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!
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