Anne+for+November+20

Anne Henderson  November 20, 2008  //Literacy, Popular Culture and Changing Classroom Practices //  __From Lankshear & Knobel (2006) __: “Clearly, curriculum and pedagogy must not be hostages to technological change at the level of artifacts. To a large extent this has been the history of CCTs in schools to date…” (p. 195). “Other things being equal, the less conflict learners experience with their other social identities, the more effectively and willingly they learn” (p. 197).  __From Morrell (2008) __: “For example, the students’ literate practices that were part of their everyday participation in home, community, and popular cultures were not reflected in their performance in academic contexts. The same students who read magazines cover to cover, memorized song lyrics, played video games, wrote e-mails and web logs, and text-messaged friends on cell phones were also completely disengaged from the literacies of school” (p.91).  __From Lee (2007) __: <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'">“Students learn to hate the very literature that English teachers want them to value” (p.112). <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'"> __<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'">Discussion __<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'">: <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'">A salient theme in this week’s readings is the idea that teachers need to do more to incorporate students’ out-of-school literacies into their classrooms. Unfortunately, what seems like a simple task is actually quite complicated. It requires not only an awareness of, but a certain degree of knowledge of pop culture and current technology, as well as a deep understanding of subject matter, or “depth of knowledge,” as Lee calls it, in order to maximize the effectiveness and meaning of instruction. The danger in incorporating students’ personal interests/hobbies or technology is at least twofold: 1) that it will be perceived as patronizing or just plain ridiculous; and 2) that it will be a contrived way of presenting the same material (i.e. Lankshear & Knobel’s “old wine in new bottles syndrome”). I believe the value in lessening the gap between school and the real world is irrefutable; the dilemma is in finding a way to do it genuinely and creatively while maintaining quality, meaningful instruction. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'"> __<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'">Questions: __ <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Bookman Old Style'"> 1. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'">How do you feel about the use and practicality of pop culture items and new technologies in the classroom? <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Bookman Old Style'"> 2. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'">Do you see the use of any specific items (for example certain types of music, literature or games) as potentially problematic? What would you do to avoid or solve such issues? <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Bookman Old Style'"> 3. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'">How can we avoid taking the fun out of students’ out-of-school interests? <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Bookman Old Style'"> 4. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'">Was there a subject or class in school that you absolutely detested? Why? What might have changed the experience for you?