Rural Representation on TV

Wow! This was quite an experience. I didn't have all the tech difficulties that Becca did, but just trying to coordinate my crazy schedule with my high school helper's crazy schedule to get this done was nuts. I almost threw in the towel, but I had two fifth grade classes expecting to see themselves on Youtube. I apologize that this is a little long. We cut it down from about 50 minutes of video, but ran out of time to edit more. There is one repeating segment about 10 seconds long - oops! We were having trouble with the video duplicating, thought we got it all, but guess not...

The kids are discussing rural representation on TV. I don't know that they had anything mind boggling to say(but a couple of funny things), but it was nice to give them a chance to express their point of view. The two classes were very different to interview. One was very talkative and the other very quiet. The talkative class is from the school where I work, they are used to interacting with me in this way. In the other class, I was more of a visitor. I think this may have affected their participation. Thanks for watching

Baseball, Wednesdays that should be Fridays, and Media Literacy

Yes, there is some connection there, I promise.

So I have one more blog post to write, and of course I have waited until the very last second (which is a constant theme in my life, but I digress). I have been at work most of the afternoon, which means I cannot go out and celebrate my last class ever and the beautiful day outside. By celebrate, I mean sit outside and drink beer. It is a perfect example of when a Wednesday turns into a Friday, which should allow the weekend to be several days long. However, I am currently stuck inside and feel rather depressed about it. So to make myself feel better, I am watching baseball on mlb.tv, which for those of you not obsessed with sports like myself, allows me to watch any out of market game for an annual fee. Oh, and let us not mention this to my boss as I probably should be working.

Anyways, I was thinking about the opportunities afforded to me that even though I am working inside, I can still watch pretty much whatever baseball I want, as long as I have the means and the ability to set up the computer. In reality, what percentage of people in our nation do not have this chance? I wrote earlier about allowing teens to take what we teach them and put it to their own unique use. What about the teens that we teach that do not have the opportunity to take advantage of these skills because they simply do not have the resources many of us have. I can sit here and watch baseball on a 22-inch flat panel monitor on a very high-speed connection (and get paid for it, but let’s ignore that). Yet I still have the gall to complain and wish I could be doing something else. What is wrong with me, and perhaps with those similar to me, that we cannot be content with what we have? Is this an American issue? Are we simply not content with our lot, no matter the perks? Perhaps it is even wrong of me to say American. How about wealthy, middle-class, mostly white Americans? It really bothers me sometimes that I can allow myself to complain about these things, when a significant portion of our country does not have health care, adequate housing, or good food, much less access to any insignificant ball game they want (and yes I called baseball insignificant, it is only April, they get more important in August, now that I say that, though, the Braves are about to lose and I am fighting the urge to swear in a library). While I know that the discrepancies between rich and poor are part of human history, never before have the rich had the means and supposedly the will to do something about it. The hypocrisy of this country sometime makes me sick even though I am probably part of it. There are great organizations that are making a real difference but our overall priorities need to change. For me, this is not about politics (double play YES), it is about changing the entire attitude of a country. If I knew how to do this, I would be on the campaign trail. Being at GSLIS for a few semesters has proven to me that there are plenty of people, better and harder working than me, who are dedicated to youth services and to providing a better tomorrow four our children (yuck, cliché). However, I have seen many times the idealism of college brutally squashed like a bug out in the real world. So perhaps my final blog post really is saying this: do not let the rat race of the real world kill the idealism present in GSLIS. It is important to understand we can have a place where I can watch baseball at work and still work at solving our many issues.

OK, so I am done. Sorry about the almost sickening life philosophy.

Idealistic Ramblings on Applying our knowledge

As I have started to realize the inevitability of actually working in the next couple of weeks, I have been thinking about how to take what I have learned at GSLIS and apply it to a real life situation. We have talked about this throughout the semester, but this post is meant as a summary for me and a way to gather my thoughts before entering the real world (though I do still need a job).

For me, literacy is a concept that is easy to talk about in a classroom setting but can difficult to apply in a meaningful manner that produces tangible results in the outside world. Media literacy takes this idea even further because it is more difficult to define and certainly more difficult to apply. On the simplest level, literacy means being able to read and understand some material, but what exactly is media literacy. Is it the same? Can we substitute media in for books/reading and not change the meaning? Somehow, I do not think it is that simple. Media constitutes much more than one simple idea. There are a few big parts that most will agree on, such as TV, radio, and the Internet, but there are arguments over what it means to be able to interpret such mediums. Is a child media literate if they understand that a TV show is not real, but cannot comprehend the messages behind the ever-present advertising? I do not think so because, like general literacy, there is an element of understanding that must be present in media literacy. It cannot be the simple task of seeing some type of media and understanding its basic elements. The mind must be made to interpret those signals. The messages behind the show or the biases of the creators of a website are just as important as that basic understanding, perhaps even more so. The basic understanding must be there to enable the second part, but the second part is crucial for anyone, especially youths, to achieve.

So after that long preamble (or maybe just ramble, you decide), here is what I am taking with me from this class into the real world. Teaching is not just about test scores or getting into the correct college, but allowing students to reach that next level of understanding that forces them into making judgments based on a variety of factors, including their own thoughts and ideas. Literacy is not just a skill; it is a way to open minds to the endless possibilities in the world (wow, that sounds cliché, sorry about that). We can not only help students gain the basic building blocks needed to engage with media, but also help them take that next step of figuring out what to do with those building blocks.

So, this all sounds nice, right? But, Tony, I can see you saying (probably Ben), how do you plan on actually doing this in your job? Well, that is the 64 thousand dollar question (I am going to keep using clichés, I am done with school today and can do what I want). For me, it is about encouragement. Many adults simply refuse that youth, especially teens, have anything worthwhile to offer society. This contributes to the alienation felt by many teens toward the rest of society. In teaching such an abstract skill such as media literacy, it is important to remain flexible and allow students to focus on what is important to them, not to you or the greater society. Eventually, they will reach the level of sophisticated analysis and interpretation that we want, but if we force it upon them, this process can stall and may never get started again. I liked one of the weeks we were in the computer lab downstairs. We looked at several of the currently in vogue technologies and talked about ways to adapt them. Carol pointed out that it was not mastering the specific technologies that mattered because they will change all the time, but the way we think about using those technologies. It is the same for us in the real world. We cannot force students to think like us, but can help them think about the ways to use the skills we can teach, even if it is in a vastly different manner. I think that is the point I am trying to make here. Do not take out ideology about certain things and try to imprint it; teens will reject it anyways. Just teach them the skills and encourage them to find their own way. OK, that is enough of my unbridled idealistic rants for this post. I hope no one punished themselves and actually read this far.

