Prior to reading these articles on digital and pop culture literacies (Haddix & Sealey-Ruiz, 2012), case studies of young immigrant children and their intersectional identity negotiation (Compton-Lilly et al., 2017), and new media narratives as connective identity texts (Wargo, 2017), I don't know that I really viewed student use of new literacies as a form of activism on the parts of the students and/or the teachers. However, when looking at the potential and power associated with the ability to pen or write one's own story - these new literacies have the potential to shift or refocus the power away from the teacher - as in a more traditional and teacher-lead space - to the student. This repositioning or shifting of power opens up many doors for those who are typically marginalized - African Americans, Blacks, Latinxs, LGBTQ youth, immigrants, etc.
I like the term "emancipatory pedagogies" used by Haddix and Sealey-Ruiz (2012) which aptly describes new literacies and digital literacies (i.e. texting, selfies, blogging) as "having the potential to undo deficit constructions of African American males and their literacy practices" through their ability to reengage and reposition literacy as an act of activism and empowerment. I suppose that I never really realized just how much policing and censorship goes on in high schools - especially urban high schools. I suppose I should have seen it for what it was - an act of power. Here it is that students use their cell phones to share and communicate with the world - even the youngest of students engage with new literacies and literacy practices, defined broadly as reading, writing, viewing and listening to texts (Compton-Lilly et al., 2017). I remember when working in Cedar Grove High School in Ellenwood, GA, a predominantly Black school in an urban setting how students were policed similar to what was experienced by the students of whom Sealy-Ruiz speaks about (Haddix & Sealey-Ruiz, 2012) when she talks about students being "'allowed,' because it really is all about controlling their bodies in these kinds of spaces and controlling what they can and can't do" (p. 191). Teachers and Administrators at Cedar Grove would not allow students to use their phones in class, but often asked them to use "technology" to engage in literacy practices. I suppose that I was guilty of this too - encouraging students to use cameras and computers for digital literacy projects, when they could have done just as good of a job with their personal cell phones. Heck, they sure used their cell phones whenever a fight broke out and would post it - with students and teachers (sometimes) - immediately to YouTube and other social media outlets along with comments and commentary. Why I didn't see the agency, the creativity and the engagement before is really disturbing me.
I am sort of kicking myself for not recognizing students creative ability and "storying of the self" (Wargo, 2017) that is involved in the creation of videos, selfies, blogs, snapchats, etc. Perhaps, it has something to do with the idea that this sort of communication and creation was thought of as something done outside of school. Students have always had (at least as long ago as when I was teaching in high school - 2006/2008) spaces on the World Wide Web wherein they interacted and shared with each other in the form of written (poetry, rap/hip-hop, social commentary/critique) and visual (pictures, selfies, videos), and sound (music - rap/hip-hop, comedy). Therefore, it is necessary that we broaden the definition of literacy and literacy practice to include new literacies, digital technologies, and Web 2.0 technologies as we begin to enact transformative ways to engage and empower students through literacy instruction. Dismantling the control and barriers that exist in schools today would work towards student empowerment - allowing them "to find a place where they did not have one before" (Pahl & Roswell, 2010, p. 73; Wargo, 2017, p. 567).
Allowing myself to critique how I prevented students from "authoring selves on one's own terms" as Wargo (2017) so aptly states it. I, as the educator, am allowing myself to shift as well. I will say though that it is not just the educator(s) who are to blame. Certainly, the school systems and individual schools - how they are set up and run - are to blame as well. I know of many schools where it is still today, 2018, not permissable for students to have their phones or to even access many of the apps - Tumblr, Instagram, SnapChat - via school computers or even on school premises due to existent firewalls put in place and maintained to ensure that students are not engaged in their use during the school day. These sorts of practices would make it difficult for an educator who wanted to encourage student engagement in and use of such technology and literacy devices within the classroom. I am so torn. On the one hand, I see the use of new literacies as a powerful and positive way to get students engaged and excited about literacy - certainly through valuing their ways of expression - written and visual and working towards emphasizing how literacy can be relevant and not just the "boring" stuff that they may associate literacy and literacy practice to be. However, on the other hand, I am thinking that some of the concerns raised by schools and teachers regarding the potential security are valid too.
