Response to Briana

Teachers who spend “4.5 hours” (Wow!) of class time playing videos. Schools and communities with limited access to media and technology. Pressure to meet the national standards and prepare our students for standardized tests. Intimidation and incompetence revolving around all things relating to technology.

These are the complications of media access in the classroom. And although we can praise the idea of access as prospective educators before we even step foot in our first school classroom as real, grown-up teachers, there are simply barriers to media and technology access that completely complicate the whole picture. On this issue, I agree with you, Briana. The ideas raised by Hobbs are not revolutionary or earth-shattering—but the reason perhaps that so many resources for educators seem to be reemphasizing these same points about media access is because it’s so challenging for teachers to do it right that we need to hash it out again and again.

For instance, let’s talk about “engaging” and “interacting” with the media ourselves as teachers. Yes, it’s a “no-brainer”: good teachers will use their understanding of media and technology to relate with and educate their students. But I think boiling it down to simply “keeping up with” the media is too tricky and undefined. Personally, I am worried about being able to stay on top of the ever-changing, updating media and technology relevant in my students’ lives WHILE actively keeping up on the latest research and productions done in the realm of Theatre Arts. After all, isn’t that the subject I was hired to teach? Hands down, one of the biggest complications I am seeing regarding Hobbs ideas and lesson plans and your point, Briana, is how to remain engaged and interactive with two broad fields at once—both Theatre and Media/Technology.

In addition to having limitations on our time to prepare and teach both media and theatre, other access complications seem even more impassable. For example, as Hobbs mentions on page 20, some schools have preselected materials available to you in the classroom or require advance permission for texts you might wish to use. Other communities might struggle with media access because of limited technology and resources. Hobbs encourages us as teachers to help our students transfer their knowledge about technology between school and home, but whether or not our school or their homes have technology access is sometimes impossible for us to resolve. Otherwise, even in a community with some access to media and technology, we might still face a limited assortment of texts—yet on page 21, Hobbs asks educators to use a variety of text types in their instruction.

I’ll be the first to admit it: after my first, tremendous experience viewing Dead Poets Society, I felt even more inspired to be the greatest teacher ever. I wanted to teach my students about LIFE and HAPPINESS and MEANING. How cool would it be to stand on desks and rip out textbook pages directly relating to the national standards we are supposed to teach?

Hobbs seems to echo this sentiment on page 21 with her “resounding ‘yes’” that we should include a focus on popular culture texts in our classrooms. But our time is limited. We face the demands to train our students for standardized testing and core curriculum. Even if I manage to juggle teaching my students both “popular culture texts” and the required texts of my national standards, can I still hope to prep my students for their participation in media and technology communities? I might only be able to coach them on accessing texts specific to my subject, whether it is theatre or English.

Nevertheless, now that I’ve raised all my concerns over Hobbs magical suggestions, I will supply a couple of answers the reading gave me. How can I help students to use, find, and understand in my classroom setting?

First, I loved some of the early examples Hobbs offered in the reading. Her story about Tony proved that engaging with media and technology can be active, analytic, and opinionated because it fosters reading, learning, and reacting (3). She asserts that using media as babysitters not only disengages students’ brains and learning, but it also immobilizes teacher creativity and instructional strategies (5-6). When Tony’s story revealed that oftentimes media and technology use replaces the time that should be spent on homework, chores, or work (4), I realized that I could try to create homework assignments in a way that incorporates media and technology. This way, I would be aligning typical student motivations: socializing, entertainment, and academic responsibilities (8). I might do this by asking my students to hold a digital discussion on a class wiki or blog page. Of course, I know that it’s unlikely that students will ever prefer completing my assignments to their own fun and games, but I would like to try to compose my homework in such a way that more readily engages with the media texts and technology genres that interest my students.

I thought Hobbs had a great example of this as a written assignment included in her first lesson plan: “Select one specific media text (like ABC’s Greek, for example) and offer reflections . . .” (23).

I want to help students see that digital media are just one type of technology available. Through a diagram like the one on page 9, I will show them how sound, visual, digital, and print are comparable categories of media. Being more comfortable with print media myself, I might invite students to engage in a trade-off. If they are willing to meet my requirements to engage thoughtfully with the print media presented to them, I will offer to meet their desires for digital, visual, or sound media interaction in the classroom. I hope they will appreciate my wanting to work with them and even come to respect my own outdated media perspectives.