Category: Weekly Readings

Comics and Libraries are Excellent but Underrated Vehicles of Learning

The first article that I read for this week was Neil Gaiman’s lecture “Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming.” In it, Gaiman delivers an impassioned defense of reading and fiction as . The second article is “Freedom to teach: implications of the removal of Persepolis from Chicago schools” by Sarah McNicol. She makes and supports the claim that graphic novels are worthwhile subjects of study in schools, despite their poor reputation. Additionally, she describes the example of the graphic novel Persepolis and how it was briefly banned from Chicago schools. There was backlash for the decision, and while McNicol explains why the book should not have been banned, she addresses some of the reasons behind the ban. She states that the ban was in part due to the school district’s desire to make sure that each teacher is trained specifically to get the most out of a work as complex as Persepolis. Lastly was Scott McCloud’s TED talk “On Comics,” in which he describes how comic books use a visual medium to attempt to access all five senses through various means. He also describes how comics have meaning in what is not shown, and that they describe a temporal sequence. He uses this idea of comics as a largely temporally-based visual medium to assert some things about its translation into the digital age, and how we can preserve the underlying nature of comics.

My own personal experience in libraries was quite positive. It was a safe space to go after school, where I could just sit down and read, write or do homework with no obligations of spending money. I also volunteered a lot at the local library with several different programs and I was able to be a firsthand witness to the power of libraries to inspire students to read and learn. Secondly, I grew up with comics, so I was never afraid of them, but I certainly did not appreciate them as a literary medium on par with novels and poems. I remember reading a graphic novel called Maus in high school, but that was my only foray into graphic novels in classes. However, I read Spider Man and Avengers comics for years and enjoyed them immensely. I definitely agree with McNicol and McCloud that graphic novels and comics have the capacity to be complex and educational, especially from what I remember of Maus.

Image Source: The Guardian,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/27/russian-stores-pull-holocaust-graphic-novel-maus-over-swastika-on-cover

My question to the class would be: what would you look for as a teacher, when searching for graphic novels/comics/web comics to teach in a class (in a subject of your choosing)?

Modern Digital Literacy: The Need for Critical, Creative, and Culturally Relevant Education

The first article that I read was “From Digital Consumption to Digital Invention: Toward a New Critical Theory and Practice of Multiliteracies” by Nicole Mirra, Ernest Morrell, and Danielle Filipiak. It details “a new theory of multiliteracies” that includes showing how digital citizenship and media literacy needs to include production of content, not just consumption. In addition, they call for specifically critical media literacy: they claim that consumers and producers of media must be able to critically analyze the content, creator, audience, and stakeholders. However, their main point is presenting a new theory that leads from consumption to production, then to distribution, and finally to invention. They claim that the goal of critical media literacy is to eventually have the learners practice critical digital invention, because teachers need to provide students with the tools necessary to create and develop new technologies.

Second was Dr. Degand’s “Stereotypes vs. Strategies for Digital Media Artists: The Case for Culturally Relevant Media Production,” in which he argues for “pedagogical approaches that encourage critical thinking in media art production spaces.” He presents “sociocultural constructionism” as a good approach for digital arts classrooms, but that students should also be taught how to critically think about social and cultural biases in today’s media. In order to achieve “culturally relevant media production,” Degand proposes three criteria: instructional methods and theories, culturally conscious content, and critical thinking skills support. Lastly was Erica Halverson’s TEDxMadtown talk about how schools need to teach “creativity and innovation” in order for the next generation to be leaders in creativity and innovation. She mentions “participatory cultures,” places where people are expected to create and participate, and that the result of these (often digital) spaces is that literacy does not only mean consumption: it also requires production. She states that we can include such education of creativity through “a cycle of telling, adapting, and sharing stories that matter.”

This assignment made me reflect on my own experiences with digital media in school settings, and how simultaneously necessary but avoided it was. In my high school classrooms, phones were generally outlawed in classes and laptops were generally discouraged, but we were required to use them in order to turn in essays and homework assignments. My math and science classes almost never utilized any form of technology other than having a class website to look for homework due dates. Digital literacy was expected to be taught in a couple sessions with the librarian that showed classes how to find credible articles on the internet. The Mirra, Morrell, and Filipiak article was spot-on with its description of how digital citizenship is handled in today’s schools: we only ever had assemblies that told us how digital citizenship was about what not to do on the internet, not what we should be producing. While these things are helpful and should be taught, I only ever had a handful of teachers who allowed us to exercise our creativity and critical thinking through videos or websites as projects. My own experience is an example of just why these articles and talks are needed: we live in a digital age and our students are not being adequately taught in schools how technology can be used and how we should critically think about technology.

My question for the class is: what do you think it would look like for a teacher in a traditional discipline (math, english, history, etc.) to take digital literacy seriously and to foster critical digital invention?