Too often we read about the disengagement of our youth in school, staggering dropout rates in high school; place blame on the teachers, schools which fail to address the needs of these students. Part of this reasoning may be legitimate, due to lack of equipment, insufficient training of teachers or curriculum that could be dry and unrelated to students’ daily experience. Popular culture and technology is a daily part of that experience.
This article is a summary of an exploration in use of media literacy and pop culture in the traditional classroom, particularly social studies courses. The criterion was to investigate the most common courses that are taught in most comprehensive high schools: civics, history (world and U.S.), geography and how they incorporated media literacy and/or popular culture. The reason that I chose this topic was to explore how media literacy is being taught outside the language arts area, where most of the current MN state standards for media literacy are held, although there are some within the social studies standards. To find what types of media is often used within these areas whether it is films, music, or television. I also wanted to know how successful the instructors felt in achieving the objectives they set out with their incorporations and still meet state standards. Also, because of the reality of school funding, many schools do not have the choice to offer extracurricular classes that would offer specific focuses on media literacy and current popular culture unless they find grants or other non-profit sources to sponsor these programs, so I am seeking viable alternatives to incorporate media literacy and pop culture into traditional social studies courses. I also feel that bridging the gaps between disengaged youth and their schools begins with welcoming and using the media that comes with them.
I am also concerned with our lack of promotion of social efficacy, which the knowledge and understanding of our environment and people around us within our students (White). Even though social efficacy is something we value in our goals, it is not something we are enforcing within our schools very well. The movement in the schools is currently toward standardizing fact-based curriculum across and within districts, keeping teachers accountable in terms of what knowledge the student has acquired or learned. Due to the national law, No Child Left Behind, which emphasizes reading, writing, math and science, social studies, has been pushed into the margins. It is not seen as an area with much value other than civic and historical education. As a result, electives are pushed out that do not pertain to directly aiding students with passing the mandated NLCB state tests. At my own school, for example, our last elective psychology was recently cut with great regret to our department because of declining enrollment, and no staff available to teach it. It is hard to entice students to take classes that they do not see as requirements for graduation, plus those courses that are require or needed for NLCB take up the majority of students’ schedules with little room for anything else. All of our staff schedules are filled with required or mandated courses that students must take for graduation and we do not have the staff to offer electives that may add to gaining social or self-efficacy.
The reason that I focused on social studies education is due to my own interest and profession. I wanted to see how other social studies teachers were incorporating media literacy skills and popular culture into their classrooms. I purposely focused on literature that was published after 2001 and tried to find the most current pieces that focused on the integration of media literacy, pop culture and how NCLB has shaped what teachers are doing in their classes or if it has any effect at all. I was also curious to see how teachers were incorporating the technology they had available and what kind of resources did they use. I am all too aware of the technology gap within my own school and have experienced significant lack of technological equipment. I was also familiar with some techniques of pop culture integration, but in my own field I haven’t seen much integration of pop culture other that to evaluate some song lyrics, like those of the Billy Joel song “We Didn’t Stop the Fire” or to discuss the impact of Bob Dylan during the unrest of the 1960s or to watch a movie adaptation of an historical event. Most often in these instances, students are passive participants; they look for the instructor to interpret these items for them. The songs and their artists are dated in their perspectives and movies are often used to supplement what has been taught in class, or for a free day. I wanted to see more interactive assignments and activities where teachers were scaffolding to build critical thinking skills.
Our current society has made popular culture a cornerstone of cultural identity (White.pg 4). So why the resistance to include this within our curriculum? I feel there are several reasons for this. One reason is that we are anxious to impart core knowledge of the subject we are teaching, and there are limitations to how much time we have to impart all this knowledge. I see my students one hour a day, five days a week from September to May. That is not counting pep rallies, field trips, sick and workshop days (for both of us) and vacation days. I have students who are involved in many organizations that promote them going to higher levels of education, but take them out of school for college visits, academic tests, competitions and the like. In the end, the time we have together to insert all of the core knowledge is limited.
I also feel that many teachers believe that popular culture does not have enough to offer our youth, in terms of knowledge or insight about their world. I understand this perception, it is something I do I agree with to an extent. I would like our students to have some historical context to understand why we are in the state we are in the world today. To learn about the basic cultural information that connects and divides us from one another. My colleagues may see the television shows, movies and hear the music that our teens are consuming, but judge it as cheap or processed and having nothing to offer to enrich our students lives. Some of that may be due to lack of training on media issues, if you are not shown how to incorporate, it may be something that does not get implemented. In this world of mandates, some may feel it’s just one more thing to learn, to do that there just isn’t time or energy to do.
Even through this course, which I found innovative, there were some topics I struggled to find the relationship between the pop culture topic we would be discussing and how could I make it relevant to the courses I am currently teaching and still maintain the balance between rigor, content and pop culture. Some days it was a stretch to be creative with different mediums. However because the diversity of the students within the class, I think it enabled the majority of us to look at these mediums with different lenses and see the possibilities of their use.
The need for media literacy is great. The vast changing after school cyber-culture of teens: online chatting, podcasts, and youtube, clashes with the current climate in high school which is primarily text based: overheads, notes on the board, textbooks (Semali). There is a disconnect between the mediums students consider easy and enjoyable with those they consider work. There is also great disparity among students who have access to this technology and know how to use it. Our students themselves, despite their access to technology through social means (cell phones, email, text messaging, MySpace) may be able to communicate with others across the globe, but often are communicating with those whom live in the same city as themselves. Are they using technology to its full potential?