My first ever game night

In January I was give the task of taking over and changing Teen Services at my library. The reason why I was given this task? I would love to say that it is because I am full of great ideas and have a creative flare and teen’s like me, but sadly it is because I am the youngest full time employee on staff. So over the next four months I started researching and using the tools that I have been given over the course of studying for my degree, and more specifically I started applying what we were talking about in this class to reach out to these teens. So with great pleading I was able to convince the director and board that I just HAD to have a Teen Game night. I won the argument of why (which if you watch the video you will see me talking about the why) and began planning the night. It was the biggest turn out that we ever had had for a teen event (throughout the night over 50 teens came in-normally only 2 show up for activities)! And more importantly the teens had a blast; they immediately started begging me for another night and wanted to know what other kind of events we have for them. That group alone has brought in their friends and the word has spread, that the library is an okay place to be. The most important thing and most exciting part for me was receiving the okay this past week from the library board to go out and by everything that I need to continue gaming for teens, as long as I explore the options of taking the Wii to assisted living center and maybe starting an Adult Game night.
I’ve included the YouTube video of the night!

Video games and learning

In a quote by Vint Cerf (Creator of the Internet, 64,) he states, “It may seem like sort of a waste of time to play World of Warcraft with your son. But you’re actually interacting with each other. You’re solving problems. They may seem like simple problems, but you’re solving them. You’re posed with challenges that you have to overcome. You’re on a quest to gain certain capabilities. I haven’t spent a lot of time playing World of Warcraft, because my impression is that it takes a serious amount of time to play it well.”
I know that there is and always will be tons of controversy over videogames-helpful or harmful. This is such a hot topic among everyone-teachers, parents, news anchors, and now librarians. At a conference I recently attended, I listened to many librarians speak about learning from video games. Their statements are similar to Cerf’s. In most situations, kids and teens-heck even adults would most likely choose playing games over doing work. Why is this? Simple. Games are fun, they offer an outlet for us to explore, and to be someone else for a little while. If we can present the information as fun or as a game, kids are more likely to pay attention and take something away from the lesson. It is too bad that coming up with games and activities for every single subject is tiresome and daunting, but then again parents would complain that all their kids were doing was playing, I probably would! But at least the kids are learning and doing something that they like. And for those who say video games don’t provide anything but entertainment, think about this: One of the game systems controllers contain over 17 buttons that a player must memorize so they can control their video game character. They must remember what button goes to what tool or action and when to use it. They must strategize how they will beat a certain level, if they lose they have to try something new and keep trying until they get it right. So as a past educator, it sounds to me like there is some learning going on, it might not be what we want them to be learning, but at least they are using their brain!

Out with the old and In with the new

I had no idea of what of to expect. The concept of media literacy simple sounded like a class that of be interesting. Through the activities and reading for this class have new tools to use with my students. This class has given me the opportunity to explore and try new formats or should I say modes of communication. It forced me to reexamine how I communicate with my students. Most importantly I forced me to look at how my students are most comfortable communicating their idea with me. I have used a blog before but had never considered the possibly of using it for a group project or class discussion. My students love the websites that can be used to generate comic strips. This is an invaluable tool for teaching children to summarize and sequential order. These and the many other websites and formats serve to keep the students engaged and give them means to create new meaning while learning traditional concepts.

This class has challenged my beliefs and forced me not unwillingly of course to update my thinking. I have taken what I have learned back to many of my fellow educators. We must allow the children to think and express themselves in the ways that suit them not us. The days of pencil, paper and poster board have been replaced by power point, audio and video presentations. These new ways of learning and teaching have been a pleasurable and a unique learning experience. I will treasure and use all that learned to forge new and meaningful projects for the students of Mount Vernon.

What great librarians do

I was given a book to read by the literacy coach at my school. Even though not all members of this class will choose school librarianship I believe this book has some valuable strategies. We are in a profession that is based on our interaction with the public. The book What Great Teachers Do Differently has fourteen things Dr. Whitaker considers best practices when dealing with parents and students. I believe these same techniques could be readily applied to library patrons.

The book What Great Teachers (librarians) Do Differently is a book of exploration of what author Todd Whitaker considers best practices in several areas. The book explores the importance teacher ( librarian) attitude in every aspect of teaching( serving patrons) The book points out the importance people over programs. There are no magic programs that will fix all the ills in any classroom (library). Dr. Whitaker reminds us as educators it is our choice how we interact with students, parents (patrons)and fellow teachers(librarians). It is imperative that we make those we interact with feel valued and important. Great teachers (librarians) are proactive not reactive. They set high expectations for their students (patrons) but more important they set high expectation for themselves. The most effective teachers (librarians) are quiet agents of change. Great teachers (librarians)realize the perceptions of the school (library) depends not on test scores (programs) but teachers (librarian) interactions with students and parents(patrons). The most effective teachers (librarians)maintain a positive attitude all the time with all the students(patrons). Great teachers(librarians) exist in every school(library). The message that resounded throughout this book the key to being a great teacher (librarian) lies solely with the teacher (librarian).

Fear of Blogs

The media blog was not one of the portfolio pieces I intended to complete when I submitted my portfolio plan. Honestly the word “blog” scared me! I was not familiar with blogs other than stumbling across them when doing an internet search. With that said, I am so glad I ended up using the blog. If it wouldn’t have been for this assignment, who knows when I would have ever learned to post a blog entry. To go with my last post…..this was just another accent that labeled me as a digital immigrant!

After using the class blog, I am embarrassed of my initial fears. It was so simple to post and I am hoping it is just as easy to start my own blog. In my first post I mentioned that blogs were one of the many things that are blocked on school computers. Although I don’t imagine all blogs will ever be unblocked in the school setting, I think my students could benefit from using a blog for educational purposes. As the new librarian next year I would like to incorporate a blog for our high school library where students could post book reviews. For Valentines Day the library had a contest. Students made valentines to describe a book they loved. There was an overwhelming response and I still observe students reading the valentines that are posted near the books they describe. This would be an opportunity for them to share the books they enjoy and use a blog at school!

Immigrant or Native?

When considering the words “native” and “immigrant”, digital is not the word that comes to my mind. By reading an article by Marc Prensky, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, I was challenged to consider myself an immigrant.

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

The faculty at my workplace was asked to discuss the article in our teams that we meet weekly with. I’ll admit that I quickly forget many of the articles we are asked to discuss, but this one stuck with me. As an 8th year Spanish teacher I will shamefully admit that I am teaching almost the exact same way I was when I started, with the addition of new activities and games to supplement the units that are in place. Even after receiving a Smart Board, many of the lessons that I had on the overhead projector are almost identical to the lessons on the Smart Board. They are just in a more interactive format. So I have made some changes but not nearly enough to accommodate the many changes that the students have endured as times change.

As one of the younger teachers in my building, I don’t feel like I am able to completely catch up with technology. I find myself wondering where I got lost. The article refers to digital immigrants having an accent. Examples that are given include printing out emails, printing documents for editing, and calling to make sure someone received an email. I find myself being tempted to print emails, I always print to edit a document, and I constantly worry about whether someone has received an important email if they don’t respond. As librarians it is our job to not only keep up with the digital natives, but also help those that we work with lose their accents!

