I am responding directly to the way Professor Beach treats the Eden Prairie School Board member in his first chapter, “Goals for Media Literacy Instruction.” As an Eden Prairie graduate myself, I feel that I have 1.) Perhaps some pride at stake here that makes me empathize with this board member, and 2.) An inside view that might show how this issue is more complicated than Mr. Beach makes it sound.
The board member is quoted, “To me, showing movies is a pretty low skill-level. I would rather that teachers use the skills they have to get students involved in reading and discussing topics… If we’re showing a lot of videos in the classroom, then I view that as a problem. We do get parents calling us, saying, ‘Why are they showing Schindler’s list? Why are we showing Pippi Longstocking?”
Beach spends the chapter essentially disproving the idea that multiple medias should not be a part of the classroom. And although I agree with him in all aspects, I am not so sure that this school board member is really the evil we are battling. This school board member MAY have, IN CONTEXT, had a valid point.
I think that what the board member may be speaking to is when technology takes the place of learning in a classroom. And that is a problem. And it does happen. Even in the best of school districts such as Eden Prairie. Maybe as students we have all felt it… when the teacher needs a day off to catch-up on grading and pops in a video and hands out a worksheet just for peace of mind rather than building upon class material or enhancing understanding. The point to be made here is not that videos and other technology have no place in the classroom, but that they are often the scapegoat for what is actually some instructor-slacking.
And if this is the scenario/context that we are dealing with, “showing movies” IS a “pretty low skill level” and I don’t think that Beach would disagree with that. The question is whether teachers can offer a good explanation for the parent who calls to ask, “Why are you showing Schindler’s list?” If that teacher can rattle off something like the following, I don’t think anyone would have a problem…
“Schindler’s List is one of the greatest works of art and film created in our time, and we are analyzing it in bits, connecting it with several units of class material. Connected to our persuasive letters, we are using the film as a source of for identifying Ethos and Pathos. In literature circles, we are reading, “The Book Thief,” a holocaust story told from the perspective of an Anti-Nazi German family. We use Schindler’s list to compare the influence of perspective, and clarify the meaning of certain literary elements such as symbolism and implied metaphor. We are using the film, together with the novel and several shorter non-fiction texts to study genocide in other times and places in history. We will culminate in a written and visual performance that the students use to persuade readers and viewers for a certain social action, using what they have learned about persuasion and literature and visual representation.”
Ya know what I’m sayin?!” We can and should be using film AND music AND blogs and all kinds of different media that keeps students thinking, creating, and gaining knowledge in our world… but it has got to have purpose… or else, well, there isn’t any.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
CI5461: Entry 1.0 "Learning by Osmosis"
Well, after barely living through the first week of classes, involving what has been termed by some, "a Moby Dick/War and Peace amount of assigned reading," I know longer recall where I read any of the thought-nuggets that are sugar-plumming around in my head, but all this stuff is connected, right? So I'll just dig right in...
There was a moment in one of the texts that declared something like, "the activity is not the learning... the learning is the thoughtful reflection on the activity." The text went on to point out how many teachers sort of expect that, after a great activity is planned and executed, the learning is complete, something the authors referred to as "learning by osmosis." I underlined that phrase and wrote in the margin, "I think I do this." Education has taken a long time to come to the conclusion that passive memorization may not be a paradigm worth maintainind... it is also true and striking I think among all of the constructivist rhetoric we've been exposed to... to remember that even active participation in class activities isn't the end of the line.
And it makes sense when you think about it -- is meaningful reflection really something we do automatically? Another part of some reading that I did talked about the writing/reflecting as the experience itself... the idea that nothing is in fact real until we consciously make it into a meaningful experience. I think that this has been rue for me in the past, where I don't really realize I mean something until I put it on paper or say it out loud.
My cooperating teacher is cool in a lot of ways, but what I like best about her is her abrupt honesty. She told me frankly... "students typically really suck at personal reflection." Kudos. If there is really something to the idea that experience becomes meaningful through reflection, and if it is also true that our young people suck at it... what kind of meaning are they missing out on?
There was a moment in one of the texts that declared something like, "the activity is not the learning... the learning is the thoughtful reflection on the activity." The text went on to point out how many teachers sort of expect that, after a great activity is planned and executed, the learning is complete, something the authors referred to as "learning by osmosis." I underlined that phrase and wrote in the margin, "I think I do this." Education has taken a long time to come to the conclusion that passive memorization may not be a paradigm worth maintainind... it is also true and striking I think among all of the constructivist rhetoric we've been exposed to... to remember that even active participation in class activities isn't the end of the line.
And it makes sense when you think about it -- is meaningful reflection really something we do automatically? Another part of some reading that I did talked about the writing/reflecting as the experience itself... the idea that nothing is in fact real until we consciously make it into a meaningful experience. I think that this has been rue for me in the past, where I don't really realize I mean something until I put it on paper or say it out loud.