The Internet is the primary tool for research for our students, 85 % of 15-17 year olds go online to do their schoolwork (Kaiser). In my own situation, the students would rather go to the computer lab to do research than the library, even if I bring laptops to supplement the availability of computers in the library. They tend to view book resources and or the library as obsolete. There is an increasing amount of primary and secondary sources that are accessible to students are now online, which is why they may not feel the need to go. However, we as educators have a responsibility to educate and inform our student about the type of references they are using to cite for their schoolwork. We should be concerned that they are able find creditable resources. That they can conduct research and to be able to locate information and to disseminate it. I have come to the realization through working with my own students that many do not know how to find answers if it is not explicitly stated or have hard time understanding or summarizing what they are reading. Part of that is the downfall of the new technology, which pretty much allows you to type a query and produces a multitude of answers within seconds.
The plea to incorporate media literacy into social studies is not new, since it is a logical fit. However our state standards do not require an extensive amount of media literacy to be incorporated into our curriculum. Therefore, the urgency for social studies teachers to learn these skills is non-existent. At many of the media based classes and workshops I have attended that are free in our district, I am usually one of two social studies teachers in the room. Barton and Levstik’s in their 2001 article stated “If schools are to prepare students for active citizenship in a democracy, they can neither ignore controversy nor teach students to passively accept someone else’s historical interpretations.” It is our responsibility as social studies instructors to create and use culture as mediums to construct their own interpretations about the events and topics we are teaching them in our courses.
Media Literacy and integration of popular culture are essential to preparing our students for the type of citizens that we would like them to be. Especially those that are disadvantaged, like those from lower income families. If students from poor or working class families are only about half as likely to use the internet and are four times more likely to access the Internet only at school (Kaiser), then school is the only place where the levels of technological and critical thinking skills is going to be acquired. Although many educators themselves struggle with technology, we are the equalizers for many of these students. We have an obligation to learn and incorporate as much technology as we can.
Currently NCLB’s lack of incorporation of these skills is startling. There is more focus on the skills of reading math and science, understandably because of our competitions with other nations of the world to be a dominant and effective economy. However, because of the penalties that NCLB imposes on schools and districts who perform poorly on mandated tests that measure these skills, most of the resources in schools are devoted to improving these skills and test scores. Fundamentally I have no argument against this, we as nation should be devoting resources to such causes to improve student learning and retention. However, other areas of a school curriculum also promote these skills as well as those needed to adapt to a constantly changing technological world. There is also a lack of training on how to teach teachers to use media and popular culture in to their classes, and more emphasize on teachers to incorporate more reading and writing strategies without much engagement from media.
There are also varying perceptions on how we as educators should approach the media. According to Ladislaus Semali, there are three perceptions on how to approach or deal with media and pop culture that he observed through different media education units. A protectionist approach is to limit the amount of media that a child consumes, advocates censorship or regulation. The interventionalist approach focuses on the negative issues that pertain to the media, such as violence, gender role stereotyping or misleading information in advertisement. This approach looks at media literacy as a way to teach youth strategies to protect them from these issues. The cultural studies perspective looks at creation of awareness as a whole and to engage the audience in critical evaluation of the media that is presented and question the motivation behind the messages being portrayed. Democracy depends on a informed public, as stated by Robert Kubey. What better democratic process than to keep those whom are our informants accountable? That is our primary responsibility as social studies educators. The cultural studies approach looks media literacy skills and techniques as integral to the curriculum, not a separate entity.
One example of incorporating a common medium, films, that are used by many social studies teachers, is that of Adam Woelders, who uses motion pictures and documentaries as one of many sources that students use to construct and analyze an historical event in his world history course. His use of K-W-L (Know-Wonder-Learn) charts and anticipation guides help students guide through their historical inquiry by having students build on prior knowledge on an historical event . The anticipation guides are used to enable students to begin gathering information about the topic that they may not have familiarity with. Woelders also provides a viewing guide so that students can follow the films and able to follow the necessary information from it. The guides also helps them identify what information is left out of the film after they view it, and to speculate on why that information was omitted. These tools help enable students to be critical of the films they view. It also helps set up the structure for historical inquiry for the comparison of film with other sources. The students at the end of their research are to write a construction of the event in their own words. Although it was an example from a middle school perspective, it is an activity that can be adjusted with any secondary school level. Woelders himself wrote the article about his techniques because he was concerned with the lack of incorporation of media literacy skills for middle school students within the content area.
W. Dean Eastman, a government teacher who was concerned about the lack of political knowledge his students had coming into his course, began a collaboration with his school librarian who was concerned how students were legitimizing the news and online sources that they researched and whether or not they understood each outlet has its own perspective. Students in the course are involved in an ongoing process of learning about local history and its ties to what was happening in our nation at the same time. For the article, they highlight the unit of voting rights and had students exploring why residents in their own neighborhoods do not participate in the voting process. From there, they compared their results to national results. Eventually they created PrimaryReseach.org ( www.primaryresearch.org) a website that provides their students with web resources for the class such as assignments and study guides as well as reworked pieces of primary documents to accommodate various reading levels. It is tailored to meet the needs of the students, the local community and topic they are researching. However, the skills that students gain as being amateur historians and well as to critically look at the data
The chapter “Historical Thinking” from the book Tooning In: Essays on Popular Culture and Education argues the most history education is text driven and centers on covering on basic facts. Teachers often use film to teach or emphasize historical information, however that in terms of teaching critical thinking skills, it is not any more challenging than reading a textbook or listening to a lecture. It is, as I stated before, a passive activity. The authors advocate not just watching film, but having students evaluate a film through what content is present and in terms of the context it was made. For example, viewing the film Night of the Living Dead which came out in 1968 and relating the film to race relations within the United States at that time. How is the film symbolically used to illustrate race relations? What about the tactics used by those whom were advocating for civil rights at that time? Using the film as a context, you could discuss why the actions used by civil rights leaders were more confrontational than those of the earlier sixties. The entire chapter discusses how a class looked at films throughout the last forty years, and demonstrated how an instructor could have student research and discuss what may have been going on locally at the same time as well as national issues that were being faced.
