Opportunities for Growth and Professional Development

"What's next?

Paths Ahead…

We are almost at the conclusion of “writing and popular literacies.” I hope that the topics, readings, and activities have been insightful and that they have provided you with different practical strategies that can be used in the classroom.  I also hope that what we have done collectively has provided you with tangible ideas and materials from which to build.  The projects are underway. The question now is, what’s next?

Please feel free to comment on any of these questions:

How do you imagine continuing to grow and get better as a teacher in the twenty first century? What do you plan to do in order to creatively and critically engage students in your classroom?  What opportunities are out there to assist you along the way?  What types of professional development courses or workshops would be helpful to you as you begin your teaching career?

We mentioned a couple of resources and organizations in class, including NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) and IRA (International Reading Association).  This is an opportunity for you to expand your list.

Art, Literacy, and Childhood

Profiled in the journal of Language Arts, authors Jan Greeenberg and Sandra Jordan (2008) note the value of art and creativity in childhood.  They state, “What might at first be bewildering for the viewer is transformed into a new perception, a new awareness that comes from looking and looking again.” In thinking about your childhood, can you recall your first experiences with art (or different forms of art)?  In what contexts did they occur? Was it in school, at home, or some other place?  What did you gain from the experience, and how might that experience shape how you view teaching and learning now?  To take it a step further, what specific works did you encounter then that you might build upon or (re)use in your future classroom?  Why?

For more details on the authors and their works, check out Missouri Writes for Kids!

Culture of Convergence

Last week in class, we discussed Henry Jenkins’ perspectives on convergence culture and some examples he cited such as the “black box” that media users encounter in their lives.  Similarly, in this week’s readings, David Buckingham points to “convergence” as an important concept for understanding new media childhoods and literacies.

Suppose you agree with either Jenkins or Buckingham (or both), can you think of how “convergence” shapes YOUR life on a day to day basis?  In what ways?  Can you name specific tools and examples? Does your experience with them help you understand new media childhoods and literacies?  Explain.

Popular Cultural and Literary Texts

The Godfather (film), Homer (book)

Children spend more time watching t.v. than any other activity. Because we know this is true, we should be using media to enhance the child’s understanding in the classroom. Morrell states, “I remember the simplistic comparisons between watching t.v. or film and reading books with the former cast as wastes of time and resources and the latter tied to academic skills” (Morrell, 2004, p. 74). He goes on to say that films are often reserved for substitute teachers, lazy Fridays, or the week after standardized tests.
Have there been times in your elementary or high school experience that teachers have used films as filler for class time or as a treat? Do you remember thinking that the films were just a way for the teacher to waste time?
While this happens in many classes, Morrell in Chapter 5 “Teaching Film and Television” uses the films to relate books (the canonical text) to a major film. Morrell’ class first watched The Godfather and compared it with Homer’s The Odyssey, and then Wright’s Native Son was compared with the film A Time to Kill. By doing this exercise Morrell had 3 goals. He wanted to analyze whether utilizing popular culture to scaffold the issues and cultures that are relevant to urban youth in order to encourage the development of critical and analytical skills that can then be used to interpret texts. His second goal was to assess the potential for giving the students activities and techniques that would facilitate a transfer of the skills from pop cultural texts into the literary texts. Lastly, his third goal was to determine if this approach would help students to critique the messages sent to them through the literary texts and the societal institutions that permeate their lives such as pop culture.
While watching the movies, the students were asked to question the themes and discuss the plot, characters, and themes while also taking notes. The students then had a formal debate to discuss their thoughts and then a final exam. Have you ever taken a class that incorporated film with a lesson, or another form of media such as music or theatre? If so, what was the activity’s purpose and what media forms were used? Did you find this beneficial or useless?

– babs

Reading, Writing, Media(ting)

Media Reviews. Reflecting on the process.

Did you find it useful?  What did you gain from it?  What would you do differently next time? Would you suggest it to others?

Feel free to comment.

What’s in the Bag?

Ms. Vasquez and her students enacted critical literacies by “disrupting taken-for-granted normality” and asking questions about “how things could be different.”  The treatment of McDonald’s Happy Meal illustrated the power of critical literacy in the classroom.  In what ways was it powerful?  What “normality” was disrupted? What would you add to this conversation that may open up doors to other possibilities?

Check out happymeal.com and share your thoughts.

The French Café

The children in Ms. Vasquez’s class felt that they and the other kindergarten classes were being treated unfairly due to their young age. The school had an annual “French Café” which was filled with food, drink and fun and all other grades were invited to attend. The kindergartners were not invited because they did not yet take French in school and perhaps the school though they were too young to partake in the activities and/or for various other reasons (expenses, etc.). The children in this class did not accept the existing power structure in the school and decided to take action in the form of  a petition requesting that the kindergarten classes get to attend future “French Cafés.”

According to Vasquez, Dyson (1993) discusses how children “nudge the bounds of the official imaginative universe that prevails in schools. In doing so, they challenge current theoretical and pedagogical thinking.” These children nudged the bounds as they represented the kindergarten classes in becoming equals in their school.   As a result of their hard work, the kindergarten classes are invited to all future “French Cafés.”

Think of a time when you felt that you or someone else was being treated unfairly. What action did you take? What form of literacy did you use to showcase your concerns and rally for change?

– reading kristin

Kids with Cameras

In the Academy-award winning film, Born Into Brothels (2004), children are portrayed as learners and artists who document everyday lives of people in Calcutta.  There are many compelling images – and stories as well.  In your opinion, what types of literacies afforded these children to picture the world around them?  How did cameras assist in the process?  In viewing the film, what ideas or activities resonated with you?  Why?  Could you think of other innovative and relevant ways of incorporating this approach into your classroom?  What do think students could gain?

For a curriculum guide and other examples of “Kids with Cameras,” visit this site.

The Visual in Official and Unofficial Spaces

“Noah’s case thus revealed in particularly dramatic fashion the way in which children’s developmental histories are shaped by the contradictory forces emanating from official practices and unofficial ones. Like his fake siblings, the talk and drawing dominated during Noah’s early production events were organized primarily by familiar childhood practices. As the creature Nintendo and his dangling eyeballs might suggest, Noah was highly attentive to visual media…”

From this quote and the drawings that accompanied chapter five, it’s pretty clear that Noah had a different way of communicating to others and expressing himself. How was your experience similar or different growing up? Were/are you a visual learner, or is it better for you to be taught a concept some other way? What were you interested in at his age?

(I know I would write and draw about the Little Mermaid any chance I got in school… ☺ )

– jill mac

Movies for the Ages

Disney’s Mulan (1998) , Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004)

You’ve seen these before. What did you take away from watching the film(s) this time?

What would students in your classroom take away from watching them? Do you think that themes or issues in these films would come up in conversations among or between students? If so, in what ways? And how would you handle them?