Wizrocklopedia

My first YouTube video ever has just been uploaded, just for this class:



It's an interview with the creator of http://www.wizrocklopedia.com

In the process of making this video, the mic on my laptop died, my laptop crashed, my desktop computer caught fire and is now totally dead, the Mac at work crashed two times, and Liz's facebook account is under threat of deletion from our back and forth messaging.  But I feel accomplished, having completed it.

Curiosity

So I wanted to write some brilliant wrap-up blog post, summarizing the course and the readings, and integrating the article review I wrote, and highlighting some great stories I have heard on the radio and stuff, but I don't feel that I have that sense of mastery over the information. I mean I feel like I know what I need to know, or rather, I know what I should be paying attention to and what I am going to be thinking about, and I have a new language in which to think about all the topics, but I don't think that I have a sense of finality about the course topic. Which is good, of course, since one always wants to be in the process of learning, but is also a little daunting, since it emphasizes that feeling of "too much-ness" that I get when I start to think about the world, technology, the future, etc. Kind of like the feeling of "too much-ness" that I get when I think about the environment and all that is going wrong and all the many many many things that will have to change to give us any hope.

Instead of wrapping things up, then, I want to throw something out there that I don't think we have really talked about all that much, and that is the question of curiosity. We have talked about the importance of play and creativity, and wondered about what effects games and new media have on traditional play, but to me that is not the same thing as curiosity.

When I used to teach college (English, film studies, writing), I was always concerned with getting students to be (semi) fluent in the language of the discipline, to help them learn how to be better readers of texts, better consumers of information, better critics of social constructions and cultural assumptions and presuppositions. I wanted them to think of ideologies that run and shape our lives and our sense of selves; I wanted them to interpret the different signs and signifiers that comprise modern life. But I realize now that I never really took the time to consider ways to foster curiosity. I was more about reading (interpreting any different kind of text, either textual, visual, aural, or cultural) but less about curiosity.

And I think that much of what we have been reading and talking about in this class has that same focus--an instrumentalist focus, I guess, or a pragmatic one, which is concerned more with causes and effects and statistics and other practical things and less with what this all means for human curiosity. In terms of new media and information technology, I am always a big defender of what I see are the advantages--we have access to information, to networks, to communities, to art, to creative practice. But are these things, as great as they are, the same thing as curiosity? Is the ability to "do" the same thing as the desire to "know", just for the pleasure of knowing?

I find that in my own life my curiosity has, in many ways dwindled to these quick, one-shot Q&A moments: I want to know something about a topic, I look it up and get a quick answer, and then move on. But is that the same thing as being curious about something, and then exploring it, learning about it, *knowing* it, or just even getting "curioser and curioser"? I am not sure, and I certainly don't know the answer regarding youth today, but I am wondering if there is something happening to the whole experience and concept of curiosity and serendipitous discovery.

**And on a totally different note: I am writing this in a Panera, and next to me is a man in his 50s at least, with a headset, playing a shooter game on his laptop, trying not to exclaim with every shot. How funny is that for an end-of-semester image??

Feed

So I just finished the young adult book "Feed" and was reading the discussion group material that comes at the end and was really surprised to see that the author (M.T. Anderson) considers the book to be about reading and literacy. I mean, I see that, what with how no one reads anymore in the future he creates; instead, people get all their information and their news and advertisements and stuff through the feed that is literally in their brain. Basically, the people of the future (and specifically the teens, who do not remember a time before the feed) quite literally embody information. But it is quite specifically information--not knowledge, not wisdom, not reading. I was surprised, though, that Anderson wrote the book to be about reading and literacy; I read it as more of a commentary on technology and its relationship to the body and to the brain in particular. Of course these are related, but it really was a surprise to see that the author wanted his text to be a commentary on reading and literacy in the digital age.

According to a Northern State University course Web site about Anderson (http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/anderson_feed.html), has said the following about his writing:
We live in a culture of corporate-sponsored narrative, which is a culture of underwritten endumbening. In an attempt to reach an ever wider audience, television, movies, magazines, and even publishers rely on three elements pernicious to complicated narrative: first the sapping of particularity (for fear that eccentricity will frighten off potential viewers, or more dangerously, encourage the splintering of mass demographics); second, the simplification of narrative (because of an assumption that the bulk of people want to hear over and over again the stories they have already heard); and third, the pursuit of anything, be it tumbling helicopters or showering cheerleaders, that might constitute “action.”

This creates a vicious cycle, however. As children are raised on simpler and simpler narratives, they become acclimated to that banality, and grow distrustful of anything that deviates from it.

I find this fascinating, both because of the connection to the broadcast I mentioned in an earlier post (Proust, the Squid, etc.), but also because of this idea about media and publishers pushing simplistic narratives, or rather, valuing those things that are anathema to complicated narratives. I get this, and I think there is a lot of truth to it, but I am also suspicious of the simplicity of this position. First of all, is there anything more simplistic than classic Hollywood narrative?--basically, that storyline is boys meets girl, boys loses girl, boy gets girl. Or boy has friend, boy loses friend, boy finds friend. Either way, the underpinning narrative of even the most elaborate film is a simple plot with a trajectory toward heterosexual coupling (marriage) or homosocial bonding (friends). At the same time, this ignores the fact that many games and on-line settings offer the potential for complexity that are not in traditional narrative structures. The games may *rely* on the familiar structures, but there is more mobility within them. So this idea that young consumers (readers) would be suspicious of narratives that are complicated strikes me as a little naive and simplistic.

I did find the book to be quite smart. I especially thought that the idea of "feed" was used incredibly well to metaphorize what is happening in information culture--we have feeds to information, we feed on information, we consume/eat information, and yet we ourselves are in so many ways feed to the system, including the monolithic corporations but also to information itself, which feeds on us and our networks to create more networks.

I know I am late to the table regarding this book, as it was so popular a couple years back, but I found it quite serendipitous to be reading this at the end of the semester, both because of the content but also because of the interview with Anderson, which talks so much about the issues of reading and literacy in an era of new media.

Connecting the Dots

When I was pregnant with my first child I remember seeing pregnant women everywhere; like there had never been so many pregnant women before! My personal state of 'largeness' gave me a heightened awareness, a radar that zoned in on other expecting mothers. Well let me just say for the last four months I feel like I've been pregnant with media literacy! Everywhere I look I see examples of what we have been studying in class. It's not like they weren't there before, it's just now that I've learned terms like mash-up, machinima and fan fiction, I recognize them everywhere. My son just wrote Star Wars VII (the reluctant reader version, as it is only about 12 pages long) and as he was sharing it with me I thought, 'wow, fan fiction!'

