I
conducted an online survey in which several parents and student teachers responded
to the statement I asked what their attitudes are towards the use of popular culture
within the classroom; in particular regards to media and ICT. I was surprised that
several parents failed to realise the educational value of ICT within the
classroom. This corresponds to Dean’s (2010) view that many adults fear their
children will not be able to read, nor write, due to emphasis on technology within
the classroom. In correspondence, several parents viewed the use of technology
as a luxury. This surprised me
as I assumed parents would want to educate their children, Dean (2010) further
comments that children need to be aware of the power of media, the internet
and mobile phones which would emphasize the dangers they possess also.
Perhaps
many parents are stuck within times prior to the advances technology and,
therefore, the National Curriculum needs to be updated to accommodate that
change and educate parents also (Dean, 2010). Thankfully, the National
Curriculum has indeed been updated and it implores teachers to integrate
elements of media and ICT within the primary classroom in a cross-curricular
manner (DfES, 2013). In addition, Harrett and Benjamin (2009) state that many teachers
expressed their anxiety towards media within the classroom, despite its
cross-curricular potentials. Harrett and Benjamin’s (2009) found that TV is
often used as a treat for children as opposed to a teaching device. This
corresponds to the views of the parents I surveyed who also revealed that many
of their children only reported using film in the classroom at the end of term as
a reward. It is also interesting to consider that a few parents believed that
media can be incredibly useful within the classroom, however only once their
children were in Key Stage Two in order to protect their ‘childhood innocence’
and for them to take full advantage of the opportunities it can provide.
Not
surprisingly, many parents agreed with my previous blog entry stance; that
media should be used within the classroom as long as it is not used to replace traditional
methods of reading and writing. Children need to be exposed to a variety of
texts in order to become media literate (Dean, 2010). On the other hand, it is
vital that they have a variety of traditional paper books to explore and engage
with in order to keep that vital element an important role within their life.
One parent fully supported the notion of popular culture and media to be used
within the classroom due to our advanced technology in today’s society.
However, she believed that it should be taught as an independent subject, which
also highlights the potential dangers, as opposed to being taught alongside
another subject in a cross-curricular approach to support childrens learning.
In
contrast, many student teachers had positive attitudes towards popular culture
and media within the classroom. The student teacher strongly supported the use
of media because they have experienced how excited children become. It can
motivate children to produce high quality talk and writing; whilst taking away
the self-conscious aspect of a blank canvas upon which many children are
expected to generate exciting ideas for creative writing pieces. Dean (2010)
states that children learn narratives through film, prior to school. This
notion is supported by several parents of young children who I interviewed;
they stated their children appear to act out the narratives that they watch in
their programmes and films. Furthermore, Dean (2010) believes that film can
engage children and stimulate their writing.
Bibliography
Dean,
G. ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) Teaching Media in
Primary Classrooms London: SAGE.
Department
for Education (2013) Primary National Curriculum. [Online]
Available
at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum
[Accessed 17/1/2014].
Harrett,
J. & Benjamin, T. (2009) ‘Travel with a Time Lord: using media to enhance
literacy’. UKLA
This is an interesting point you make about adults fear that children will not learn to read or write due to the overuse of technology. Recently I have seen something on the news about using more technology in the early years such as Ipads, and this caused a stir amongst the reception teachers in the school I am currently doing self directed placement in, as despite the increase in technology they believe it is crucial that children still learn to read and write on paper and from books.
ReplyDeleteThe prospects of teaching more technology related literacy is also something that these teachers expressed as very daunting for them, as they have been teaching in a certain way for a number of years. They felt that they would need to have sufficent training in order to feel confident using digital forms of literacy and media in their classrooms, and to be able to offer the very best to their pupils