Week 7: Multimodal Texts and the Implications for Future Practice.

This is one of my examples of using a multimodal text to combine media and literacy. During the seminar with Pam, I found this relatively easy to make and feel that children will also find it simple to create once taught the fundamental skills of Microsoft Office PowerPoint. QCA and UKLA (2005) state the importance of children using, and creating, multimodal texts in the classroom. In relation, it can help children to develop their own digital literacy skills in combination with a well-known ICT software. I favour this particular way of creating a multimodal text because it does not hold any barriers for schools; every school that I have ever been in has a Microsoft Office Package on all of their laptops and computers. Therefore, this multimodal text will be one that it simple and accessible to both children and teachers.

In this session, I chose one image which I used at the background for every slide. After this, I wrote text on each slide to mirror a story, and to set the scene for a fictional narrative. This is a simple multimodal text device that children can use, they can simply write one sentence on each slide to slowly build up the story. Merchant (2005) believes that children benefit from being taught ways to become more digitally literate in modern society. With younger children, it may be useful to use a well-known story and allow children to explore key texts prior to creating their own multimodal text (Bearne, 2003). Ultimately, this will break down potential barriers to their learning and allow them to fully access and engage in the task (Dean, 2010).

I would most definitely use this in my classroom. As a lover of fictional narrative and creative writing activities; I am always looking for new ways to engage the children and break down any potential barriers that traditional methods such as pen and paper may possess (Dean, 2010). I feel it is an easy and simple way to integrate ICT into the Literacy curriculum in a beneficial cross-curricular exchange (DFEE, 2013).

Bibliography:

Bearne, E. (2003) Rethinking Literacy: communication, representation and text in reading UK

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].

Medwell, J., Wray, D., Minns, H., Coates, E., & Griffiths, V. (2012) Primary English Teaching Theory and Practice (6th Edition). London: Learning Matters

Merchant, G. (2005) ‘Barbie meets Bob the Builder at the Workstation: learning to write on screen’ in Marsh, J. (2005) Popular Culture, New Media & Digital Literacy in Early Childhood. Oxon: RoutledgeFalmer

Week 7: Creating Multimodel texts in the classroom

Week 7

Creating Multimodel texts in the classroom

Multimodal literacy refers to ‘meaning-making that occurs through the reading, viewing, understanding, responding to, producing and interacting with multimedia and digital texts.’ (Walsh, 2010:213). Merchant (2005) believes that children benefit from being taught ways to become more digitally literate in modern society. Admittedly I had never thought PowerPoint could be extended beyond its convention slide shows, creating an interactive book using this software has illustrated how easy it could be to incorporate ICT into literacy lessons. More importantly the software is usually is programmed into school computer systems, therefore is accessible to everyone.

There is evidence to suggest that reading digital texts require extensive skills. UKLA supports this notion, as students aged from 3-16 years of age were extensively observed using a range of skills and strategies when reading screen based texts (Bearne et al. 2007). The findings concluded that the navigation of screen-based texts frequently involved radial browsing, which differs from the conventional left to right reading process. With radial browsing, several processing skills are needed simultaneously; the research found that students were able to search for particular language, images and music to retrieve information (i.e. internet links). Pupils would also need to use a level of comprehension to obtain the information needed. Admittedly, all the skills above were required for me to create the multimodal text using PowerPoint. Walsh (2010) exclaims that National Curriculum documentation for English emphasises the importance of students reading and producing multi-modal and digital texts; arguably as multiple skills are needed and developed during the process.  

Despite this Walsh (2010) states that it ‘does not articulate clearly how these texts can be incorporated into teaching, learning and assessment’ (pp213). For instance adapting teaching to contribute to the raise of digital literacy, summative assessment is usually print-based.  Walsh (2010) also states that it is important to consider the extent to which digital technologies can be incorporated into the literacy classroom context without minimizing the importance of the ‘rich, imaginative and cultural knowledge that is derived from books.’ (Walsh, 2010: 212).

On the other hand, the creation of the multimodal text today could not only be a task for the pupils, it could also be used as a hook to engage pupils. As for some, print based texts may seem daunting, the interactive story could eliminate these potential barriers to their learning and allow particular pupils to fully access and engage in the task (Dean, 2010). Bearne and Wolstencroft (2007) also state that it is essential for children to interact within lessons as they are more likely to be motivated to learn. I would certainly use PowerPoint to create an interactive book for my class, particularly with features that allows the teacher to add text during the slideshow, perhaps during class discussions in order to capture pupil’s thoughts. 