Mary wrote in our class forum that she has had a shift in thinking with this class. I, too, have felt a shift. I came with some pretty negative feelings about many aspects of online culture and gaming And although many of these have not been resolved, my understanding of the potential positives in these types of media has increased. I have been armed, so to speak with an incredible array of resources, many of which I hope to have time to return to on a more leisurely basis. My heightened awareness and greater understanding affect the way that I interact with my students and my own children with regards to digital and visual literacies. I have thought often about the Renee Hobbs, "Reading the Media in High School" vs Jenkins' "Media Education in the 21st Century." Although I really liked the curriculum that Hobbs described, I find that Jenkins' inter-curriculur approach makes more sense in our inter-connected world. If we have the luxury to offer some of the fabulous classes that Hobbs talked about, all the better, but media does not happen in a vacuum and as it encroaches on almost every aspect of out lives we must be able to 'connect the dots.'

I was reading an article in the February issue of Teacher Librarian : "Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century." The article ended stating the importance of

" ...our ability to understand what we see, to interpret what we experience, to analyze what we are exposed to, and to evaluate what we conclude against the criteria that support critical thinking. In the end it seems far better to have the skills and competencies to comprehend and discriminate within a common language than to be left out, unable to understand."

Youth, and all of us, live in a complicated world full of mixed messages and an often nebulous understanding of how the information and images that we receive actually affect us (as evidenced by our 'discussions' on violence in media). Really when it comes down to it the potential for good or bad is not in the medium, but in the people who are creating/using it. By helping our youth to understand, interpret, analyze and evaluate the media we can help them think critically about the media they explore, be it violent images or over-sensationalized news, in hopes that they will help to advance the 'potential good.' This class has helped me feel better prepared to be conversant with youth in 21st-century-media-literacy-speak and I hope that this will aid me in my ability to help the youth I come in contact with to develop these essential critical thinking skills.

Resource: Jones-Kavalier, Barbara and Suzanne L. Flannigan. "Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century." Teacher Librarian. Feb. 2008.

We need answers

A long hot summer looms on the horizon for America. Teen violence seems to be on the rise. In Chicago over thirty young adults have been injured some fatally since the beginning of the year. This type of behavior is not confined to the inner city. This surge of violence is affecting very neighborhood, socio economic strata, gender and race. Since the research suggests that violent themed video games are not the clear cut cause for this surge in violent behavior, we need as a society find the truth. Many students I interact with each day have become desensitized to random acts of violence. They often laugh when people are hurt especially by another person. They talk about fights between students with admiration and awe, often describing the incident in vivid detail. We must discover why responding with violence is the first course of action instead of the last resort. What happened to the idea of helping someone in need, even if that someone is a teacher? Why do students think it is okay to beat up a teacher in her own classroom? Even more disturbing is the rest of the class watching and recording the incident on their cell phone. I don’t know what the answer is but I am sure we need to find an answer.

An art teacher in Baltimore attacked by student.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyslYXjOLJs

A sixty one year old teacher attacked by two male students in Mobile.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0EK0Qe7lKE&NR=1

Incorporating Media Literacy at the High School

At the beginning of the semester I had very minimal knowledge about media literacy and all that it entailed, beyond interpreting media messages on television and in the movies. When considering pieces for the portfolio assignment I immediately chose to do the participant observer piece. As a future school librarian I thought it would be a good experience. As I started asking around I soon found out that the schools in my area do not have established medial literacy programs. Living and working in a rural community limits my options for observations. I decided to still do the observations in a district that didn’t have a program and just include it as one of my blog entries.

During this semester I have spent 2-4 hours per week in a high school library. The library primarily serves its students for free reading and computer lab usage. The way the library is used is a direct reflection of how teachers incorporate library resources into their lessons. Most of the books that are checked out are for reading classes or to fulfill quarterly book report requirements. The computer lab can only be used if it is reserved for an entire class or if a student has a written pass for a specific assignment.

The librarian eagerly offers her services by teaching students that enter the building about how to utilize the online resources that are available in addition to a short tutorial on the OPAC. Generally these items are merely refreshers because the same resources and OPAC are used at the middle school level. Any other teaching that goes on in the high school library is either done on a one-on-one basis or by classroom teachers when their classes are in the computer lab. There is not a specific class or library program that focuses on media literacy.

After discussions with teachers about the classes they teach and with students about their experiences with media literacy, there are many aspects that are covered. Although a lot is covered indirectly, depending on the class, teacher, or time available not all students are receiving an equal amount of media literacy education. Students are being deprived of essential knowledge that will affect them for the rest of their lives in a digital society. The benefits of media literacy education are evident.

For example, I am currently doing a career exploration project for a final unit with my students. I gave them a guided web activity, much like a web quest, that helped them explore careers that matched their personality and interests. They had a series of questions to answer for each section of the activity so they had something they could look back at for the next part of the project. Many students were able to finish this activity in less than an hour, while others took an entire 85-minute period. Some of the time difference is due to reading levels and efficiency, but that was not the case for all. There are several students that struggle with navigating through websites. At the beginning of the year I gave very detailed direction for web activities, including step by step directions on how to access shared files on the public drive of our school’s network. Simple tasks like finding a document they needed to get started was challenging for some students. These are the same students that are not enrolled in classes that frequently use the computer lab. The second step of the project was to explore careers online without be restrained by the websites of the first activity. This gave them free roam to either explore an identified career more in depth or look at other options. The goal was to finalize three career choices to research and present. They were told up front that the presentations were only for display, but they had to convey to me that they were able to answer all three essential questions (what is the career, why did you pick it, how will you get there) in detail. Since this is a final project they knew I was expecting them to be creative and go above and beyond any other presentations that they had done throughout the year. As soon as we arrived in the computer lab the same two things kept happening over and over. They didn’t know how to search the internet and most of them immediately put any information they found into a power point presentation.

I came to two conclusions after this miserable experience. At the high school level they are so used to being told which sites to use that they don’t know how to weed out the junk on their own. As for only wanting to use power point, this is what is taught at the middle school level and what they are most comfortable using. There are a handful of students that are taking an introduction to business course that have had experience with different styles of presentation. These students are willing to go beyond power point because they have more knowledge, but not all students will take the same business course or any business at all. Where will the others learn about the vast array of presentation styles that are accessible to them?

Of course I have a solution! Every student that enters the high school is required to take a freshmen seminar course. In this course there are several areas that are covered in order to help prepare 9th graders for success in high school. Media literacy is not a formal component of the current curriculum. As both a freshmen seminar teacher and the future librarian at this high school, it could easily be incorporated without disrupting the curriculum in place. Although I believe a media literacy component is key to their future success and will not be questioned by the administration in a district where digital technology is being pushed!

On the end of the semester

So the semester is almost over and I still need a couple more posts. I can do one short one so this will be it before the really long ones that will probably bore everyone. Maybe I can amuse people with this one.

So I have been talking to several people this last week about librarians and stereotypes and their portrayal in the media. This kinda started in 502 but also at work where some of the undergraduates I work with wanted to dress as librarians for a semester ending party. Their ideas of what would constitute a librarian outfit were interesting, to say the least. Of course I stopped that immediately; we can have none of that at all.

