I find the idea of critical
autonomy (p. 119 in Digital and Media
Literacy) really interesting and just wanted to post some of my thoughts.
I have always believed that school must be a secure place
where previous theories and ideas can be discussed, critiqued, and even
challenged; however, I also recognize that young people tend to avoid
challenging their own beliefs. Before reading this book, I assumed that
teachers who forced their students to critique their own lives were helping
them in the long run. I now realize, however, that this practice could have detrimental
effects on the students. The book states, “When teachers choose to deconstruct
media messages that students consider to be pleasurable, there can be an
emotional fallout,” which can cause the students to “resist of reject what the
teachers tell them.” Instead of preaching to the students about the negative
aspects of their popular media, teachers must create a student-centered and
inquiry-oriented class that helps “develop in pupils enough self-confidence and
critical maturity to be able to apply critical judgments to media texts which
they will encounter in the future.”
I think the best way teachers can help students begin to
analyze their favorite and most common media is to model this behavior. The
book says that “every idea and argument must be placed under the microscope for
critical scrutiny.” This means that teachers must be willing to challenge their
own worldviews and beliefs within their classrooms. This wouldn’t be easy since
it forces teachers to become vulnerable in front of their students and risk the
stability of their long-standing beliefs; however, teachers need to show
students the benefits of analyzing their intimate worlds. By questioning things
and never simply accepting them as truths, people will be able to either better
justify their previous beliefs or alter their opinions to adapt to newer,
better supported ideas.
- Robert
Robert, in regard to creating an "inquiry-based" classroom environment, I agree with your statement: "This means that teachers must be willing to challenge their own worldviews and beliefs within their classrooms. This wouldn’t be easy since it forces teachers to become vulnerable in front of their students and risk the stability of their long-standing beliefs; however, teachers need to show students the benefits of analyzing their intimate worlds."
ReplyDeleteI believe this is absolutely essential if true "questioning" is to be promoted to our students. In many ways, we as educators are asking our students to put themselves in vulnerable positions, and asking further for them to be completely okay with doing that. Anytime we ask them to take a risk by attempting something they've never done before, or something they may be criticized for, we are asking them to be make themselves vulnerable.
In Dr. Shea's ENGL 487 Teaching Writing course, one of the methods for improving student writing comes from Kelly Gallagher, who tells us that we should avoid using the "Grecian Urn" approach. Essentially, (for those who have not heard of this term before) the Grecian Urn approach is when a teacher writes and revises a piece of work to bring to class to serve as a polished exemplar for the students to use as a model for their own writing.
The problem with this approach is that the students never got to see the teacher work through the actual writing process to reach this golden final product; all they saw was the "Grecian Urn" at the end. This terrifies them, and makes the gap between themselves and the teacher seem ever greater, and increases their feeling of vulnerability that much more. Instead, a teacher who writes *with* the students and even entrusts them with revising his/her work can show them that the teacher is in fact a "struggling writer" similar to themselves, and that--more importantly--even "accomplished" writers struggle and revise. This bridges the teacher-student gap *and* demonstrates equal vulnerability and trust on the part of the teacher to the students, putting them on equal footing.
In the process, the teacher questions him/herself as s/he is asking the students to do, and both have the recognized opportunities to teach and learn from each other inside this interaction.