"Critical Media Literacy is a long-term investment. It is a journey teachers should start their students on now, granted the world and the messages within it are not letting up anytime soon."
Excerpt from my Literature Review, "Pushing Buttons - How Technology and Critical Media Literacy Are Integral Pieces to the Education of a 21st Century Learner" in June 2012
Critical Media Literacy (CML)
AS AN EDUCATOR - As mentioned in my reflection under "M. Ed - Year One", I had an inkling as to what critical pedagogy and critical literary framework was prior to taking this course in April 2012. I perhaps wasn't able to articulate the constructs of it. Thanks to Dr. Lorayne Robertson, and a very intriguing and engaging Special Topics course, I do now.
I thought, as a teacher, it was my job to widen the lense and perspectives all students looked through. Therefore, in the first five years of my practice, I always pushed a lens or perspective on the students. Almost forcing them to see media, literary texts, images, through the eyes (specifically) of the downtrodden, disenfranchised, or neglected. Often this would mean doing assignments where students were obligated to look through the eyes of the physically handicapped, refugees, neglected minorities, just to name a few. From critical conversations I had with them, the students often shared that these assignments were rich and interesting. However, from this course I realized two items that were missing. First, their own authentic voice and point of view. Second, the agency to be a producer of CML messages. CML is the following, which I felt I did demonstrate in my pedagogical practice:
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My definition of CML now includes the following very important components folded into it: inclusion, technology, and empowerment.
Inclusion because CML brings out-of-school literary realities that students face on a daily basis into the classroom. CML is understanding that messages need to be constructed and deconstructed from visuals, mixed-media, videos, audio to news broadcasts and feeds. Providing students the ability to take on the multimodality of 21st century media messages is known as modal affordance (Jewitt, 2008). In doing this, students can now apply their learning in the out-of- school, media-heavy society. Furthermore, the inclusion component also speaks to students bringing in the literary interests of their lives into class, much of them being contrived from pop-culture sources (Alverman & Hagood, 2000). By including (media) texts that are more reflective of the students daily lives, the propensity for students to exercise this skill in their daily lives may increase (Alverman & Hagood, 2000). In CML, the realities and interests of student's daily lives are not ignored, they are utilized.
In speaking of multimodality, technology affords the ability to produce, communicate, share, broadcast, and propagate a message in a multitude of modes to a large audience, unbounded by distance or geography (Jewett, 2007). By sharing, enlightening, and training students who may be "cut-off" from the mainstream discourse, or lack the access to advocate for themselves, technology and CML instruction can bring students to analyze and deconstruct the mass-media messages hurled at them in the media. Furthermore, a teacher can train them and give them access to propagate their own message that advocates and speaks on a message that comes from their point of view, and shares their perspective
Finally, by training and making students proficient in CML, you empower the student to become an agent in sharing their own message in a world that they may not see themselves fitting into (Harste, 2003). CML brings in the metacognitive piece where students don't accept what they understand without questioning how or why they believe what they hold as true (Jewett, 2007). It takes what the students already know, and builds on it by letting them know that the message the audience interprets is paramount in message formation (Kellner & Share, 2003; Jewett, 2007). In addition to being in the leading position for message analysis and deconstruction, CML gives students the power to be a righteous and persuasive producers of their own messages (Pinkhard, 2009).
Granted the access to the technology and technological infrastructure is there, the graduate program has showed me that CML provides students the digital literary skills to deconstruct messages from hegemonic sources that have the power to oppress, exacerbate and foster gender/ class/ racial stereotypes, and to speak from a bias point of view (Harste, 2003; Jewitt, 2008; Alverman & Hagood, 2000). In addition to strengthening student literary comprehension, it permeates more so with providing power and agency for these students to share their own message with the mainstream world. CML empowers them to let their voices be heard by the same audience only hegemonic powers once had access to.
My practice and point of view of literacy instruction has forever changed because of the MEd program. Literacy is not only about comprehension. It is about agency, empowerment, advocating, and becoming a contributing member of a democratic society, whether you are seen to be apart of that society's discourse, or not.
Inclusion because CML brings out-of-school literary realities that students face on a daily basis into the classroom. CML is understanding that messages need to be constructed and deconstructed from visuals, mixed-media, videos, audio to news broadcasts and feeds. Providing students the ability to take on the multimodality of 21st century media messages is known as modal affordance (Jewitt, 2008). In doing this, students can now apply their learning in the out-of- school, media-heavy society. Furthermore, the inclusion component also speaks to students bringing in the literary interests of their lives into class, much of them being contrived from pop-culture sources (Alverman & Hagood, 2000). By including (media) texts that are more reflective of the students daily lives, the propensity for students to exercise this skill in their daily lives may increase (Alverman & Hagood, 2000). In CML, the realities and interests of student's daily lives are not ignored, they are utilized.
In speaking of multimodality, technology affords the ability to produce, communicate, share, broadcast, and propagate a message in a multitude of modes to a large audience, unbounded by distance or geography (Jewett, 2007). By sharing, enlightening, and training students who may be "cut-off" from the mainstream discourse, or lack the access to advocate for themselves, technology and CML instruction can bring students to analyze and deconstruct the mass-media messages hurled at them in the media. Furthermore, a teacher can train them and give them access to propagate their own message that advocates and speaks on a message that comes from their point of view, and shares their perspective
Finally, by training and making students proficient in CML, you empower the student to become an agent in sharing their own message in a world that they may not see themselves fitting into (Harste, 2003). CML brings in the metacognitive piece where students don't accept what they understand without questioning how or why they believe what they hold as true (Jewett, 2007). It takes what the students already know, and builds on it by letting them know that the message the audience interprets is paramount in message formation (Kellner & Share, 2003; Jewett, 2007). In addition to being in the leading position for message analysis and deconstruction, CML gives students the power to be a righteous and persuasive producers of their own messages (Pinkhard, 2009).
Granted the access to the technology and technological infrastructure is there, the graduate program has showed me that CML provides students the digital literary skills to deconstruct messages from hegemonic sources that have the power to oppress, exacerbate and foster gender/ class/ racial stereotypes, and to speak from a bias point of view (Harste, 2003; Jewitt, 2008; Alverman & Hagood, 2000). In addition to strengthening student literary comprehension, it permeates more so with providing power and agency for these students to share their own message with the mainstream world. CML empowers them to let their voices be heard by the same audience only hegemonic powers once had access to.
My practice and point of view of literacy instruction has forever changed because of the MEd program. Literacy is not only about comprehension. It is about agency, empowerment, advocating, and becoming a contributing member of a democratic society, whether you are seen to be apart of that society's discourse, or not.