But in all seriousness, it can be difficult to overcome that stereotype, especially among teens. This class is about media literacy and librarianship, but I think the traditional image of the librarian hurts our efforts in the real world. I think GSLIS prepares us in many ways to challenge many of those notions and that things have changed in the past few years. But hearing the comments from these undergraduates and watching many librarian clips on youtube for 502, I think the image is still fairly ingrained in our society. While that disturbs me somewhat, it does cheer me that there are so many people in GSLIS that want to and are challenging those assumptions and we have classes like this that helps us accomplish that. I just hope it is the same at other library schools.

More to come later this week, as I have been lazy most of the semester and would like to graduate.

Blue Ribbon Winners

I want everyone to realize the effect we have on the people we encounter. All the work you put into being a librarian it matters. You may never know how your taking time to answer a question or offer help may affect another person. Who you are matters!

Watch the video

http://www.blueribbonmovie.com/

Pew report on Teens and Writing

So I saw this report the other day and found it interesting in several ways. Here is one of the main headlines from the report- "Teens write a lot, but they do not think of
their emails, instant and text messages as
writing. This disconnect matters because
teens believe good writing is an essential
skill for success and that more writing
instruction at school would help them."

Why do teens feel this disconnect? Does the formal education system teach this idea? Or is a part of a larger societal philosophy on what constitutes "good" writing? I think blaming the schools really only masks the idea that many older professional writers, and parts of the older generation in general, feel about what makes writing. One of the first quotes in this report is from the Librarian of Congress who rants about electronic communication and feels that it could be destroying the "basic unit of human thought – the sentence." Anyone else feel like this may be a trifle overboard? It also seems to echo what people said about radio, TV, etc... Things have changed, maybe not for the better but certainly not this terrible that it could change the entire fabric of human thought itself.

The encouraging news from this report is the number of teens that say they write, 93%, which I think it more important that what they are writing.
Instead of attaching negativity to what they are writing, which I think that quote does, teachers and librarians should be encouraging any sort of communication that allows teens to put down their thoughts, whether a text or email. It is not our place to judge what they are writing and to impose our values on what they are doing. While the traditionalist in me agrees that the best way to get better writers is for more formal education, but to discourage other types of writing seems to be going the wrong way. Limiting what is "good" writing is much the same way as limiting what are "quality" books. While we are training to make these judgments, that does not mean we can take that training and use it to force our value sets onto a new generation that we might simply not understand.

Anyways, there is alot more interesting stuff in the report and this blog post does a much better job than me of discussing it.

21st Century Learning workshop

Recently I attended a workshop for school librarians. The presenter Pam Berger discussed the role of the library, the librarian and the student in the 21st century. The session started by examining the composition of today’s learner. She listed the characteristics of the 21st century learner as follows:
· Collaborative
· Independent learner
· Online and onsite
· Multitasks
They learn and communicate using:
· Instant messaging
· Blogging
· Podcasts
· Google’s My Reader
· News Alerts
· RSS
· Wiki
· Email
· Spreadsheets
· Search Engines
· Online Catalog
· Chat
· Map Quest
Today’s students have greater access to online resources.
§ 89% of online teens have online access at home
§ 75% have internet access at school
§ 70% go to online from a friend or relative’s house
§ 50% have gone online from a library
§ 9% go online from a community center or house of worship

Pew Internet and Family Life Project http://www.pewinternet.org

The students of today are not going to respond to the traditional methods teaching and learning. They are more interactive and independent. We as librarians are in the perfect position to help students on their quest for knowledge.

Mrs. Berger goes on to explain the connection between Web 2.0 and what she describes ad Library 2.0. Mrs. Berger feels that the library must adapt and align itself to meet the needs of today’s learners. If the library and librarian can learn to use the tools for inquiry that match the students interest then Inquiry 2.0 will be the result.

A model of the School library as a Dynamic Agent of Learning is presented where the purpose of the library and the librarian is redefined. The graphic is great unfortunately I cannot reproduce it but I will explain the components. The school librarian acts as a Information-Learning Specialist and Curriculum Partner – Leader. The School Library acts as an Information Place and Knowledge Space. The informational function of the library would provide information resources, reading resources and technology infrastructure. The transformation would occur through reading engagement, Information literacy and technological literacy. The students would then reach the formational stage where student expectations and achievement lead to knowledge creation, use, production, dissemination, value and reading literacy. These new roles would create a learning environment best suited for our student populations.

Additional information about the Student Learning Through School libraries research study may be found at www.celma.org/StudentLearning/default.esp

In this new learning environment collaboration is the key. The points below define ways all stake holders can collaborate :

Teachers
Offer knowledge of
§ Students
§ Curriculum
§ Pedagogy
§ Assessment

School librarians
Offer knowledge of
§ Resources
§ Information literacy
§ Pedagogy
§ Assessment

Principals
Offer knowledge of
§ Consensus building
§ Scheduling
§ Budgeting
§ Resource allocation

Students
Offer knowledge of
§ Personal interest
§ Information needs
§ Learning styles

If all the members of this learning community commit to working together each participant will benefit from the experience. The current learning environment requires us to work together to create knowledge and facilitate the learners journey to the acquisition of that knowledge.

Pam Berger’s website is www.infosearcher.com This website offers hyperlinks to various articles that may be of interest. On the home page is an invitation to subscribe to the newsletter.

Ms. Berger offered these resources in her workshop that I will share with you.
The American Memory Project
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
Learning page
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/
Voicethread
http://ed.voicethread.com
Pathfinders
http://home.wsd,wednet.edu/pathfinders/htm
She gives several reasons to incorporate pathfinders in your instruction they are:
§ Teaches information fluency
§ Customize it for groups/classes
§ Promotes school librarians as information professionals
§ Collaborate with teachers
§ Alleviates students confusion and supports student learning
· Includes a wide and balanced range of relevant information choices which students might have missed
· Moves students from reliance on free Web or their favorite search engine
· Implicitly metacognitive
· Reflects on the process
· Reflects on searching strategies
· Eliminates student frustration: helps hem be successful
· Maximizes student use of time for higher level tasks
· Fits students’ need for independence

Mrs. Berger gives a website to create wiki spaces for free.
http://www.wikispaces.com

Lastly she offered a few fun sites for us to explore.
Sketchcast www.sketchcast.com
Lifelong Kindergarten www.llk.media.mit.edu
Blackboard Generator http://www.customsigngenerator.com
Newspaper Generator http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

I hope this information will prove helpful in tailoring your instruction program. It gave me plenty of food for thought.

