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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mathew Needleman on January 10, 2008 at 3:24pm

I do teach media literacy but I know that the number one reason I hear is the lack of time from teachers who are on pacing plans and teaching required curriculum.

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Permalink Reply by Greg Oz on January 10, 2008 at 4:12pm

Hi Nick

Just thinking about your topic - for me media literacy or critical literacy as I know it is about unpacking texts of all types - investigating hierarchies, binaries, power-relationships, what's said/unsaid, privileged/not privileged. All of those things are important to me as a gay man whose fields of interest are diversity, social justice etc. And in my pre-service teacher classrooms (I'm a Uni lecturer and ESL teacher), interest in those areas have been most strong from those who've experienced discrimination/prejudice firsthand (on a regular basis), have friends/loved ones who have, or have a passion about activism of various sorts. It's a pretty important issue for them. For many other students it's not that important to them - or their lives - 'the way it is' is seen to 'work' for them. I guess this is also about privilege. Why explore something that may challenge your privilege - your sense of 'who you are' or 'how things should be'?

Anyway that's just my initial thoughts. It's something I think about a lot as I regularly encounter resistance in my teaching around these issues.

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Permalink Reply by Greg Oz on January 10, 2008 at 5:42pm

Hey Nick,
Definitely agree that media literacy is the means to explore such. Issues such as resistance and privilege are pretty tricky areas to work though however and can lead to interesting class dynamics. Just checked out your podcast and your raise important points for sure. I think an interesting question to consider (drawn from work of Deborah Britzman) is: What must I shut out to keep thinking as I do? Also, Kevin Kumashiro is another interesting writer in this area.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Hardt on January 11, 2008 at 4:33pm

Just a side note, after listening to your podcast [beautifully created & executed] it made me think of the changed media stereotype of tech guys. In the past: Geeky and nerdy/socially awkward. Current: Geeky & nerdy yet trendy, while being socially accepted for their genius and money -Our Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

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Permalink Reply by Martin Rayala on December 2, 2008 at 7:59am

Hi Nick,

Nice to connect with you in a different context. I hope you and everyone else interested in this topic will consider writing an article for the special issue of the Journal of Media Literacy on School 2.0 that I'm editing.
Deadline - January 30, 2009
Length - about 1500 words
Send to - Martin Rayala at Rayala@Kutztown.edu and Marieli Rowe at NTelemedia@aol.com
http://www.nationaltelemediacouncil.org/

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Permalink Reply by Tom Liam Lynch on December 12, 2008 at 6:28pm

Hi Nick,
I've recently stepped into the role of technology and media coordinator at my Middle/High School in Manhattan. I have quite the agenda for the year and found that step one was ensuring a certain quality of equipment and infrastructure. As I've been securing some of that, I've begun looking at which colleagues use media and tech in their classrooms and which don't. I'm seeing that those who resist or avoid or don't think to use it need coaching, a colleague to be proactive, supportive, non-administrative. Without that support mechanism, it's easiest to go about business as usual. You can see some of my projects at www.tomliamlynch.org, www.rereaders.org, and www.gotmilt.org.
-T