Bearne, E. & Wolstencroft, H. (2007). Visual Approaches to Teaching Writing. Multimodal Literacy 5-11. London: Sage

Merchant, G. (2005) ‘Barbie meets Bob the Builder at the Workstation: learning to write on screen’ in Marsh, J. (2005) Popular Culture, New Media & Digital Literacy in Early Childhood. Oxon: RoutledgeFalmer

Walsh, M. (2010) Multimodal literacy: what does it mean for classroom practice?Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 33 (3) pp211 – 239

Week 6: Palfrey and Gasser engagement

Digital literacy is a part of everyday life (Den, 2010), but we ask ourselves the question ‘Why should teachers care about digital literacy and childhood in the digital age?’ I believe we should, because it is crucial! Whilst Palfrey and Gasser (2008) begin the debate with a negative side, they have a slow transition into the positive elements of digital literacy. Overall, they aim to present both sides to the national debate about digital literacy and childhood.

Palfrey and Gasser (2008) inform us that digital narrative was born in the 1980; after that they developed at an excessive rate. Interestingly they believe that digital narrative and technologies can either impress or annoy you; I have witnesses a perfect example of that with my grandparents. My Scottish Granddad is absolutely fascinated in the digital age and all elements of technology; he has asked for a Kindle for his birthday and is always “surfing the net” to shop and to research. MY granddad is a big research fan, he is always fascinated in the latest development in technology; recently he keeps repeatedly telling me about the latest development in ‘naaanu technology’, I can only assume he means ‘Nano technology’. Despite being interested and being able to navigate his way around a computer; he is considered a ‘digital immigrant’ according to Palfrey and Gasser (2008) because he was born prior to the 1980s and did not have any teaching of digital technologies nor does he engage with emails or social networking sites. Surely, Palfrey and Gasser (2008) have not considered that people can learn later in life? Although, arguably they are right because despite digital technologies impressing my Granddad; he still cannot send a simple email and often phones up numerous companies to help him fix an issue on his computer.

 In relation, Palfrey and Gasser (2008) consider children to be digital natives because they are growing up in a world surrounded by technology, multimodal texts and digital narratives; they engage on a daily basis and cannot function in society without online identities according to Palfrey and Gasser (2008). Actually I would argue against this! I listen to iPods, I use technology, read kindles and engage in social networking sites – but that does not mean I cannot function in society! Nor does it mean children cannot! Providing you teach them the necessary skills.

Palfrey and Gasser (2008) also state that human relationships is second nature to ‘digital natives’; I would actually argue against this, understandably many young adults do arrange social gatherings on social networking sites, and yes it does pose a sense of insecurity and safety danger, but with large amounts of people it is less time consuming and allows you to contact people that you would not have previously been able to without technology. Yes, we have letters – but social media and emails are a much speedier way of contacting people. In conclusion, I feel all teachers should constantly evaluate their stance in regards to digital media. There are endless limitations and benefits to the debate, but, ultimately, it is the children’s needs at heart. Digital narratives are central to the digital age in current society; we need to be aware of this and teach children in regards to it. However, I pose the question… are we forgetting childhood amongst the need for digital literacy?

Palfrey, J. & Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives New   York: Basic Books (Introduction p. 1 – 15) (pdf on LN)

Week 7- Multimodal Texts

Using PowerPoint to create an interactive story.

 

During this week’s seminar I was shown how to use PowerPoint in order to create multimodal texts. It was a fantastic opportunity for me as I learnt new skills which I will be able to use in my future practice. I have never thought about using PowerPoint to create an interactive book, partly because I was not aware that PowerPoint enabled you to do such things, however, having now created one myself it is definitely something that I will consider using in the classroom.

Within Key Stage 1, I would use multimodal texts in order to support both children’s word recognition, as well as their spelling. The PowerPoint book I created offers children opportunities to make inferences and deductions, recreating their own version of the story as they complete the pages, and to make meaning from what has been already written. Using resources such as this could perhaps be used to support children’s spelling as by using word banks children could select the correctly spelt word, or to support their understanding by asking them to select the appropriate word from the options given. The words used could be the current words they are learning in phonics, re-establishing their phoneme/grapheme correspondence, and reconsolidating their ability to spell commonly used words (DfE, 2013).

Within upper Key Stage 2 I think it would be appropriate for the children to try making their own multimodal texts in order to support their ICT skills by developing their knowledge and familiarity with PowerPoint, as well as supporting their writing composition. However, there are possible implications with using or creating such texts, for instance making them is very time consuming, both for the teacher and the children.  Children will also require skills such as to be able to save pictures from the internet and in functioning PowerPoint, which in itself is also time consuming. As well as being taught these skills they will need reminding of them in order to produce successful texts, requiring a lot of supervision.

According to Dean (2010), literacy is changing so in order to ‘equip children for the literacy of the future’ (Merchant, 2007, pp. 1) it is important that children increase their knowledge in both reading and writing electronic texts (Medwell, Moore, Wray and Griffiths, 2012).  Bearne and Wolstencroft (2007, pp. 2) argue that ‘one of the advantages of on-screen production of texts is that children will more easily see themselves as authors, with the responsibility to proofread and craft their writing’. This infers that by creating multimodal texts children will make a conscious effort to ensure their writing is at a good standard as they feel it is their responsibility to do so.

