Civility: The Right Thing to Teach in Contenious Times: Feb 5

How many times have you been in a classroom where the teacher paused after a student's comments, never replied, and moved to the next student? We can usually tell by a teacher's response that the answer was either "wrong" or "right". I strive not to be that teacher. But how do you interact without creating judgement and discouraging comments out of fear of getting it "wrong"? We, as teachers, need to practice our responses. We need to have a host of responses to create a civil enviroment for our students. We need to immediately correct less than civil comments between students as well. Part of perfecting this is to truly believe that all contributions have value and try to teach without an agenda. I desire very much to have a free-thinking class that is unafraid to contribute. What ways do you think I can accomplish this? How do you respond with civility when the student has really missed the mark?

Doing the Right Thing with Technology: Feb 5

I was resistant to the theme of this article from the get-go. How can we "suggest" to students that they be courteous instead of simply enforcing our own policies regarding cell phone and ipod use in school. But, after reading the article and considering my own teenage son, I am now a believer. Consider this point: A stringent policy that simply details when and where you can't use such items almost assumes all other times are ok. I cannot tell you how many times I have ask my son to stop texting during dinner. Maybe a courtesy policy in school would begin to get students thinking about how to be polite with such devices outside of campus. What would be some other advantages? As teachers trying to enforce a courtesy policy what would be the disadvantages?

Picturing Texts: comments and questions: Feb 5

What an amazing book! It helps to remind me that the art of language can be taught with many forms of "text" including photographs and images. Why limit ourselves to the written word, when we can spark critical thinking and communication skills with many forms- including oral histories, music, tangible artifacts, etc. Some of the photographs in the book speak volumes in a single snapshot in time.

What particular images sparked your interests and why? Think of a creative way of using a media form that you have never previously used and give an example of a task for your students engaging them with that image.

Questions

1. It seems that in the Alvermann article (20) that she points to narrowed definitions as to what really counts as reading for young people. Do we feel that in this age of technology that we can really discount the literature of video games, the internet, and other digital media? Why do these genres have a lesser place in the curriculum? Would students learn more from understanding this type of "literature"?

2. Since this generation is so native in digital technology how can teachers be sure to really get across to them? As digital immigrants we "speak with an accent" according to Alvermann. How can we expect students to "get" the old ways when they are used to the fast pace of the new digital world. How successful can a teacher be if they don't embrace the students' methods of learning? It goes beyond blogs and wikis and utilizing technology in the classroom.

3. This generation is not only used to the fast pace of the digital world but they are also used to multi-modal methods of communication. Should our curriculum take in stride that these students are used to intergrated music, graphics, and words to "think". With myspace, cellphones, and video games in mind should teachers craft assignments that will help students to map out their thoughts in this way?

Discussion Questions!

1. Most of us are in their twenties. Would you refer to you as a "Digital Native" (Alvermann 21) or "Digital Immigrant"?

2. "In the industrial-consumer state, education is organized to serve the goal of economic growth". (Alvermann 23) Isn't education rather about personal growth? In my opinion we should organize it to serve the goal of humanistic values rather than only the goal of economic growth.

3. Alvermann shows that "research on young people's engagement with multimodal texts has shown, learning with multiple signs systems often helps even the least motivated and underachieving readers redefine their literate competence" (26). Shouldn't learning with multiple sign systems be integrated in the curricula throughout the country? Is it integrated already? If yes, to what extend?

Thoughts on Media and Literacy

1. What is your response to Alvermann's statement, "That is, it will be important to reconcile narrowed definitions of reading (and hence reading instruction) with the need to develop young people's critical awareness as they engage with multiple sign systems." If there's a need to expand our definitions of reading and reading instruction is there also a need to rethink the way we test a student's ability to read?

2. Silverblatt's section on the credibility of media really stood out to me. His example of the typical wedding was so accurate, the presence of media does alter the event it’s documenting! I can’t count the number of times I’ve had the surreal experience of a sunset or reflective time on a mountain top cut short because the moment had to be “captured” by a camera. Or how many times have you flipped through a photo album thinking what a wonderful trip and then you remember that although you were smiling you were actually cold, wet, hungry, and hating every moment. Is there any form of media that isn’t a “construction of reality” (page 9)?

3. Would you “Strongly Agree” that media has a personal influence on you? I thought it was interesting that only 12% admitted that the media had a strong influence on them but 80% recognized that it had an impact on society as a whole. Are we responsible as teachers to not only ask our students to “respond thoughtfully” to media but to evaluate and study the effects the media has on us personally?

Are they ready for it?