I like the term "emancipatory pedagogies" used by Haddix and Sealey-Ruiz (2012) which aptly describes new literacies and digital literacies (i.e. texting, selfies, blogging) as "having the potential to undo deficit constructions of African American males and their literacy practices" through their ability to reengage and reposition literacy as an act of activism and empowerment. I suppose that I never really realized just how much policing and censorship goes on in high schools - especially urban high schools. I suppose I should have seen it for what it was - an act of power. Here it is that students use their cell phones to share and communicate with the world - even the youngest of students engage with new literacies and literacy practices, defined broadly as reading, writing, viewing and listening to texts (Compton-Lilly et al., 2017). I remember when working in Cedar Grove High School in Ellenwood, GA, a predominantly Black school in an urban setting how students were policed similar to what was experienced by the students of whom Sealy-Ruiz speaks about (Haddix & Sealey-Ruiz, 2012) when she talks about students being "'allowed,' because it really is all about controlling their bodies in these kinds of spaces and controlling what they can and can't do" (p. 191). Teachers and Administrators at Cedar Grove would not allow students to use their phones in class, but often asked them to use "technology" to engage in literacy practices. I suppose that I was guilty of this too - encouraging students to use cameras and computers for digital literacy projects, when they could have done just as good of a job with their personal cell phones. Heck, they sure used their cell phones whenever a fight broke out and would post it - with students and teachers (sometimes) - immediately to YouTube and other social media outlets along with comments and commentary. Why I didn't see the agency, the creativity and the engagement before is really disturbing me.
I am sort of kicking myself for not recognizing students creative ability and "storying of the self" (Wargo, 2017) that is involved in the creation of videos, selfies, blogs, snapchats, etc. Perhaps, it has something to do with the idea that this sort of communication and creation was thought of as something done outside of school. Students have always had (at least as long ago as when I was teaching in high school - 2006/2008) spaces on the World Wide Web wherein they interacted and shared with each other in the form of written (poetry, rap/hip-hop, social commentary/critique) and visual (pictures, selfies, videos), and sound (music - rap/hip-hop, comedy). Therefore, it is necessary that we broaden the definition of literacy and literacy practice to include new literacies, digital technologies, and Web 2.0 technologies as we begin to enact transformative ways to engage and empower students through literacy instruction. Dismantling the control and barriers that exist in schools today would work towards student empowerment - allowing them "to find a place where they did not have one before" (Pahl & Roswell, 2010, p. 73; Wargo, 2017, p. 567).
Allowing myself to critique how I prevented students from "authoring selves on one's own terms" as Wargo (2017) so aptly states it. I, as the educator, am allowing myself to shift as well. I will say though that it is not just the educator(s) who are to blame. Certainly, the school systems and individual schools - how they are set up and run - are to blame as well. I know of many schools where it is still today, 2018, not permissable for students to have their phones or to even access many of the apps - Tumblr, Instagram, SnapChat - via school computers or even on school premises due to existent firewalls put in place and maintained to ensure that students are not engaged in their use during the school day. These sorts of practices would make it difficult for an educator who wanted to encourage student engagement in and use of such technology and literacy devices within the classroom. I am so torn. On the one hand, I see the use of new literacies as a powerful and positive way to get students engaged and excited about literacy - certainly through valuing their ways of expression - written and visual and working towards emphasizing how literacy can be relevant and not just the "boring" stuff that they may associate literacy and literacy practice to be. However, on the other hand, I am thinking that some of the concerns raised by schools and teachers regarding the potential security are valid too.
Christina,
ReplyDeleteYour thoughts this week about the policing of young males of color in schools rang true to me as well. I think teachers and educators are going to have to pioneer how we are going to incorporate students' "new" ways of knowing and being with traditional notions of how students are educated. I was speaking to my undergraduates this week about how we don't truly know what our students in elementary schools are really going to need be successful adults. While I still see "traditional" literacies as part of it, I also recognize that they will need to be experts in digital tool usage. In class we spoke about how today's children are doing things and having experiences that traditionally were thought to be "adult" experiences (e.g. having Instagram accounts and YouTube channels with thousands of viewers, or "playing" video games as a career). While I don't subscribe to a social efficiency model of education, I do think today's technology necessitates the rethinking of how we limit creation and production with digital tools and platforms. As we read earlier this semester, today's students "do" education from a social perspective instead of an individual aspect, in large part due to social media and the internet.
~Sarah
It seems we are all on the same page about how often we restrict the use of digital literacies in the classroom. And I agree when you say, "Certainly, the school systems and individual schools - how they are set up and run - are to blame as well. I know of many schools where it is still today, 2018, not permissable for students to have their phones or to even access many of the apps - Tumblr, Instagram, SnapChat - via school computers or even on school premises due to existent firewalls put in place and maintained to ensure that students are not engaged in their use during the school day". It does make it difficult and makes you wonder...what is the purpose of modern in today's technological world if we are still employing the old industrial model of schooling?
ReplyDeleteChristina,
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading your post, I was going back and forth on my feelings of digital literacy. The articles gave us a glimpse of the benefits, but lack how they can become a distraction in some areas. I think it's important to have these allowances while also provided the bigger picture to our students. We need to have them see the bigger world and the social impact social media can have on themselves and others. So I am left with finding the balance between both worlds.