Conversely, Walsh (2010. pp. 213) questions whether the ‘’basic’ aspects of reading and writing ‘onscreen’ entail different processes from the reading, writing and producing of print based texts’, therefore questioning the benefits of using them within the classroom.

After having created multimodal texts myself and by drawing upon my readings, I would certainly use multimodal texts within my classroom to support the teaching and learning of both ICT and literacy. I believe that as well as being engaging for the children, it provides them with something a bit different to encourage writing and reading, opposed to always writing narratives in the traditional form, as well as developing basic ICT skills that will be valuable to both myself as a teacher and the children.

 

 

Bearne and Wolstencroft (2007) Visual Approaches to Teaching Writing: Multimodal Literacy 5-11 London: Paul Chapman Publishing

DfE (2013) The National Curriculum in England: Framework Document [online] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210969/NC_framework_document_-_FINAL.pdf (accessed 25/02/14)

Medwell, J. Moore, G. Wray, D. Griffiths, V. (2012) Primary English Knowledge and Understanding London: Learning Matters 

Merchant, G. (2007) Writing the future in the digital age Literacy 41 (3)pp118-128

Walsh, M. (2010) Multimodal literacy: what does it mean for classroom practice? Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 33 (3) pp211 – 239

Week six: Children & sexualisation

Children see sexualisation everywhere and they become adult before the moment! Now they can go to everywhere with their mobile phone, computer and television. A lot of children have a television in their bedroom so the parents don’t watch their children! That isn’t good for their education. They must live their child's life and with sexualisation everywhere that isn’t possible. On television if the parents don’t watch their children, they can watch on the television: movies for adults, TV series with sex-drugs, movies with sex and violence, . . . Generally, in these movies and TV series, the woman doesn’t have a good play, she is subdued, slave, make every that the man want, happy, beautiful, . . . “An integrated approach is necessary to ensuring not only that violence against women becomes universally regarded as an unacceptable and criminal violation of women’s human rights, but also that victims of sexual, physical and psychological violence receive the attention and support that they need to be able to escape and resolve their situation.”59www.un-instraw.org/en/images/stories/Beijing/violenceagainstwomen.pdf On advertising (like the same of magazines) every hour there are some advertising not for the children and with a bag image, these are some examples: - A couple of ladybird makes love in a car (advertising for a car). - A woman is naked for Yoghurt. - A woman is naked for Deodorant. - A woman is naked for Soap. - A couple undresses because they want make love (advertising for product of Durex). - A man use Axe (deodorant) and a lot of woman arrived near him and want to undresses him. - . . . So the children see all the time a lot of things not for them and they grow too fast for their age! (I speak with a mother and she says me: “I don’t understand why the advertising’s television shows a woman naked for yogurt. There is not sense.”) “Advertising doesn’t just sell products; it sells aspirations and identities. The proliferation and accessibility of advertising images and messages make it increasingly difficult to target them at the appropriate audience. With the advent of mobile internet, it is almost impossible to guarantee that messages are only being seen by the age group for which they are intended.”(Papadopoulos, L. (2010) Sexualisation of Young People Review Home Office (Executive Summary – link on LN) http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100418065544/http://homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/Sexualisation-young-people2835.pdf?view=Binary) Internet it’s the worst thing who exist for the children. Why? Because, now, a lot of children have Facebook on their computer so children accept many people who don’t know and sometimes these people ask some bad things at these children: undresses you in front of your webcam, send me some pictures of you naked, give me a appointment to see you, look my sex on your computer, … and more they can see some advertising for adults in their children’s site (woman naked with sex of a man, woman show her booths, . . .). They can watch some video with pornography on their computer (special site, YouTube, movie in streaming, . . .). On the net, they can play with the adults ‘games. “There is no ‘watershed’ on the internet, and many adverts are sent indiscriminately to mobile phones and e-mail addresses. A child with a mobile phone literally has access to pornography in their pocket.” “Developments in technology play a significant role, and while the internet provides amazing learning opportunities, it also gives children easy access to age inappropriate materials, which they can access alone, without the input and mitigating influence of an adult who could, perhaps, help them to understand and contextualise what they are seeing.” (Papadopoulos, L. (2010) Sexualisation of Young People Review Home Office (Executive Summary – link on LN) http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100418065544/http://homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/Sexualisation-young-people2835.pdf?view=Binary) Finally, the children, now, don’t have the clothes for their ages but to become adult because the clothes are sexy and short. The young girls get dressed with bra, strings and high-heeled shoe. They make up them. They don’t like to princess but they like to sexy woman and this is not good for they education because she became woman too early (they make love, are pregnant too young). In conclusion, sexualisation unfortunately is everywhere on television, advertising, clothes, mobile phone, internet, games, . . . the parents must watch their children and make careful at them. In the school the teacher must speak about risks of Facebook, internet, … explain why are not good for them.

