Expanding the Notion of Literacy: An Educators Approach to Interdisciplinary Teaching Through a Seventh-Eight Grade Media Literacy Elective Course.

Jennifer Parsons-Pritchard EDCT 552 Parker Sonoma State University November 17, 2011

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Expanding the Notion of Literacy: An Educators Approach to Interdisciplinary Teaching Through a Seventh-Eight Grade Media Literacy Elective Course.

The notion of literacy in the Twenty-First Century goes far beyond traditional ideologies that are restricted to written and verbal languages. Today, educators have expanded their definition of what it means to be literate by incorporating an individuals ability to, access, identify, analyze, and respond to a variety of messages received through a variety of sources. These messages are often delivered through multimedia texts and new technology platforms that endow us with an identity we may or may not wish to take on (Albers & Harste, 2007, p. 6). Educators can incorporate media literacy principles and technology into core subjects to broaden a students ability to be literate. Developing an integrative curriculum, language arts and media arts educators can achieve interdisciplinary teaching that develops students critical thinking skills, and, at the same time, provide students with an opportunity to create language arts narratives utilizing technology. Presenting students with lessons that illustrate the inter-connectedness among language arts and media literacy principles prepares students to become effective and contributing citizens in society, who can navigate through imbued messages found in both text-based and media based platforms. Multimodal approaches to literacy, that combine the written language with the visual, digital, and spatial applications found in new technology, can solidify a students understanding of the meaning of a core

Expanding the Notion of Literacy 3 subject. (Albers & Harste, 2007, p. 11). Personal and public forms of selfexpression shared online substantiate the emergence of new literacy in society. Interdisciplinary teaching that combines media literacy with language arts can furnish students with transferable skills that allow them to be productive intellectually, emotionally, and artistically in the world and, to contribute creative talents and original artifacts (art, film, writing, music, photography, dance) back into to educational settings. As an extension of this knowledge, multi- literate students can employ critical thinking skills to distinguish between good and bad media (Tyner, 1998; Stein & Prewett, 2009). Furthermore, educators who are dedicated to social justice, regardless of their discipline, can draw upon the correlation between past social action and public discourse, seen through historical and sociological lenses, and illustrate for their students that democracy is a result of an empowered citizenship (Cosidine, 2002a, 2002b; Hepburne, 1999; Hobbs, 1998a; Katz, 1993; Kubey, 2004; Megee, 1997; Tyner, 1998). Empowered students rely on multiple forms of literacy to engage in dialogue in the classroom and online to establish a sense of community. In order to cultivate socially responsible students, educators need to help their students understand the implications that their participation can have on sites, through blogs and message boards. Through interdisciplinary teaching, media literate students can create portfolio pieces valued in the modern workplace and can avoid posting public behavior or language which alienates their chances for employment (Beaudoin, 2010).

Expanding the Notion of Literacy 4 Additionally, extrapolating language arts objectives through multimedia projects allows students to take ownership of their knowledge and learning. In the creation of multimedia projects, students can shift from a consumer to a prosumer (Parker, 2009) and to understand the power and potential of new technology to convey a message, and to carefully and critically read, analyze, and interrogate the messages sent within the range of media (Albers & Harste, 2007, p. 15). Employing the participatory culture (Jenkins et al., 2009) that comprises Twenty-First Century youth, educators can utilize their students knowledge of technology to elicit meaningful discourse beyond the classroom walls. Encouraging students to work collaboratively, whether it be in groups in the classroom or online on blogs and/or social /educational networks such as Facebook, Google.docs, or Edmodo, educators can help students narrow the gap in what Lev Vygotsky terms students Zone of Proximal Development. Narrowing the gap in ZPD,the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers benefits students and educators alike (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86). The collective intelligence that students participate online through technology, which compares and synthesizes approaches toward a common goal, is one way to bridge this gap (Jenkins, et al, 2009).

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As with all modalities, educators must be conscious of how they achieve interdisciplinary teaching through technology. Focusing on the task, not the tool, (Beatham, 2008, p. 62) is essential in achieving meaningful learning within the classroom. Digital stories, blogs, VoiceThreads (Parker, 2010) are tools to enhance the subject matter. In conjunction with one another, these two disciplines, language arts and media arts, reshape the definition of who and what is considered literate and, how students choose to produce new forms of literacy.