My cooperating teacher is cool in a lot of ways, but what I like best about her is her abrupt honesty. She told me frankly... "students typically really suck at personal reflection." Kudos. If there is really something to the idea that experience becomes meaningful through reflection, and if it is also true that our young people suck at it... what kind of meaning are they missing out on?
Sunday, January 25, 2009
CI5472 Entry 0.5
I have a coughing, feverish, achy, clingy two-year-old who will absolutely not allow me to get any work done, nor will she fall asleep without me next to her. So I will need to make my official post tomorrow. My apologies for keeping you waiting, but sick babies need their mommies!
Friday, January 23, 2009
CI 5461: Blog Entry 0.5 – Initial Thoughts on Writing
Good, bad, or memorable writing experiences
I have never been much of a poetry writer, but I took a chance as an eleventh grader and submitted a poem to our school’s literary magazine. I didn’t have the balls to take ownership of my own work, so I submitted it anonymously. Having it published was a wonderful experience, and though it was a bit of a cop-out, I enjoyed having it be anonymous, I could hear people comment on it truthfully as if it didn’t actually belong to the person sitting next to them. It gave me some good confidence as a writer that carries me even now, despite the fact that I haven’t been able to publish my writing, but only my artwork ever since.
Another example was at a release party for the literary magazine, the Ivory Tower, where I saw someone reading the blurb I had written to go along with my photo… she liked what I wrote well enough to copy it down into her own copy of the magazine.
What do we believe about writing? What do others seem to believe? What is "good" writing? What/who are "good" writers?
I believe that writing is about storytelling. And there are tools that you can use that make you more able to say what you really mean… to tell your story in a more honest way.
I have found that students often view writing as laborious and boring, even when teachers give them choice or when teachers try to come up with prompts that are meant to be stimulating. I don’t know how to solve that problem… one that seems so engrained by secondary school. I also think students and indeed many or most adults feel that writing is daunting because of the fear of looking stupid as a result of poor form. Many students in my generation suffer from All-My-English-Teachers-Hated-Grammar-Too Syndrome, to the point that even my husband (who is a very smart man and beat me on the ACTs) doesn’t know what an adverb is without reminding. And to the point that one of my Crosswinds students crumpled up his free-write and threw it on the ground because another student was making fun of his spelling.
I think that good writers are ones that create newness by bending how we think of literature and are able to teach us something worthwhile about the human experience through emotion that emulates from their words. So as teachers, I think we are faced with finding out what students are emotional about and getting them to write about it. That, however, is admittedly easier said than done.
I have never been much of a poetry writer, but I took a chance as an eleventh grader and submitted a poem to our school’s literary magazine. I didn’t have the balls to take ownership of my own work, so I submitted it anonymously. Having it published was a wonderful experience, and though it was a bit of a cop-out, I enjoyed having it be anonymous, I could hear people comment on it truthfully as if it didn’t actually belong to the person sitting next to them. It gave me some good confidence as a writer that carries me even now, despite the fact that I haven’t been able to publish my writing, but only my artwork ever since.
Another example was at a release party for the literary magazine, the Ivory Tower, where I saw someone reading the blurb I had written to go along with my photo… she liked what I wrote well enough to copy it down into her own copy of the magazine.
What do we believe about writing? What do others seem to believe? What is "good" writing? What/who are "good" writers?
I believe that writing is about storytelling. And there are tools that you can use that make you more able to say what you really mean… to tell your story in a more honest way.
I have found that students often view writing as laborious and boring, even when teachers give them choice or when teachers try to come up with prompts that are meant to be stimulating. I don’t know how to solve that problem… one that seems so engrained by secondary school. I also think students and indeed many or most adults feel that writing is daunting because of the fear of looking stupid as a result of poor form. Many students in my generation suffer from All-My-English-Teachers-Hated-Grammar-Too Syndrome, to the point that even my husband (who is a very smart man and beat me on the ACTs) doesn’t know what an adverb is without reminding. And to the point that one of my Crosswinds students crumpled up his free-write and threw it on the ground because another student was making fun of his spelling.
I think that good writers are ones that create newness by bending how we think of literature and are able to teach us something worthwhile about the human experience through emotion that emulates from their words. So as teachers, I think we are faced with finding out what students are emotional about and getting them to write about it. That, however, is admittedly easier said than done.
Dual Effeciency
Okay, so, having never really used blogs or wikis, I am suddenly oh-so-up-to-date. In fact, I am using one blog for two count 'em two classes! First will be CI 5472: Teaching Film, Television, and Media Studies and second will be CI5461: Teaching Composition in the Secondary School. I am gonna try and be super organized by labeling all of my posts with the class number and topic and stuff. Anyway.... let's see if this works....
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