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Critical Pedagogy Through Media Literacy
I am currently working toward my M.A. in Child Studies, and my main focus is Media Literacy. With this class, I have become aware that Media Literacy is in essence inextricably linked with Critical Pedagogy. Until recently, I had not been exposed to the term Critical Pedagogy sufficiently to understand the extent to which it can impact a person's identity construction. In our society, we are increasingly bombarded with advertisements that range from feel-good lifestyle images, to over sexualized portraits of increasingly younger girls (and to a lesser extent, but still prevalent, boys).These are found on posters, in magazines, on TV, in movies, in song lyrics, and on the Internet. They portray to the masses a media constructed picture of what is favored, what is in style, what you should do, and how you should act. Regardless of class or background, the images are available, in one form or another, to everyone. They are a part of our reality.
Since the reform, Media Literacy is included in the Quebec Education Plan. Theoretically, Media Literacy can be used as a forum for Critical Pedagogy, as it centers on the deconstruction of corporate-produced media (whether audio-visual or print), as well as the construction of personal productions. Where the critical aspect often gets lost is teachers' discomfort with addressing controversial topics which already grace the presence of our streets, our public transportation and our television sets. In addition, media representations often still depict the "oppressed" in stereotypical roles. This in itself offers a great beginning to approach the topic in the classroom.
The Critical Pedagogy Primer alludes to this concept in chapter 2. The images and signs we are exposed to promote a pseudo-reality of a consumerist culture. The questions I often ask are "Where does this (image, song, movie, newscast) come from?" and "What is "it" trying to tell me/make me believe?" The answer to these two questions may very well vary significantly from individual to individual depending on their socio/cultural/economic background (as suggested on p.57).
Perhaps I am being too optimistic, but I can see Media Literacy as a doorway to integrate a critical perspective on lived experience and by extension, to dialog on the socio/cultural/economic reality of students. I do not have a specific question, but I would like to get your feedback and you thoughts on Critical Pedagogy through Media Literacy. Some questions you may want to address: Do you see this as something feasible in the classroom? When you are exposed to "texts" (including audio/visual images) do you engage in critical thought for yourself?
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media literacy and literacy in general
Hi, Katherine,
Literacy, in my view, includes critcally thinking about what is in front of us (whether we hear or see it and whether it is in technological form or in a book). In this way my perspective would be compatible with what Freire calls “reading the world” – there is no “reading the word” without it. As a teacher and as a parent I try to encourage (and hope all teachers and parents do) a critical approach to any text (and here by text I mean any message, again, in whatever form, including a person’s body language). My daughter was pretending to do an add for an inflatable toy at the pool the other day and was reading a “customer registration” form: after each item of information requested she said (in her best advertisement sweet-honey-dripping voice) “none of your business” – I started laughing. She certainly was asking the questions you spelled out: Who wrote this? what do they want from me and why? However, as I wrote today in a blog for Shirley’s class, it is harder to help develop a critical approach when it comes to issues like girls’ oversexualized images. Hegemony is very effective with puberty aged girls and adolescents. They may get workshops on lookism, media literacy, etc. – but they still will want the super short mini shorts and wear make up as early as possible. In that age and for that topic I find that the influence of the home is much greater than the influence of teachers and school, which reminds me of something I thought about after class today – it seemed to me we were falling into a kind of talk (myself included) that implied “everything depends on us” and “everything is up to us”. I know that to be as untrue as its opposite – that nothing is up to us and nothing depends on us. I have more impact with my kids, most of the time, than with my students, especially when it comes to issues like this. Sometimes all we can do is model, present an alternative.
