As I continue to read the chapters, I have very mixed feelings. As many of you know I struggle with these activities in a 2nd grade classroom. One quote that really resonated with me was from Hobbs and Moore (2013), "The student controlled the learned process-in both generating questions and finding the answer. These kinds of media-rich activities spark intellectual curiosity." (p. 135). This quote brought attention to the lack of control I feel in my classroom. We have very scripted curriculum that we use along with pacing guides. I think often non-teachers think we have endless control to take on learning as inspired by children, the sad truth is we do not. After I read these chapters I am often left with the question of how. How can I do this in my classroom? I believe this is important and somehow it needs to happen.
I love the idea of finding an interest of my students and running with it for a week long project, similar to that situation discussed in Chapter 3 written by Hobbs and Moore (2013). I connected greatly with the idea that I want my students to be engaged with the world around them. I want them to care about not only themselves, but their families, their school and their community.
As stated by Hobbs and Moore (2014), "Teachers with firmly held beliefs about innocence of childhood may feel the urge to protect children from certain media depictions." (pg. 59). I often feel this way in my classroom given the rough backgrounds that my children face everyday. Should I really be talking about the homelessness in Longmont when I know that the student doesn't have a lot to eat at home? Should I make a point about how media targets certain genders and perpetuates stereotypes when this child just last night witnessed domestic abuse again and the cops came to their house? On the flip side of the argument I feel the need to break the cycle these students are in. I feel that if I can develop critical thinkers about the world around them, specifically the media they take in, maybe they can grow up become successful in spite of the obstacles they face.
I feel that one of the greatest things we can teach a child is to advocate for themselves. They need to be able to articulate their needs, ask for help and express their ideas. They need to be able to think critically and make informed decisions. I think one of the best ways to do this is through the media they get on a daily basis. As stated by Hicks (2013) "Inviting students to record and then listen to their own voice can also open up conversations about dialect, multilingualism, and the denotation and connotations of particular words and phrases." (p. 103). Maybe having students response orally and in a recorded form can be a solution to my need to create advocates. By recording children, we can work on how good audio is organized and how they can become articulate advocates for their own needs.
At the end of the day I am always looking for classroom connections. I would like my students to really start thinking about what makes a good speaker. As a podcast listener myself I often gain a lot of information from them and enjoy the time I spend listening to them. This could be something I easily add to my morning meeting routine. I think by starting small and focusing on one podcast we can critically analysis the good and bad. We then can take this review and slowly lead into crafting our own audio script with the possibility to recording when finished. I found a helpful list of podcasts for children here.
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Children are exposed to media everyday. It is our job as educators to create articulate, critical thinkers. The best way to do this might just be to show children how powerful their voice can be.
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