Blog Response 8 - Responsibility to Media

            Skin, Color, Size, Looks – each of these subjects is addressed by Judith Ortiz Cofer in her article “The Story of my Body”(found in Seeing & Writing pgs. 332-341).  Difference is all around us, every day.  Regardless of skin, color, size or looks each human being is entirely different from those around them.  Unfortunately, skin, color, size and looks are a factor for social stereotypes and discrimination.  No one is safe from discrimination, because it follows difference.  It is our role as the teacher to teach our students to accept and value difference, not discriminate against it.
Media is a powerful tool that teach students to “connect . . . emotionally to others and to express complex and multifaceted points of view” (157).  Although media provides a valuable tool and outlet for students to be able to value about difference, it is also a powerful supporter of the discrimination for difference.  Media is the “equalizer”, a vast storage of images that display cookie cutter human beings who define beauty after they have been nipped and tucked and photo edited.  Social Media often promotes that if you don’t meet their standards you aren't beautiful or worthwhile.  Just as Judith Ortiz Cofer experienced growing up, often students are treated with disrespect by students and teachers if they are different from the “status quo”.
It is our responsibility to use Media as a force for good and not evil.  Media provides students with tools to be able to express their differences and stand up for what they believe in.  As the educator it is our obligation to not discriminate against students and give them equal chances for success.  This notion requires that we are fair, not equal.  Students should be treated fairly and as individuals not as the exact same cookie cutter students.  They are each unique and have various learning styles and abilities, but they all have potential.  Through Media we can provide students with the opportunity “to use the power of media and technology to make a real difference in their communities” (156).  Learning is not a punishment it is a privilege.  We should utilize media to reach out to students interests and incorporate those interests into assignments.  Providing students with the power of choice will help to increase their desire to do an assignment.  Hobbs states “that when young people recognize their power and their social responsibilities as communicators, they can experience significant personal growth” (158).
Students can be given the opportunity to learn about accepting differences through Media by creating projects that focus on issues in their community.  For instance, you could assign students to interview various members of their community and create an audio documentary where they incorporate music, interviews and narration of their experience in the community.  You can also have students work together to focus on their own differences and what makes them unique and compile their differences together into a devised piece that is recorded and shown to the school.  Students could also interview one another and create a monologue based on each other’s interviews.  Also films can be shown that focus on differences and students could be required to write a reflection on the film.  Or even take the film they watch and create a movement piece based on how that film applies in their own community.
         The possibilities with how media can be incorporated into the classroom are endless. But it is our responsibility as the educator to advocate for the use of media in our classroom.  Hobbs states, “Increasing mistrust in the media means young people may not believe much of what they hear, see, or read on the news” (149).  Not only may our students mistrust media but our administration may be against it.  As a result it becomes our responsibility to advocate for media in the classroom.  Media is a valuable tool.  As Hobbs states, “when high school students get sustained opportunities to make sense of and respond to news and current events in ways that are meaningful to them, learning comes alive” (159).  Also, “When teachers use mass media, digital media, and popular culture to address social, political, and culture issues, students develop the capacity to make sense of and critically analyze the world around them” (168).  Students need to come to understand the world around them, the world that they are a part of and are going to/are influencing every day.  Media connects students with the world and can help them address difficult conversations and situations.  As educators we need to open our classroom to media and use media to reach our students, peak their interest and help them explore learning in a whole new way!