Proust, the Squid, Reading, and Computers

A few weeks ago I heard an NPR broadcast of the show " On Point" that I thought would be, well, on point for this class. The topic was "the reading mind" and was a conversation on reading, how it works, what it does to our brain, its socio-cultural history, and (inevitably) what the digital era is doing to reading and literacy. The guests were:

• Maryanne Wolf, professor of child development at Tufts University and author of "Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain"
• Constance Steinkuehler, professor of educational communication and technology, University o Wisconsin at Madison
• Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor of the Atlantic Monthly

Wolf basically celebrates reading and sees a devolution of it in the digital age; Steinkuehler argues that much of digital culture is text-based and requires/demands a lot of reading and interaction with text, but the forms of reading may be changing (i.e. maybe children read fewer linear narratives, but they are reading more in general); Beatty is there as mediator and commentator.

It was a great show and really got me thinking about what we mean when we talk about "reading" (funny, kind of like "What we talk about when we talk about sex"). Anyhow, I was brought face-to-face with my own assumptions about reading--"to read," especially when we talk about children reading, means (to me) to read a book, usually fiction, though non-fiction is great. When I think of "reading" I somehow don't include the reading the back of the shampoo bottle I do while I am in the shower, or the flipping through magazines at the grocery checkout, or the reading of instructions on how to put together yet one more children's toy. And yet, these are all acts of reading, they all require the skill of reading and interpretation. So why don't I think of that or let it "count" when the conversation comes around to "our are children reading?" Steinkuehler makes some great points about our assumptions surrounding reading and the ways in which we have hierarchies of value about types of reading. I have a strong attachment to narrative form, and yet I consider comic books ("graphic novels" being the preferred current descriptor) to be reading. And when I think about it, I consider the reading required for most Web activities to be reading. But I don't think reading someone's Facebook entries or MySpace anecdotes to be the same thing as reading a novel. And I don't think reading a textbook is the same as reading a novel, nor do I think reading a magazine is the same as reading a novel. Yet these are all acts of reading and, according to Wolf, all act on and shape the brain. So who has the problem here, me or the people (kids) doing all this other reading? and is my problem with the fact that reading a novel seems "pure" (as in I read for the sake of reading, for discovery and for pleasure) whereas reading Facebook entries is reading for "purpose" (as in reading to find something out)? Maybe I used to think this way, but I have found myself to be a HUGE fans of "Mommy blogs" and have discovered some of the very best essayistic, humorous, and astute reading of my life (seriously) in some of these blogs. And yet, and yet . . . I would still put reading a novel above reading blogs. What is *up* with that?? WTF? I am either more conservative than I like to think, or I really have internalized this value system about reading.

So then, while I am thinking this jumble of thoughts inspired by this program, I read an excerpt of the book:

Thus the reading brain is part of highly successful two-way dynamics. Reading can be learned only because of the brain's plastic design, and when reading takes place, that individual brain is forever changed, both physiologically and intellectually. For example, at the neuronal level, a person who learns to read in Chinese uses a very particular set of neuronal connections that differ in significant ways from the pathways used in reading English. When Chinese readers first try to read in English, their brains attempt to use Chinese-based neuronal pathways. The act of learning to read Chinese characters has literally shaped the Chinese reading brain. Similarly, much of how we think and what we think about is based on insights and associations generated from what we read. As the author Joseph Epstein put it, "A biography of any literary person ought to deal at length with what he read and when, for in some sense, we are what we read."

And this gets me going on a whole new train of thought about the connection between bi-lingualism and learning and orality--I was raised with a non-native speaking mother in another country (not her native country) so I was always surrounded by different languages and learned to speak them fairly well (fluent up to a certain level of formality and intellectual expression). But I never really read in these languages (except, of course, for comic books, which brings us back to what it means to talk about "reading")). But certainly speaking the language and participating in that language's oral and visual culture made it possible for me to read passably in it--which according to the quote above means that my brain made different pathways, which physically linked reading and language acquisition in a different way. Which makes us have to think about all the efforts to stop bi-lingual education that are presented as "helping" the bi-lingual student. . .

And, finally, the broadcast got me to thinking about metaphor and analogy--not only the provocative title of Wolf's book, but the language in which the topic was discussed. For example, here is an excerpt from her book:
Interwoven through the book's three parts is a particular view of how the brain learns anything new. There are few more powerful mirrors of the human brain's astonishing ability to rearrange itself to learn a new intellectual function than the act of reading. Underlying the brain's ability to learn reading lies its protean capacity to make new connections among structures and circuits originally devoted to other more basic brain processes that have enjoyed a longer existence in human evolution, such as vision and spoken language. We now know that groups of neurons create new connections and pathways among themselves every time we acquire a new skill. Computer scientists use the term "open architecture" to describe a system that is versatile enough to change—or rearrange—to accommodate the varying demands on it. Within the constraints of our genetic legacy, our brain presents a beautiful example of open architecture. Thanks to this design, we come into the world programmed with the capacity to change what is given to us by nature, so that we can go beyond it. We are, it would seem from the start, genetically poised for breakthroughs.

I am really struck that Wolf, arguing about the importance of reading and a certain form of literacy, someone who is not convinced that there is value in reading in the digital form, evokes the computer and computer science to talk about what reading does to the brain. It is not directly related to media literacy, but it made me think about the ways in which computers have given us a brand new language not just in terms of the content and the technology and the lingo that comes with them, but in terms of metaphor and the ways in which we imagine our bodies and selves. Which in this case is being used, un-self-consciously I think, to talk about and imagine an act of engagement with text that the author wants us to think can only happen in certain forms exclusive of what we are getting in the digital age.

Of course, I have not read Wolf's book and have not re-listened to the broadcast, so who knows if I am representing her fairly. But I thought it was a very interesting way to spend an hour, especially at the end of the semester.

Money and the Mandate

Last month the children at my school took the Illinois State Achievement Test. Now everyone in the school waits to here the fate of our school. Unfortunately we did not make AYP again last year. The whole focus has been raising the test scores. The No Child Left Behind legislation has shifted the direction of education. As educators we are supposed to make instruction engaging and student centered. How is this truly possible when the instruction is not standards based as it should be but the under lying driving force is actually the TEST. We have been told as a staff our jobs and the fate of our school depends on the test results. This kind of pressure is not motivating it is paralyzing. Teachers are always worried about how will they cover the enough of the material by testing. We spend countless professional development opportunities analyzing student data, choosing the bubble kids and learning strategies to raise test scores.
The major problem with NLCB has never in my opinion been the idea that all students should receive a high quality education from highly qualified teachers. The problem is little money was given to effectively implement programs and teacher training to meet the NLCB requirements. I have taught at schools who have failed to make AYP. The years our school failed to make AYP we lost funding. The administration made sure the teachers were aware the inability to retain staff and purchase instructional material was a result of not making AYP. I have taught at schools who have failed to make AYP. The years our school failed to make AYP we lost funding. The administration made sure the teachers were aware the inability to retain staff and purchase instructional material was a result of not making AYP. Throughout the year we were reminded that our job security was in direct relationship to raising students test scores. The tendency to teach to the test was undeniable. The year we made AYP were more relaxed and taught more to the Illinois standards. The constant threat of school closures and reconstitution are powerful motivators to help students achieve by focusing on the specific items similar to those seen on high stakes test. Working under constant threats and impending doom cause teachers to stress which in turn in my opinion reduces the instructors ability provide quality engaging learning experiences. The benchmarks set by NLCB are great goals for all educators. The ability to design and implement enriching educational experiences is often overshadowed by making AYP the focus instead of the students. Until the funding for No Child Left Behind initiative is equable with the needs of struggling schools it will never come to fruition. Help schools struggling instead of punishing them. Support and encourage teachers and staff who failed to help their students achieve instead of reducing the funding and cutting positions. Mount Vernon is administering low stakes assessments. The learning first tests are given in the fall and spring of each year to each student in the third through eighth grades. These tests are to asses where the students need more instruction in line with state standards. However after all the staff development dedicated to analyzing the student data it still comes back to how to tailor instruction for the ISAT. One day I hope we can teach pass the test.