Week 6: Engagement with Chapter 9 'The Electronic village'

Week 6 

Sue Palmer: Toxic Childhood

The Electronic village  

Sue Palmer claims that families are moving into ‘Marshall McLuhan’s electronic global village’ (Palmer, 2006: 233). She explains that we are surrounded by this analogy of an electronic village every second of the day. Arguably this particular article tends to thread through the themes of suffocation and repression within the modern childhood.

Why should teachers care about digital literacy and childhood within the digital age? A question that could be answered with reference to the United Nations Rights of the child; for instance article 3 states that ‘the best interests of the child must be a top priority in all actions concerning children’ (United Nations, 1989). This includes education; children are living in a digital age therefore digital literacy could be a way of accessing the curriculum because it has relevance in the real world. However Sue Palmer argues that the society we have created has a detrimental impact on children’s development.

On the other hand many argue for the benefits of living in a digital world, communication has been extended, social networking has allowed people to communicate instantly regardless of where they are within the world. Marshall McLuhan’s utopian view of media technology as the ‘extensions of man’ supports the idea of integrating new technologies within society (McDonald, 2006: 505). However Palmer states that this utopian vision depends on everybody within society following the same democratic principles, and tends to disregard the more conventional principles of family security, first hand experiences, real friends and one-to- one interactions (Palmer, 2006).

A study into children’s use of popular culture in the home was carried out via parent questionnaires. It became evident that parents were overwhelmingly positive about the role of television in their children’s lives. In the interviews, the majority of parents expressed positive attitudes, commenting on the high quality of children’s programmes compared to those around when they were children and outlining the benefits they felt television brought their children (Marsh, 2005).

Marsh (2005) also reported that the mean time a child is spends engaged in screen use is on average 2hours and 6 minutes per day. Which does not seem like an excessive amount compared to the average adult’s engagement with such mediums; therefore perhaps teachers and parents are unnecessarily worrying themselves with the possible negative impacts of an electronic village. However the findings of the study were based on reports from the parents, therefore may not be representative. Furthermore Sue Palmer investigated the impact of parenting/ family changes on the development of the child. Regarding the movement of the television into the child’s bedroom, she refers to this as ‘The electronic babysitter’ (Palmer, 2006). Consequently parents aren’t always aware of the amount of time children spend watching TV, or which programmes they chose to engage in.

It is evident that for children need to grow and learn in an interactive environment. Palmer identifies Dr Marian Cleeves Diamonds study which concludes that in order to learn, ‘It is important to interact with the objects, to explore, to investigate, both physically and mentally.’ (Diamond, 1999 in Palmer, 2006). She highlights further evidence for the correlation between mental health problems and the increase exposure to the electronic village. As there is evidence to suggest that with each additional hour of TV per day watched before the age of four, the risk of developing attention deficit problems increase. Consequently the reality of life cannot match the higher level of stimulation found on such mediums (Palmer, 2006). Ultimately the attention span of children is inevitably shorter, and Sue Palmer believes that this is due to the over exposure of sedentary mediums (TV) and underuse of real experiences.

Despite this, engagement with such digital literacy within the classroom could result in talking points amongst pupils and teachers. This is a method I have observed often within the classroom and tends to engage pupils attention. However the chosen digital literacy and topic has an educational purpose. Hence why teachers should be aware of what is appropriate for children, and inform children of the dangers in order for them to make responsible decisions on what they engage in. There is also the issue of children being ‘bombarded with daily violent ideas, explicit sexual references and bad language’ (Palmer, 2006). Ultimately It takes village to raise a child, a village that should be aware of the modern societies impact on childhood and ways in which children can be protected. As well as a society that embrace new innovations with the intention of benefiting those involved.

Diamond, CM. & Hopson, J. (1999) Magic trees of the mind, How to Nuture you Child’s Intelligence, Creativity and healthy Emotions from birth through Adolescence.  USA:Penguin in Palmer, S. (2006) Toxic Childhood: How the Modern World is Damaging Our Children and What We Can Do About It London: Orien (Chapter 9) 

Marsh, J., Brooks, G., Hughes, J., Ritchie, L., Roberts, S and Wright, K (2005) Digital beginnings: Young children’s use of popular culture, media and new technologies. Sheffield: University of Sheffield

Palmer, S. (2006) Toxic Childhood: How the Modern World is Damaging Our Children and What We

Can Do About It London: Orien (Chapter 9) 

United Nations Child (1989) Convention on the Rights of the: UNCRC [Online] http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Publicationpdfs/UNCRC_summary.pdf (Accessed 18/02/14)

Watch this for a greater understanding of Sue Palmer’s views on the impact of technology on the developing child:

http://youtu.be/ZjvULWAXzFk

Why should teachers care about digital literacy and childhood in the digital age?

