Thoughts on Critical Approached to Media
Looking through the Critical Approaches to Media Text was interesting for me as a Language Arts teacher. I not only thought it was interesting to see these different terms explained as they apply to Media, but to realize how they apply to so many aspects of Literature in a classroom.
For example the Semiotic Analysis could be used in a really interesting way in conjunction with symbolism, and to look at what we know instinctively ( and how that allows symbolism to work in a piece of literature) and what we need to look into for deeper understanding. I also thought how pertinent the Poststructuralist Analysis would be while teaching, for example, The Great Gatsby. How the general categorization of “things, �and our instinctive knowledge of those “things,� brings meaning to the novel. It’s so interesting to see how much of our analysis of literature is based on this already assumed prior knowledge.
As Beech says that it “is important that students learn to critically analyze media texts� through these different critical lenses, I thought how interesting it would be to pair up, or supplement, literature with media interpretation. Perhaps this would be more fitting for a high school classroom than my middle school classroom. However, I think it would really tie in with what I am hoping to do with using media as a way to make traditional curriculum relevant to students’ interests and to incorporate higher-level thinking as well.