Conclusion
Through the research I was able to conduct, there were many of examples of teachers incorporating popular culture and media literacy principles into standard social studies content courses. Many of these techniques were innovative, interactive and rigorous; they enhanced the research skills that instructors wanted their students to attain, yet often allowed students to add their own knowledge and process into the final product. Students felt engaged and empowered, because they were learning to do the work of historians and being able to add their own voices. Isn’t this the goal we all want as educators for our students? To understand that they can apply these skills to any task or job they may have to accomplish? Education in the 21st century is no longer about what we know, but how we learn, apply and being able to critically think about the information that we learn and understand its fluidity. Popular culture, with its own fluidity and the skills that media literacy promotes fit very well into the type of learners we are trying to create. As educators, our responsibility is to continue innovative teaching and modeling in these areas.
Bibliography
Kaiser Foundation Fact Sheet (2002) “Media Literacy” 13 May 2008
http://www.kff.org/entmedia/Media-Literacy.cfm
Woelders, A. 2007 “It Makes You Think More When You Watch Things”: Scaffolding for Historical Inquiry Using Film in the Middle School Classroom.
The Social Studies vol. 98 no.4 145-152
Semali, L. 2003 Ways with Visual Language: Making the Case for Critical Media Literacy.
Clearing House vol.76 no. 6 271-277
Hobbs, R. 2005 The State of Media Literacy Education
Journal of Communication Vol.55 no.4 865-871
White, C and T. Walker 2008 Tooning In
Tooning In: Essays on Popular Culture and Education
Rowman & Littlefield: Lanham 1-13
White, C. and T. Walker (2008) Historical Thinking
Tooning In: Essays on Popular Culture and Education.
Rowman &Littlefield: Lanham 49-58
Kubey, Robert 2004 Media Literacy and the Teaching of Civics and Social Studies a the Dawn of the 21st Century.
American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 48 No.1 69-77
Eastman, W. D & McGrath, K 2006 Encouraging Civic Virtues A Collaborative Model Developed by a Teacher-Librarian and a Classroom Teacher
Knowledge Quest Vol. 34 No. 4 March/April 2006
Barton, K., and L. Levstik. 2001 Doing history: investigating with children in the elementary and middle schools. Mawah NJ: Eribaum
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thinking about Graphic Novels....
The discussion of graphic novels vs. chapter books was introduced earlier this year within my own school district when there was an article in the Saint Pau Pioneer Press regarding some eighth grade teachers at Hazel Park Middle school in Saint Paul using graphic novels as part of their English curriculum. The response online seemed evenly split with those praising the teachers for being innovative or defending the graphic novel or comic book genre as legitmate forms of literature, while others denouce the teachers as dumbing down the curriculum.
To be quite honest, I actually sit right in the middle of the issue. I have read and seen some great graphic novels which teach historical information in context that is understood by many students, unlike many of the textbooks that we present to them. At the same time, I also can see where some may have legitmate fears about the literacy of our students. Studies and surveys have been done over the past decade which indicate a decline in the readership of our students. I remember devouring books as a kid and even into high school. In fact, I would get in trouble for reading a book in class. Now many of my student boast that they hate to read, or don't like reading at all, which is scary, considering their lack of creativity, vocabulary, comprehension of grammar reflect this. When I assign reading for my history and economics classes, I have to assign some sort of assignment or questions that they must complete in order for them to read. I have found out the hard way that when I ask my students to just read, for the sake of having foundational information for our class discussion, they will not do it if there is no incentive.
I do not blame their langauge arts teachers, who fight the daily battle to have students do what they "hate" to do when getting them to reading classical or modern-day works. Working in an urban district, I know firsthand the challenges they face with the vast amount of difference in students' reading ability. I have personally have had kids who tested at reading the college level in the same class with those whom read at the 3rd grade level in a 10th grade class. Textbooks for some of the lower level readers defeats them and they become disengaged. For those types of audiences, at some point in your class, you would need to have something that they could engage in together. Graphic novels could be used as a way to bridge these gaps.
Little did I know, that I would be directly affected by this issue. I have a nine-year old goddaughter, Marisol, whom unlike her older sisters, is not an avid reader. When her mother takes her to the library, Marisol heads straight to the graphic novel section and her mother actually has to suggest chapter books for her to read,unlike her older daugthers who would choose their own. Her teachers express concern that Marisol is very bright, but not pushing herself when it comes to reading. Before I knew about this assignment, I was at their house in the evening and viewed the novels Marisol checked out that week. I did see where her teachers would be concerned as the dialogue was limited between the characters, and gives the child visuals rather that having them create their own within their imagination. So at the same time, I do grapple with some of the auguments posted by those who worry about the literacy of our students. I constantly run into the battle where students just want the readings to be short and simple and the answers right in front of them.
