Catching Up- Quiz Q1 & 2 From Last Week

The six principles of PLS are directly reflected in Renee Hobbs' research on Media Literacy in High School English. Here's the reflection that I see:

PLS Principle 1: Media literacy is an expansion of traditional literacy that includes both analysis and production of all mediated forms of communication, from books to Web sites.
Renee Hobbs' research shows that the revamped curriculum of English 11 is not just an interpretation, analysis, and deconstruction of media (i.e. news, magazines, newspapers, photos, etc) but a meshing of both traditional texts (William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying). In the students' docudrama project (p. 54), the text was both analyzed and a new form of media was produced.

PLS Principle 2:Media literacy can and should be integrated across the K-12 curricula at all grade levels and in multiple subject areas.
Okay, there may be a small exception here. From the information that Hobbs gives, the 11th grade class is the only one with a curriculum focusing primarily on inclusion of media. She also notes that several teachers seem intrigued by the class but hesitant at the same time.

PLS Principle 3:Media literacy helps teachers to more effectively address existing learning standards and engage students with varied learning styles
Where do I begin on this one? Of course, several types of learning styles are addressed. The visual people get a video clip to watch, those who enjoy reading benefit from the analysis of news and magazine print texts, and those who enjoy writing can write really well about what they've learned. Look at our own standards of ELA: we must incorporate various levels of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing. The media literacy project incorporates each and every single one of these. Students benefit all of these criteria. Not to mention the fact that teachers have tailored this curriculum to include more classical texts and novels. If you're working in a school where certain texts are REQUIRED (i.e. To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, Romeo and Juliet, etc.), this class allows teachers to do so.

PLS Principle 4: Media Literacy teaches critical thinking skills such as understanding bias and credibility through rigorous analysis of appropriate media documents.
Renee Hobbs documents several instances of students using their critical thinking skills. How about the girl whose father and his girlfriend used to be TV Journalists? True, the girl disagreed that any bias was inflicted by certain journalists, she was nonetheless aware that a bias could exist in some types of journalists. Similarly, students saw media deception techniques in their anaylsis of the Clinton scandal. Was Mrs. Clinton's photo a news photo or a file photo? Students used their thinking skills to determine that the photo was most likely a file photo: an image used previously in a newscast and has long since been archived.

PLS Principle 5: Media Literacy empowers students to express and communicate their own ideas through multiple forms of media production.
Again, Hobbs has shown us that students are, in fact, "empowered" by this curriculum. A quotation taken from page 38 illustrates this expression perfectly: "Teachers routinely used a combination of reading, viewing, seminar-style discussions, and frequent informal writing was a major component of instruction." Seminar-style discussions may not be a "media" as we know it, but it certainly allowed students to express their exact reactions to the given text.

PLS Principle 6: Media literacy is essential for the development of informed, reflective and active citizens in a democratic society
Students in Concord High School were no longer being "fed" information. They began to analyze current media texts, noted before as the Clinton Scandal and the OJ Simpson trial. Other current events included the War in Iraq, Osama bin Laden, and Jack Kevorkian. By process of analysis, students formed their own opinions and judgments about these people or events. They were therefore informed of these events which would allow them to have an active discussion with someone based on these judgments.


There is so much more I'd like to say about Renee Hobbs, Concord High School, and the curriculum in general, but in the interest of space, I'll conclude. My only concern with this project is that students might become bogged down after a while with the inundation of media etc. I guess a careful balance must be created by the teacher in order to avoid over-emphasising media and under-emphasising other texts. Only classroom experience would answer this question for me. I don't have my hopes set too high because I know that a reform like this is HUGE and may not be so welcomed from a fresh-out-of-college-rookie. For the time being, I hope to take bits and pieces of Hobbs' descriptions and incorporate them into my classroom as best as I can.