Implementation at Mary Collins Cherry Valley School-Editing, filming and blogging about the Language Arts Just Because poem in a Media Literacy Elective class. I currently teach a semester long, seventh eight grade elective course at Mary Collins Cherry Valley School called Media & Me. Emphasizing the necessity to have media literacy education in mainstream curriculum, my elective aims to develop students critical thinking skills and self-esteem, so that they can engage in the critical practice of citizenship, democratic rights and civil responsibilities (Hobbs & Jensen, 2009, p.2). Addressing the needs of a diverse and multi-cultural populace, my media literacy curriculum seeks to integrate the numerous perspectives of its students through the Socratic teaching method. This courses objectives are to accomplish the following:

Expanding the Notion of Literacy 6 1.Teach students how to acquire the professional and personal computer skills necessary to be competitive in a global economy. 2. Inform students about the permanency of their participation on sites, such as FaceBook, and message boards, stressing that the students are accountable for their behavior. 3. Accessing, analyzing, and deconstructing stereotypes and gender roles in media, students can become critical thinkers, aware of how media messages influence their identity construction. 4. Provide students an opportunity to use computer software and platforms (i.e., blogs, vlogs, digital story telling, imovie, videography etc.), which enhance their creativity through digital art. 5. Integrate language arts curriculum where students expand on core subjects and written assignments (such as, self identity poems) using new technology to film work, peer review each others performances, and develop portfolios that display their final projects on the Media & Me blog.

Following the Center For Media Literacys (CML) five core concepts, which were appropriated from existing concepts originated by Len Masterman in his book Teaching the Media (Kellener & Share, 2007), my curriculum interrogates all forms of media for non-transparency, codes and conventions, decoding imbued messages, value and content, and disclosure of profit and power. Accentuating the profit motives of the media industry, the course identifies how consumer industries

Expanding the Notion of Literacy 7 market, and represent their products to manipulate individual purchasing behavior (Rosenbaum, Beentjes, & Konig, 2008). The framework of the class, which applies the CML core concepts, teaches the students how to access, analyze, evaluate, and determine the ethical responsibility of communication in all forms of media. These guidelines establish that the objectives of media literacy education are to foster personal autonomy and to broaden the individuals knowledge of how identity, culture, and power are correlated to the messages projected in mass media by the dominant culture (Hobbs & Jensen, 2009). While it is my goal to inspire critical thinking, I agree with the notion that teachers must emphasize the fact that a key objective of media literacy education is to teach students to be skeptical, but not cynical (NAMLE, 2007, section 4.2). The Media & Me elective curriculum is presented in units in which students deconstructing stereotypes, gender roles, and racial, ethnic, and socio-economic inequities portrayed in print magazines, music lyrics, YouTube videos, television commercials, and movies. Assignments are structured in the following ways: Students are required to find artifacts for analysis (i.e., print magazine advertisements) and bring such examples into class. Adding to the artifacts provided by the instructor, the class examines, deconstructs, and writes about what is observed. Educating the students on how media is filtered altered, and Cooked (Burbules & Callister, 2000, p. 3), students can become aware of how the media manipulates content to project a specific bias, to or obtain a specific outcome.

Expanding the Notion of Literacy 8 Reviewing the correlations and hidden agendas discussed through discourse, students create a counter-culture narrative in response. Appreciating the process of learning through collaboration, reflection, feedback, and revision, (Wiske, 2006, p. 43-44) the class evaluated the relational aspects of technology (Burbules & Callister, 2000, p). Through the identification of how technology changes human perspectives, and how, in turn, human perspectives change technology, the students comprehend the intellectual authority and responsibility (Wiske, 2006, p.45) we have as participants of technology. Depending on the assignment, counternarratives have been posters, poems, lyrics, videos, and identified Youtube examples. As a final reflection to the assignment, students blog about their experiences and answer questions on the class blog page: www.mediamee.wordpress.com. Without doubt, the fact that I have a baccalaureate degree in English has shaped my appreciation of interdisciplinary teaching and literacy. I firmly believe the key to engaging our students in core subject matter lies within our ability as educators to show our students the applicability between what we are teaching them, and how it relates to their world. Integrating the Just Because Poem assigned by the seventh and eighth grade language arts teachers at Mary Collins Cherry Valley School was a perfect opportunity to achieve this goal. After students wrote their Just Because Poems in their English classes, we discussed how these poems connected language arts to media literacy in our elective class. Upon further discussion, students were able to make correlations between deconstructed music lyrics from Katy Perry and images they had evaluated in print magazines. The