But back to literacy, literate people “understand the way one’s location in the world or position in the web of reality shapes how one sees self and world”. This is how Joe describes critical teachers on p. 127 of the primer. What I’m trying to say is – only literate teachers have a shot at facilitating the literacy of their students. We can’t expect them to “read the world” unless we train ourselves to do it. I think the whole idea of enactivism is relevant here, as it helps explain not only how the mind is not separate form its context but shaped by it, but also how we can have a say, a kind of “veto power” on how we want our mind to be shaped. If I understand it correctly, enactivism theory makes our own awareness the filter of outside hegemonic factors, allowing us to “create ourselves” (more on enactivism on p130). That is what we are trying to accomplish, to help students (and ourselves) understand that reading and the way we read are processes that help shape who we are. What better motivation to be critical about it? I hope all this makes sense to you – I’ll be looking forward to other comments and to your own, if you want to chat about this further! Thanks for bringing it up!
response to Katherine
Hi Katherine,
I like your question about "are we being critical even for ouselves". It seems logical to think that if we pretend to preach critical thought, we should at least have practiced it. In my view, critical thought is endless but at the same time essential. It is not because we cannot arrive at an absolute truth that we should not engage in critical thinking. I think that critical thought is important because it can lead to shifts in consciousness and thus it has the ability to affect change.
The danger I see for us, as teachers, is to want to bottle what we have come to conceive as truth. No matter what we do to diminish our own power in the classroom, students will be looking to us for answers. Consider a University classroom: if the professor doesn't show up for class, people will generally leave. The only discussion being about how many minutes they should wait before leaving. This suggests that we are looking for knowledge from one particular source. The source that we perceive to be in power. This power remains implicit, even when all explicit evidence of power has been removed. Therefore we have a huge responsability , as educators, to remain facilitators of knowlege rather than purveyors of truth.
If critical thought is a subject to be taught then it will be more limited by paramaters. However, if it is considered a philosophy, it can be applied to any and all subjects. You may not necesarily be looking at a movie in class to overtly talk about critical thinking. The perceived objective of the film could be much more simplistic. Yet , you as a facilitator of knowledge can engage discussions that go far beyond a simplistic analysis. This will be a greater success if the students provide the answers to those critical questions you posed rather than you lecturing them about cultural imperialism!
Critical media literacy in classrooms
Understanding media as representations of social reality is, I too think, deeply related to critical pedagogy. Responding to your question, “Do you see media literacy as something feasible in the classroom?”, I wrote an MA thesis on critical media literacy in EFL university classrooms in order to see the feasibility, necessity, and possible ways of teaching media literacy. Media is truly everywhere, however more specifically, EFL students face a variety of western media cultures in the process of learning English as well as their everyday lives. The cultural invasion of westernization by media in the language classroom is apparently serious. EFL students are strongly influenced by western, mostly American, cultures in media which spread specific viewpoints of Americans, native speakers of their target language. Accordingly, western cultures, nowadays, spill over into the realms of politics, business, youth culture, and even fashion everywhere as well as in EFL contexts. Western ways of life styles look modern, good, and acceptable, and students easily accept and follow the dominant western culture. By upholding its culture in the media unconsciously, nor critically, the students might be participating in their own colonization… It's a big challenge for all of us. What I found out in my empirical research is that media literacy has a powerful potential to be implemented in classrooms despite a certain level of resistance and limitation. It is because that most of us agreed after systematic and rigorous discussions that we need to understand social, cultural assumptions and inequalities around a variety of power relationships by doing critical media literacy no matter how hard it is to investigate in methodological aspects. Let me share more about my teaching and research experiences on media literacy later on.
Media literacy through fine art
Hi Katherine
I think you are right on in your thinking about Media Literacy. I think what is missing perhaps is that teachers are typically not trained in decoding these images themselves. However, that doesn't mean that a lesson can not be constructed in that both teacher and student engage in decoding together. In my experience students are quite perceptive and can see the subverted text in the images and messages that surround them ( they simply don't have the forum or support to express what they see) In one of my grade 11 art classes I used a guiding question for a research project which lead to the studio in the creating of an art work. Students explored their perspective on society. They had to discuss their perspective of society within peer groups and then create a mix media painting that articulated their view. What I hadn't anticipated, which was great, is that students, while collecting images from magazine to incorporate with other media to create their paintings , realized that all the headings for almost all advertising of all produces made reference to buying power through buying the product. Interestingly, we ended up have a discussion about why people want power and discovering that perhaps people feel powerless and so consume to get a power rush. It was an important lesson for my students and I. Importantly, students discovered this through their own process - it was not something I told them. In this way it had more of an impact on them. This was a serendipitous experience for me as an art educator and in supported my notions of what a good lesson is - it is open and not contrived, a space for creative exploration and investigation and a place for dialogue. Thanks.
