Adolescent Interview...the more the merrier

It seems that I am always in the presence of teens.  My lunch break, prep time time, and 9^th periods have become a mini hangout for a mix of students who are bored with a study hall or who are escaping the drama of the cafeteria. Asking one student for an interview found everyone else in the room wanting to participate, so my questions elicited several responses that I am generalizing in my reporting. 

My 5 interviewees are each 16 years old females, 2 freshman and 3 10^th graders, who prefer not to be in the culture of the crowded cafeteria. They do not know one another from common classes or common out of school interests. I am making some generalizations here, but I would say that each of them comes from a fairly stable family, they are bright and are scholastically B-ish  students. Two students are white, three are latino. They are an open-minded group of kids. None of them belong to a clique or particular group per se.They are not art majors, but definitely like to noodle around with materials, ideas and are in general a lighthearted group. I mention all of this, as I do not think my interviewees represent the most general population of adolescent high school students.

I started the interview with the basic questions…What devices do you use? How much time do you spend each day electronically connected? Do you use your phone in school? How do you use the internet as a tool in your schoolwork? Multiple devices, definitely phones, too much time, yes to phone use in school, Google search, wickipedia and maybe a data base  or jstor for info. They generally preferred video and reading as primary ways to learn school content. Not instead of a teacher, but to enhance learning…they all agreed that the visual stimulation of a video kept them engaged. Pretty uneventful responses.

Then I asked about social media, free time, and personal interests and the discussion livened up .I found the conversation really informative, as I don’t use social media very often. The uses and nuance of each site seems quite specific. Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter and Snapchat were the most widely used social media sites. The first thing they did agree on, was that they preferred to talk with friends face to face because it was easier to communicate with facial gestures, actual expression and there isn’t a weird response time lapse. And rather then phone calls, they use group chats to hang out together from different locations. 

 Facebook is used to for contacting friends and family.

 “It’s not a space to express yourself or to really communicate. You can’t have an opinion without lots of drama. People believe everything on Facebook to be true. It’s uptight.”

 They thought identity creation on Facebook was, “pretty bogus and suspect”. Facebook is generally considered old school and is pretty public.

 “You don’t “really” expose anything about yourself, and people who comment on your stuff aren’t really “friends”, sometimes they don’t know you at all. And then there’s the drama with people saying stuff second hand.”

Snapchat was regarded as a venue for creating a diary style communication with a few friends. “You take pictures of dumb, random things and send them to people. Jokes or maybe what you ate for breakfast. It’s usually just to goof around, just for fun.” 

Twitter communications happened between acquaintances or with people they know. Didn’t seem that there was much activity happening there, but they did immediately mention it as a 3^rd media site.

When they got to Tumbler…OMG…I almost had to ask them to raise their hands, so I could hear them.

So what is it about Tumbler?!

 There was a momentary deep silence, some giggling…and then, ”Tumbler was created to get away from Facebook. Its everything you can imagine! It’s a different environment, you can follow whoever. It’s just a bunch of people, its less uptight, there’s a playful mood. It’s a place that you can be less self-conscious, kind of stream of consciousness. It has a peculiar sense of humor. It’s a collection of oddball odds and ends. There’s some of everyone’s interests.” 

What kinds of stuff? I need a little more direction here.

 “It’s artsy, political, sexual and funny. You can be Tumbler Famous…(I’m thinking of Andy Warhol’s prophetic statement, “ In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.”)  “We photoshop memes…like the D_O_G_E meme”.(They spell it because they agree that none of them knows the real pronunciation). “We change stuff and share it. Sometimes you post spam- you know, useless creative videos of yourself or to u-tube.  When I first went on Tumbler, I felt like an outsider at first. The sense of humor was too weird…I didn’t get it. Then you go on for a while and you do it too”.  “There are blogs for social justice and women’s rights. It connects you to the whole world of what people are thinking about.”  

Have you made any friends from other places through Tumbler, people you personally contact?

 “I communicate with a girl from France about our common interests in movies and books, and 2 girls from England, we like the same music and  we talk about how different things are here and there.” “Sometimes you follow someone for a while and then not for a while”.

 How do you go from blogging to becoming friends?

“You can check out who they are through say, Facebook and send a message, it can become a chat and then you can agree to skype”.

Do ever feel your privacy is at risk, or you are ever in danger of anything?

“ No, you have the option of blocking people, you can report or delete strangers. And then there’s Rule #1, Never talk to anyone you don’t know on social media.” 

Where did you learn that?