Expanding the Notion of Literacy 9 students intellectualized about how they saw identity construction and engage multiple forms of literacy to express these new revelations. I was moved by the students ability to articulate how they felt about themselves based on the media images they see and hear. Re-working their poems to reflect their new sense of identity, students proceeded to film each other reading the poems out loud. Once the students completed their video poem, they uploaded the final product to the class blog for peer review and the beginning of their portfolios. This project encompassed multiple forms of literacy, allowing the students to analyze, discuss and create genuine written, spoken, and filmed responses, which represent their ideology on identity. The benefits afforded by the Just Because poem assignment were numerous. First, the students strengthened their language arts skills through traditional revision and editing. Highlighting the relationship between the assignment and their identity construction allowed them to become active participants in their learning experience, thus building meaning. Aligned with the Center for Media Literacy core concepts, the students developed stronger critical thinking skills that allowed them increase their knowledge of how identity, culture, and power are portrayed through hegemony in media. The students engaged in collaborative decision-making, and then creatively produced digital video as a way to create a new literate space (Parker, 2009). Situating literacy within everyday democratic and civic life(Parker, 2010, p. 8), the students were able to expose the biases and social contexts of media messages that influence their lives and take

Expanding the Notion of Literacy 10 responsibility for their counter narratives. Making the transition from a consumer to a prosumer, the students understood the importance of authorship and ownership in literacy. Modern concepts of literacy can be seen in educational curriculum that adopts new technology and media arts to express students ideas and thoughts. Integrated media projects can deepen students understanding of salient literature and historical events through a social justice lens (Parker, 2009, p. 8) which enables them to participate in democracy. The interdisciplinary teaching referred to above, is one way educators can support a broad notion of literacy that is inclusionary of multiple cultural perspectives that support critical thinking skills applied to core subjects. Fostering strong communications skills for students, be it for language arts or for media arts, educators can implement new technology to secure their academic success. Shifting the academic paradigm of what represents literacy is central to the health and vitality of our educational system, and ultimately, our society.

Expanding the Notion of Literacy 11 Works Cited Albers, P., & Harste, J. C. (2007). The arts, new literacies and multimodality. Proquest Educational Journal, 40(1), 6-13. Ashburn, E. & Floden, R. (2006). Meaningful Learning. New York: Teachers CollegePress. Beatham, M. D. (2008). Tools of inquiry: Separating tool and task to promote True learning. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 37(1), 61-70. doi:10.2190/ET.37.1.e Beaudoin, B. (2010). Differentiating between "the" media and "our" media. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 1(2), 99-108. Burbules, Nicolas, C. and Callister, Thomas, A. Jr. (2000). Watch it, the risks and promises of information technologies for education. Chapter one, The risky promises and promising risks of new information technologies for education. Considine, D. (2002). Media literacy: National developments and international origins. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 30(1), 7-16. DOI: 10.1080/01956050209605554

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Considine, D. (2008). Media Literacy Across the Curriculum | Center for Media Literacy. Center for Media Literacy. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article551.html Hobbs, R., & Jensen, A. (2009). Past, present, and future of media literacy education. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 1(1), 1-11. Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robinson, A. J., & Weigel, M. (2009). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2007). Critical media literacy is not an option. Learning Inguiry, 1(1), 59-69. DOI: 10.1007/s11519-007-0004-2 Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2005). Toward critical media literacy: Core concepts, debates, organizations, and policy. Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, 26(3), 369-386. DOI: 10.1080/01596300500200169 DOI: 10.1177/0002764204267252 Parker, J. K. (2010). Teaching tech-savvy kids: bringing digital media into the classroom, grades 5-12. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press. Parker, J. K. (2010) Http://voicethread.com/?#q.b2214449.i11791869 Parker, J. K. (2009) Dissertation. University of California at Berkeley. Rosenbaum, J., Beentjes, J. W., & Konig, R. (2008). Mapping media literacy: Key

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concepts and future directions. Communication Yearbook, 32, 313-353. Stein, L., & Prewett, A. (2009). Media literacy education in the social studies: Teacher perceptions and curricular challenges. Education Quarterly, 36(1), 131-148. Tyner, K. (1998). Literacy in a digital world: Teaching and learning in the age of information. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Wiske, Martha Stone, Learning with New Technologies Meaningful Learning:Ashburn E. Floden (2006), New York, Teachers College Press. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: Development of Higher Psychological. Publisher: Harvard University Press; 14th edition, p. 86.