Hobbs & NCTE Standards

When I first examined the 6 components for media literacy, I must say that I felt it was pretty self-explanatory. Perhaps the most interesting point that I viewed when reading these 6 bullets was # 2, which states that, "Media literacy can and should be integrated across the K-12 curricula at all grade levels and in multiple subject areas" (PLS). When I read this, I literally knocked myself on the head and stated, "Duh!" As intelligent as that may sound, it's true. If you are going to be using the media to teach in the classroom, it is vital for students to start young. Children as young as kindergartners (as mentioned in the PLS article) should be exposed to media literacy. Of course, monitor students, but I totally agree that students need to start at a young age. I wish that I had had all of the many opportunities that today's youth have when it came to all of the new media technology. Imagine how much better off we would be, especially in English 307, if we had been taught how to use computers in the classroom? Obviously, all of the technology that we have now wasn't available to us when we were elementary school age, but there was no reason why in the upper-level grades that we couldn't have learned more about the media through the many tools that were available to us. I went to the largest high school in New York state and graduated with 900 students. I feel as though we were cheated when it comes to technology and media literacy.

When reading Renee Hobbs, I feel as though Hobbs' third project is the most interesting (this woman has accomplished so much in the 20 years that she has been involved in media education). I love how she is going into a Maryland classroom to find out "the impact of media literacy education on students' academic performance, family communication and civic engagement." I think this is an extremely good subject to study, as media literacy is becoming more and more important in the classroom in the past few years. I feel that Hobbs may find that media literacy has some positive and negative effects. One negative effect could be that on academic progress and family communication. While claiming to be doing school-related activities, some students surely will get off track and check their MySpace, Facebook, and Instant Messenger. This in turn will put a damper on family communication, as its sometimes hard to pry children off of the computer. In contrast, media literacy certainly has some posititive attributes as well, don't get me wrong. By connecting with foreign students, other classmates, and family, media literacy could be extremely beneficial. Sharing ideas on the internet can be very informational as well as educational.

By reporting on her findings, Hobbs' research can be used by others all around the United States. Maybe through her findings, other teachers can read up on her progress and enforce some of her ideas in their own classroom. In relation to the PLS article, I feel as though Hobbs would agree with the many intriguing points that they make. Based on her book, she may find that intigrating media literacy at such a young age as those in kindergarten may be a bit too extreme, but I do think that she would agree that children must begin to learn this type of information at a young age. Without a doubt she would agree that, "Media is essential for the development of informed, reflective and active citizens in a democratic society" (PLS). Overall, Hobbs' book so far is very interesting in the sense that it emphasizes many similar points that we discuss in class, as well as topics dicussed in Richardson's book.