 “I don’t remember, ever since we were little you always hear that.”

 Okay, last question. What do you consider a drawback of social media? Do you find it distracting?

“All we do is stay on our phones watching u-tube videos.” “ Ever since I found the computer, I never go outside.” “I know I could be more productive, I need to get a hold of time management.” “ I feel addicted to Tumbler. Its never the same, its always changing”.  “If I have 3 hours at night, I spend most of my time on social media or the computer, and then I have to rush through my homework. If  I try to do homework first, I rush through it to get onto my phone”. “I can’t cut myself off. There is a program on my tablet. It reminds you of your time spent. You can set it up to cut you off.”

Do you use it? “No, not yet,……. but I guess I should think about it.”  

Now I'm curious to see one of their tumbler accounts. My grown up friends' sites don't seem quite so "funny" .

 It would be interesting to really get an inside view of what is tweaking the interests of these adolescents, from the fly on the wall perspective...only for a moment of course.We don't really want to know the all of it.

      

               

Media Literacy in Schools

Public schools are in need of a huge shift in paradigm beginning with an unbiased examination of their purpose, mission statement, affordances, curriculum, culture and politics. 

Is it the purpose of public schools to truly serve their population, the entire population, regardless of class, gender, socioeconomic situation and political/religious affiliations?

 Is it their responsibility to prepare young people for success in the 21^st century? Who decides what success looks like? Is it functional literacy? And is the participation gap with unequal access contributing to the possibility of yet another cultural divide, a “new cultural elite”? (Ivey, 2006) Is there funding for after school programing to create some catch up? The new donated 3d printer in my school looks like job training to me. 

 Is the purpose of education to create engaged citizenship? Then why have civics classes been reduced to boring and irrelevant? (Bennett, 2008) My high school students tell me that in their Civics class there are few discussions about current events, opinions are stifled and course content essentially describes the structure of the hierarchy, no commentary. (Well, that’s a class I could not teach. Perhaps it is an exercise in doing as you are told. I can’t believe ANY teacher has nothing to say in that arena) Lots of packets of information.

(Before installing a collaborative student art project about personal and cultural identity, I passed along a quick image for administrative approval…regular protocol. I was surprised to be questioned about the reason for the prominent inclusion of the Virgin of Guadalupe. No mention was made of the symbol representing  the Marines or  the creepy masked character  from some graphically violent movie)  

 Why is critical thinking an optimal skill set in math and science, and critical inquiry as discourse de-emphasized? Why is STEM more rigorously promoted, when almost all research in cognitive studies support STEAM? (The A is for art…creative, open ended problem solving, expression, materials exploration, visual literacy, perceptual acuity, self-reflection, meta cognition, inquiry and historic reference) Schools need to regard the arts as important culturally, personally and, socially….This is one place in the school where identity can be explored, eyes wide open.

Why are phones allowed in schools? Who designs protocol and socially accepted practices? Are we afraid of the fallout? Or perhaps the police state that would ensue….I get it…kind of.

 Are we educating students that there are several modes of communication… that the linguistics/language they use for social communication is not appropriate to be successful in the “conventional” world? Or that rude is just rude, and hurtful is hurtful, even if there isn’t a physical body interacting with the communication.

 Old and new literacies need to be melded, compared and practiced with relevance. Students should be asked to write to an editor or a Politian about something that's just plain wrong, or write to someone they admire, a musician. Start a dialog with an expert or a student from another country. Do journal entries, practice public speaking. Have them interview someone in their community, or the person in their classroom who they know nothing about.  Blog, chat make videos and short animations …say something important or funny or that expresses a concern. Develop a voice…then figure out how to make it appropriate in all arenas.. Be exposed to spoken word, share your music of choice, write authentically about a cultural experience, listen to people telling stories, and learn to deconstruct an ad.Discuss, confer, argue if need be, support you comments with evidence.

In our school we have a Women’s Studies class, an LGBT and more club, an Advertising Media class and a student run TV station (Although very censored). They are all electives. A small portion of the population participates.

 Shouldn’t these discussions be a part of the mandated curriculum? How to 

use a  condom  is part of Health class...., thankfully I might add. 