There are many potential benefits for the classroom brought by digital literacy, highlighted by the range of news articles I have read. One article suggests that as children have grown up with new technologies, their instincts aid them in navigating it (Hudson, 2013), supporting the ideas of Palfrey and Gasser (2008) who suggest that children now are ‘digital natives’, meaning they have grown up in a digitally connected society and know of nothing else, and so to them these new ways of communicating are normal.

Hudson (2013) reports that children are now spending significant amounts of their time gaming, and research suggests that this time is almost equivalent to the amount of time spent in school. As a result of this, these games can be incorporated into the classroom to support and enhance learning, as makers of the game ‘angry birds’ claim that the characters and their worlds in popular games enjoyed by children, can inspire and motivate them (Hudson, 2013). This supports Marsh and Millard (2006) who argue that popular culture can be used to motivate and engage children with things that interest them.

A further article on the matter, written by Ward (2013) suggests that games can prepare children for the future in this rapidly changing world, as by playing the game ‘minecraft’ children are learning and developing their basic computer navigation skills, as well as how to save data and use email to set up sessions with their friends. The article written by Turnbull (2010) suggests that by using new technologies in the classroom such as weblogs, children make greater advances in Information Technology (IT) as well as in literacy, and consequently a difference is shown in day-to-day IT lessons.

 In school I have witnessed and been impressed by the ease of which children navigate around websites, and the competence they have when logging on and using a computer. In one school I visited, the children have the use of ipads, and when I asked how they knew exactly how to use them they replied with “it’s the same as mummy’s iphone” or with “we have one of these at home”.

Evans (2010, pp. 1) argues in his article that digital literacies such as the use of blogs, can offer more to children allowing them ‘to express themselves in ways that simply aren’t possible without access to a computer.’ Teacher’s opinions included in the article suggest that blogging motivates children to make their writing the best they can be as they are aware that their blogs could potentially be read by a large audience.

It also states in this article that such technologies encourage collaborative working as children find it easier to share their work on screen (Evans, 2010). During my experience of working with children on ipads, I noticed how keen and willing children were to help a friend when they were unsure where to find a certain programme, or of which button to press next. This behaviour is a very positive impact of using new technologies in the classroom.

Hudson (2013) acknowledges that there is still a need to learn in the traditional way, however a different dimension to education can be approached by the way new technologies can be used. To summarise, the articles offer a range of potential benefits of using new literacies, suggesting that teachers should take interest in children’s latest passions, using them to motivate and engage learning within the classroom. They suggest that the amount of which we use digital literacy in the classroom will inevitably increase and that we should embrace this change and use it for its full potential. Having taken into consideration what I have read and what I have discussed in seminars, I share this view and believe that in moderation, new technologies offer opportunities which could not be provided for children using just traditional literacy alone.

 

Articles:

Evans, A. (2010) The Joys of text (TES Connect)

Hudson, A. (2013) Angry Birds game fires into the classroom (BBC News Technology)

Turnbull, G. (2010) The seven-year-old bloggers (BBC News)

Ward, M. (2013) Why Minecraft is more than just another video game (BBC News Technology)

 Supporting literature:

Marsh, J. and Millard, E. (2006) Popular Literacies, Childhood and Schooling Oxon: Routledge

Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives New York: Basic Books

Children and Advertising

‘Children of the twenty-first century are fervent uses of new technologies’, including ‘computers, DVD, videos, cell phones, email, text messaging, and so on’ (Evans, 2005. pp. 7). Consequently, children are now more exposed to the viewing of advertisements.

As a result of this, Gunter, Oates and Blades (2005) argue that adverts can influence children’s perceptions of themselves, by reinforcing stereotypes when using idealised images to promote products. Gunter et al (2005) state that such stereotyping is harmful as it places pressure on young people to conform to the ‘ideals’ which are portrayed through advertising. Agreeing with this point are Kenway and Bullen (2001), who imply that adverts convey the world as a utopia, showing images that are better than every-day life, and making children want what it may be impossible to have.

Children are seen as consumers as advertisers have discovered that children make up an enormous part of the consumer market (Lusted, 2009). Supporting this is Gunter et al (2005), arguing that children have spending power, and spend a lot of their own pocket money as well as influencing family spending through the use of ‘pester power’, and consequently advertising aimed at children is increasing.

