As it mentions in chapter 19, in the 21st Century, we need to be prepared for something more than just a printed book to be considered "reading." As our perspectives 'of what counts as text and as reading' (Hagood, 2008) change, our way of teaching needs to follow suit. No matter the age of the person, various forms of popular culture and media can effect those involved. (This includes websites, blogs, TV, etc.) We need to embrace this change in order to fit in with the rest of the changing world.
"People share and articulate different characteristics of themselves with different groups, and identities shift depending upon context." (Hagood, 2008) This is definitely true when it comes to all ages of people these days. We all put on some sort of 'face' depending on who we are in the company of, so we adjust accordingly. Especially as teachers, we wear many hats which tend to be ever-changing, so we just have to deal with it. (It comes with the territory, I guess?!?!)
Many of our students today use popular culture to help shape their various identities...text included (Hagood, 2008). These tend to be gender-based when you look at the origin. During adolescence, students are constantly searching for who they are and they often use gaming outlets to create these. Avatars have become a commonplace for children of all ages.
According to Lambirth (2003), teachers seem to think that the use of popular culture in education as invalid and against their teaching skills. Because they view these innovative forms of teaching as challenges to their teaching abilities and shy away from them (Finders, 2000; Marsh, 2006; Marsh & Milland, 2001; Xu, 2001). This leads to a larger separation between what students do between classes and outside of the classroom. (Gallego & Hollingsworth,2000). If students are using a new form of literacy (internet, text messaging etc.) OUTSIDE of school, there is no reason that we cannot borrow that same enthusiasm to promote further learning INSIDE of school based on those same technologies.
We are slowly but surely working our way to balancing new literacies in- and out-of-school. Overall, it's just going to take some time to get used to...we'll see how it goes..........
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Making connections with students is a crucial part of education. That means teachers need to find ways to create lessons that thier students can identify with and using technology like IM, text messaging, cell phones.. like you mentioned in your post will help bridge that gap of litercy in school and out of school.
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