Some of my favourite suggestions included having students track their thoughts about what they have read by making bookmarks detailing this, making at that represents what they are reading and connecting the content and books read in class to students own contexts and experiences.
I am also in love with the idea of creating a small reading corner or nook within the classroom where students are inspired to explore and discover new stories, places and information. It doesn’t have to be grandeur or fancy, just simply a place to go to chill out and read in; which is something they might not get at home.
Reading is something to be treasured and I hope this is a message I am able to carry with me and share through my journey as a teacher.
If you have not heard of Gruen, I highly recommend catching it next Wednesday at 8:30 on the ABC or checking it out on ABC iView. It is a comedic show that analyses advertising and the media that helps viewers to see past the glossy and fabricated information and depictions in advertisement and gain tools for them to also be able to critically analyse and understand how these advertisements target audiences and how they can avoid falling into the marketing trap.
On this weeks episode of Gruen, one segment in particular stood out to me and allowed me to see the ridiculousness that comes with logo creation and advertising. In the below segment, Wil Anderson, Gruen’s host, analyses and reviews Disney’s new Movies Anywhere logo. Take a look for yourself and see what you think of his analysis:
Wil Anderson has a fantastic knack for being able to critically analyse and break apart advertisements and the media. Throughout the video, he makes a number of great points and highlights some of the ridiculousness that come with producing logos and advertising new services. In the process, he hilariously contrasts it to the ABC’s own logo and examining the similarities and cliches associated with both companies.
Overall, I think that this program is a fantastic example of critical literacy, providing audiences with great examples of how advertising tricks us into believing that we need particular things more than we actually do. Although it may not be appropriate to show to your students, I feel that it provides teachers with great examples of how they can address the media and advertisements in their classroom; engaging students in thinking critically about the literacies that surround them everyday, trying to persuade them to purchase or believe that they should buy what they are selling.
Below there is also a great Ted Talk on creating critical thinkers by analysing the media; just as Gruen and Anderson aims to do.
Some ideas for critical literacy activities in the classroom exploring the media are below:
John Green, author of novels including The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns, recently released his latest novel Turtles All The Way Down. This novel introduces readers to a young girl by the name of Aza who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and in particular struggles with the idea that her body and mind is completely her own as a result. During the novel, she engages with these struggles of living with OCD and gets entangled with a search for a fugitive billionaire.
I picked this novel up a few days after it was released and managed to consume it all within 2 days, neglecting some of my assignments in the process – oops. There is something about Green’s writing that makes it hard to put the book down. He has an uncanny ability to connect you with not only your own teenage self, but with the diverse experiences of others. Not only does he realistically connect with teenage angst-filled experiences, but he writes very intelligently and manages to weave in factual information and thought-provoking descriptions without it feeling disjointed. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and despite its bittersweet ending, loved the narrative he portrayed.
After reading, it was interesting to discover that Green also suffers from OCD and put a lot of his experiences into the novel. When talking about the novel, he said,
“This is my first attempt to write directly about the kind of mental illness that has affected my life since childhood, so while the story is fictional, it is also quite personal.”
I also came across an interesting podcast that Green did on this novel and his experiences with OCD. It’s definitely worth a listen if you want to find out more about John Green’s experiences, writing or even just to develop a deeper understanding of the invasive nature that mental illnesses such as OCD have.
My love of Australian dramas and comedies is not something I am ashamed of. I think it is fantastic to see our country creating some fantastic television shows and films featuring talented Aussie actors/actresses. There is something about the nature of these works that I find more authentic and relatable than big-budget hollywood productions, so I am proud to support these fantastic shows when they come along. One such show that I am currently enjoying the home-grown talent of is Channel Ten’s The Wrong Girl.
Sadly, this season is coming to an end and next week will see the season’s penultimate episode and finale air one after the other. While it is a little bittersweet that one of my shows will be ending, with the airing of the episodes comes the relief that I will find out what on earth is happening between Lilly and Jack! Although I know why he left her at the alter, it doesn’t make it okay… Counting down the day’s till its here so I can all make sense of it and see if she ends up with Pete or not!