Advertising is becoming more and more prominent in children’s lives, as Gunter et al (2005) express that the line between advertising and entertainment is very thin, and it is difficult to distinguish between the two. Because it is such a common occurrence, many people support the teaching of advertising in school. Within the Primary National Strategy (DfES, 2006) children in year 5 are expected to analyse and use persuasive language, and a way of doing this is through the use of adverts. Burell and Beard (2010) believe that the analysing and understanding of advertisement supports children with their persuasive writing. Although Gunter et al (2005) acknowledge that there is not enough room in the curriculum at present to provide a wide focus on the teaching of advertisement, they suggest that increasing children’s advertising awareness in school would be very effective, however they argue that parents should also support this movement by helping their children to understand the nature of marketing.

For teachers to be able to help children understand advertising, they must first understand themselves how children engage with adverts. Kenway and Bullen (2001) state that adverts’ prioritise visual communication over spoken communication, therefore attracting children through the use of flashy and catchy images. It could be argued that in some instances this will result in children not even realising they are watching an advert, corresponding with the earlier point about the difficulty of distinguishing between advertisement and entertainment.  Furthermore, Gunter et al (2005) argue that young children may not understand the persuasive intent of advertisement and so, for example, they may believe it is normal to ask their parent for the latest lunchbox snack they saw advertised. In order to help children to understand this, Banaji (2010) suggests that teachers should make children aware of how advertisements target consumers, highlighting to them examples of persuasive and media associated language.

To conclude, as children are viewed as consumers, I believe it is therefore vital that they are taught about advertising in order to understand their intent and to be able to analyse and interpret the language and style of writing of which they could incorporate it into their own persuasive writing.

 

 

Banaji, S (2010) ‘Analysing Advertisements in the Classroom’ in Bazelgette, C.  (Ed) Teaching Media in Primary Schools London:Sage

Burell, A. and Beard, R. (2010) ‘Children’s advertisement Writing’ in Literacy 44 (2)

DfES (2006) Primary National Strategy: Primary Framework for Literacy and Mathematics [online] http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/pdfs/2006-primary-national-strategy.pdf (accessed 11/02/13)

Evans, J. (2005) Literacy Moves On: Popular culture, new technologies, and critical literacy in the elementary classroom. Portsmouth: Heinemann

Gunter, B. Oates, C. & Blades, M. (2005) Advertising to Children on TV New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates pp 1 – 13

Kenway, J and Bullen, E. (2001) Consuming Children England: Open University Press

Lusted, M. (2009) Advertising to Children United States: ABDO Publishing

Week 5: Children and Advertisements.

Advertisements are integrated into children’s everyday life (Burrell and Beard, 2010) .I feel advertisements strongly influence childrens desires for products such as toys and gadgets. Burrell and Beard (2010) state that the most prominent way children view advertisements is through TV and they often use language that is enticing for children. Gunter, Oats and Blades (2005) agree with Burrell and Beard and confirm that the language is often full of rhyme and repetition. When watching childrens channels they are littered with endless promising adverts promoting endless toys and gadgets; I have witnessed it luring children in. Gunter, Oates and Blades (2005) stipulate that advertisements are designed to positively affect consumers’ opinions of the brand, and therefore increase sales. However, aren’t advertisements aimed at children exploiting their vulnerability? Quite often, the advertisements will also contain catchy slogans, special effects, role models, fantasy and exaggeration to draw children in (Burrell and Beard, 2010; Gunter, Oates & Blades, 2005). Therefore, it can be argued that children are consumers because the advertisements give children power in which they often use to pester parents into buying the products (Gunter et al, 2005).

Children drive the sales of toys and gadgets. Quite often, I have witnessed my cousins filling their birthday lists with endless items they have seen advertised on TV. More often than not, they do not know what the item is and state that it “just looks cool”. Gunter et al (2005) found that over $250 billion was spent on childrens toys and gadgets, from parents’ earnings, in the USA. In relation, they also found that 2/3 of children have TVs in their room; therefore, advertisements are powerful because they are targeting children in their homes. On the other hand, while it may seem that advertisements are negative aspects of the media that lure children in, Kenway and Bullen (2001) believe that advertisements can appeal to childrens desires. Advertisements allow children to fantasise about toys they don’t have so they can relate to their peers. In reality, as a consequence is this not a negative element of advertisements?

In light of this, I feel children should be taught about the persuasive element of advertisements in school. Both children, and teachers, need to consider the effects of advertisements and often they receive minimal attention (Burrell and Beard, 2010). Burrell and Beard (2010) believe that children are given power through writing, therefore why not allow them to engage with advertisements to help them understand the power of text? I feel teachers need to consider how persuasive texts can develop childrens key skills for the future as it is something they will find valuable whereas, arguably, narrative is not. I have a passion for fictional writing, none-the-less I believe persuasive writing is a valuable skill in which children should learn and engage with. Arguably, they should be exposed to advertisements because they are prominent in modern society and it allows them to engage with technology. Advertisements can provide digital stimuli for a persuasive writing activity; Burrell and Beard claim that they can greatly enhance childrens pragmatic skills. To summarise, I feel advertisements lure children in and exploit their vulnerability. However, despite this I feel children should learn about advertisements within the primary school setting.