However, the creation of the comic book or graphic novel, I feel is quite rigorous and a good way for students to use their creative and literacy skills. There is much to consider, in terms of dialogue, setting the scene and connecting the slides together that takes time and skill. I have my seniors create comic books for concepts in economics that we study and they have to be portrayed in within a comic book storyline format. The readwritethink webpage that we were introduced to with this assignment I found to be very user friendly and I will be using when I introduce the comic book assignment later this trimester. I have struggled with the steps and storyboard process with them, but I think introducing this page to my students will have them consider more aspects of the comic book that they should incorporate into their projects and offer some guidance. We also have a ComicLife program in our Mac Lab that allows students to create comic books that may not be artistically inclined. Where was this when I struggled to do my own high school comic book assignment?
To be quite honest, I actually sit right in the middle of the issue. I have read and seen some great graphic novels which teach historical information in context that is understood by many students, unlike many of the textbooks that we present to them. At the same time, I also can see where some may have legitmate fears about the literacy of our students. Studies and surveys have been done over the past decade which indicate a decline in the readership of our students. I remember devouring books as a kid and even into high school. In fact, I would get in trouble for reading a book in class. Now many of my student boast that they hate to read, or don't like reading at all, which is scary, considering their lack of creativity, vocabulary, comprehension of grammar reflect this. When I assign reading for my history and economics classes, I have to assign some sort of assignment or questions that they must complete in order for them to read. I have found out the hard way that when I ask my students to just read, for the sake of having foundational information for our class discussion, they will not do it if there is no incentive.
I do not blame their langauge arts teachers, who fight the daily battle to have students do what they "hate" to do when getting them to reading classical or modern-day works. Working in an urban district, I know firsthand the challenges they face with the vast amount of difference in students' reading ability. I have personally have had kids who tested at reading the college level in the same class with those whom read at the 3rd grade level in a 10th grade class. Textbooks for some of the lower level readers defeats them and they become disengaged. For those types of audiences, at some point in your class, you would need to have something that they could engage in together. Graphic novels could be used as a way to bridge these gaps.
Little did I know, that I would be directly affected by this issue. I have a nine-year old goddaughter, Marisol, whom unlike her older sisters, is not an avid reader. When her mother takes her to the library, Marisol heads straight to the graphic novel section and her mother actually has to suggest chapter books for her to read,unlike her older daugthers who would choose their own. Her teachers express concern that Marisol is very bright, but not pushing herself when it comes to reading. Before I knew about this assignment, I was at their house in the evening and viewed the novels Marisol checked out that week. I did see where her teachers would be concerned as the dialogue was limited between the characters, and gives the child visuals rather that having them create their own within their imagination. So at the same time, I do grapple with some of the auguments posted by those who worry about the literacy of our students. I constantly run into the battle where students just want the readings to be short and simple and the answers right in front of them.
However, the creation of the comic book or graphic novel, I feel is quite rigorous and a good way for students to use their creative and literacy skills. There is much to consider, in terms of dialogue, setting the scene and connecting the slides together that takes time and skill. I have my seniors create comic books for concepts in economics that we study and they have to be portrayed in within a comic book storyline format. The readwritethink webpage that we were introduced to with this assignment I found to be very user friendly and I will be using when I introduce the comic book assignment later this trimester. I have struggled with the steps and storyboard process with them, but I think introducing this page to my students will have them consider more aspects of the comic book that they should incorporate into their projects and offer some guidance. We also have a ComicLife program in our Mac Lab that allows students to create comic books that may not be artistically inclined. Where was this when I struggled to do my own high school comic book assignment?
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
War and Pop Culture
Pop Culture and War…
When I conducted my research for the Bob Dylan song “The times they are a changing..” a couple of weeks ago, I actually spent a great deal of time researching and reading about folk music and learning about it’s history and evolution. I actually downloaded the song “Bring em home” from Bruce Springsteen’s album at that time, as many ideas were flowing about how to bring the history of genres of folk, at least from the 40’s through today of folk music and tying them with events for U.S. History. I recently have been listening to artists considered folk musicians such as Ani DiFranco, Tracy Chapman, and of course, Bob Dylan. I thought these were the epitome of the folk genre, but I learned that that they are the newer artists on the horizon as well as some lesser known past artists who may be not as famous, but more poignant.
I would like eventually to develop a unit where students will explore a unit of American History through the study of music and genre and how different genres develop in response to the culture of the nation. However as May approaches and we have yet to cover the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam, I don’t think it will happen this year. A cool summer project for me to work on, as I found the history of folk to be interesting and how it orginated during the Great Depression.
Perhaps to make this an assignment would be to have them identify genres of music and study it’s history, then evaluate what was going on our nation at that time, that may have fostered the growth of this genre. Some examples to use would be hip-hop, rock, blues, folk, jazz, and country. Students could also explore how these mediums are used to communicate information or to promote similar values about national events or sentiments.
The Authentic History Center resources could be used as way to study perceptions on war and to look at media art (films, books) and war propaganda through historical context and to understand perspectives of the war. I was particularly interested in the songs about the atomic bomb, since up until this point, I was not aware of any, but always wondered what people felt about it. Since I am in the process of researching the 1950s and 1960s for my next unit, I thought some of the resouces could help students understand the average American experience through those times.
I was also drawn to the Catholic church publication, This Godless Communism. It reminded me of the Mormon church books Awake! They are booklets that they distribute when trying convert non-Mormon’s into the church and usually are illustrated in a graphic novel form. The Mormons take a similar approach that the Catholics do, illustrating apocalyptic scenarios of godless people perishing in God’s terrible retribution for their sins. The Godless Communism features a similar apocalyptic ending, in which everything in our lives will be uprooted if we are not diligent in reporting people who are involved in un-American activities. In some cases, I think we may be heading back into that state of mind in terms of profiling people for terrorist activities and whether or not they are legally in this country. I also enjoyed reading the letter at the beginning which J. Edgar Hoover was pleased with the editors of the comic book for providing this education to America’s youth and encouraging youngsters to learn all they can about communism so that they can combat it. Those pieces are important for students to be exposed to, so that they understand why certain domestic and foreign policies were enacted.
