Sunday, November 25, 2012

dje 11




  1. What are your concerns about teaching young people to make videos about social problems?
I have concerns for their safety.  When they go out into their communities and expose social issues they may be putting themselves at risk.  Another concern I have is that their story may have an opposite effect on a youth that do not live in the same type of social culture.  It may seem cool to a teen who does not live in a urban setting.  While the urban youths are discussing the hardships they face each day it may be glorified to another not living in those conditions and you now have a copycat want to be who is now at risk.

Then read Chapter 2 in the course text and answer the following questions:

1. Name a social issue specific to the Appalachian region that you think young people in your community would or should address.  The lack of employment opportunities for top paying fields causing many of the youth to just settle and not challenge themselves to strive for a better way of life or strive to make changes.

2. Find an online resource you might use to scaffold community-based  video production process.

A print source is Digital Filmmaking for Teens. Authors Pete Shaner and Gerald Everett Jones. Premier Press, Paperback, Bk&CD edition, Published December 2004, 237 pages, ISBN 1592006035.
A online source can be found at http://www.mediacollege.com/
This site gives information from very bic information and takes you through all the different processes you will encounter in multi media production.

3. Choose on 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?
From the teacher perspective I am supportive of any activity that gives students opportunities to use their talents.  I think that this is not only a way to be heard but to also show their talent and creativity.  I do think that the teacher must have a thick skin when sensitive topics are covered.  Teachers must remember that these students are encouraged to open up sometimes very personal issues and teachers have to realize that the language will reflect the language used in their everyday life.  I think that guidelines of how to complete the project should be given as far as the technical skills but not the content.  One way that content can be controlled is to have the class brainstorm for a central topic and then choose the topic to use but how to tell the topics story should be keep open.

I believe that these young video makers have important lessons to teach us about how to more effectively use media technologies and cultural traditions to build upon students’ skills of visual and oral expression as stepping-stones, instead of stumbling blocks to learning.

I always think that teachers can learn from their students as well as the students learning from the teacher.  I think that effective teachers are open to what they can learn from their students.   Accepting the students culture no matter how foreign it may seem to the teacher is important to bridge the gap between the real world and the educational world.  In these media projects students used their cultural language but learn how to get their message and meaning to others which means that they will need to use spoken language that others will understand while still staying true to their world.  Using their voices to tell their stories rather than studying rote words will lead to a greater understanding of language. Word meanings and communications.






Dital media empowers youth [Web]. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bbit65fO3k
Goodman, S. (2003). Teaching youth media: A critical guide to literacy, video production & social change. NY: Teachers College Press.
Mediacollege.com. (29 N). Retrieved from http://www.mediacollege.com/

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