Video games = Anti-drug!?!?

With all the discussion about violence this week I wanted to share a video that a 9th grade student made for a health unit. Students were asked to think about what they enjoy in their lives and how the things they love can serve as anti-drugs. They were asked to present their anti-drug in any format they liked. Some chose posters, oral presentations, skits, and brochures. This presentation stood out from the rest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtm8QqGlVck

As I have been going back and forth about how I feel about violent video games and the effect they have on youth, I kept thinking of this video. In discussions with 9th graders I have gathered that the majority of 9th grade males play video games. Of the games they play, most of them enjoy violent or sports related games. Boys tend to be more competitive so these types of games suit their needs. One question that I asked them was why they don’t get bored with playing the games over and over again. Their response was that it is fun to beat someone they haven’t played before and they especially enjoy games they can play online against people they don’t even know. They seem to have this need for a constant challenge.

After school and on weekends they choose to hang out in someone’s basement playing video games. They are safe, their parents know where they are, and they are not running the streets. I think I prefer that they are playing video games! Teenagers are very rambunctious. They have a lot of energy and aggression that needs to be released. Playing video games is a safe outlet.

Games in Libraries

Video games can cause debate not only in the effects of violence, but also in whether or not they should be used in schools and libraries. With some people’s negative views of video games it can be hard to defend using library funds and space for games. There is quite a bit of research that defends the value of video games, and could be used to back up a decision to incorporate video games into a school or public library. Gaming promotes literacy, by needing problem solving skills, making hypotheses, etc., as well as often requiring quite a bit of reading to play the game. For example, Pokemon games can have lots of text that must be read carefully. MMPOGs (massive multiplayer online games) promote literacy as well. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studied the learning that takes place: “‘[MMPOG] play is a thoroughly literate activity involving manipulation meaning and achieving particular ends.’ Some of the literate activities taking place in MMPOGs are ‘researching equipment, making maps, managing resources, investing currencies, building models, designing strategies, debating facts and theories, and writing.’”(Quoted by Faris in Children & Libraries, UIUC Ebscohost article here).

On The Shifted Librarian Blog, Jenny Levine has posted quite a bit lately about whether gaming promotes Reading, How Gaming Promotes Reading and Library Usage, and How School Libraries Can Use Board Games. These give anecdotal evidence and quantitative examples of how libraries can use games to bridge to literacy and publicize the library for teens. School Library Journal's Digital Reshift blog also recently posted obvious reasons why your library needs a Wii, and 10 Reasons Why Your Library Needs a Wii (Part 2).

By introducing games in libraries, the libraries attract a part of the population that otherwise would not be served, increase the library’s role in teens’ lives and serve as more of a community hub. Video games may draw teens into the library, and then librarians can work to connect with them in other ways, too. There are Last year, at the Chadron Public Library in Nebraska, teens “borrowed 20 to 30 books a month. Now it's well over 300 each month. The reason: video games.” (Libraries Lure with Video Games) Teens coming into the library to play video games may also realize that the stereotypes they have about libraries are not true; it isn’t just stuffy quietness and books.

I think another important aspect of reaching underserved youth is for potential service later. Teens might not be interested in or not have time for recreational reading, which is what many library users think is a very important service of the library. Teens might not choose to read at that point in their life, but if they have a good relationship with the library they might use it for other things later on.

A few weeks ago in class, Carol mentioned the historical core foundations for libraries’ existence: collection/preservation, organization, and access. These reasons for libraries also relate to a young adult librarian and his or her role, and gaming can easily fit into and reinforce each of these roles.

The young adult librarian should build a collection of material that includes vibrant quality material that is relevant to teens. This includes not just books but music, audio books, magazines, and movies. Incorporating games into the library’s collection includes gaming magazines (like PlayStation: The Official Magazine), manga series that have crossovers (like .Hack), and other books that relate to video games.

Of course, the youth librarian should organize the collection so youth can easily find material without frustration. However, just organizing or decorating a cool teen space is a good start but not enough. They need to relate to young people and welcome them to the library. This includes respecting young people and providing services for them: helping them with information needs, research, and recreational needs. Traditionally recreational needs meant helping young people find books, but this idea can include a lot more. Just like a knitting program or craft program can bring a group of people together using the library as a social space, a library game event provides a safe, fun environment for kids.

The idea of access also can be related to using games in the library. Teen librarians can set out the gaming magazines and related books in an easily seen location, like right by the computers if a lot of teens come to use them. Posters and fliers about gaming events could be placed there. It also should include other interactions with young people to help get to know them more. Related to this, the young adult librarian should create and facilitate programming for teens that is also relevant to young people, which will encourage them to come to the library.

I think different libraries are at vastly different ends of the spectrum in their views and knowledge of using gaming. I don’t have any experience using it and am not working in a library now, but would be excited by the potential of incorporating it into a youth services program. What kinds of experience have you had?

Is Your Child on Drugs?

Our recent discussions about young people who turn to violence made me consider what sort of behaviors should be considered alarming; behaviors which parents should pay attention to and perhaps seek counseling for their child when these behaviors are displayed.  It's hard to think of obvious factors other than the severe ones, like a child's tendency to hurt animals or a history of physical or sexual abuse.  When it comes down to it, a lot of normal teen behaviors, taken to an extreme degree, are negative and cause for alarm, but it can be hard for many adults to note the difference between extreme behavior and normal, average behavior.

For example, a teen listening to the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem is not necessarily cause for alarm, but if that teen started to empathize with then and proclaim a desire to burn churches, then it's time to step in.

Or another example.  Take a look at my favorite person ever, Miley Cyrus.  She's being attacked in the media for having pictures where she slightly exposes a green bra/undershirt, and others where she is laying in a boy's lap and exposing her midriff.  Many people automatically jump compare these pictures to the infamous nude/scantily clad pictures of High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens, and fear that they may imply that she is sleeping with the boy in the pictures.