After reading the Christel/Sullivan intro I felt motivated to see our English classrooms renovated. But not to rain on any one's parade, I was curious to see how another requirement will find time to be fulfilled in the classroom. Teachers already have goals set for reading, writing, grammar - from which of these categories will media literacy steal its time? In many respects, analyzing an ad spread or something like that seems like it could be quite stimulating in class. It's not so much that I am unwilling to change the English curriculum but am wary that the big wigs/parents will say, "you're wasting class time!" "How will this help my student get a perfect SAT score?" NCTE and others say they want media literacy - but do they really?

Too trusting

While reading through the intro on Media Literacy the section on the credibility of the media struck me. "The audience members must learn to look at the information presented throughout the media with a healthy skepticism and determine for themselves whether the content is accurate." (pg 9) I feel like this has always been a difficulty for me; it's hard for me to look at something or someone with a critical eye which at times has led to me being taken advantage of. I guess I'm more aware of it if it's an actual commercial where I know that they have a particular agenda; I'm convinced that there is no objective news channel so I turn to Colbert for his wisdom instead. Sorry, not really a question but more of a rambling of a character attribute of mine.

Final thoughts..

Questions in response to the Alvermann text:

If learning occurs during video games, is there a place for video games in future teaching? Does this sound a little ridiculous to anyone?
What role does age gap play in the writing of this article? This article is addressed to the "rest of us- Digital Immigrants" but here I am, a semester away from teaching and I would self-identify as a native. Will we see a shift in the next ten years simply due to baby boomers retiring and a big shift of younger teachers moving in?
Also, what does the data showing schools growing more "traditional in approach" say? Is this purely a reflection of NCLB?

What did you think about...

...Johnson's thought experiment? (Alvermann p. 24)

What if video games came first?! I had never thought about this before and found this new perspective refreshing.

The first confession

After reading Alvermann's article I felt conflicted. I can fully see why she is urging us to keep up with the times regarding technology/literacies. Yet, I couldn't help but feel this welling up in me that wanted to defend the traditional method. Is this because that's what I experienced - at least for the most part? Do I feel somehow like my credability will be debased if I change from the way I was taught? Did any one else find themself feeling a bit in opposition to Alvermann's proposals?

Reading Responses (Feb. 3rd)

Hi everyone - I hope all of you had good weekends!

1. From Alvermann:
- Does bringing out-of-the-classroom technology into the classroom change its meaning? Will it lose its appeal with students, thus its effectiveness, because it is no longer associated with being "theirs" out of the classroom?
-Are we complying with technological advances to the point of losing the foundation we once had? Perhaps the foundation that was needed in order to create this technology in the first place? Can we really consider text messaging as reading?!
- pg.23: "education is organized to serve the goal of economic growth." Does this notion lend itself to a shift away from learning for the betterment of oneself? How do bring that back? Or do we?

2. From Silverblatt:
- As educators, I think it is important to be aware of ourselves as individuals and what it is that we are bringing into the classroom with us and how that will affect how we teach. How has media affected your life? How do you forsee this affecting the way you will teach?

3. From Christel & Sullivan:
- Do you think we have a responsibility to address the issues and equip students with the skills needed to become media literate? At any point, does choosing NOT to teach current media literacy become an ethics issue?

Questions for February 2

1. Alverman argues that we should "look on young people as having expertise in areas that have to do with their particular situations and the particular places and spaces they occupy." What areas would we consider young people to have expertise in, and how would we incorporate this expertise into our classrooms?

2. Silverblatt talks about understanding of photography/film/visual art in a definition of media literacy. In Brit Lit 8th to the 18th Century, we often looked at different paintings, tapestries, etc. and analyzed them in the same way we analyzed the written texts of the period. Should we be teaching our students how to analyze and understand visual media, whether past or present?Would this include advertisements? If so, to what purpose? What would we tell our students if they asked us why this was important?

3. Christel and Sullivan ask in their introduction, "Aren't schools supposed to be about preparing students for the "real world"? (xvii-xviii) What is the purpose of public education, or more specifically, what is the point of teaching English Language Arts? This question may seem overwhelming, but it is one I had to ask myself this summer after a conversation with a student. As part of the Reading is Fun program at Sidney Migrant Education we give students their selection of free books twice during the summer school period. One night the high school boys swiped a few books off the table without even looking at the titles. Being a lover of books myself, I was appalled that they didn't even spend a second looking at the books I had poured over earlier while setting them up. When I asked one of the boys why he didn't care what book he picked he turned to me and said, "I'm a migrant worker. What do I need a book for? Why don't you give us something we really need." In a time when his family was struggling for work, food, a house, I didn't know what to say. I tried to come up with a response about the importance of reading and writing, but he didn't buy it. So, fellow teachers, what should I have said? Why does a 17 year old migrant worker from Texas need to know anything about Shakespeare?

