Description of district: I'm currently slotted to student teach at Richfield this March. For my English 12 class, we have two required texts: The Things They Carried and "Oedipus Rex." We have some composition, mechanics, spelling/vocabulary, and speech curriculum requirements, but no explicit media requirements. My cooperating teacher uses a variety of texts including a handful of films, so I don't think there is departmental or parental resistance to his choices of media. We'll assume for the purposes of this assignment that they need convincing.
Many of us are all too aware of the pressures to raise standardized test scores in all subject areas and grades. It may sound logical, then, to focus on the simple things that look the most like paper-and-pencil testing. Why teach media other than paper texts if the standardized tests do not use them? I ask, is our greatest obligation to the student, or is it to the test? This is not the era of the boarding school, and the paper text is no longer the only "text" that students and adults must consult. Alongside the paper text is the auditory, cinematographic, digital, visual, and multimedia text. Can we deny access of these texts to our students? Everyone is willing to admit that the digital age's ubiquity affects all things, but we as teachers are often left unsupported in the tasks involved in teaching digital literacy.
At all times we are clinging to the aging notion that the paper text is of supreme importance. Let us not forget that the motion picture was unrecognized for its artistic potential until decades after its introduction into popular culture. Even the novel, which we hold sacred today, was lauded as tripe as recently as the Romantic period in England. Any medium can have craftsmanship, and any medium can reveal to its audience a truth, essential point of discussion, or compelling story. The content outweighs the medium, not vice-versa.
As a Language Arts teacher, I would be remiss in my duties if I relied on paper texts alone. Denying students access to other media in the classroom teaches them not to think critically or dynamically about films, weblogs, podcasts, photographs, and countless other forms of communication. Therefore, as instructors, and I know for me as an English instructor, there is no good reason not to teach digital literacy and explore multimedia instruction.
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Right! Our greatest obligation is to the student! Let's hope that there are reforms with NCLB, so that our teachers, administrators, and districts can focus more on preparing students for life rather than preparing them for tests.
ReplyDeleteI think I tend to stand alone on this subject- I don't think the tests are bad (begin throwing stones!). However, the consequences that often follow these test scores are where my criticisms can be found.
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