“With participatory and mobile media tools, there is more
potential to bridge this gap than ever before. The tools are already owned and
understood by the students in our classrooms and traditional pedagogy
disregards this fact.” (Avila & Pandya, 2013, p. 123).
I selected this quote because I am in complete agreement
with it. As educators, we must bridge that gap between school and society, and
with these new technologies, this task is much easier! Just like in this
chapter, students need to be exposed to real world issues, and understand the
effect of media. As teachers, we can no longer just participate in the
traditional curriculum. Our students are being exposed to these things outside
of school daily. In understanding that, why not bring these tools into our
classrooms? Students will be engaged and learn many new skills that will help
them out in this ever changing society.
1. How did the Ask
Anansi game support critical literacies?
In Ask Anansi, students were working together to identify a
problem within the school community and utilizing problem solving skills to
find solutions. Critical literacies involve skills that will allow an
individual to analyze a text and break apart the true meaning. With Ask Anansi,
students were working together to do just that. Anansi’s clues were provided
through posters, barcodes, and phone calls. Students had to use their skills to
be able to decode these clues critically.
2. How did the Ask
Anansi game support academic literacies?
Ask Anansi strongly supported academic literacies. Students
have to use problem solving skills to “Communicate with and unravel stories
that are told by Anansi” (Avila & Pandya, 2013, p. 112). Students also
utilized their writing skills by creating a counter-narrative about their community.
Throughout the game, students also had to use research to support their
findings.
3. How did the Ask
Anansi game support digital literacies?
Digital literacies involve being able to utilize technology to
locate information and evaluate the resources. Ipods were used throughout this
project for research, documentation, communication, and note taking. The
students had to develop the digital literacy skills to be able to successfully complete
the tasks for this game.
4. What is meant by
the term "reading the word and reading the world and writing the
world"? Give an example from the chapter.
This quote discusses the importance of bringing world issues
into the classroom and into writing. In this new technology era, students are
exposed to worldwide issues through media. Since this is the case, they need to
be educated on these medias. We must not neglect the issues and act like they aren’t
out there, but discuss them. For example, in this chapter, students focused on
issues of trash, violence, graffiti, pollution, stereotypes, and love. These
are real-world issues. Students had to follow the clues from Anansi and also
write a counter-narrative on the topic of their choice.
I selected this image just because it displays how early
students really can be involved in media tools. These students are young, and
they are working on a computer program! There is no excuse for all educators to
not create a curriculum that involves media literacy. Just like in this
chapter and in this image, we need to bring these tools into our classroom and
allow our students use them in order to enhance their knowledge and skills.
Avila, J., & Pandya, J. (2013). Critical digital
literacies as social praxis. (Vol. 54). New York: NY: Peter Lang Publishing Inc.
Mattern, S. (2008). Media education lab. Retrieved from
http://www.wordsinspace.net/wordpress/teaching/course-list/media-education-lab/
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