While scrolling through my newsfeed this morning, I came across an interesting article about Unlocking the Mysteries of the Teenage Digital Generation. After reading through it, it made me consider more the impacts that technology and social media is having on society and our children, and how, as teachers, we must be conscious of this.
As the use of technology and social media rapidly increase, we are faced with a generation of people that have been surrounded by technology and devices all their life. This has had a profound impact on their development, social worlds and literacies and is something that we need to account for in the teaching of future generations.
Not only that, but the workforce’s and industries that they will one day be involved in are changing to; they are becoming more technologically advanced and driven – so it is important that we know how to teach the skills that they will require for these jobs, while also sharing with them the dangers that come an increasingly online and interconnected world.
Due to the prevalence of technology in today’s society, a new literacy, known as digital literacy, has been developed.
To understand exactly what digital literacy is a little better, here is a short video explaining what it is and why it is important.
As a result of this new literacy, there is a need for us to be teaching students the skills that allows them to use and critically analyse the things they see in the media, online and in the technology-driven world.
One such documentary that looks into the life of this generation, dubbed ‘screenagers’, is the film by Delaney Ruston called Screenagers. Ruston is a trained physician who emarked on creating this documentary to understand the effects that technology has on our lives and the world, and wanted to provide a tool that stresses the importance of developing a balance in the tech-ravaged world.
“[I wanted Screenagers to “be a vehicle to bring parents, educators and kids together… so change can happen not just in our homes but in our schools and communities.” – Delaney Ruston
For more information of resources on screening the documentary in your school or for discussing digital literacy with your students, visit the Screenagers: Growing up in the digital age website.
I have always found the Green Brother’s Crash Course Youtube channel to be a fantastic place to go if I need some help understanding certain ideas or topics. So, it was only natural that I thought it might be a good place to check out to see if they could help me to better understand literacy. While it did not provide a full explanation of literacy and what it is, I did manage to find a video in which John Green discusses why and how we read and the meanings we can make from literature.
Through the video, he touches on some great ideas that I believe are connected to the root of what literacy is, even in the 21st century. One idea he touches on is that reading and writing is so important in literacy as it equips us with the skills that enables us to communicate, and therefore to make meaning.
“We privilege reading and writing because they allow us to communicate directly and transparently with people who live very far away from us, and they also allow us to kind of hear the voices of the dead.” – John Green
He also says at one point that he hopes that through reading and writing, we, as readers from unique contexts who make varied interpretations and meanings of the world through such texts, may “go out there and make a world.” (John Green, 2012). This quote is particularly striking to me as a pre-service teacher because I hope that I will one day be able to equip students with the diverse skills that they need to make their own world – just as Green describes. Literacy is definitely an important part of being active citizens and developing unique meanings, which all contribute to the world. I hope that I can keep this idea that I am capable of influencing children to make their own worlds as I continue on my journey as a teacher.
Who would have thought that you could affectively and academically apply emoji use in teaching and learning!? I didn’t, that’s for sure; but I stumbled upon an interesting article explaining the ways one academic has found them to be very useful in her research and teaching! The article Why I use emoji in research and teaching by Jennifer Fane at The Conversation is well worth a read if you are interested in finding out useful ways of bringing emojis into your class.
For more ideas on how to implement emojis in the classroom, check out some of these articles
A lovely and emotional video depicting the power and wonder that literacy can bring to those who hold it. Such an important skill to have that a number of people in today’s society still aren’t fortunate enough to have! As teachers, we have to capacity to help change this and to empower those by equipping them with the skills they need to get by and make meaning in the world.
If this statement is correct, what exactly is it about? Share your ideas in the comments.
An interesting read for understanding and defining what literacy is is also available in UNESCO’s Understandings of Literacy: Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2006.
Everyday Literacy 