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?
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
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.
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