darlene st georges. BA.BFA.BEd.SCA
Hegemony and Media Literacy
Addendum to Media Literacy and Critical Pedagogy
Thank you all for your great insights. One of the subjects that often comes up when addressing Media Literacy is that of the oversexualized images of girls. My sister recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girls, and I was overwhelmed by the "sexy" pink clothes and accessories available, at ridiculously expensive prices. To be honest, I find myself drawn to the "cutesy" designs, being myself a product of this society. But it is only when I realized the plethora of pink, the lack of functionality in some baby clothes, and the sexy lingerie for young girls in stores like "La Senza" did I engage in a "conscientization" of the oppression of girls, from such a young age. Like Alejandro mentioned in his post, critical though led to my shift in consciousness that these items marketed to young girls, and to the parents of young girls, are not cute but offensive. Granted, I am making a bold statement and there are exceptions, but I am faced with a constant battle when I walk thorough the children's department. I can go on and on about this topic; for a more eloquent discussion about this subject, read Dr. Sharon Lamb's book "Packaging Girlhood".
As most of you pointed out, there is a great emphasis placed on consumerism as a form of power. In fact, the word "tweens" (refers to children between the ages or about 8-13) was created by marketers, in order to engage this age group in consumerism. Hence the importance of a critical education for children. As you mentioned, children need to become aware that the advertisements and movies, etc. come from other adults that want them to spend their money, NOT from other children or from "cool" kids that they may wish to emulate. And yes, parents do play a primary role in the education of their children, but so do their peers. Children often socialize in the school, either during recess or free time. It is a delicate subject for teachers to address as they may seem like intruders on or as critics of youth culture instead of facilitators. Darlene's example is a great one because it shows that it is possible for students to reach their own conclusions. (As I mentioned in class a few days ago, we often underestimate youth.)
Alejandro made an excellent point about students leaving the classroom when the teacher does not show up. By facilitating dialog and equipping children (and even adults) with the tools to be more critical about their reality, they become empowered and they can take charge of their own education (even if the teacher is not in the room). Knowledge IS power, and as Darlene mentioned, children should find it within themselves (through the help of teachers and parents) instead of through the "power rush" of consumerism.
pop culture and media literacy
Katherine, I have been reflecting lately on when and how teachers and professors have used crit predagogy through media literacy in my education experience thus far. I can think a few examples in the Art Education program , one that pops up is a class that was titled Pop Culture. The professor would bring in a variety of advertisements found in print media, the internet and television. She did not preach or teach anything before geting all the quetsions, concerns, from her students. The students would set up the dialogue from various angles ( cultural,historical etc.) and we would have lenghty debates about the ads. Sometimes we would spend more than 1 hour on 1 single advertisement.
It is a simple yet effective way of introducing media lit to students.
I have found with my own students that most of them are up to date with the latest news in the pop culture. Everything from fashion, music, videos, video games, movies seems to interest them so I use this subject as a starting point for them to begin to analyze and understand why and how they are affected so deeply.
I truly believe that media literacy is a great vehicle to incoprporate critical pedagogy in the classroom. Thanks for making me think about it...
Angela
p.s. As I shop for my daughter's baby clothes, I have come across toddler size low rise underwear which are to be worn under low rise jeans. What?! I definitely aspire to be a critical pedagogical parent!!!!!!!!
Hey Katherine, I just
Hey Katherine,
I just finished baking the cake for tomorrow.. and i couldn't hold myself from reading some more comments
Just about the pink. i don't know if you talked about it with Shirley, but she has a lot to say about it. A student last year wrote a whole paper about her observation of the store, in Westmount called.... PINK !!. I don't think i never paid too much attention to this store (maybe because i don't have any girls that will bug me about it), but it is unbelievable to see the pink accessories, decorations, and many articles that this store has. Shirley says: "the idea is, that if we have to "read" this (pink store) we have to understand that there must be enough girls who want pink birthdays in order for this store to be so successful for so many years". Interesting right?
i suggest you take a look at this store.. coming from a media literacy background, you will love it..