   

And where are our parents?  Bill Ivey, the former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts , and Steven J.Tepper a professor of Sociology,  in an article  in the Chronicle of Higher Education(2006),  address the  necessity of parents taking an active role in children’s earliest relationships to media. Parents lack basic information that help them to understand expanding media options, so in general and understandably, they act as gatekeepers. But some studies show that exposure and adult guidance and discussion helps children to navigate media by making meaningful choices. They learn about consequences and develop appropriate behaviors. That being said, the reality of mummy and daddy standing by and sharing their children’s screen time experiences seems unrealistic.And if you haven't done it by middle school...FORGET IT!!!   I have a lot of students who don’t frequently see their parents, eat a home cooked meal or have heat where they live. Their guidance is social media exchanges with a cohort living in similar circumstance. For those parents who might get involved, there are few education programs for  and then there is the time factor

.

Parent education programs in my District have meager turn outs at best. Last week a program on teen violence attracted 16 parents.( A high school population of 2300)

Character education used to happen at home,and in the community.(Not to say it doesn't anymore. I am speaking to the "other" situations) Perhaps Jenkins supports participatory culture for this very reason. A group of people all ages, a community of choice, with mentors and role models working together. Nice image of functioning democratic framework. No whacky family dynamics involved and perhaps more support and acceptance then what is found in some real time, actual communities. Perhaps the next generation of the commune. It takes a village?

(I have several students who find solace and community through cos-play, sharing art on sites like DeviantArt, or through discussions on blogs about gender and mental health...conversations they may not engage at home.)

      

In general  Jenkins suggests three core competencies to be taught in the the new paradigm in schools in conjunction with traditional literacies. I would agree. I  think it is the responsibility of everyone to participate in the "education" of each other, particularly the youth. I keep telling them," You're in charge next, better get along and better figure out whats important."

• Affordances of technology in a participatory sense and the necessity to close the participation gap in a move toward democratic equality.
•   Transparency…equipping our students with strong literacy skills, and the ability to recognize the who, what, and why of various forms of communication produced at us as consumers of various media.
•  The ability to engage in critical inquiry, and to have the self-confidence and tools to be part of the dialog, to be producers of our collective cultural knowledge and to recognize our ability to create change.  

 Jenkins’ call to paradigm shift in education is supported by Green’s approach to literacy. Both frameworks encourage use of language (s), understanding context and content and recognition and critical analysis of the construction of knowledge. It all seems indistinguishable, interrelated and dependent . How do we start the revolution?

Resources:

Bennett. Lance,  “Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age “, c 2008 MIT, Creative Commons

Jenkins, Henry,” Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21^st Century”https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/free_download/9780262513623_Confronting_the_Challenges.pdf

“The Challenge Ahead: Ensuring that All Benefit from the Expanding Media Landscape”, Chronicle of Higher Education (May 19, 2006) Bill Ivey and Stephan Tepper

Deconstructing an Advertisement

I deconstructed a Johnny Walker Blue Label print ad.

 An unusual glowing bottle of booze, inferred urban setting, Gotham City in the distance, it's control definitely in the future. An office... sleek black desk, late at night, single shot poured in a fabulous crystal glass. A recently signed contract ...open fountain pen still warm laying beside the sign of victory.
Dark, corporate, stoic, stylized, dramatic. These seem like observations, unadulterated by context or association, right?
Then the list grew....sexy, powerful, masculine, grotesque in some way. Actually those are my  TV Mad Men associations....I can hear the sickly waning theme music.
Enters left, the text .
"An achievement of great distinction" (Only 1 in 10,000 casks are hand -selected for Blue Label,making it an accomplishment as rare as those who drink it.)

The bottle glows more brightly, eerily.  A transparent aqua blue, containing a golden liquid.
What does this bottle hold? An elixir of the gods? Something VERY special, powerful, desirable. Only few can attain it. A legend, "a rare spirit..."

The refractory light pinging off the single tumbler is smug, centered on the page,in control.
The contract reeks of corporate loopholes, people in charge, heirarchy, hegemony.
The oneness belonging to the pen,the solitary achievement, the self proclaimed iconic man in control of his and perhaps your destiny. Spirit of darkness?
The ad reeks of masculinity....or does it?( Is that sexist, or does Capitalism have  gender identification? Like in the Spanish language, a dog is pero...masculine, a door is puerta ...feminine.)

So there you have it...what I saw and what I read...two different things.

Is this ad socially responsible? I hadn't thought much about that before.

The ad does not promote irresponsible, reckless drinking behavior, or over indulgence.
What the ad does that is socially irresponsible is that it promotes a particular view of success. It supports the status- quo power structure and creates desire for individual elitist consumption.
  
It is important in our culture to teach critical visual literacy.
It starts with teaching students to slow down and look.
What do you see? What does it mean? and What makes you say that? Evidence based critical literacy.