I feel, very deeply, that we must make our lessons feel relevant to our students and the world that they experience. I love the idea of using episodes of TV shows that they are familiar with or recent movies and online media to help get them interested in looking at their experiences in a different way. However, to do this, I feel that we must make the assignments specific, clear, and relevant to the subject of the class. For example, this student that Hobbs talks about seems to be praised because he’s not just watching but participating in discussion boards. How, as an English teacher, would this help me teach him unless he was being graded on the strengths of his arguments, his spelling, or his grammar? Just writing or participating would not be enough. Without specific assignments and structured monitoring, how would the student learn new skills?
I think that this relates to the idea of Access as it was defined in the book, “finding and sharing appropriate and relevant information and using media texts and technology tools well”. We must have a strong argument for using specific media/technology tools as class assignments in order to teach or assess a certain skills or knowledge. Otherwise it will not be as affective.
I do, like I said, love the idea of using films, blogs or other media to teach. I have thought about how I would connect some of the shows I am familiar with as teaching tools. If I were to have the students watch something on Hulu, I would post a specific question about the plot, character development, or cultural context of the episode and have the students respond. Then grade the on their analysis and application of the things we’ve talked about in class. I also used to love the TV show, JAG. It was about the legal system in the military (much like Law and Order, but less dry and a little more cheesy) and ran in the late 90s, but it was interesting because they started out using real current events to base their various episodes on. They were also the first (and only, that I know of) series to be given access by the military to archived videos, equipment, and personnel who worked as consultants on a regular basis. It would be so neat to use that information in our media viewing discussions. We could use it as a springboard for research on those current events of the time and how they were portrayed in performance. It could be an introduction to historiography.
I love the idea of using current media and entertainment sources to teach analytical and writing skills. I think it’s important to use the student’s pastimes and passions to increase their learning and make our lessons relevant to them. I just hope that those who try this can find ways to make the assignments specific enough to be meaningful and long-lasting and that they will make sure that the media information they give them is “appropriate and relevant” to what they are trying to teach them.
3 comments:
I agree with Meg's view of the introduction to this text; presenting Tony's online viewing and discussion board habits as a positive affirmation of education was stretching it, to say the least. It can be argued that posting on a discussion board is the result of an education (he can read, write, and to some extent analyze), but even if it does have a connection to something he is learning in school, it is unlikely that he has made that connection. The text states,
"He's posted his two cents on the longstanding debate about the sex jokes on 'Family Guy.' He's clarified a plot point or two on the 'Bones' discussion board, answering people's questions about why a character acted a certain way. Now he's got something to add to the board about why 'Greek' doesn't seem like it's set in Ohio. One thing is clear: Tony is no couch potato."
I mean, come on.... what relevance do any of those things have to Tony's education, unless his teacher is utilizing those elements to specifically teach a subject?
(And, on a side note, I might add that I take issue with the last sentence, that "Tony is no couch potato." The definition of a couch potato is "A person who spends little or no time exercising and a great deal of time watching television." Just because you are participating in something online doesn't mean you aren't a couch potato.)
I appreciated what Meg said, "I love the idea of using episode of TV shows that they are familiar with or recent movies and online media to help them get interested in looking at their experiences in a different way. However, to do this, I feel that we must make the assignments specific, clear, and relevant to the subject of the class." An example of this would be using the discussion boards on Hulu to teach character analysis. As the text stated, “[Tony’s] clarified a plot point or two on the 'Bones' discussion board, answering people's questions about why a character acted a certain way.” Imagine if a whole class did this, with the teacher possibly contributing as well. This assignment would utilize technology that would, most likely interest the class, and at the same time, teach them about (if they are not familiar with it) and give them greater access to the world, community, and rules of the Internet.
Access can be a great help in a classroom. In a public school setting, access involves students using technology tools, gathering information, and, of course, comprehending those tools and the information presented. The text would have presented a good scenario of accessing media in a classroom if what Tony was doing had had any relation to what he was doing in school.
However, there are problems with this scenario, and many other scenarios when accessing media. The biggest problem I foresee is appropriateness and parental agreement. Going back to the “Bones” scenario, who’s to say that everything on that show is appropriate for every member of your class? Or, even if it is, there may some be some parents that will not be happy with their child watching Bones, or contributing to a public discussion board. The Internet and other media, though valuable resources in the classroom, often have inappropriate material contained within them. The key to using and creating media access in your classroom is to plan beforehand, edit, and provide boundaries for students. Doing this can solve most, if not all, problems.
For example, assigning your class to use pinterest to find good examples of costume design, or youtube to learn about accents can be dangerous if you don’t get permission from parents beforehand, teach the students about the technologies, and warn them about possible dangers or material. It comes back to a very correct statement that Meg quoted in the text, “Access is about finding, learning, and sharing appropriate and relevant information…”
In short, access in a public school setting often means guided use of new technologies, rather than free reign. Access should happen in classrooms, because it is an extremely powerful tool when trying to engage students in learning and participating. Its power comes from its relevance to their lives.
If it is relevant, they will engage.
Meg, I think that the first part of the reading didn’t delve into the educational merits of teenage media use because I think that the first chapter was more focused on presenting the mere facts of how much teens use media and how much it impacts their lives. I think the benefits of media on a teenager can’t really be quantified as it is more of an individual consideration. What I think Hobbs wants us to see is exactly what you said, that we have to make our lessons relevant to our students. That means we have to first be aware of what is relevant to their lives and then use those things to help teach our curriculum. I think that, as an English teacher, you could use the method of discussion boards as just a simple free write activity. I know that as a teen, I engaged on a message board and although it was definitely a casual type of writing, I do feel that I became a better writer merely as a result of writing more often. Even though my writing was informal, I still learned how to be clear and concise and how to analyze other written arguments/statements. I think an effective way to use discussion boards in class would be to have students use them as a way to critique other written pieces, whether it’s from fellow classmates or assigned reading. Sort of similar to the way we do in this class, but instead of just one or two students commenting on a piece of writing, you could have your class engage in an online discussion about one written piece (say a poem or short story or essay). Also, I think you could use discussion boards as way for students to post and talk about English related things. One student might post a funny sign that had a misspelling or incorrect word usage and other students could comment on it. I think that part of teaching English and Writing is to get students to write, even if that means they are just talking about something trivial.
I love your idea of using JAG as an introduction to historiography. You could even make it like a film/book club activity where groups of students were assigned to different episodes. Then each group would watch their episode and do research as a group about the historical facts that helped to build the storyline and characters of their episode. They could present their findings to the class and you could have a class discussion about how the media can occasionally distort the truth, as does literature too. You could discuss whether students think that is okay. Or you could even have students come up with their own idea for a JAG or Law and Order episode that is based on a big issue in the current news. I’m glad you think that using media to teach is a good idea, because there are so many endless opportunities to make lessons more engaging and fun. I think that media is exciting and fun both as a teacher and as a student. However, I think you made a really good point at the end of your post which is that we can’t sacrifice relevancy and meaning just so that we can incorporate a lot of media. In the end, media should be something we use to complement the curriculum we need to teach. It’s definitely a balancing act, but I think it’s one that is worthwhile.
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