I think the first thing that was most key to me is the fact that we should always be digging deeper. Don't say, "I don't want to use this picture because I don't like it." Or, "Advertisements have no place in my classroom." You have to look for patterns (737), images, language, audience (739), sounds (740), tone (741), framing (742), and so much more. There's always something else you can notice. There's always use. I can't think of any media described in this appendix that isn't applicable to theatre, or just life in general. Every production ever produced has advertisements, production photos, and literature written for and about it. I think that this shows that media (and art) is very purposeful, and often everything is included in a piece of work for a reason. Understanding the messages we receive and send is powerful.
The second key thing I learned from this chapter is that media is so powerful. To only look at what media is communicating at face value is to ignore the ridiculous influence that it has. I believe that media rules our world, and that this is only becoming more true. If you think that you can flippantly put something out in the public arena without anyone noticing, you are wrong. We have great responsibility in the work that we present, and I can teach my students that the use (or absence) of media in their work creates powerful messages. It says things that words can't. If they are aware of how deeply they can analyze things like film, poetry, ads, pictures, paintings, and mixed media and how much they can get across with each then they can use that to their advantage. However, if they do not know all that a photo can and is communicating, yet they still choose to use it in their work that can create a lot of problems. It can say things they didn't intend to.
Last, I was struck by the notion of finding the narrative, or story, behind an image (736). I believe this is not just true for still images, but any image we encounter. If you're analyzing an essay, poem, or some kind of mixed media what is the narrative behind it? It's easy to do that with short stories, and sometimes even poems, but not always. I think that when we understand and identify the narrative behind our work it can become so much more powerful and inviting. I think it can be much more universal and relatable. People understand and are engaged by stories. Everyone has stories. If I can teach my students to always find the narrative that they're depicting I believe that they will become stronger artists. If you can identify the narrative and you're not pleased with it then it is your job to change it, or move on to a different project.
This chapter is very powerful, and was very helpful in giving me many insights on the different ways to teach media in my classroom.
Some of my favorite and most memorable school assignments have been those when my teachers gave our class greater freedom to express our ideas. In seventh grade, my language arts teacher required us to complete a sort of book report each marking period, but we were encouraged to go beyond the average essay; she wanted us to make 3D models, write poems, draw comic strips, compose song lyrics, make advertisement posters, etc. We had permission to undertake whatever creative project that suited us, as long as we demonstrated an understanding for the book and answered a few basic questions about our reading.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, I want to motivate my students in a similar way. I believe that learners are more interested and enthused when they’re given a little bit of freedom to explore the various mediums available to them to portray their ideas. Seeing & Writing sparked a teaching idea for me to reach out to all types of learners in my classroom: if I give them more opportunities to use various aspects of media, they will become more fluent readers/interpreters of media forms.
So, I got the idea of drafting a “mixed media” project that my English/Theatre students could complete. Just as you said, Laura, Seeing & Writing also inspired me to recognize all the different subcategories of media and begin to think more critically about visual and verbal texts. I like how you bring up this idea of going beyond the face value of a medium in order to ask deeper questions and analyze it further.
My mixed media project would involve images, essays, advertisements, poetry, paintings, photographs, etc. Each facet of media from the reading offers questions for students to ask and explore. I imagine asking my students to first create a painting or take a photograph to demonstrate the themes of their project. We could then manipulate and edit these images or write poetry next, all the while trying to convey the same meaning or theme but in a new/different medium. After that, students would then be asked to write an essay or create an advertisement on the same topic. Can you envision how much more innovative and analytic students’ essays would be after first exploring their ideas and opinions through media arts? When they’ve completed their “mixed media” projects, my students would then have several visual/verbal texts expounding upon the same theme. They will have increased their media fluency and comprehension.
Most of all, this concept of mixing and manipulating multiple mediums teaches students to make choices. After evaluating their several projects, they could select the one they think best completes the parameters of the assignment, or the one they think best portrays their intended meanings. These are the types of choices that have to be made all of the time in the professional world. I would be preparing my students to work with others in the future to best communicate their ideas. By exposing students to many distinct forms of media, I enable them to create and select the mediums that work best at any given time to fulfill their needs.
Just like the point you raised, Laura—“every production . . . has advertisements, production photos, and literature.” I’m glad that you brought that to my attention. Media is so pervasive that we absolutely need to teach our students how to be creative, selective, and expressive when making decisions about how to communicate their views. You also raised the issue of responsibility, which is essential to the decision-making process of media arts. I hope that as I develop my education goals further that I can effectively empower my students with the knowledge they need to act responsibly when employing various mediums in their work.