Media and Rhetoric
Information literacy
Dear all,
I agree with the points mentioned. I would like to point out other kind of literacy “Information literacy”, the role of the Internet in our daily activities. As we were discussing in this course “Education is not neutral” I would add to this that technologies neither. They carry the values and interests of the dominant forces in society and it is a mistake to assume that technology will be used to extend, rather than transform, an existing practice. We need to think critically about the role that technology is playing in our everyday life and discuss these technologies because, for better or for worse, they are to stay.
Students need to gain the critical skills necessary to select relevant information from huge resources of data and the speed at which it comes to us is from all directions and can create anxiety. When we navigate from one page and another we are overwhelmed with different messages, I don’t like pop-ups! If we don’t analyze the tools we use to be more literate and more critically aware, we will push ourselves to predetermined contents with few alternatives instead of being pulled from commercially driven forces.
Arming ourselves with knowledge about the technology and media industries represents the only sustainable method of preventing our rights as end users from being completely grinded down by ads, unsolicited commercial email and stolen identities. Imagine that you turn on your computer and try to access to your email and for a reason you can’t, then you tried other computer and you neither have access, for sure for the next 5 minutes we would panic and if this happened in a bigger scale. We have become so dependent of technology that in the moment it doesn’t work is just disturbing. I think we are a generation that has transformed our living style more of us use the laptop instead of a piece of paper as our notebook . How can we teach the new generations to be critical of the information the see in the internet?
Mary Anne
Critical Information Literacy
Good point, Mary Anne!
Although I would love to say that learning to be critical about all forms of text that exist in the world, I must admit that it is necessary to point out the different mediums that transmit information to us, and technologies such as computers and the Internet are definitely on the top of the list. You make a really great critique on the abundance of information that "pops up" on the Internet. Some forms of advertisement are obvious, others are less so. Companies have co-opted social network sites and even personal blogs, creating a false sense that they are really your "friends" or just "regular people like you and I." The Internet has become the primary source of information for many, as long as they are technologically literate and have access to it. Also, there is little quality control online. This is a double-edged sword; on one hand, books are controlled by individuals and companies pushing a political agenda, and the quality control for books is to that effect - whereas on the internet, anyone can write anything about everything. Google results are not so much controlled and ig you know how to work the search engine system, your blog about a particular topic can show up first. Companies pay to have their messages "pop up" and their sites highlighted (and they pay a lot of money to do this -- I have worked in marketing, and web advertising is growing exponentially!). Because of my experience with these forms of advertisement, I am able to see through these (dare I say it) scams. On the other hand, my mother, only lately initiated to the Internet, usually gets frustrated because she cannot find what she is searching for through the maze of junk. My teenage brother, however, can successfully navigate the Internet, albeit he is less careful about the sources of the information he finds.
Navigating the Internet has become an essential life skill in our technological age. I will not bemoan the fact that paper and pencil are slowly becoming quaint artefacts of a bygone era (blackboards, I believe might soon be considered antiques!), but I do have to agree with your statement that we have become all-too-dependent on technology (remember the Y2K scare?). Although I do believe that children should become literate in technology and Internet use, it is even more important for them to apply the knowledge they develop in school, such as literacy, socializing, safety, security and logic (to name a few) to all aspects of their life, including their relationship (for that is what it is - a relationship) to the Internet and various other technologies (TV, radio, text messaging, etc.).
Media Literacy and Critical
Media Literacy and Critical Pedagogy go hand in hand. I think your blog was very well put and made me realize that this is exactly how critical pedagogy can and should be implemented in the classroom. Education should stem from the personal experience of the students and in the media crazy society that we live in; media literacy certainly seems to be one of the best vehicles to get students to start thinking about all of this.
As you put it, media encompasses the audio visual as well as print. This important because we may often hear the term media and directly think of the internet and audio visual. Students who may not have access to computers, television, movies etc... are still exposed to media on a daily basis through print. The digital divide is only enlarging its gap every day. As we try to teach students how to use the internet critically, other children may have never had the chance to use a computer. This is certainly one reason to teach about media literacy so that all students will be critical of the information they process.
