Thoughts on Beach's text: Ch. 2 & Resource website page
Below are some concerns that I had while reading this chapter:
- As Beach presents the premise of bringing video games into the classroom, it seems somewhat abstract to myself as a language arts teacher; it seems like a neat idea, but I have trouble visualizing Beach’s hypothetical game. Similarly, I am unclear about the effectiveness/timeliness of bringing some of these other technologies (Webquest?) into a language arts curriculum. I can see how blogs can be used as a forum for journal writing, but keeping a blog may take away from the safety of a hand-written journal’s private nature.
- Concerning the passage by Sara Williams, a language arts teacher, about supporting synchronous online conversations (or chats), she states that within these online conversations, “[students] are able to tap into a forum for dialogue where many of them are more apt to get involved, increasing interactivity and thus engagement" (p. 18). My question is: More involved than what? A face-to-face conversation or discussion – certainly not, in my opinion. Whereas, the student may be more interactive in this forum compared to those tasks that only the teacher grades, as opposed to having an audience of peers. For myself, synchronous discussion (with more than 1 other person) can be difficult to follow, and trying to reply thoughtfully, and in a timely way before the subject has changed, can be a real challenge too.
In regard to the reference resources provided on Beach’s Resource website page, this page provides great support for becoming familiar with media literacy education, differentiating tasks for students, and empowering those teachers who choose to teach such a curriculum to generate instructional strategies and ideas. There are so many great references (e.g., ideas on best practices in media literacy education [1.1.2]; media literacy standards in England and the United States [1.1.3, 1.1.5]; and references to popular culture relevant to students [1.4.2]).