Looking at how the national standards for Media Literacy Education (MLE) and Theatre Education intersect, one can see clear parallels between the two fields and how they can be used together. As a future theatre teacher I intend to use media in my classroom as a way to communicate ideas and to help educate about different art forms.
One thing that is made quite clear in both standards is that we must encourage critical thinking about different works. “MLE teaches students to ask the specific types of questions that will allow them to gain a deeper or more sophisticated understanding of media messages” (CPMLE, 1.1). In theatre we do similar types of analysis with playscripts and developing characters, as is outlined in national standards 9-12.8 (detailing how to study theatre, film, and television) and 9-12.3 (covering designing and producing as well as realizing artistic interpretations). To achieve these standards in theatre we can utilize media in our classroom to help inspire this critical thinking. This can be done through the use of video or musical clips to help students understand an idea in a script or to see different interpretations of a script. An example of this could be watching several different versions of Hamlet to see how different directors might interpret the work. However, as the MLE standards state, simply showing media in the classroom is not the equivalent of actually teaching MLE. As well as exposing the students to the different forms of media we must also educate them about those forms and encourage critical thinking concerning what they have seen. Media in the classroom is not just a fancy trick for teachers to use, but a useful resource that, when used correctly, can enhance the learning and understanding of students about the material we are teaching as well as the world around them. As we teach analysis in the classroom, we educate them about how to analyze and interpret what they see in their lives.
The use of media within actual shows also can help students to understand concepts or themes within the production. Perhaps a student could find a song or put together a collage of pictures that helps them describe their character as an exercise to fulfill the theatre requirement covering character analysis. Exploring different kinds of media will not only help to increase the students’ understanding of their characters and the situations they are in, but they will also increase their ability to relate to different types of media that they may not have been exposed to before in this capacity.
My father told me growing up that acting was a combination of movement and speech. A similar thing can be said about theatre, that it is a combination of visual and aural art. When comparing the two areas, one finds that they are closely related. Media includes television, music, visual art, writing, and other forms of communication. Theatre utilizes many of these art forms to help communicate ideas to the audience. The theatre standards encourage students to learn about different forms of media as it relates to their studies. It is important to educate students about these forms to help them understand their work in theatre as well as to understand what they see in the world around them.
1 comment:
Like you (and so many of our classmates), I was also intrigued by how closely the Core Principles of Media Literacy Education (CPMLE) and the National Standards for Theatre Education (NSTE) seem to be aligned. Your point regarding critical thinking is spot-on; it seems to me that encouraging students to engage critically with the “texts” they encounter in all media is absolutely essential to achieving the aims of both the Core Principles and the Standards. In making your point, I especially appreciated your Hamlet example as a very practical application of the tenets of both the CPMLE and the NSTE.
Beyond the critical thinking aspects of these guidelines (CPMLE and NSTE), I am struck by the emphasis each places on students “develop[ing] a deeper understanding of personal issues and a broader worldview that includes global issues” (National Standards) and on “teaching them how they can arrive at informed choices that are most consistent with their own values” while “us[ing] group discussion and analysis of media messages to help students understand and appreciate different perspectives and points of view” (Core Principles). While I admit to being daft (or perhaps simply egocentric) enough to actually enjoy all forms and varieties of public speaking, I don’t plan to be a teacher in order to bask in the sound of my own voice day after day. The fact is, the only point in becoming a teacher isn’t to teach anything at all; instead, it is to facilitate and (only insofar as may be necessary) to guide young people’s journeys of maturation as they move through the phases of self-awareness, self-discovery, and self-actualization in conjunction with discovering and constructing an understanding of the world around them and of their chosen place within that structure. Both the CPMLE and the NSTE place a great deal of emphasis on this aspect of education; both are consistently insistent upon the principle of leading our young horses to water and giving them the space, the tools, and the safety to choose just where and what to drink. In this, I find both the Core Principles and the National Standards to be very practical in their ideals, and I appreciate that balance between the lofty aspirations they embody and the practical applications they empower.
For classroom practice in general, this marriage of the practical with the ideal can serve in itself as a model and inspiration not only to us as teacher-facilitators, but also to our students. I see great value in teaching students that the two ideas are not mutually exclusive: that “dreaming big” need not be an end unto itself, confined merely to the world of day-dreams, and that “being realistic” in their goals and aspirations does not mean they can’t set out to accomplish great things. If we as educators can make it part of our classroom practice always to point out or highlight the dual nature of what we do, we can help our students become better prepared to lead their peers in pursuing possibilities, even as they pursue their own chosen path into the big wide world around them.
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