On a side note, although I do believe that teaching through media literacy is growing in importance, we should not detach ourselves from the print world. Billboards, bus stop advertisements, magazines and many other print media will still be around for a very long time.
re-inventing literacy
I am in agreement with you Katherine. When books were our main source of reference, we hardly questioned their authenticity (even though that is something we ought to do especially with recommended textbooks in the schools). The emergence of new technologies has re-invented literacy. Teaching literacy is no longer about teaching to read and write but also teaching students to media literate. With the Internet, it is important to teach students, even at the elementary level, to critically look at the information that they are gathering on-line. I have noticed in my school that many of the young students believe everything that is on the Internet making it more important to teach critical media literacy. Before they can even read the content of webpages, they must learn to find the “creators” and what purpose does it serve; who does it benefit. They must also learn to recognize if the information is biased and if the information is accurate. It is a difficult task to undertake especially for older teachers who are now starting to dabble in the internet ever since our report cards have been on-line. It always comes back to proper teacher training in critical pedagogy and on-going professional development for in-service teachers to give them the tools needed to teach new literacies.
Katherine thank you for an
Katherine thank you for an interesting topic. The answer to your question regarding do we see media literacy and critical pedagogy in our classroom, YES! Something I remind my grade 5 students is always question where a story comes from, yes, even if it is the newspaper or on the news. I think that the QEP Reform has certainly created end of Cycle 3 Evaluations which in my opinion definitely reflect the beginnings of critical pedagogy and media literacy. Of course with these learning evaluations a teacher never has enough time to fully explore the aspects of critical pedagogy but it is a start.
Having conducted a couple of these evaluations in the past few years, it has made my own teaching using media as well as other texts much more critical (although up until last week, I would not have used this term). I realized with the reading I am doing for our course, I need to push further and explore more not just what is written in the text both with my students and myself.
I certainly agree with all of you on the absolute necessity of getting children to be far more literate when using technology. Conducting research, students must learn how to question the source and ask questions regarding its reliability. After completing the Cyber-bullying course and our readings on Wiki last week, I am much more concerned about students access to the world. A few individuals use it for personal pleasure in pursuit of young unsuspecting children/youth whom they befriend or worse lure into cyber relationships in the hope of arranging for physical encounters. There have been several stories recently in the news on this issue.
Most internet organizations are created for profiteering. Identities once posted on MySpace are no longer private, having learned that an individual wanted to be completely removed from MySpace and was denied as individuals unknowingly relinquished their rights with regards to their postings when signing up. Students need to balance the risk of what they post written or photos and who this may or may not affect their future. I have already heard that some employers actually research MySpace and other public domains to conduct background information on potential employees. Educators through media literacy need to help students question their participation. Critical pedagogy can certain be a tool in examining the many facets of technology.
It is no accident that larger corporatations are now wanting (or have already) purchased the rights of MySpace (or perhaps it is You-Tube) in order to use clips and information to create another media industry and films in the future. The information on Linux and Second-Life is something to be questioned. Companies seek out potential consumers and often portrait themselves as being altruistic, as most adults know, these companies or organizations are few and far between.
Katherine your questions really had me thinking about the much greater cyber-world. Naming the power in these instances is crucial in teaching children to be critical about what they read, how they research, where they visit, who they give information and permission to on-line. Youth today may indeed be very adepth in using technology and may even possess the lastest IPhone, educators need to help students sort out their critical conscienceness and actions so they do not become victimized. As Suoranta and Vaden ( 2007), "without such language of critique, hope, and possibility, it can be impossible to solve the most daunting challenge confronting us in the twenty-first century: that of the gap between our ability to be technologically correct, and our ability to morally and ethically master the enormity of our actions and technologies."
Suoranta, J. & Vaden, T. (2007). From Social To socialist Media: The critical potential of the wikiworld. Critical Pedagogy: Where are we now? Peter Lang Publishing, New York, p. 143-161.
"Capital" Priorities