Bibliography:

Burrell, A., & Beard, R. (2010). Children's advertisement writing. Literacy, 44(2), 83-90

Gunter, B., Oates, C., & Blades, M. (2004). Advertising to children on TV: Content, impact, and regulation. Routledge.

Kenway, J., & Bullen, J. (2003). Consuming children: Education-entertainment-advertising. British Educational Research Journal, 29(2), 267-276.

Week five: Children & Advertising

Everywhere (television, card, newspaper,…) you can see advertisings, often they are for the children because they can ask at their parents if they can have this thing. These are some examples of advertisings to the children: → “Disneyland Paris free for children” →Nutella : “It must have energy to be a child” → McDonald’s : “In your Happy meal find your favourites characters” →Sergent Major : “Me, I’m too much Sergent Major” (mark of clothes and it’s a young boy who speaks). →”Come play with your favourites characters on Teletoon.fr” →Meccano: “If you can’t have it, build it” (about a drums). →Dop: “Don’t be hot for eyes and easy to brush your hair” (Shampooing for children) →Coca-Cola: “Drink Coca-Cola delicious and refreshind→Thanks for the pause that refreshes” (Santa Claus says that to a young girl). So the children see that and think “it’s good for me because he say it” and in the shop they want some things not really good for the health. “A large proportion of advertisements aimed at children promote food and drink” (Lewis and Hill, 1998). “The number of children with obesity in United States has dramatically increased in recent years, and this may in part be due to the persuasive nature of food advertising” (Strasburger and Wilson, 2002). And more, on the advertisings, we see some celebrity, beautiful person, … to feel like become like these people, the girls because of that doesn’t like themselves and want buy some beauty products to be more beauty. “Therefore advertising a product using physically attractive models may help it to become linked to the other qualities that the viewer associates with physical beauty. However, using beautiful models in advertising can generate unachievable stereotypes” (Martin and al, 1999). Then, there are also bad advertisings, this one pushing the children and teenagers to take noxious things like tobacco and alcohol because they would make like they celebrities , adults, . . . just to seem fun. But they don’t know the risk of it. “As Gunter and McAleer (1997) pointed out, alcohol drinking is frequently shown in positive contexts including celebrations, parties, and eating out”. And more, a lot of children, now, have a television in their bedroom so their parents don’t check what they watch on it. In conclusion, I think the advertising isn’t good for children because it push them to want some things not good for their heath (food, drink, alcohol, tobacco) and the children would like change their physical because they would like seem of the celebrities so yes, the advertising influence children’s perceptions of themselves. The advertising influence children to become as consumers because they would like have the foods that they watch it on the television. The teacher must make a lesson about it to explain the risks of some things like, for example, alcohol too explain the celebrities, perhaps, don’t use beauty product but they present it because they are buy to introducing it on the television and the foods can be don’t good for their health (show them the risk of obesity). Gunter B., Oates C. and Blades M., Advertising and children or tv: contents, impact and regulation, pp 1-13, 2005.

Week 4: Harnessing New Technologies.

Last week I explored and engaged in two web2 technologies; Wordle and Tagxedo. This provided me with a valuable opportunity to explore the programmes and engage in modern technology which is, admittedly, something that I do not often do on a level deeper than that of emails and social networking. Future Lab (2010) states that recently digital technologies have become embedded in our lives and many children engage with technology on a regular basis. However, how much of this digital technology is used beneficially or even used in the classroom at all?

The National Curriculum (DFE, 2013) states that learning how to operate computers and modern technology allows children to become digitally literate. Dean (2010) agrees with this and affirms that being digitally literate is vital for children to function in current society. Moreover, DFE (2013) stipulate that though digital technology, children can express themselves and develop ideas that they can apply to future education and careers. Despite this, Merchant (2007) states that although digital technology offers opportunities, it also holds a variety of limitations. On the other hand, I believe that if children are explicitly taught how to use programmes such as Wordle and Tagxedo than they will provide valuable learning experiences. In relation to this, digital media is a central element to childrens upbringing and, therefore, it should be harnessed and promoted in a safe environment of the classroom (Future Lab, 2010).

When using a programme such as Tagxedo, I thought an interesting aspect was how you can change the shape of the word cloud to fit a list of shapes on the programme. Despite finding this programme more complex than Wordle, it offers more opportunities due to the ability to change the word clouds shape. Merchant (2007) corresponds to this and states that a key element of digital technology is how it combines modes of communication and provides new opportunities for interactive tasks. I would, perhaps, use Wordle with Key Stage One children and Tagxedo with Key Stage Two children. I would use Tagxedo in the classroom to create word clouds relating to a topic, season or creative writing. It would be useful to make cross-curricular links to Geography through using the URL function for current online news reports.

