Media consumption is something that’s always
intrigued me. I personally think I myself use too much media in my life, and I
see the same type of media consumption with my students. Sometimes I find
myself on my phone, logging onto a social media site, then swiping up to exit
that site, only to open it again in 5 minutes because I’m bored. Media can be
an extremely beneficial tool when used correctly; it can also be dangerous when
abused or sharing the wrong message.
Media literacy is the concept of interacting with
media and the messages received. I greatly enjoyed Rheingold’s article on
social media illiteracies. His five focuses of attention, participation,
collaboration, network awareness, and critical consumption sure had my
attention. Therefore, attention is one of the two areas I would like to focus
on for today’s blog post.
Although I’ve only been teaching at a high school
for four years, I have already seen a shift in attention from when I attended
high school (2006-2010) to when I am working and teaching in a high school
(2014-2018). I’ve talked to other colleagues and we seem to agree that it has
become more difficult to keep attention of students. I appreciated Rheingold’s comparison of a physical presence
competing with the online world during instruction. All of our students have an
iPad at their fingertips throughout our lessons and it is extremely difficult
to keep them engaged in classroom discussion while they have the temptations of
websites, applications, and games. Just as Rheingold mentioned he wouldn’t ban
laptops from the classroom, I too would not take away the iPad or our
technology because it has so many positive aspects as well, when the students
choose to stay on that attentive avenue. I think it is on the teacher to become the best teacher they
can be to engage students and have the students want to listen to their
lessons. Here’s a quick article on keeping students engagement in class.
I also appreciated his fifth point of critical
consumption. I feel like we are constantly telling students that certain
internet sources were not legitimate or are not allowed for specific
assignments. I personally remember in high school the constant reminder that “Wikipedia
is not a reliable source.” I included some Wikipedia memes for your enjoyment,
below. I think teaching students about critical consumption would be the most beneficial
point for them to focus on. It would be a good lesson on where or how to find
reliable information and how to fact check information online.
For your viewing pleasure, inspired by our meme posts from a few weeks ago:
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| Borrowed from MakeAMeme.org |
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| Borrowed from Meme Generator. |
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| Created by SchruteFarms2 and posted on Reddit. |
Hi Kara.
ReplyDeleteI like your memes about Wikipedia and your comment about being critical to find reliable sources of information. I do a Wikipedia lesson with my kids where I change an article in front of them and add faulty info. This sparks a discussion about the reliability of Wikipedia as well as other online sources. But I also refer them to the sources at the bottom of each Wikipedia article, because even if Wikipedia is not the most reliable source, they are trying to be, and probably the source info listed has reliable information. At some point after our discussion we go back to the article I changed to see if it has been changed back, and then our discussion goes further about what if scenarios about gathering information at the "wrong time" before it got changed by the "Wikipedia Police". Hopefully this is instilling in the kids to be critical of everything and to try to verify what they read and not just trust any and all things internet.
Great lesson Scott. I like that you choose to point out the sources on Wikipedia as well. Not everything on their site is faulty or bad- students just need the skills to determine credibility.
DeleteI enjoyed the engagement article you shared. We are doing mini PLC Book studies at our school right now and one of the groups is working through engagement. I hate to think of using engagement techniques as means of confronting attention deficits, but veteran teachers especially seem to note a difference, and even though I am a younger teacher I see a difference between the ways I behaved and interacted as student and the modern students that we are working with. Great resource!
ReplyDeleteAh...the teacher battle for attention! With our world being so multimodal it is difficult to have school be so traditional.
ReplyDeleteI love the memes!
ReplyDeleteAlso: My students don't have one-to-one technology, and I have to admit that part of me is nervous about teaching at a school where the students do have access to technology at any time. I agree that teachers should be their best to ensure engagement. Can you explain what works in your classroom specifically?
I have the same feeling about keeping students attention, it is hard to compete with YouTube and online games. I really enjoyed Rheingold's ideas on helping a class be conscientious of their attention. I think I will try to incorporate this in my classes. I think once you are aware of where your attention is going, it is easier to redirect your attention. Students need to be taught these skills, it doesn't come naturally.
ReplyDelete