On a differnt note, one of the films that I show during my slavery unit is “Ethnic Notions” which depicts the origin of the some of the more notorious stereotypes of African American people and how they originated, discussed how they were used to encourage prejudice and discrimination. The Teaching Diversity with multimedia piece of The Authentic History Center could be used to show stereotypes of other ethnicities and to find some similar depictions and reasons why they were used to demean specific groups.
When I conducted my research for the Bob Dylan song “The times they are a changing..” a couple of weeks ago, I actually spent a great deal of time researching and reading about folk music and learning about it’s history and evolution. I actually downloaded the song “Bring em home” from Bruce Springsteen’s album at that time, as many ideas were flowing about how to bring the history of genres of folk, at least from the 40’s through today of folk music and tying them with events for U.S. History. I recently have been listening to artists considered folk musicians such as Ani DiFranco, Tracy Chapman, and of course, Bob Dylan. I thought these were the epitome of the folk genre, but I learned that that they are the newer artists on the horizon as well as some lesser known past artists who may be not as famous, but more poignant.
I would like eventually to develop a unit where students will explore a unit of American History through the study of music and genre and how different genres develop in response to the culture of the nation. However as May approaches and we have yet to cover the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam, I don’t think it will happen this year. A cool summer project for me to work on, as I found the history of folk to be interesting and how it orginated during the Great Depression.
Perhaps to make this an assignment would be to have them identify genres of music and study it’s history, then evaluate what was going on our nation at that time, that may have fostered the growth of this genre. Some examples to use would be hip-hop, rock, blues, folk, jazz, and country. Students could also explore how these mediums are used to communicate information or to promote similar values about national events or sentiments.
The Authentic History Center resources could be used as way to study perceptions on war and to look at media art (films, books) and war propaganda through historical context and to understand perspectives of the war. I was particularly interested in the songs about the atomic bomb, since up until this point, I was not aware of any, but always wondered what people felt about it. Since I am in the process of researching the 1950s and 1960s for my next unit, I thought some of the resouces could help students understand the average American experience through those times.
I was also drawn to the Catholic church publication, This Godless Communism. It reminded me of the Mormon church books Awake! They are booklets that they distribute when trying convert non-Mormon’s into the church and usually are illustrated in a graphic novel form. The Mormons take a similar approach that the Catholics do, illustrating apocalyptic scenarios of godless people perishing in God’s terrible retribution for their sins. The Godless Communism features a similar apocalyptic ending, in which everything in our lives will be uprooted if we are not diligent in reporting people who are involved in un-American activities. In some cases, I think we may be heading back into that state of mind in terms of profiling people for terrorist activities and whether or not they are legally in this country. I also enjoyed reading the letter at the beginning which J. Edgar Hoover was pleased with the editors of the comic book for providing this education to America’s youth and encouraging youngsters to learn all they can about communism so that they can combat it. Those pieces are important for students to be exposed to, so that they understand why certain domestic and foreign policies were enacted.
On a differnt note, one of the films that I show during my slavery unit is “Ethnic Notions” which depicts the origin of the some of the more notorious stereotypes of African American people and how they originated, discussed how they were used to encourage prejudice and discrimination. The Teaching Diversity with multimedia piece of The Authentic History Center could be used to show stereotypes of other ethnicities and to find some similar depictions and reasons why they were used to demean specific groups.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Criticisms of media
Charade, Masquarade and Hollywood's Africa.
This was the title I read on the website, In Media Res, that showed a YouTube news piece on the changing depiction of Africa from Hollywood. According to the news clip, today's films are depicting African issues and events in a more realistic and humane manner than in the past, often illustrating that African countries and their tragic events stem from Western influence and involvement in their government and economies. Once we are done with their resources or we no longer want to be involve with their issues, we leave them to their fate and do not acknowledge the role we play. The piece stated that to be able to show beauty in Africa, in the past we focused on her natural beauty, and little on her people. Now we focus on the stories and real-life events that illustrate the worst and best of Africa. The author of the piece that accompanied this clip disagreed with the news article, and argued that films still depicted Africa in a negative manner.
I am not sure that much progress has been made in improving our depictions of Africa. To me, they still portray some Africans in a stereotypical manner. My African students complain in my economics class when we discuss poverty, that many people believe that Africans still live in mud huts in primitive conditions. That people in Africal are all dirty, diseased and starving, like those they see on television for charity commercials. That Africans are comprised of one group of people rather than individual tribes that have their own unique characteristics, values and traditions. They wanted to dispel the stereotype that all Africans live in these conditons, that there are cities, people who live modern homes and to understand that there is tribal connections and conflict, but that not that all African is evil and violent.
There were many topics that I found personally interesting on this website but I struggled to find topics and connections that I could make in my own classroom . Most of the topics delve in-depth into media theories and concepts that we wouldn't have time to learn about or unrelated to the curriculum I teach. I choose this clip because I thought I could be used to begin the dialogue about media protrayal of particular group and how this portrayal shapes our perception about these groups. You could also talk about the effects of colonization, for example the genocide in Rwanda, which stems from Belgians instilling fear and dislike between the Hutu and Tutsi as a way to keep them from uniting. An activity to help illustrate the idea of perspective, and to gain an understanding that what we read about in history is someone's perspective would be to have students describe their day, what they experienced. If some watched the local news, have them describe the stories that were one. List the commonalities and differences. Point out that history is someone explaining their experiences, and it is based on perspective. Discuss what could be some issues in how two people that may experience the same even could come up with different versions.
