Stack and Kelley have demonstrated how media and society influence each other; media depicts society while society enacts what the media portrays. As educators we need to also reflect upon “the way media influences how adults come to understand children and youth” (p8). There is a mentality that it is only younger people need to be protected by the influence of media but that is not the case. What we interact with can have serious repercussions on how we treat others and ourselves. If we take media and pop culture as the foundation of the realities around us then the generation that follows will follow the same footsteps and nothing will change.
On a personal level, throughout my educational years math has always played a critical part in my life especially when I decided to pursue math. When I had decided to pursue my math studies in university there were those that were surprised and felt the need to say to me “are you sure” and “it won’t be easy”. But my male counterpart received positive reinforcement, such as “you’ll do great”. If I did not have a strong sense of who I am and what I want, I could have taken my studies in a different direction. The reality is that men outnumber women in STEM fields and 2 reasons for this could be that society has considered STEM careers to be “unfeminine” and that females feel that they lack confidence in their ability, no matter how capable they may be. As well there is an unconscious bias amongst our society that math and science are “male” fields while the humanities are more suitable for “females”. It is these stereotypes that prevent young girls from pursuing math and science. It comes down to there being a lack of female role models in these fields and media has reinforced this representation. It has been discussed that media and pop culture play a powerful role when it comes to female empowerment. With respect to my example there needs to be more visibility when it comes women accomplishing and pursuing STEM studies/ careers. As well, we need to move away from the stereotype that a girl can only pursue STEM careers if she was a geeky girl. We must face and change these misrepresentations is to urge the creation of counter narratives. This is noticeable in shows such as Felicity Smoak from Arrow, Raven from The 100, and Amy from Big Bang Theory, all of which are strong, intelligent, feminine, respectable and relatable. Such female characters will help challenge gender stereotypes by normalizing women in scientific and technical fields. Only when “marginalized groups invent and circulate oppositional interpretations of their needs and interests, in strategic resistance to the power if dominant groups and institution whose ideologies are accepted as common sense in wider public spheres” (p10). 1. Stack, M., & Kelley, D.M. (2006). Popular media, education, and resistance. Canadian Journal of Education, 29(1), 5-26.
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Critical EssayThe autonomous model views reading and writing as neutral processes that focuses on creating a literate society, it believes that there is a universal set of skill that needs to be taught with regards to decoding and encoding print texts (p.6). It states that there is one way of doing things and that this is the only way it should be done. But that goes against everything that is happening in the world. Thus we have to begin with altering the way we define literacy. With the developments in digital technology we are no longer literate in just print text but also “visual, oral, gestural, linguistic, musical, kinesthetic and digital” (p.6).
Alverman states that the theory at the center of New Literacy Studies is the “social semiotic theory of multimodality which attempts to explain how people recruit various resources (or signs) to represent ideas they wish to communicate through a variety of modes across a range of media” (pg6-7). Essentially, it is about providing opportunities where people can communicate with each other in a form that is comfortable to them. Therefore, New Literacy Studies is about promoting numerous forms of literacy that help up us navigate and communicate with others and the world. There is no longer one way but countless ways of interacting with what is around you. What has educational value? This is always on the mind of educators. It is not surprising that print-based text have been deemed as having a greater transfer value (greater educational worth) than nonprint texts (p. 14). For example, the Ontario Literacy Test solely determines whether students can convey their arguments and ideas via reading and writing only. However, we could find value from popular culture when working with students in the classroom. We need to acknowledge the interest of our students and incorporate. It provides them with the chance to connect with what they are learning. But it is not just about showing a movie or creating a remix assignment. There needs to be more. Take the time in class to discuss the various forms of texts that they are surrounded by. When assigning a remix assignment discuss with students to examine sources, what the underlining meaning is, copyright and so forth. Thus allowing remix practices to have educational worth because when they go out in the world they will be ready to be curious, ask question and support their position. NLS gives students with different learning styles the opportunity to succeed in and outside the classroom. It allows for student voice to be integrated into the classroom in a form that is not foreign or uncomfortable to them. One could say that by integrating NLS into the classroom we are able to demonstrate to our students that literacy is constantly changing and evolving. That through linguistic diversity we are able to embrace multimodal forms of expression and representation, and learn from each other. If it is our responsibility to provide our students with the tools to interact with the world then I see no reason why should not bring the outside world into the classroom. |
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