A few concerns: first, that adults (teachers, administrators) influence what is said or addressed about that social problem. two, that the depth of understanding about the social problem isn't deep enough. three, the young people don't contribute enough solutions to the problems - and it can come off sometimes like they are just complaining without being proactive about a solution.
Questions about Chapter 2:
1. Name a social issue specific to the Appalachian region that you
think young people in your community would or should address.
Environmental concerns:I think it would be really interesting to explore the difference between mountain top removal and underground mining, and how those differences (or lack of distinction between the two) impact economics, political dynamics and environmental concerns. I'd also be interested in seeing young people's perspectives on climate change and coal mining - particularly those who benefit economically from coal mining.
2. Find an online resource you might use to scaffold community-based video production process.
I'm not sure what is meant by "scaffold" in this context, but I found a website with some curriculum available: http://justthink.org/curriculum/ (The Hidden Heroes curriculum is really good - I've used a version of it in a past workshop).
3.
Choose one of the following perspectives; teacher, parent, or community
member. From your chosen perspective, would you be supportive of a
school program that engaged students in community-based video
production? Why or Why not?
As a parent, I would absolutely support a school program that engages students in community-based video production. For one, it would be important for me to know that my child is being exposed to a larger community beyond just the school. It is also important for me to know that my child is being taught how to be a proactive producer of media (and not just a spectator). I would also support this within the school because I believe that video production is a form of literacy that can deepen my child's cognitive abilities and depth of knowledge.
Quote:
"Some students claim to distrust information reported by any students - including the electronic and print news media - other than someone in their neighborhood. Their problem is not knowing how to gather and make sense of information is therefore compounded by their difficulty in knowing how to decide what and what not to believe. And second, they often voice a deep sense of hopelessness and pessimism that any amount of learning or community involvement could make a difference in the social conditions that shape their lives." (Goodman, 2003)
My attention was thoroughly captured while reading Chapter two of this book. I enjoyed reading about the process of making Young Gunz, and I enjoyed Mr. Goodman's analysis of the young filmmakers' learning process. However, when I got to this passage, I realized I might as well be reading about the adult students in my class. I underlined many other passages in this chapter that related to them as well, but this was the first. I was especially drawn to the "hopelessness and pessimism" part because with the election coming up, I have been talking a lot about the electoral process and was surprised to hear not one of them was planning to vote.
The difficulty in knowing how to decide what and what not to believe also rang true. Later in the Chapter Mr. Goodman writes that his students assess the reliability of street information based on their personal connection to the source. This seems to ring true for the lower income rural adult students I work with too. It is interesting to me, because the reliability of information is almost always linked back to the source of information, however the "personal connection" is tricky. I think of this in terms of the internet because computer literacy is something I teach. Part of this literacy is teaching students how to decipher if a website is reliable or not. Most of my students have a hard time figuring this part out - especially if they are unfamiliar with the website (which I guess could be seen as the "personal connection"). Personal connection can be tricky because although you trust that source, it might not be accurate. For example, Wikipedia is usually accurate, but can't be trusted to always be right and isn't an acceptable research website.
Additional Resource:
This is the place I used to work that does community-based video production with Appalachian youth. I haven't kept up with what they've been doing much in the last few years, but around the time I was there youth produced videos about prescription drug abuse, Appalachian music, living wages, stream quality, coal-mining, LGBT acceptance and dialects/accents of Appalachian people:
Source:
Goodman, S. (2003). Teaching youth media: A critical guide to literacy, video production & social change. NY: Teachers College Press.
Thanks to the link to the media lab in Central Appalachia! I think we want to start something similar here at Fairmont state!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated the honesty with the author described the video production process! Teacher are not trained to handle the conflicts that can arise between or the issues related to students interacting with adults outside the contexts of school! for any school-based program to be successful there would need to be community and parent support! I think that is why most video production programs are non-profit organizations. I still think that are non-threatening ways for classroom teacher to approach video production. I think Hidden Heroes is an example.
I'm also interested in the seemingly contradiction between the needs of the people in Appalachia and their politics. I find it interesting that a local radio station still announces the shift changes at the coal mine although very few people work there. It seems like there is a purposeful effort to keep the coal is king narrative alive in WV...