This was the title I read on the website, In Media Res, that showed a YouTube news piece on the changing depiction of Africa from Hollywood. According to the news clip, today's films are depicting African issues and events in a more realistic and humane manner than in the past, often illustrating that African countries and their tragic events stem from Western influence and involvement in their government and economies. Once we are done with their resources or we no longer want to be involve with their issues, we leave them to their fate and do not acknowledge the role we play. The piece stated that to be able to show beauty in Africa, in the past we focused on her natural beauty, and little on her people. Now we focus on the stories and real-life events that illustrate the worst and best of Africa. The author of the piece that accompanied this clip disagreed with the news article, and argued that films still depicted Africa in a negative manner.
I am not sure that much progress has been made in improving our depictions of Africa. To me, they still portray some Africans in a stereotypical manner. My African students complain in my economics class when we discuss poverty, that many people believe that Africans still live in mud huts in primitive conditions. That people in Africal are all dirty, diseased and starving, like those they see on television for charity commercials. That Africans are comprised of one group of people rather than individual tribes that have their own unique characteristics, values and traditions. They wanted to dispel the stereotype that all Africans live in these conditons, that there are cities, people who live modern homes and to understand that there is tribal connections and conflict, but that not that all African is evil and violent.
There were many topics that I found personally interesting on this website but I struggled to find topics and connections that I could make in my own classroom . Most of the topics delve in-depth into media theories and concepts that we wouldn't have time to learn about or unrelated to the curriculum I teach. I choose this clip because I thought I could be used to begin the dialogue about media protrayal of particular group and how this portrayal shapes our perception about these groups. You could also talk about the effects of colonization, for example the genocide in Rwanda, which stems from Belgians instilling fear and dislike between the Hutu and Tutsi as a way to keep them from uniting. An activity to help illustrate the idea of perspective, and to gain an understanding that what we read about in history is someone's perspective would be to have students describe their day, what they experienced. If some watched the local news, have them describe the stories that were one. List the commonalities and differences. Point out that history is someone explaining their experiences, and it is based on perspective. Discuss what could be some issues in how two people that may experience the same even could come up with different versions.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Sports, Race and Pop Culture-Strange Bedfellows
The article: The Popular Racial Order of Urban America, Sport Identity and Politics of Culture takes a critical look at the "urban" pop culture and how it is constructed within the cinematic and sport narratives in regard to the portrayal of African American male athletes. While trying to read this article with a critical mind, in the sense that I should also be neutral in the arguments that an article makes, I could not help but agree with many of the criticisms that they placed on the pop culture, specifically the creators of music and cinema and athletics that continue to portray demeaning roles and unattainable goals for African American youth.
The article begins with look at new trends in toward of looking at diverse portrayals of athletes in cinema and in the news, wth regards to films such as Bend It Like Beckham and athletes like Cathy Freeman (which I do remember the massive amount of media attention she recieived as an Aboriginal Olympic Champion). Today, it may seem that we are much more enlightened in our portrayal of minority athletes and as a society we have moved beyond separation into a global hybrid society. The article takes a critical look at those whom portray African Americans within the context of sports, gangs and success and maybe inadvertently continuing to prepetuate African American steroetypes while presenting their "reality"
The music and sport celebrities continues to celebrate the urban style that is in vogue today. Many African American embrace the style of clothes as symbol of their heritage, even though its mainstreaming depended on use of white designers. Gangs still are continuously glamorized and seen as an alternative family stucture that urban youth can depend on if their own families cannot provide for their emotional and financial needs. However, its is not the politically correct or socially acceptable avenue to success and has no creditablitiy in the mainstream society due to it's criminal nature.
Sports, on the other hand is still protrayed as the more socially acceptable avenue to pursue. It is individualistic, some dependence on the sympathetic person (usually white) or greedy person to lend a hand, but the talent is their own, which no one can take away. Some would argue this may be on purpose. The ratio for success is extremely low (a million to one), and what happens to those whom do not posess talent? I am really wondering when the next "Stand and Deliver" is going to come out. Not that the movie is without criticism, but there are very few films that I can think of that portray academics as a legitimate way out without the white teacher who leads the way. In most settings, because of the situations they come, urban students have some catching up to do in academic skills, in comparison to their suburban peers, and they often know it. They are very few viable alternatives to success that is portrayed for urban, particularly African American youth. Most of them are aware of the lure of criminal activity and it's consequences, yet have not experienced or unaware of other options which lead to longer fulfillment.
In my own experience, I could not begin to count how many students truly believe that sports or music are their own avenues to success, in their own mind, they want to be a rap or hip hop artists or a "baller". When I ask (and I always do) if they play on school team or involved in extracurricular activities that comprise of these mediums, they always claim that the school team or extracurricular group is "wack" and they are much too talented to lend their skills to such a mediocre groups. I am fairly sure it is mainly due to the fact that oftent they already know they will not be successful in the academic aspect of school, that these are socially acceptable paths to success that they know of but also do not have talent in. Either they often do not comprehend that it is due to the involvement of these organizations that lead to their "discovery" or it is a front they portray because they may not know of any avenue they may be accepted as successful.
The current controversy surrounding the Vogue Magazine cover of LeBron James and Gisele Bundchen brings the issues of racial identity and sports to the forfront in recent weeks. James strikes a menacing pose that some see as a gorilla-like, animalistic pose, baring his teeth, with one hand dribbling a ball and the other around Bundchen's waist. Although she is smiling in the picture, and it may have been done in fun, the historical racial context of protraying African Americans as subhuman and menancing and the continuing stereotypes that the photograph symbolizes should not be ignored.
