School Board Rationale--Chapter 2

In my classroom, my cooperating teacher has established class wikis and each student has their own blog. While I see the importance of giving students access, sometimes I question the validity of the blogs. Students are able to post their assignments on their blog instead of turning in a paper copy; it does eliminate the excuse of “oh my printer was out of ink” because the students can put it on their blog instead. I sometimes feel that allowing students to put their assignments on their blog is encouraging student laziness; I understand that it’s a great tool that allows the student and the teacher to have constant access to their work but at the same time, it feels that sometimes the requirements for standard MLA format, spell check and academic English are lost when students put things on their blog. Also, from an English/Language Arts standpoint, I find it harder to give the students feedback on their writing as I can’t write all over the paper with my questions/concerns and comments.

I like the use of wikis because it’s a great way for assignments to be posted, especially when large numbers of students are absent for music, class field trips or athletics. If they are familiar with the wiki, then they learn to go and check there before coming to the teacher to ask for help. However, in the wiki my cooperating teacher established, there isn’t a lot of student editing and interacting. It’s more a place for the teacher to add information and the students to check, rather than actively collaborate/participate.

Viewing the video from the Kaiser Foundation was interesting but felt a little dated. The montage of clips was presented in 2004 so information was probably taken from 2003. We’re over halfway through 2009 and some of the information and statistics felt a little out of place. However, I see the validity in what the group is presenting and the validity of their research into student media use, especially since it’s publicly available. There’s also the impact of parents and their monitoring of their child’s media usage and exposure. If the parents aren’t enforcing rules, then who is to stop a child from watching TV all day; if a child never has a discussion about the incoming media messages, then how will they distinguish between what is truthful, what is exaggerated or where the media is portraying unrealistic images/ideas?


School Board Rationale
Currently in St. Paul Public Schools, there is not a specific mission statement concerning the integration of media studies and media literacy. However, the district website states that instructional materials shall “enrich and support the curriculum, taking into consideration varied interests, abilities and maturity levels of the students served.” We need to make sure that students are receiving an education that is valid to the rest of their lives and still maintain and preserve strong elements of academia. At Central High School, media and technology are a huge part of the school community. The school website is interactive and informative for parents, students and staff. The announcements are given daily via the television (that is in each classroom) giving students the opportunity to view broadcast journalism at its very basic level. In the English department, where I am a student teacher, I feel that I am blessed to have access to many items of technology that can increase student exposure to media students and thus improve their media literacy. Not every teacher in the department has this type of technology but there is a push for each teacher to have access to a laptop and an LCD projector. I know that St. Paul Public Schools offer technology grants for teachers to integrate a laptop and an LCD projector into their classroom. I feel that these small changes will dramatically increase the healthy exposure of media to students.
Media literacy should not be a place to replace the current standards of reading, writing and in-class discussion. These tools should instead strive to supplement the instructional strengths of the teacher and the interests of the students. If the students are more engaged in the material, whether it be through Webquests, online chats, blogs or showing films, shouldn’t we provide the keys and guidance for them to improve their critical thinking and understanding. Showing the film person of Shakespeare’s As You Like It shouldn’t be the alternative to reading the text, but with complex and unfamiliar Elizabethan language, seeing a visual representation of the text might just be what a student needs to unlock the door into the world of appreciation of a rich text.
Our curriculum as Language Arts instructors needs to keep up with the students and their interests. Making our curriculum valid in their lives will only serve to increase their interest in a text and thus their ability to delve deeper. If students read a text that they really understand and enjoy through the aid of media literacies such as film, Youtube clips, an author’s blog or online chat groups, shouldn’t that rationalize our need to provide these for the students? I’m not saying that technology and media should replace reading and writing, but it should act as a supplementary piece, to increase student understanding. Students who are able to improve their critical thinking skills through small group discussions or by incorporating media, can gradually improve their skills and after a while think/read/create at a higher level, thus improving their test scores.
A curriculum should support texts with other examples of media; the media shouldn’t be a substitute, it should be supplementary. These additions to a curriculum will improve critical thinking skills which can help every student as they prepare for standardized tests.