the high school canon

English teaching students often think about the literature we are expected to teach because English studies is heavy into reading and analyzing literature as being synonymous with what one learns in English class. English study at the college level too often privileges and sustains this notion. However, if you look at what counts as English study at the middle and secondary level, you notice that we talk as much about our responsiblity to teach all the English language arts (speaking, reading, writing, listening, and viewing) not strictly literature. Also, new teachers and preservice teachers also think about teaching the works they read in college with their students in middle and secondary schools (e.g., Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, Joyce, etc.). There is a high school canon that rarely, if ever, gets read or discussed at the college level. Many new teachers gasp in horror when they get the "approved" book list or the grade level curricula and discover that many of the books they'll be expected to teach are books they haven't read or discussed since they themselves were in high school. The ENT 439 class and their other literature classes do little to help new teachers prepare to teach works like To Kill a Mockingbird or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Can you find some representative book lists from Missoula County Public Schools or from some other district in which you imagine yourself teaching? Survey the list to note whether you have ever read the books on the list, when you last read them, whether you discussed them with other readers and how well prepared you would feel if told tomorrow that you needed to teach such-and-so a text. How might media help you feel more prepared, better prepared than you do today?

on literature and media literacy

I don't think that media literacy and print literacy need to be mutually exclusive. I do most of my research these days by searching the internet for resources. I wrote my latest book on Teaching Sherman Alexie using the internet, DSL connections to libraries and websites, almost exclusively. Of course, I have and have read all of Alexie's work on the page--collections of poems, short stories, novels, essays... It is a combination of print and media. I don't think that using the media and students' skills with media to intersect with Shakespeare, Elliot, etc. means that they will ignore the canon. I think that these days it's the only way to make relevant the classic or canonical texts. How much time do you spend "going to the library...?" How much time do you spend engaged with digitalia?

A thought, a question, and a proposition...

1. Alvermann warns that "those in authority over school-related reading instruction are moving ever further toward a narrowed definition of what counts as reading" (p20). When reflecting on the restricting nature of what counts as acceptable literature, I am reminded of a very familiar term used throughout my English education called "the canon." The canon recognizes literature that literary scholars unanimously approve as the best literary works of history that all literati should know and understand. In this list would include works like Dante's "Inferno," Shakespeare's "The Tempest," and T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland." I think it is important to be exposed to these great works, but I think it is more important that teacher's work to find those connections that make those old writings relevant to student's current lives--incorporating contemporary literary media in with classical literature.

2. In his introduction, Silverblatt discusses the importance of teaching literary media. On a scale of 1-5 (1 being not important, and 5 being extremely important), in this age, how important is it to teach literary media skills that will increase student's ability to decipher credible sources and aid in the collection and understanding of information available?

3. Christel and Sullivan challenge, "Aren't schools supposed to be about preparing our students for the "real world"?(pxvii) As a Literature major, a reocurring neccessity in my classes was to search for the relevance of what we were reading in connection to the real world. The possibilities that literary media offer, is a way to keep the study of books alive. We must adjust, we must force ourselves to adapt to a changing society and embrace the potential of the "net generation."

Questions for February 3rd

1. As I read the Christel and Sullivan introduction, I feel quite resistant to the idea of incorporating too much media into my classroom. I am fairly comfortable with technology, so it is not that I feel utterly lost, but the idea still rubs me the wrong way. Do others feel this way? If so, why do you think that is?

2. The Alverman article discusses the postive characteristics of video games that help children/adolescents learn. However, there are so many hegative aspects to vieo games (violence, lack of social interation, etc). So does the good (problem-solving, learning from nonverbal cues, etc) really outweigh the bad?

3. The Silverblat text game me a better appreciation for the need to incorporate media literacy into the classroom. But my question is: to what extent do we replace important, historical, and/or famous authors and texts with more media literate texts? Will there come a day when Shakespeare is NOT a familiar name in the English classroom?

My questions:

1. What do you think of Johnson's thought experiment outlined in the reading supposing the "what if video games came before books?

2. What do you feel is the trend toward language instruction? Are we demanding more formal types of written assisgments or are we following the students' trend with more informal ways of communicating? Which is better?

3. Discuss how our language is a living and evolving entity. How has it changed through the years. Are these changes typically for the better or the worse?

PS. Check out the link I posted for the comedy sketch only if you not easily offended by teacher humor with an occasional swear word mixed in. (ok. I know you all will watch it)

YouTube - Dylan Mandlsohn - Comedy Now: Teacher's College

YouTube - Dylan Mandlsohn - Comedy Now: Teacher's College

Readings for Tuesday, Feb. 3

You'll want to pay attention to the class calendar for reading schedules, so by our next class hopefully will have read the intro to Media Literacy (Silverblatt), the intro to Lesson Plans for Creating Media Rich Classrooms (Christel & Sullivan), and the Alvermann article. You can post questions inspired by any of the texts--just wanted to make sure that's clear.