sarahsspeakeasy

Thursday, March 08, 2007

media literacy


It is essential that students gain media literacy in all of their high school classes. It seems that many students are more engaged with activities that allow them to use different forms of media. In the reading by Beach, the teacher was having a difficult time engaging the students in ELA classroom. The teacher wanted the students to share their ideas, interpretations and reactions to literature that was assigned for class. The teacher was aware that wikis, blogs and podcasts could be the answer to her dilemma. As teachers, it is essential that multimodel ways of teaching are implemented. The teacher decided to have her students go into the computer lab one day a week for blogging. She had her students write a blog about something that the students found interesting in the weeks readings. Blogs are a liberating space where students don't have to worry about form or any sort of structure (like the five paragraph essay). In the blog, students were able to share their ideas more freely and the teacher got a lot more from her students. the students also shared their work with others and responded to at tleast three other student blogs. Students had found a place "in the blog" to react and interact with others. As Beach says, "students can share their writing in a broader way then in the days when the printed word processed documents and exchanged them in class" is not the era that we are now in. Students need to have the opportunity to share their work in a variety of ways. So, teachers... get hip to the blog and other forms of media literacy! You will have more engagement and more involvement from your students.

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