Miley is 15.  15 year olds have boyfriends and girlfriends.  They are developmentally and hormonally inclined to be sexually and physically attracted to those people.  It might be cause for concern if a 15 year old girl was sleeping with someone or taking nude pictures of herself.  However, pulling up one's shirt to bare their midriff is quite different from stripping and posing nude in front of a camera.  And as far as allegations that her sitting in the boy's lap is tantamount to her being sexually active with him, I can only say that having sex with someone and coming in flirtatious physical contact with them is far from similar.  To quote Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fuction, it "ain't the same fuckin' ballpark, it ain't the same league, it ain't even the same fuckin' sport."  But this sort of conclusion jumping is not uncommon amongst adults who are examining the behaviors of young people.  

Adults will often overinterpret a few perfectly normal teen behaviors and from there assume that the young person is at risk.  There's a fine line between normal teen behavior and scary seek-help behavior.

And that made me remember a feature by one of my favorite comic writers, Lore Sjoberg:
Is Your Child on Drugs?


All that said, I still think I'd rather have a parent be too attentive and worry over small insignificant things than have a parent be completely absent and pay no attention to possible signs that their child might be at risk for negative behavior and violence, though there is plenty of middle ground between the two extremes.


On a different note, while looking for Sjoberg's old work, I came across some of his new work, a vlog project on YouTube called Alt Text, and I thought some of them were relevant to our class discussions:

Regarding the state of online communication, social networking sites, especially Twitter.

Also, some of his previous comic writing work involved taking a bunch of items in a certain category and giving them an A, B, C, D, F rating.  He's apparantly revived his Ratings in his vlog. 
This one is a rating of First Level Dungeons and Dragons Spells

"Growing Up, I Was Bored Quite Often..."

A couple of weeks ago my husband was flipping the channels, he settled on Charlie Rose and there were these four middle aged women on. I recognized Leslie Stahl . They were wearing t-shirts with "WOW" and talking about this great thing they had created called "WOW". From the computer I typed in and found the WOW - Women on the Web - web page. WOW is an on-line magazine for women, specifically directed at women over 40 (my guess) and the contributors are mostly white women. Anyway, I saw this title Growing Up, I Was Bored 'Quite Often' ... Today, Nobody Is Bored. I didn't read it at the time, although my mom and I have discussed this idea before.

Tonight as I was perusing the posts related to video games and violence, there was some discussion about the effects of gaming on play and development. I thought of this article and went back and read it. The conversation gets a little wonky in places, but I think it gives a perspective on some of the changes that have occurred in childhood experience over the last 50 years and how boomers are interpreting those changes. Generation gaps are not a new phenomenon, but this is the one we are living, which makes it relevant.

With regards to generation gaps, being in the over 40 crowd, I must say that one aspect that I have enjoyed of this class is learning from my classmates. I feel as though I have been mentored by many of you (many from a younger and perhaps more new media savvy crowd). I have enjoyed and learned from the posts, links and perspectives. Thanks! (It's late, I think I am getting sappy - smiley face - where's the icons on this blog?!)

Jack Thompson, an attorney who has fought long and hard against violent video games, Grand Theft Auto in particular, wrote this letter addressed to the mother of the chairman of Take Two, the company that produces GTA. (for the record, he didn't send it to her, but rather to her son's attorneys). The full letter can be found here:
http://diehardgamefan.insidepulse.com/2008/04/22/jack-thompsons-open-letter-to-take-two-ceos-mother/ .  Here is a small clip that interested me:

"Mrs. Zelnick, did you train up your son, Strauss, to make millions of dollars by pushing Mature-rated video games to children? Any kid can go right to little Strauss’ corporate web site and buy GTA IV with no age verification. Strauss is even marketing the new Grand Theft Auto IV on World Wrestling Entertainment tv shows seen by millions of kids."

Clearly WWE has enough 18+ viewers to draw the three potential presidential candidates to promote themselves on the show to potential voters. It's not as though GTA advertisements are airing during Hannah Montana (though, as an avid fan of both Grand Theft Auto and Hannah Montana, such an ad placement would certainly hit at least one of their consumers). To imply that the video game shouldn't be advertised anywhere that children might see it is outrageous; not even the alcohol or tobacco industries are held to that standard, and the health defects caused by either of those products are clear and generally without dispute.

Furthermore, any kid can go on the site and buy the game... if they have a credit card. Which means they'd have to have their parents buy it for them unless they have a credit card of their own, in which case parents have plenty of opportunity to monitor their children's purchases on it if they're concerned with what their kids are buying. This is a far cry from a child walking into a store alone and buying it with their saved allowance.

He goes on to mention a boy who murdered cops in Alabama and then stole a cop car and blamed Grand Theft Auto for the whole thing. That case is especially damning because it's similar to a scenario in the game where the character is in a police station and has to free an inmate, kill some cops, and drive off in a cop car outside. When the young man was arrested, he poetically explained that life is a videogame and claimed that Grand Theft Auto made him commit the crime.

I've always been of the opinion that one's actions are one's own responsibility, or in the case of minors, the responsibility of their parents. If a parent doesn't want their child to play violent video games, it's up to the parent to enforce this. This doesn't have to mean monitoring the things their child buys; I think it's up to a parent to educate the child on their family's views and ethics and rules about such things. It's also up to a parent to raise a child to be respectful of their parents' rules (and, for that matter, to teach a child that murder is wrong).

If a child is in the small margin of young people whose use of this media might give them the idea to recreate events they see in the game, beyond even limiting their child's involvement with a game, it's the parent's responsibility to notice red flags (that their child is displaying antisocial behavior, that they are experiencing social rejection, that they are depressed or psychotic, etc) and to get their child to a psychologist.

Clearly a large majority of young people can play games like Grand Theft Auto and not feel compelled to kill cops. The remaining few who commit crimes after playing the game did so because of their own inclination towards violent behavior. But it's easier to say that the child was playing Grand Theft Auto all day long for weeks (as was the case with the boy in Alabama) and blame the game, rather than acknowledging other factors in the young person's life, such as that he was depressed, or that he had no friends, or that he was being teased mercilessly by people at school, or that he had problems controlling his anger and emotions.

It's easier to avoid addressing the reason he was playing GTA all day long for weeks at a time or to consider that dedicating so much time to a single activity for that long is unhealthy in any case. Maybe he was playing GTA by himself in his room for weeks because he was being cast out by his peers, or because playing the game allowed him to shut out unpleasant emotions he was experiencing. Maybe he was playing with his friends and the game was just another aspect of the group's acceptance and promotion of violent behavior.

When the boy in question was arrested, he claimed that, “life is a video game, everybody has to die sometime,” he was either lying to justify his actions or he was in a delusional state. If he was lying than the whole point is moot. If he was delusional, then why not address the factors that caused him to have these delusions?

As long as we keep turning a blind eye to the other important issues that these kids face in addition to their involvement with a videogame, parents will continue to fail to make the connection between those issues and potential homicidal behavior in their kids. The more we ignore it the more it'll persist.