Teaching Philosophy

I don’t know much about teaching media literacy education, but I have been a student to it. My education in media arts at Brigham Young University has shaped my view of media greatly, and it has influenced how I view education and how I would teach media if I ever did.  Some of the principles I have learned and believe in are – viewing and discussing many points of view, creating an atmosphere of discussion and equality between teacher and student where the teacher gets to know the students, encouraging literacy – both viewing and creating, and having a positive but critical point of view for the future of media. I vehemently don’t believe in protectionism. Students will become functional working adults, and they need to be able to stand on their own two feet.

Viewing/reading and discussing many points of view is one of the most important principles in my opinion. For example, in this TMA 458 class we read Adorno & Horkheimer and we read Henry Jenkins. These two texts were very different and in many ways opposite, but they both have important and valid things to say about media and culture. Watching documentaries like Digital Nation and Is School Enough? is another way to get view points on media, education, and how they do and can work together. But viewing and reading all the different scholars is not enough. Even the most educated person cannot understand all the information and perspectives set forth in a text. The best way to unpackage a text is through a teacher-led discussion.  Discussion allows students to talk through what they read. Reading something and being able to verbalize it are two different skills. Another benefit to discussion is that it allows for new view points on a text that even the teacher didn’t think of. Teachers should of course lead the discussion so that it doesn’t get too off topic and so that it benefits the course as a whole. This type of learning encourages reflection in preparation for the discussion.

One thing that can facilitate a better atmosphere for discussion is if the teacher will become, as Freire calls it, “teacher-students” and allow the students to become “student-teachers”. My favorite classes growing up, were the ones where I felt most understood and appreciated as a person with a voice. Teachers who know my name and want to know what I think. This encourages engagement and learning. People cringe from learning when they are told or forced to do it. In Is School Enough? students took part in a social game to gather data for school board decision makers and to push other students to be better. They felt their voices appreciated and heard. These students were allowed to show their true colors when they were given a voice when they were allowed to become more than a student, more than an empty head ready to be filled. Media cannot be taught through the banking system (Freire). You can’t just watch a certain amount of films to become literate, though some classics can become an important part of education. Teachers must know their students.

Literacy is made up of two parts, taking in text and putting out text. Reading and watching things is crucial to becoming more rounded in critiques and theories, but then making media is the next step in processing what you know and then utilizing it. Earlier I stated that reading an idea and verbalizing an idea are two completely different things. It’s the same here. Knowing lots of theories, how they interconnect, and which ones you agree with is different from actually trying to create something in the spirit of those theories. While reading the texts and watching the documentaries, teachers can also show projects done by previous students, and they can discuss how well they used the theories and how they could’ve done better. This will give them a more realistic perspective, and ambition to make their own projects. In their essay on critical media literacy, Steinberg & Macedo stated:

“While not everyone has the tools to create sophisticated media productions, we strongly recommend a pedagogy of teaching critical media literacy through project-based media production (even if it is as simple as rewriting a text or drawing a picture) for making analyses more meaningful and empowering as students gain tools for responding and taking action on the social conditions and texts they are critiquing.”

Any school can allow students to create; there is no barrier to entry these days. Getting technology into the hands of students is easier and easier. Now we just have to know how to use it best. Creating and producing projects can expand on knowledge and theory in beautiful ways.

                And that’s just it, I think media and media education have a bright and beautiful future.  I believe that having a positive outlook is really important while working with students. Creating a mood or mindset of cynicism is damaging and debilitating. So while Adorno and Horkheimer have important things to say, make sure that they aren’t the only source used in a media class. I don’t want to be like the people in Digital Nation; I don’t think grouchiness and pessimism helps anything. Yes, some young people have destructive habits with technology, but this is a place where they can learn new ideas and decide for themselves what habits they will make for themselves.

                A last note on protectionism, I do believe that some material is in appropriate for young audiences. They must learn and grow before they can choose for themselves what is and isn’t appropriate to read or watch. The kind of protectionism I dislike so much is the kind sees media and popular culture as an enemy. Media and popular culture has its fair share of problems, but it also contains a lot of material that is valuable. “The protectionist stance leads to an instructor-focused classroom, where the teacher tells the student the “facts”…and the student listens quietly and takes notes for the test,” (Hobbs, The Seven Great Debates). This is everything I stand against. I want the classroom to be an open environment where students learn from teachers and teachers learn from students, where many perspectives are analyzed and discussed, where students are encouraged to be literate, and where an atmosphere of optimism can go hand in hand with well researched critique. This is my ideal classroom.