Merchant (2007) claims that digital literacy is the written representation of word, mediated by technology. In light of this, it is evident programmes such as Wordle and Tagxedo should be used in the classroom to harness the technology. In support of this, The National Curriculum (DFE, 2013) stipulates that children should be taught to be ‘responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology’. This can be develop through the PNS (cited in Merchant, 2007), which offers creative opportunities for children to use new technologies. Although, Future Lab (2010) suggests that we should take the inequalities of these programmes into consideration when planning to use them in the classroom.

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]

Future Lab (2010) Digital Literacy across the Curriculum: (Sections 3.1 – 3.4 Digital Literacy in Practice)

Merchant, G. (2007) Writing the future in the digital age Literacy 41 (3) pp118-128 [online]

http://learn2.winchester.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/229901/mod_resource/content/1/Merchant%20-%20Writing%20the%20Future.pdf (accessed 21/01/14)

Week 5: Children and advertisements

Week 5

Children and advertising

Kenway and Bullen (2001) imply that adverts interact with children’s emotions, their desires, their fantasies and most importantly their identities. They argue that commercial advertisements are design for pleasure as well as a way of developing identities and peer communities; perhaps creating a generation of consumers. This viewpoint is supported by Beder (2009) who insists that advertiser’s actively encourage children to seek happiness and self esteem by purchasing products.

Packard (1957) referred to advertisements as ‘hidden Persuaders’as argued, allegedly they tap into our subconscious habits without us our recognition. Furthermore many claim that advertisements aimed at children are not for their interest however a direct result of the efforts of corporations to make profits from children and to shape and socialise them to suit business interests (Beder, 2009).

It is clear that advertisements are all around us, advertisements online are abundant and there are many issues surrounding their exposure to children. The Bryon Review indicates how adverts online could be ‘potentially harmful’ if they are not age appropriate. The review also highlights the difficulty of tracking what your child could be exposed to on the internet (Bryon, 2008: 16). During ICT lessons on placement many sites had been restricted due to inappropriate material or advertisements; I felt that this made the research on our topic more strenuous then need be. Perhaps we are protecting our children against forms of media that they are already exposed to outside the classroom.

During the seminar we had discussed how teachers could implement advertisements into the literacy planning with awareness of the controversy surrounding them. One particular viewpoint provoked me to reflect on how we as teachers can protect children against the ‘hidden persuaders’ when we ourselves are mass consumers and are actively impacted by advertisements? Chester et al (2007) raises the important fact that the creators of adverts are ‘experts of an increasingly diverse array of specialists in sociology, psychology and anthropology to explore youth subcultures and conduct motivational research’ (Chester and Montgomery 2007:22). Do teachers have the skills to decipher the subconscious messages that could be potentially harmful to their pupils?

There are questions relating to children’s vulnerability to persuasion or exploitation from advertising. There is evidence to suggest that children are more cynical about what they are exposed to, and not merely passive consumers due to advertisements (Buckingham, 1993). (Chester and Montgomery, 2007) supported this with their findings which conveyed that young people seem very good at ignoring advertising. On the other hand The Byron states that brain development research proves how pre-adolescents are not equipped with the skills to interpret some materials (Byron, 2008:52). With this in mind, advertisement can offer materials that enable analysis and develop critical thinking, and most importantly prepare children with the skills to think of purpose (Evans, 2004). Perhaps skills needed to protect themselves from the ever increasing commercial world.


Beder, S. (2009) This Little Kiddy went to Market. New York: Pluto Press

Bryron, T (2008) Safer Children in a Digital World. The Report of the Byron Review. Nottingham: DCSF Publications [Online] http://www.ict.norfolk.gov.uk/content/655/files/safer%20children%20in%20a%20digital%20world.pdf(Accessed 10.02.14)

Buckingham, D. (1993) Children Talking Television: The Making of Television Literacy. London: Falmer

Chester, J. and Montgomery, K. (2007) Interactive Food and Beverage Marketing: Targeting Children and Youth in the Digital Age. Berkeley Media Studies Group. [Online] http://digitalads.org/documents/digiMarketingFull.pdf(Accessed 9.02.14)

Evans, J (2004) Literacy Moves On. Using popular culture, new technologies and critical literacy in the Primary Classroom. London: David Fulton Publishers

Kenway, J. & Bullen, E. (2001) Consuming Children Buckingham: Open University Press

Packard (1957) Packard, Vance ([1957] 1960), The Hidden Persuaders. London: Penguin Books

In had found The Byron Review very beneficial and will most likely use this document to inform my practice in ICT, I highly recommend it. The link is just below:

http://www.ict.norfolk.gov.uk/content/655/files/safer%20children%20in%20a%20digital%20world.pdf