The lesson that you could use or futher develop in regards to this issue of the portrayal of race, identity and sports I think could done in context of looking several pieces of film that combine the use of sports as avenues of discipline and success and having students critically analyze them. He's Got Game would be one, obviously because of some sexual content, I would choose only pieces to view. You could also tie in films such as Love and Basketball , Drumline, Coach Carter, and Stomp the Yard. Most of these also share similar themes of equating success with athletics with success in life, athough Drumline uses musical abilities.
The article begins with look at new trends in toward of looking at diverse portrayals of athletes in cinema and in the news, wth regards to films such as Bend It Like Beckham and athletes like Cathy Freeman (which I do remember the massive amount of media attention she recieived as an Aboriginal Olympic Champion). Today, it may seem that we are much more enlightened in our portrayal of minority athletes and as a society we have moved beyond separation into a global hybrid society. The article takes a critical look at those whom portray African Americans within the context of sports, gangs and success and maybe inadvertently continuing to prepetuate African American steroetypes while presenting their "reality"
The music and sport celebrities continues to celebrate the urban style that is in vogue today. Many African American embrace the style of clothes as symbol of their heritage, even though its mainstreaming depended on use of white designers. Gangs still are continuously glamorized and seen as an alternative family stucture that urban youth can depend on if their own families cannot provide for their emotional and financial needs. However, its is not the politically correct or socially acceptable avenue to success and has no creditablitiy in the mainstream society due to it's criminal nature.
Sports, on the other hand is still protrayed as the more socially acceptable avenue to pursue. It is individualistic, some dependence on the sympathetic person (usually white) or greedy person to lend a hand, but the talent is their own, which no one can take away. Some would argue this may be on purpose. The ratio for success is extremely low (a million to one), and what happens to those whom do not posess talent? I am really wondering when the next "Stand and Deliver" is going to come out. Not that the movie is without criticism, but there are very few films that I can think of that portray academics as a legitimate way out without the white teacher who leads the way. In most settings, because of the situations they come, urban students have some catching up to do in academic skills, in comparison to their suburban peers, and they often know it. They are very few viable alternatives to success that is portrayed for urban, particularly African American youth. Most of them are aware of the lure of criminal activity and it's consequences, yet have not experienced or unaware of other options which lead to longer fulfillment.
In my own experience, I could not begin to count how many students truly believe that sports or music are their own avenues to success, in their own mind, they want to be a rap or hip hop artists or a "baller". When I ask (and I always do) if they play on school team or involved in extracurricular activities that comprise of these mediums, they always claim that the school team or extracurricular group is "wack" and they are much too talented to lend their skills to such a mediocre groups. I am fairly sure it is mainly due to the fact that oftent they already know they will not be successful in the academic aspect of school, that these are socially acceptable paths to success that they know of but also do not have talent in. Either they often do not comprehend that it is due to the involvement of these organizations that lead to their "discovery" or it is a front they portray because they may not know of any avenue they may be accepted as successful.
The current controversy surrounding the Vogue Magazine cover of LeBron James and Gisele Bundchen brings the issues of racial identity and sports to the forfront in recent weeks. James strikes a menacing pose that some see as a gorilla-like, animalistic pose, baring his teeth, with one hand dribbling a ball and the other around Bundchen's waist. Although she is smiling in the picture, and it may have been done in fun, the historical racial context of protraying African Americans as subhuman and menancing and the continuing stereotypes that the photograph symbolizes should not be ignored.
The lesson that you could use or futher develop in regards to this issue of the portrayal of race, identity and sports I think could done in context of looking several pieces of film that combine the use of sports as avenues of discipline and success and having students critically analyze them. He's Got Game would be one, obviously because of some sexual content, I would choose only pieces to view. You could also tie in films such as Love and Basketball , Drumline, Coach Carter, and Stomp the Yard. Most of these also share similar themes of equating success with athletics with success in life, athough Drumline uses musical abilities.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Immigration and Pop Culture
Immigration and Pop Culture
In reading the Introduction to Immigration and Pop Culture, I could not help but to reflect on the article Jewish Gangster Masquerade. The chapter describes the gangster flicks of the 1930s and how they depicted Italian and Jewish Gangs and that the films were popular for many during the era of the Great Depression. Other films made during this era were made for escapist reasons, but that these films were marketed particularly because of their realism. Whose reality were they really depicting? In one sense, it allow some to feel a certain affinitiy or pride at being portrayed as tough, intimidating. For others, it attributed negative stereotypes as gangsters were also portrayed as menaces to society.
As I was reading the article, I could not stop reflecting on my own and my friends’ experiences with the gangster films of today. I grew up in a predominately Latino community that included African Americans, Asians. It was considered vital that you have seen Scarface (with Al Pacino) and the Godfather, and that many of the males in my neigborhood wanted to emulate the power that Michale Corleone(?) had in the movie. In fact, for many of my friends that I still have in the neighborhood, Scarface is their all-time favorite movie. I began to think that that the appeal of these types of movies was not the violence depicted, but that because the power the gangs had. The gangs really did not have to relinquish their ethnic identity, but in fact portrayed them as being proud of it.
Although the goal of the real life gangsters was to attain a type of acceptance and respect into society, whether it be their own or the mass society of the city in which they lived, for my classmates, it was the power and intimidation that they gravitated to most, to have people answer to you, not the other way around.
