Sunday June 7: Rationale for Teaching Media

What kind of world are we preparing our students for? What kind of world will they be entering when they complete their secondary education? What kinds of messages will they be receiving and interacting with?

The truth is, it’s a much different world than the one we entered when we finished High School. While classic texts, authors, and methods that are studied in this district (e.g. A Raisin in the Sun, House on Mango Street, The Odyssey, the works of Shakespeare) are culturally invaluable, and methods of writing (e.g. literary analysis papers, personal narratives, etc.) are important types of communication for students to learn, educators must strive to focus on what new kinds of skills students will most benefit from as they enter the world as young adults. Instead of going “back to basics” we must determine ways of incorporating the new into the old. While the names of the basic Language Arts courses have evolved from “English” to “Communications,” they are still based in a very traditional and old-fashioned sense of what constitutes reading and writing. And this tradition does not meet the changing needs of our students.

Today’s students are bombarded by a myriad of messages from their cell phones, computers, televisions, billboards, radios, ipods, teachers, parents, and friends. Media plays a central role in all our lives and students need to be able to understand, interpret, analyze and respond to these messages in a variety of mediums and formats. They need to be skilled perspective takers and having an understanding of where messages come from, and why they are delivered is crucial to this success. Students need to be able to make connections between various texts and become better critical thinkers and problem solvers.

While I’m not arguing that “skills” are unimportant, they can be embedded in a rich and engaging curriculum that involves things that are relevant to their lives and experiences. I don’t just want my students to have a better understanding of certain texts and writing practices, I want them to be able to critically evaluate all messages and develop an understanding of their own roles in the world as well as their potential to change it. We need not abandon traditional literacies, but rather we need to broaden our notions of reading and writing.

Students are automatically more engaged when various forms of media are incorporated into the class. So why not build off of this intrinsic enjoyment to help enhance and advance their learning? I wonder if part of why a “back to basics” approach is encouraged by many parents, administrators and teachers is simply because that’s how it was when they were in school rather than evaluating the importance and relevancy of new literacies. What is truly in the best interest of young students? The issue is not simply one of “engagement,” but rather one of building knowledge. Students will be entering a world that not only uses new literacies, but relies on them. If we want our students to be active, positive contributors to society, then we must help them to develop a framework for using and understanding these means of communication in effective ways.