I am becoming very intrigued by the concept of a hierarchy of text. When one encounters a word or idea in a variety of contexts like I have with this concept, you cannot let it go! I first heard or read about this idea a few weeks ago and it has come up again this week in Dr. Kist's New Literacies course at KSU. Dr. Kist states in his book,
The Socially Networked Classroom: Teaching in the New Media Age (2010), " A breaking down of this kind of hierarchy of symbol systems probably begins by helping kids to respond to texts, both print and nonprint -and not necessarily tied to print texts- in a thoughtful manner." I believe that a hierarchy of what is acceptable and worthwhile literature, art, even science based media definitely does exist. The old conventions still dictate what is presented in school. I am continually amazed at just how much "text" is really out there that is not in the form(s) that my education was fueled by. It is a beautiful thing that the internet has broken down the barriers to letting people's "voices" be heard.
Angela Maiers, Independent Literary Consultant, feels that teachers are stuck in an old paradigm in this regard and tend to get obsessed with who owns knowledge...it (Creative Commons Licensing) turn copyright upside down. In the spirit of 21st century, teachers have to realize that it's not about hoarding. (Kist, 2010).
I am not a published writer, so it may be unfair for me to have an opinion on this, but I think the rules are inevitably changing!
This was an interesting conversation. I think for LA the question of "classics" has always been in the back of our minds, so we are likely to question why one novel is considered so important to read over another. If a book is picked because of its themes or writing style, than definitely a contemporary novel could also teach this? Can't certain song lyrics teach as much as poetry? Graphic novels are thought of as children's books or having nothing to "read" when indeed the images and framing can resemble movies. We tend to get attached to what was taught to us.
ReplyDeleteI actually wonder if there will come a time when nonfiction text is seen as "higher" than fiction due to our desire to look at education from a "preparing them for work" point of view.
These are excellent points. It seems like we often teach the way we were taught. If we don't recall much of what we read during our middle schoo years, it is our responsibility as those who realize this to change it. There is so much value in other texts and it is evidenced by the fact that as adults, we were much more motivated by them!
ReplyDeleteMatt, I also thought it was interesting when you made the point about "creative license." We should want to share what we do with colleagues, even when we aren't "forced" to team with people. Teachers shouldn't have their arms covering up their answers but instead should be sharing their knowledge and expertise with fellow educators to make everyone stronger! I really think, even if unintentional, Dr. Kist's book gets to the heart of this. Look how many great ideas he designed based on what others have shared with him! Just thing of all the dynamic things we can now do that maybe we felt uncomfortable doing in our classes based on what was shared with us.
I was very lucky to teach courses early in my career that allowed movies, newspapers, radio shows and television to be worthwhile models for communication. Even when I went on to teach other classes that were more "traditional" English classes, my earlier experience with cooperative projects that allow for expression using print, audio and visual arts made me comfortable incorporating those things into my classes. Projects are terrific on a number of levels. That experience of working on something large cooperatively and in stages is such a great experience for students. Some of my colleagues worried that if they allowed group work in their classes, some kids would use it as an excuse to do less. First of all, not all of their group assignments encouraged cooperation. Secondly, I think a well-designed project makes kids want to work harder and in a more creative manner. On rare occasion I had a student who just opted out of the whole group process. It always came to my attention and I always made sure that the student was required to produce something worthwhile - whether with the group or solo. I really do believe that the opportunity is there in existing course objectives to incorporate projects that truly engage kids. English/Language Arts curriculum practically hands you those opportunities on a silver platter.
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