Media in the classroom

I am not entirely sure if I am suppose to post this topic in my blog but better safe than sorry I guess...
Why Media Studies education? Well, to begin with, as everyone here knows, the state of Minnesota has put in place standards in the area of media literacy for all high school students to meet. Currently there is not in place at our school a clear way all these standards are being met. Also, media begins to enter our students lives at a very young age and continues to carry an even stronger influence in their future years. Students are surrounded by media on television, the internet, their cell phones, even in literature the format of some writing for teens is changing to copy what media looks like. All these outside influences play a huge role in the development of our students, how they think, formulate opinions, and make decisions. Having students be able to critically analyze media is more important now than it has ever been.

As a language arts teacher who has had experience working with students grades 8-12, I see the need on a daily basis for media education. My background in media education began over ten years ago when I first took a course at the University of Minnesota titles teaching Media Literacy. Since that time I have tried to include media studies in my regular ed English classrooms to some degree in many of my units. Recently, as I began taking courses at the University again, I have opted to take a few that deal with media studies – either as a side note or as the emphasis of the course. Currently I am taking Teaching Film, Television, and Media Studies through the Web which focuses specifically on this area in question today.

Hayfield High School has always prided itself on preparing students for life once they leave this building and community. In accomplishing this goal Hayfield, a school strong in tradition, has had to change with the demands of the outside world, something that has not always been easy but when the focus is on what is best for the students – Hayfield has complied. Today students are bombarded on a daily, hourly, minutely rate by media influences. There is so much information and so many sources that students need to have the skills and tools to properly decipher and process everything thrown their way. Not only that but students have to be shown how to use the technology that goes along with this information. At the university I attend, freshmen comp students are required to access, use, and create blogs as a part of their course requirement. Papers are sent via email or through blogs, wikis, and/or discussion boards to professors. It is expected students know how to access and are familiar with tools such as youtube, facebook, and others. Because we have not taught our students how to properly use these sources, they are blocked. Those technologies that are not blocked, many students do not know how to use. I began the year requiring students to email me their papers. Because a large number of my students do not have computers at home, or have computers but no internet, I had to change this requirement. Also, those that did have these things did not know how to attach files. This is a problem. I would argue that if students are struggling with the basics of how to utilize these tools, the internet, etc, that they certainly have not begun the next step of how to analyze/interpret the tools.

Our school needs to continue to prepare students as in the past – and in order to do so, not only do students need to be familiar with how to access and use the tools they have before them, they (and more importantly) need to know how to interpret and critically analyze data from the media they do access.

I believe for our school, it would be best to have a required media class at an early grade. This course could be a part of their seventh or eighth grade curriculum. Here students could get some of the media studies basics. From here media studies could be a required component in all courses. There is not a field that is not directly affected by media. Teachers would not need to create any new units, they could begin by incorporating media studies into their already created units. Projects could be developed that include media. Creating lessons that truly require students to look critically at and analyze in an in-depth process the media that surrounds their topic will help students engage in the media and develop keen skills in the area of understanding some larger pictures regarding the area they are researching and media in general.

An example could be in a science class to have students develop a wiki on a controversial topic (or controversial topics). Perhaps in groups teams could develop an argument for the ir cause, present the information on the wiki and include media that supports and goes against their view. Once each grou is done developing their own final product on their topic, they can branch off and examine another group or groups. They could analyze another group’s findings and look further for more media and information to argue for or against. While they are doing this, they are aware that other groups are looking at their creation as well and question their findings. This would encourage students to be honest and upfront as well as thorough on their topic.

In a language arts classroom students could create a wiki on grammar or writing papers. They could also research an author or piece of literature. Perhaps they could study something like To Kill a Mockingbird. They could look for articles on the piece to study bias. They could study the time period the novel was written in and look at the newspapers, trials, laws, ways of that time and together create a new jury for Tom Robinson’s trial or a new outcome to the novel and have accurate citizen’s reactions to a not guilty plea as well as the consequences in the town of such a verdict. They could create a blog as a newspaper and have people respond to the articles by role-playing. Ay of these tasks would require deep-thinking and in-depth analysis using sources outside the actual novel as well as the novel itself.

There are countless more examples one could create for any classroom setting. Bottom line – critical analysis, questioning, and understanding what they read, see, and hear, is very important in the preparation of our students for the world outside this school. We do them a disservice by not meeting this need. An introductory course in media studies, followed by deliberate instruction and projects using media studies in regular classrooms are necessary in order to prepare our students accordingly and should begin right away.