Our task this week asks us to formulate a rationale for teaching film, television, or media studies in our schools. I’d like to do this in two parts: first, my informal response at explaining what I want my students to be able to do and what I hope to gain from this course and second, my attempt at a formal rationale that could be presented to the school board to justify the teaching of these subjects.
First, my informal thoughts
I think the importance of studying the media should go without saying, but unfortunately media studies are too often viewed as outside of the curriculum, a fun “extra” unit that should not take time away from studying the important topics in the language arts. However, the skills that have been deemed important enough to be gained through the study of poetry or drama are the same skills that can be gained through the study of television, film and other forms of media. Literary topics such as plot and character development; devices such as irony, allusion, foreshadowing, etc.; and the appreciation for language arts as art are all components of the development of texts for television or film, just as they are for an Arthur Miller Play or a Tennyson poem. Moreover, the skills necessary to deconstruct a Ciceronian argument or the ruling of the Supreme Court in a landmark case are the same skills that are required to deconstruct the argument made in contemporary media messages. It seems that hardly anyone questions the teaching of and Arthur Miller play or an argument made by Cicero, so it seems odd to me that they would question the teaching of critical thinking when it comes to unpacking the messages in contemporary arguments made, on TV or movies or the internet or any other form of media.
I think we teachers are partially responsible for creating this problem. Too often, showing a movie has been used as nothing more than a “filler” for when a teacher needs a day off or as an emergency sub plan. If all media is used for is to fill time and there is no critical analysis or discussion of it, then it is an easy leap for parents, school board members, or others to view media in the classroom as unimportant. Another problem I see is that too few of us know where to begin in doing any of this critical analysis, so even if we’d prefer it not be the case, we fuel the idea that media is just something extra that is thrown in to fill time. That being said, in the spirit of moving toward media being viewed as a legitimate topic of study, here are my goals for my students and what I want to learn in this class to help me facilitate a solid study of media in my classroom.
Goals for students:
--To become more than passive viewers of media. To understand that all media messages were created by someone for some purpose and that a viewer/listener who can identify the creator and purpose is less likely to be manipulated.
--To understand principles of argumentation, just as in a written text, and to be able to critically examine arguments for use of things like fallacies, evidence, assumptions, bias, credibility, and relevance.
--To realize that different audiences may perceive the same message differently and to understand how things like age, race, gender, and socioeconomic status may affect one’s perception of messages. Along with this, to understand the sensitivity one must have in creating messages that will be viewed by individuals of various points of view.
--To create messages using various forms of “new” media including blogs, wikis, podcasts, websites, videos, etc. To understand that successful communication in today’s media driven world will require competence in these forms of media.
--To use media to facilitate discussions of “larger” questions about identity, social problems, philosophy, ethics, just as we use literature to encourage these discussions.
What I want to learn in this class
I teach Advanced Placement Language and Composition, a class in which we spend a lot of time analyzing arguments, discussing techniques of argumentation, and creating our own arguments. While I know I have a lot to learn, I’m fairly confident in my ability to teach these topics. However, we spend shamefully little time with topics related to the media, nor do we use the media to any great degree in our class work. From this class I would like to gain confidence so that I can not only analyze but also use the media to help my students (and me!) accomplish the goals I listed above.
Now as for a formal rationale
The Language Arts curriculum at St. Anthony Village High School is designed to be a rigorous study of all aspects of language arts—reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Our students are required to take four full years of English, in which they are required to read texts and participate in discussions, write papers, and make presentations. We require these specific tasks with the overarching goal of fostering critical thinking. In an era of accountability, we also keep an eye on skill development, hoping to move our students to become efficient readers and writers so that they can be successful on state mandated tests as well as college entrance exams.
While we are proud of the accomplishments of our students, not only with excellent passage rates on the MCA II’s but also with excellent scores on the ACT and SAT. Anecdotally, we have also heard from graduate that their English education at St. Anthony prepared them well for college courses. However, we believe that it is important to continually evaluate what we are doing and to be proactive in addressing curriculum needs. One noticeable absence in our curriculum is the study of media. In an increasingly media driven world, we believe a thorough study of media is essential in fostering critical thinking skills; we also believe that the skill development necessary to be successful on state tests and college entrance exams can be best achieved through a blend of traditional means and integrated media study.
The Kaiser Foundation released a study in 2005 with some shocking information that sheds light onto why media study is so critical.
· Teens are spending an average of 6 ½ hours a day, seven days a week with media and its messages. This is more time than they spend with any other activity except sleeping.
· Nearly nine in ten kids now have a computer at home.
· Three out of four kids have internet access at home
· One in five kids have internet access in their bedrooms.
· Millions of parents allow their kids to have their own TV’s, VCR’s, and video games in their rooms. More than half of these kids report that their parents are not setting any rules for their usage.
It’s clear that media is a huge part of students’ lives. However, very little is being done to ensure that these young people are being critical consumers of something that is occupying ¼ of their lives. We believe studying media is important because we want to ensure that St. Anthony students are able to critically examine the media and its messages.
Furthermore, it is clear that effectively communicating through these new media is an essential skill for success in today’s world. We want our students to be competitive in a media and technology driven world, and it is our responsibility to help lay the foundation for the skills they will need to have in college and beyond.
Finally, we believe that incorporating media into our curriculum is an exciting way to connect with students. Media is already a part of their lives; combining media with language arts will give us an avenue to get students excited about reading and writing, which of course are undeniably important.
We believe that in order to continue to have the levels of success in the language arts, we need to incorporate an integrated media curriculum. This will be a part of all classes that will help students develop critical thinking skills and will pair with, not substitute for, traditional English curriculum topics.
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