In reading the Introduction to Immigration and Pop Culture, I could not help but to reflect on the article Jewish Gangster Masquerade. The chapter describes the gangster flicks of the 1930s and how they depicted Italian and Jewish Gangs and that the films were popular for many during the era of the Great Depression. Other films made during this era were made for escapist reasons, but that these films were marketed particularly because of their realism. Whose reality were they really depicting? In one sense, it allow some to feel a certain affinitiy or pride at being portrayed as tough, intimidating. For others, it attributed negative stereotypes as gangsters were also portrayed as menaces to society.
As I was reading the article, I could not stop reflecting on my own and my friends’ experiences with the gangster films of today. I grew up in a predominately Latino community that included African Americans, Asians. It was considered vital that you have seen Scarface (with Al Pacino) and the Godfather, and that many of the males in my neigborhood wanted to emulate the power that Michale Corleone(?) had in the movie. In fact, for many of my friends that I still have in the neighborhood, Scarface is their all-time favorite movie. I began to think that that the appeal of these types of movies was not the violence depicted, but that because the power the gangs had. The gangs really did not have to relinquish their ethnic identity, but in fact portrayed them as being proud of it.
Although the goal of the real life gangsters was to attain a type of acceptance and respect into society, whether it be their own or the mass society of the city in which they lived, for my classmates, it was the power and intimidation that they gravitated to most, to have people answer to you, not the other way around.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Cultural Capital lesson plan
What's in your Brain? A study of cultural capital
Start by having student list topics they feel they have the most
knowledge about. It could be related to a place, such as a
neigborhood or region of the city.A hobby, such as hip hop music,
sport, or knitting.Or part of their identity,
such as religion or ethnic heritage. Then have them pick one
of these topics to reflect in-depth about. What do they know
about this topic? Why do they feel they are experts at this topic?
Students would research about their chosen topic.
Where did it originate?Is there any variation or
diffusion or variations within this topic. Students would
then create an poster that would inform others about their
topics and provide historical context as to how this topic
has changed or evolved over the years. They are to use visual evidence
such as photos or drawings to illustrate their poster as well as
their reflective piece to explain why they chose that topic.
Another option would be to have them create a short
powerpoint or imovie.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Have we (women) evolved?
In viewing videos from Avril Lavinge, Lil Kim and Fiona Apple, their songs were in a way for them to flip the tables on maybe what was considered traditional male territory in terms of song topic. The topics of cheating, disappointment and sex empowerment were now being written from their own perspectives.
The song "Criminal" by Fiona Apple is the about a women who uses a man, "just because I can", which is not something women are not taught growing up how to be. After all, aren't we supposed to be caring and nuturing...yet on guard, because it is expected that maybe our men will cheat on us? Not the other way around? Lil Kim raps about achieving sexual satisfaction and sexually dominating men, yet uses her sexuality as a marketing tool in ways that leave little to the imagination. Avril sings about disappointment about a broken relationship, but also shifting the blame to her ex, so the title Happy Ending is meant to be an irony.
At the time that these songs and videos came out, they were thought to be ground-breaking or revolutionary in someway..expressing how they really felt or what they really wanted, but you do see some very traditional male expressions still taking place in the cinema/video aspects of their music.
The women are portrayed in the male perspective, even if their songs sing about having the upper hand in the male/female relationships. They are still objects to watch, to be seductive to the viewer, and objectified. Some is intentional, either done by the approval of the artist, but I do feel that their message of female "empowerment" gets lost in their videos. You end up looking at innocent looking faces, heavily made up, body parts featured that are appealing to male viewers.
In Lil Kims video, you even have a "Barbie" factory in which Lil Kim's images are place on Barbie bodies. Lynn Spigel essay "Welcome to the Dream House", Spigel mentions that female collectors of the Barbie doll use the minature world of Barbie to make authoritive statements about themselves (Spigel 325). Lil Kim's "How Many Licks?" video is an explicit example about this. She raps about how she expects her male sexual partners to satisfy her, yet she markets her self as a flavor to be experienced, in three different types.
The song "Criminal" by Fiona Apple is the about a women who uses a man, "just because I can", which is not something women are not taught growing up how to be. After all, aren't we supposed to be caring and nuturing...yet on guard, because it is expected that maybe our men will cheat on us? Not the other way around? Lil Kim raps about achieving sexual satisfaction and sexually dominating men, yet uses her sexuality as a marketing tool in ways that leave little to the imagination. Avril sings about disappointment about a broken relationship, but also shifting the blame to her ex, so the title Happy Ending is meant to be an irony.
At the time that these songs and videos came out, they were thought to be ground-breaking or revolutionary in someway..expressing how they really felt or what they really wanted, but you do see some very traditional male expressions still taking place in the cinema/video aspects of their music.
The women are portrayed in the male perspective, even if their songs sing about having the upper hand in the male/female relationships. They are still objects to watch, to be seductive to the viewer, and objectified. Some is intentional, either done by the approval of the artist, but I do feel that their message of female "empowerment" gets lost in their videos. You end up looking at innocent looking faces, heavily made up, body parts featured that are appealing to male viewers.
In Lil Kims video, you even have a "Barbie" factory in which Lil Kim's images are place on Barbie bodies. Lynn Spigel essay "Welcome to the Dream House", Spigel mentions that female collectors of the Barbie doll use the minature world of Barbie to make authoritive statements about themselves (Spigel 325). Lil Kim's "How Many Licks?" video is an explicit example about this. She raps about how she expects her male sexual partners to satisfy her, yet she markets her self as a flavor to be experienced, in three different types.
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